A group of gamers in the Philippines recently made international news headlines for continuing to play their favorite video game despite being waist-deep in floods from a typhoon.
Surreal footage showing the young video game enthusiasts simply ignoring the rising water level was captured last Thursday, at an internet cafe in the town of Cainta in Rizal, which had been heavily battered by typhoon Ying-fa.
Despite being half-submerged in muddy flood water and a very real risk of being electrocuted, the kids appear glued to their monitors, ready to engage in multiplayer matches. It was only when the owner of the cafe realized the danger they were in that the computers were shut down and the gamers finally left.
“We didn’t know the flood water would rise that day, so when I saw them I immediately took action and told them that I have to transfer the equipment to a higher place. After that video, they also stopped and left, none of us was hurt,” owner Sio Samson said.
Luckily, all of the electricity cables in the shop were above the water level, and the power sockets were located up high, as is common in areas prone to flooding, or else this extreme passion for video games could have ended in a tragedy.
Although many people applauded the kids’ “true gamers never quit” attitude, some pointed out that video games aren’t worth risking your life over, and that the danger of electrocution was very real under the circumstances.
“You can hear in the video, the kids don’t want to leave, do they? But I actually shut down the computers to avoid tragedy,” the cafe owner added. “As a computer engineer, I know the danger that water poses near an electrical source. So after I took the video, I removed all electrical equipment right away.”
