Given all the physical activities I do while playing games (*snerk*) it might come as a surprise that I haven’t injured myself more than I have. In fact, I can only remember one time where I sustained any kind of injury, and it was many years before Wii Remotes were flying through televisions.
Flash back to the year 1994, December 31st. I had gone to a friend’s house to spend the night and ring in the new year. To pass the time we rented a copy of WWF Raw for the Super NES, which, you might suspect, is a wrestling game.
One of the mechanics of a wrestling game (and especially this one) is that when you and your opponent lock horns, you both have to press the buttons on the controller as fast as you can. Whoever presses the buttons fastest gets to do a signature move and deplete the stamina of his opponent.
So we played the game all night, all told, about seven hours. Then, once midnight struck, we rang in the new year by parading around the front yard, banging soup pots with wooden spoons. Then back to the game for another couple of hours. Then, around 2:00, it was time for bed. No problem. We bed down for the night and I drift off to Slumberland.
For about an hour.
After that I woke up to an intense ache that stretched from the base of my thumb all the way to by elbow, on both arms. And, since there were no painkillers in the house, my only source of relief was to fill the sink with cold water and soak my forearms until they numbed up enough to allow me to get about an hour of sleep, and then I had to start the process over again.
Amazingly, the next morning, the pain had gone. Although I didn’t tempt it by playing any more button-mashers for several days, and I’ve learned, more or less, where my limits are when playing a marathon like that. But I know I can’t be the only person that’s suffered a game-related injury, anyone else care to share?