Man Dies After 3 Days Of Gaming In Internet Cafe in Taiwan

Jonah Hicap Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Customers, mostly gamers, occupy all seats in an Internet cafe in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, in this March 31, 2010 file photo | REUTERS/Stringer

A man died after playing computer games for three straight days in an Internet cafe in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, recently.

The 32-year-old man, identified only by his surname Hsieh, was found by a cafe attendant lifeless and assumed he was just sleeping, according to the Taipei Times.

"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," the attendant was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

He died from cardiac failure and was ruled by authorities as "sudden death" brought about by playing computer games for three days.

The chief of the police precinct said fatigue and cold temperature might have been factors in Hsieh's death.

"We advise people to get up and move around after every two hours of computer gaming. More patrols will be conducted to remind residents about the dangers of prolonged sitting and game-playing," the officer said.

The newspaper said this was the second time that a person died in Taiwan due to excessive computer gaming.

Last Jan. 1, a 38-year-old man was found dead in an Internet cafe in New Taipei City after playing for five straight days.

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association included Internet Gaming Disorder in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a condition that needs "more clinical research and experience" before it can be considered as a formal disorder.

It noted that scientific reports have focused on online games.

"The 'gamers' play compulsively, to the exclusion of other interests, and their persistent and recurrent online activity results in clinically significant impairment or distress," the fact sheet issued by the APA said.

It added: "People with this condition endanger their academic or job functioning because of the amount of time they spend playing. They experience symptoms of withdrawal when pulled away from gaming."

The APA said that by listing Internet Gaming Disorder in the DSM-5, it "hopes to encourage research to determine whether the condition should be added to the manual as a disorder."