HONG KONG — A 32-year-old man was found dead in an Internet cafe in Taiwan after a marathon three-day gaming binge, the island’s second death of an online gamer this year.
The man, surnamed Hsieh, entered the cafe in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, on January 6, a police spokesman in the Kaohsiung district of Hunei told CNN.
An employee found him motionless at 10 a.m. on January 8 and he was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead from cardiac failure.
Police released details of the case last week.
It is not known exactly how long the man lay dead in the Internet cafe.
According to the Taipei Times, the man was a “regular customer” who often played for consecutive days.
“When tired, he would sleep face down on the table or doze off slumped in his chair,” the staff member was quoted as saying.
“That is why we were not aware of his condition in the beginning.”
The local precinct police chief told the paper that cold temperatures and over-exhaustion from the long hours spent playing games likely contributed to Hsieh’s cardiac arrest.
“More patrols will be conducted to remind residents about the dangers of prolonged sitting and game-playing,” said Weng Chun-neng.
Taiwan is no stranger to deaths from marathon sessions of online gaming.
Hsieh’s death came after 38-year-old man was found dead at an Internet cafe in Taipei on January 1 after playing video games for five days straight.
And in 2012, the corpse of man who died playing online games went unnoticed for 10 hours by other gamers and staff.
