South Korean couple starved child while raising 'virtual baby'

[Elmore Furth]

This story is just sick.

March 5, 2010 9:18 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Couple reportedly fed baby daughter just once a day while at Internet cafe
Police said couple had become obsessed with role-playing game, state media reported

Caring for their online baby erased any sense of guilt, said Professor Kwak Dae-kyung

(CNN) -- A South Korean couple arrested for allowing their baby to starve to death had been raising an online child, state media reported citing police sources.

The couple, residents of a Seoul suburb, allegedly neglected their prematurely born three-month-old daughter, feeding her just once a day in between 12-hour stretches at a neighborhood internet cafe, the official Yonhap news agency reported.

Police said the couple had become obsessed with raising a virtual girl character called "Anima" in "Prius Online", a popular role-playing game in South Korea.

"The couple seemed to have lost their will to live a normal life, because they didn't have jobs and gave birth to a premature baby," said Chung Jin-won, a police officer

Report: South Korean couple starved child while raising 'virtual baby'

[HopeHoops]

1. Isn't that sort of like jerking off to porn on the Internet while your SO is upstairs naked in bed?

What the FUCK is wrong with people? A virtual character? Good fucking grief.

[KamaAina]

2. William Gibson, pickup on Line 1.

William Gibson, line 1.