Why You Should Be Worried About Being Stung By A Real Scorpion While Gaming
Like any hobby, gaming poses a specific — if peculiar — set of risks to players. Many a gamer has suffered the agony of "Nintendonitis," with some players even finding themselves in the hospital as a result. "Friends" actor Matthew Perry even played so much "Fallout 3" that he needed to get injections in his hand. While these kinds of injuries make sense, considering how most gaming requires players to use their hands, a new and unexpected foe just might be threatening gamers everywhere: Scorpions — and not the "Mortal Kombat" kind.
A June 17 tweet from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (or USCPSC) has been gaining a lot of traction — but not thanks to its warnings of "injuries from extended play," or even its hilariously cringy use of trash talk (since when did people start calling each other "Controller Face?"). Instead, the gaming Twitter-verse is exploding with laughter at the idea that "getting stung by a scorpion while playing video games" is a real and present threat to anyone, ever.
Surprisingly, the USCPSC cites its info, writing that it obtained these alleged examples of "13,073 ER visits associated with (but not necessarily caused by) VIDEO GAMES" via its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. In other words, at some point — for some reason — someone was the unfortunate victim of a scorpion sting whilst fragging it up with their friends or enjoying a nice, wholesome "GTA Online" massacre.
Some of these Twitter replies have got to ... sting
Twitter being Twitter, users were quick to poke fun at the USCPSC's bizarre graphic. The first and most obvious question on users' minds was posed by @LohnStewman who asked, "How often do people get stung by a scorpion while gaming?" User @ChrisTyndale provided a hilarious response, writing, "Somewhere between once and 13,073 times per year."
Another user ribbed the USCPSC for releasing a graphic that looked like satire, suggesting that the organization "really should put 'Parody Account' in [its] name before people somehow mistake [it] for the real thing."
While most of the tweet's replies are humorous commentary on the absurdity of the graphic's scorpion-related claim, some users were quick to take defensive stances against what they believed was "fear mongering." User @dankopus said as much, writing, "Okay, but why are you jacking the numbers? These are injuries associated with video games, not caused by them. Furthermore, Games that require more body movement like VR and motion controls always warn you to mind your surroundings."
Regardless of gamers' takes on the USCPSC's tweet, this warning should serve as a cautionary tale for video game players. Many of the injuries listed on the organization's graphic, like "chest pain, neck pain, wrist pain, and back pain" can genuinely put a damper on your gaming sessions. So can scorpions, of course, as Matthew Perry's favorite game, "Fallout 3," has proven. Those "radscorpion" jerks are nasty.