10 Video Games That Caused Physical Injuries

Over the last 50 years or so, some people have tried to stop the progression of video games as being an unhealthy or dangerous practice. As is the way with ever advancement in technology, there are those that don't understand, are afraid and think that it could be the devil.

Of course, this is all silliness. The millions of people who game today and the unthinkable number of hours put into the hobby over the years, if there were truly harmful or evil we'd all certainly be aware of it by now.

That's not saying however that some video games haven't lead to injuries or a certain amount of physical pain.

But again, anything done enough can eventually lead to pain and discomfort. That's why we're told to stretch our legs on long flights, take a break from reading to prevent eye-strain and why cars have airbags. Eventually, bad circumstances and timing line up. It's no different with gaming.

This list contains examples where video gaming have been detrimental to human health. From specific games to entire consoles, from single celebrities to thousands of documented cases; sometimes gaming reminds us how frail and prone to accident the human body can be.

When it comes to video games and pain, if you're a certain age you almost certainly have flashbacks to Mario Party. Not just the wounded pride and fractured friendships, but the broken skin.

The mini-games in Mario Party are all about variety; not just in theme and objective, but also how they're played. There are platforming challenges, tests of resilience and of course button bashers. Several in the original game, like Pedal Power and Tug o' War, tasked players with spinning the control stick as quickly as possible. It didn't take long for any gamer to realise that, if they wanted to stand a chance, they could spin the stick by using their palm rather than their thumb.

Driving a plastic, not particularly ergonomic, stick directly into the centre of your hand and rotating it in small circles? Yes, nothing could go wrong there.

The aches, friction burns and blisters that hundreds of players reported reached news outlets and Nintendo couldn't ignore them. Complaints with the New York attorney general led the company agreeing to pay $75k in legal fees and supply players with essentially safety gloves.

Come 2021's Mario Party Superstars, a game that combines memorable minigames from across the franchise, the dreaded hand-destroyers were all given an addendum that advised not spinning the stick with one's palm.