A man was found dead on Tuesday at an Internet cafe in Taipei after playing computer games for 24 hours.
Preliminary investigations indicate cardiac arrest was the likely cause of death.
An employee at the Internet cafe said the 58-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), entered the cafe late on Monday night and was still there, playing computer combat games, late on Tuesday night.
The employee said Chen was a regular customer and he usually paid NT$500 for a seat for 24 hours.
Chen did not pay for additional time and was still sitting in his seat on Wednesday morning, staff said.
“We thought he was tired from playing and was just sleeping, so we did not disturb him,” an employee said.
However, when he checked on Chen at about midday on Wednesday, he found that Chen was not breathing and his body was stiff.
“There were other customers there and everyone thought he was just sleeping. We had no idea he had died,” the employee said.
A spokesman for Taipei City Police Department’s Zhongzheng First Precinct said preliminary investigations showed there was no sign of foul play, and it was likely a simple case of accidental death, due to cardiac arrest or cardiovascular conditions.
It was the second case of alleged death from prolonged game playing at an Internet cafe in six months.
A 37-year-old woman surnamed Chu (朱) died while sitting in front of a cafe computer in Hsinchu City premise on Aug. 23 last year.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not