Illustration file picture. (REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Files)
A video gamer in Taiwan has died after a three-day gaming binge, the country’s second “sudden death” involving an Internet café customer this year.
The 32-year old man was found dead in the city of Kaohsiung, the Taipei Times reports. The man, identified only by his surname, Hsieh, had been playing combat computer games for three days.
Staff at the Internet café initially thought that the man, who suffered cardiac failure, was sleeping.
“Hsieh was a regular customer here and always played for consecutive days. When tired, he would sleep face-down on the table or doze off slumped in his chair,” an Internet café attendant told reporters. “That is why we were not aware of his condition in the beginning.”
Details of the death, which occurred in the Hunai district of Kaohsiung earlier this month, were released last week. The incident was ruled a “sudden death” from prolonged computer gaming.
A police official said that cold temperatures and exhaustion from intense game-playing could have contributed to Hsei’s cardiac failure. Police are stepping up patrols of Internet cafes, warning gamers of the dangers of prolonged gaming.
“We advise people to get up and move around after every two hours of computer gaming,” said the official.
On Jan.1 a 38-year-old man was found dead at an Internet café in New Taipei City after a five-day video game marathon.
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