Taiwan Teen Dies After Diablo III Gaming Spree

There’s really such a thing as too much and usually, it’s not that good.

According to a report from the Australian Associated Press (AAP), a teenager from Taiwan has died after playing the popular computer game Diablo III for 40 hours straight.

What began as a harmless gaming session on the noon of July 13 apparently turned deadly when the teen who was only identified by his surname “Chuang” went 40 hours gaming without resting, sleeping and most importantly, eating.

Chuang is said to have rented a private room at a computer café in Tainan in the southern region of Taiwan on July 13 and he apparently only stopped in what is thought as the early hours of July 15.

On the morning of the said day, the AAP says that an attendant entered the room rented by Chuang to find him dozing on a table. The report, which is also based on a report from the United Daily News broadsheet, goes on to say that the attendant tried to wake Chuang.

He woke but shortly after waking, “he stood, took a few steps and then collapsed,” the report says.

At a local hospital, Chuang was pronounced dead shortly after being admitted.

According to the report, the police are conducting an autopsy on Chuang and that “they speculated that long hours in a sedentary position created cardiovascular problems” for the teen.

This, in my opinion, would be deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the legs. The scary part about this is that the condition doesn’t have a symptom, at least until you’re near death’s grasp.

This clot (called thrombosis, if you’re into the technical terms) may travel to other organs like the lungs and basically cause death.

DVT may be caused by long periods of sitting down, which is what you do when you play Diablo III for 40 hours straight.

Image from JBLivin on Flickr (CC)