Another example of Edgeplay gone wrong :(

From my friend RubberAsylum today:

...on Tuesday morning we lost another member of our community and group.

Mike, from Idaho, or "Spuds" as the group labeled him at the party was found after a play accident that at this point appears to be Ethyl Chloride related.

I do not have much other information at this point, but shall share anything else when I find out more.
...

To which Male Bndg gave a heartfelt response:

This is really awful news. He was the nicest guy, only 23 years old, and only recently really finding his "legs" in the scene. He was also quite smart and level headed about play.

I think it's important to spread the word that even some very smart, sane, guys who thought they knew better are no longer with us today. Obviously I don't know the exact circumstances in Mike's case, but he wasn't the sort of guy to take stupid risks.

If you count up the number of really kinky guys you know, and you divide by the number who have died in scenes, the odds are not in our favor. They're not 1 in 10,000 like you might expect, or in my case, even 1 in 50.

The circumstances among them vary widely, but these EIGHT guys died in one sort of play or another just in the last few years. And these are just the ones I know about. I'm sure there are many more:

Mike (SpudsBndg)
James (Bodisama)
David (TieGuy) in the UK
Alejandro Bulaevsky (BikeRubber) found dead in full rubber in his NYC apartment
Bill (Bostoncuir)
David (Gummidawg)
Rubberpanther (a really fun amazing 20something in CA)
Adrian Exley (young guy from UK died at the hand of Gary Leblanc in a BC scene)

And there were a few more prior to the above including a guy who died in the Midwest at the hands of a breathplay top who's still in jail as far as I know. The trend is very much in the wrong direction with more each year.

I would encourage any and all of you to think twice about posting video, pics, stories, etc. that eroticize breathplay, forced substances, etc. without some really obvious warnings and disclaimers. I think sites like XTube have made what used to be extreme play much more widely practiced--often by guys who haven't a clue what the real risks are or how to be reasonably safe.

Sadly, it's all too easy for someone who doesn't know any better to see a hot video with breathplay, ethyl, etc. and while stroking their cock and decide to try it.

I know guys who have the attitude it's a "Darwin" thing and when your time is up, it's up. But I don't buy that. Mike is a very sad example of someone who was smart, not an edge player, and certainly didn't have any Instigator-like death wishes.

Please be safe everyone, spread the word, and think about how your own actions might encourage dangerous--or even fatal--play in others.

So sad that the community has lost another very young new member. Male Bndg is right, it seems to be happening with increasing frequency and especially in 2010 - I can't remember a year when we've lost so many. His points should be well heeded: it is inherently dangerous to engage in breathplay, particularly with gases. This is probably the most extreme of extreme fetish play and really needs to be considered as such for its great risk. It must be the responsibility of all breath players to not only warn and post disclaimers, but also educate.

I admit enjoying breathplay in certain situations and I am definitely not extreme in it. I wouldn't consider myself experienced any more than using condoms and gloves for mild suffocation or shutting off air supply to gas masks for only seconds at a time. But even trying to justify it as being at the light end of the spectrum isn't an excuse to absolve my responsibility to do it safely and only engage in it with others that are experienced in it, and also disclaim that it is something that should be done by experienced players only.

You can see in Male Bndg's list the number of men that have succumbed to asphyxiation for whatever reason. I can say that probably in 80-90% of those cases the man who died was playing alone. Even those of us with best intentions, playing with others, monitoring, and Plan B and Plan C backup can find things going wrong very quickly, so it only strengthens the need to have someone looking after you when engaging in breathplay or bondage and particular in rubber since there's no way to breathe through that miraculous material. It's a very risky engagement and only experienced players should be doing any extreme breathplay scenes.

Rest in peace, Mike.