Left for dead: Corpse ignored for 9 hours at cyber cafe

February 4, 2012

Taiwan (AFP) - For nine full hours, a dead gamer went completely unnoticed in a Taipei cyber cafe as 30 others played on according to a recent AFP report. It appears the 23-year old League of Legends player died of an apparent cardiac arrest, and remained seated with his hands outstretched.

CNET reports, "There is no absolute suggestion that the gaming--either its rigidity or its excitement--actually killed him. However, police reportedly theorize that he suffered a heart attack because of low temperatures, tiredness, and the fact that he was sedentary."

What led to his death will surely be the subject of further investigation. In the meantime, community members are left to wonder how a group of players could be so absorbed in a game, or numb to the world around them, that they could leave one of their own for dead.