Dead gamer goes unnoticed in Taiwanese Internet cafe
A Taiwanese gamer’s life comes to a tragic end in a New Tapei cafe.
Recent research has suggested that social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are every bit as addictive as cigarettes and alcohol. It’s easy to get wrapped up in online conversations and sometimes quite hard to tear yourself away — and it’s just as easy to zone out playing your favourite games. In Taiwan’s Internet cafes, it’s common for locals to spend hours wrapped up in marathon sessions.
That’s what Chen Rong-Yu had in mind when he sat down in a chair to play League of Legends in New Taipei City. Rong-Yu was surrounded by other customers — around 30 in all — who were all engaged in online activities. At around noon, Chen was spotted by a waitress talking on his cell phone. Later that evening, police arrived on the scene following a grim discovery.
Chen had died about nine hours earlier, and none of the staff or other patrons had noticed. His rigid body sat motionless with arms outstretched towards the mouse and keyboard for the entire afternoon and evening and yet never aroused suspicions. Police ruled the cause of death to be cardiac arrest triggered when blood clots formed as the result of low temperatures, a lack of movement, and exhaustion. Chen had also been previously treated for a heart condition.
Were the other customers too shocked to call attention to the deceased? Were they simply so wrapped up in their own activities that they didn’t notice? Or is it possible that they simply assumed Chen was totally absorbed in his League of Legends adventuring?
This certainly isn’t the first such incident we’ve posted about here on Sync. In the summer of 2011, a 20-year-old UK gamer died from deep vein thrombosis after a 20-hour gaming session. In 2010, we were shocked by news of a couple whose tragically neglected daughter passed away as they tended to a virtual child in an Internet cafe in South Korea.
Thankfully, these events have been relatively infrequent — but they’re still worrying. Here’s hoping that lessons are being learned and awareness increased so that others can avoid similar fates.
[On February 8, as part of Let's Talk Day, Bell will be donating 5 cents for every text message and long-distance call to mental health research which will hopefully find new treatments to combat addiction - Ed.]
[Source: Kotaku Image: Wikipedia]
Disclosure: Sync is owned and operated by Bell Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE, parent company of Bell Canada.
No wonder his score was so low.
Another case of sensationalism at work. People die every day in every conceivable method. This same guy could have had a heart attack in a restaurant, an airplane, or in a public park.
The funny part is that this is under the “breaking news” section. In which world is this breaking news? To the Cafe in Taiwan (except they didn’t even bother to post the name of the cafe), the deceased (at least he got a name instead of the usual; ‘an unidentified man’).
Instead the article is littered with key words of sensationalism over journalism. “thankfully, worrying, hoping, fates, tragically, shocked”
I don’t need your opinion or be told what to feel in the Breaking News section. What I’d like is an accurate representation of facts please.
I 100 percent agree with this comment. The so-called ‘author’ of this story even fails to give an age for the deceased. For all we know, it could have been an 80 year old. This article is total sensationalism.
Hey, this IS shocking, worrying and tragic. It is also informative. I happen to be a hardcore gamer and often spend several hours at a time playing, one thing that did not occur to me was deep vein thrombosis, and if it did I keep forgetting to stand up once an hour, stretch my legs and move around. Maybe this will remind me, maybe it will save a life somewhere else. So STFU. Btw, some poor guy dying unnoticed in a cafe is sensational news, in a very bad way.
I’ve heard rumors of Chinese gamers wearing adult diapers so they don’t miss monster claims in Final Fantasy XI. Asians are pretty intense gamers, nit surprised this went unnoticed. AFK Heart attack.
The wearing of diapers is common in places such as these. Even more so in casinos…
Like you said Lee, this is nothing new and will become more common as time goes on.
It’s also a case of different societies. People are so packed together in Asia, they consider it rude to even have someone else notice what they’re doing. They train themselves to stay in their own little bubble as they go about their day.
google search his name under images… you can see him in action… or inaction by that point :)
As a gamer, it’s things like this I look out for. When you have time to get up and stretch, and rest your eyes a little, do so. It makes you far more comfortable and it helps prevents things like this. I even do little stretches to make sure I don’t get carpal tunnel. While this person clearly had other things going for them, there are still things you can do to make yourself more comfortable, and to minimize any health risk you may have. And just like anything else, games need to be taken in moderation. If you don’t, make a bigger effort to keep yourself in good shape.
Thank you this is sound advice. I mean that sincerely.
Why not just get a life?
Here here. It’s very sad.
Why not shut up? For a lot of people, gaming is a big part of their life. It should not be their whole life and who are you to judge?
“Why not just get a life?”
……………………..
Too late. Between Facebook, Video games, Punk rock, and Ritalin, their brains are fried.
People need to step out of their bedroom or the basement of their parents house and find real friends not playing video games with dead people. Find a real sport or hobby, don’t be anti social and don’t work too hard for a company that just treat you like disposable diaper after they think you have already given what they have wanted and they want to cut cos.t
Who are you to tell people what to do? Video games are their hobby. Seems like you should just live you life the way you want to and let other people do the same.
Please keep playing these dumb games and STAY INSIDE so us normal people can enjoy the great outdoors and live like humans are meant to. When THE SOLAR FLARE hits, withdrawal symptons will include large doses of reality…so a horror film will become reality!
People like you blow my mind. Video games are not dumb. They are actually very cool, Like a lot of other things on this planet. Open your mind as well son.
I’m just looking at the photograph above and want to make an observation. A cafe is normally a place where one would go to meet friends or make friends, so it would involve sitting at a table and talking to another live human being while you are looking them in the face. The people in this picture and not interacting. It’s a very cold, sterile environment for that kind of activity. No matter how intensely they interacting with whoever or whatever is on screen, and notwithstanding their “connection” with that whoever or whatever, they are totally disconnected from the other cafe patrons. Is this the world to come? Eeek!
This reminds me of the story of a man in Seattle who took the subway and sat on the subway for 2 days before someone noticed he was dead. Everybody thought he was sleeping, until the odor started getting bad.
Try going to Starbucks TO SOCIALIZE. It is impossible. No one there wants to interact with another human being. They sit glued to their mobile device and that is that. Pathetic.
I’m a Canadian living in Taiwan. This story was all over the news here. These internet cafes are all over the country and in every single neighborhood. The reason they call them ‘cafes” is because they serve coffee, tea, soft drinks and food, so that gamers never have to leave. It often only costs about $5 Canadian to use a computer in the cafe for about 3 hours. Many of the people who play these RPG(Role Playing Games) are building characters to sell to other people. It’s big money in Asia. This incident also happened during Chinese New Year when most university students have 5-6 weeks off from school. And it’s not just internet cafes that these things happen. Every Chinese New Year, someone in this country dies from playing Mahjong for 24 hours. Most of the people who play these games are so focused on the game, that they don’t pay attention to each other. A cafe is a place that people go to meet and talk. In Taiwan, these kinds of cafes are places for people to not have to talk.
Uhhh…Justin…there’s no subway in Seattle…
r.i.p
don’t get me wrong..Skyrim, Final Fantasy XIII-2, WoW, are great games. but I’ll stick to my Street Fighters and Soul Caliburs cause’ I don’t wanna stay glued on that couch for too long…
Nothing like a few good rounds of BF3 – or a few hours, for that matter – as long as everything else is out of the way! Fallen asleep waiting for the next round to load? Perhaps.. Whatever one does while sitting ANYWHERE, get up & stretch, go for a quick stroll, ride a bike, get some drink, DO ANYTHING – then come back & continue.. Your EYES require a rest too.. I will justify categorizing my on-line ’1st-person shooter’ activity as therapy in that it is a great stress relief & very entertaining pass-time. Again, only after all else is done on the day’s ‘TO DO’ list. I’m well past my 45 year mark and also like to keep my ‘chops’ up against the younger snappers on-line, as I believe this is something seniors should be participating in too – keeping their minds sharp & active – to help offset or prevent any encroaching unfavorable brain-related conditions. Good seating helps too, but ALWAYS GET UP & WALK AWAY FROM THE CONSOLE EVERY HOUR! See you on the Battlefield (3)!