Acton Beale, 20, originally from Tannum Sands near Gladstone in the state's central region, fell from a high-rise building on Sunday morning when he tried to plank on a balcony railing.
Planking involves a person lying face down in a rigid position at random locations and posting photos of the act on the internet.
Opposition police spokesman John-Paul Langbroek says the craze is dangerous.
"[It] really just shows that these fads that people are coming up with really can have tragic consequences if they are not careful," he said.
"People must understand that it is not the job of police or emergency services to save them from situations that could put them in harm.
"Any activities that people carry on, they are not always guaranteed to cause them injury.
"But if you go to do some of these activities in dangerous places, it can lead to dangerous consequences and that is the thing that Queenslanders must understand."
Deputy Police Commissioner Ross Barnett says participants can be charged if they plank in dangerous locations, or if they trespass.
"Once you start taking it up seven storeys or on top of a set of traffic lights, or on a set of railway lines, or there are a whole range of things, or on a bridge - anywhere that accentuates the risk and the daring - that obviously puts it into an area not only where it can be breaking the law, it more importantly is putting the person at significant danger," he said.
He says it is what police have been fearing.
"In some circumstances it can be fairly harmless, but as people become more and more competitive and try more and more obscure and difficult episodes of planking, which inevitably lead to greater levels of risk, then we were - and remain concerned - that this is the sort of thing that will eventuate and no-one wants to see that," he said.
Gladstone Acting Police Inspector Mike Dixon says Mr Beale's death is a tragedy.
Acting Inspector Dixon says a man was charged in Gladstone last week for planking on a police car, while police stopped a man from climbing on a city building on Friday.
"It wasn't a high building but there was an electrical cable connected to this sign that they were trying to climb and the person was intoxicated," he said.
"Obviously alcohol impairs judgement and it was poor judgement on his part [but] we prevented this offence from occurring.
"He could have been charged with another minor offence, however we spoke to him and advised him of the danger he had placed himslef in and he was sent home.
"Gladstone police have been in the media since the person planking on the police car came to notice and then we found all these other photos of persons in clearly very dangerous positions above traffic lights.
"Like I think the bit of harmless fun that it started as has got out of control, we don't want to see any other tragedies.
"Now we've seen one that's resulted in the death of a young man and it's a tragedy for the whole family and his friends."
@'ABC'
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