A 32-year-old man has died in an internet cafe in Taiwan after a three day gaming binge, marking the second game-related death in Taiwan within the last month alone.

The man, referred to as Hsieh by the Taiwan police, was a frequent patron of the Kaohsiung City internet cafe. Hsieh was found slumped in his chair, and other patrons first assumed that he was sleeping.

“Hsieh was a regular customer here and always played for consecutive days,” one cafe goer told reporters. “When tired, he would sleep face-down on the table or doze off slumped in his chair. That is why we were not aware of his condition in the beginning.”

An employee of the internet cafe checked on Hsieh to discover that the man was cold and not breathing. Hsieh was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead from cardiac failure. According to medical examiners, Hsieh suffered from over-exhaustion and had likely been dead for several hours before his body had been discovered.

“He has been unemployed for a long time, and internet cafes were the only place he could go to,” said police spokesperson Jennifer Wu. “His family said he would disappear for two to three days on end.”

Video game addiction

While Hsieh’s death is tragic, it is not the first such death attributed to gaming addiction. In an eerily similar case from 2007, a man died in an internet cafe in China after gaming for three days. Even more disturbing was the 2010 death of a three-month-old child who starved to death when he was neglected by his video game addicted parents.

Video game addiction is not limited to Asia. Another case of child neglect occurred in New Mexico when a mother’s addiction to World of Warcraft led to the starvation of her 3-year-old daughter.

These cases all highlight a growing problem with video game addiction that has lead to legislation in some countries. China, for example, tested a program that would lock players out of online games after a set length of time.

There are several organizations dedicated to helping people who are addicted to video games, including support groups like Online Gamers Anonymous.