Student paid to live stream video games for 240 hours in 26 days dies after working five straight nights

A Chinese student is suspected of dying from exhaustion after staying up for five straight nights in a bizarre turn of events.

Gaming and the streaming of said gaming have blown up as an industry over the last 20 years, so much so that a livable wage can be earned, in the right set of circumstances.

In China, streaming and gaming can be very big business.

However, getting to that point can often prove to be grueling, and understandably, a lot of streamers choose to have it as a hobby rather than a career.

The media company, Henan Qinyi Culture and Media Co asked a streamer to stream for 240 hours in 26 days, and upload 15 short videos. The last name of the streamer was later identified by his father as being Li, according to local media.

Unfortunately, after taking on such a huge task, the student streamer was found unresponsive by his roommates, and was later declared dead.

It has been suspected that he died of exhaustion after live streaming for five nights in a row, according to reports.

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Li’s father claims that Li told him the media company had persuaded Li to move from the day shift to the night shift in order to earn more money.

This meant that he was streaming from 9PM to 6AM, five nights in a row before he died.

The company has denied they persuaded him to switch shifts but admitted that some streamers struggle to balance making enough money and overworking.

For perspective, and to grasp the amount of streaming Li was doing, there are 624 hours in a 26-day period. So if Li was obligated to stream for 240 hours that would mean he’d have to stream for 38.4% of the time. This doesn’t include the time needed to sleep, socialize or to complete any school work.

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The media company has said they simply provide a location for streamers to livestream, and in turn, takes a commission on tips the streamer makes.

According to a Metro report, a spokesperson for the company said that Li also wasn’t a 'formal employee' at the company and died in his own rented house outside of hours.

In ways of compensation, the media company has apparently offered the Li family £550 ($697), but whether or not Li's father will push for legal action against the media company is currently unknown.

Mr Li also revealed that his son's school has offered to help.

UNILAD has contacted Henan Qinyi Culture and Media Co for comment.

Topics: China, News, Health, Mental Health, World News

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.