A young Chinese woman has been diagnosed with a serious eye condition called retinal artery occlusion after playing addictive video game, Honour of Kings, non-stop on her phone.
It’s an irreversible condition that’s only usually found in elderly people, but the unnamed video game addict suffered such eye strain from playing the game intensively that she developed the condition at a mere 21 years old – and it’s caused her to lose sight in one eye.
The young woman, who works in finance, has said that her addiction started at the beginning of the year, and when describing her extreme gaming habits, she said that on her days off, she would play from 6am until 4pm, then have something to eat, before continuing until 1 in the morning.
She admitted that, on occasion, she’s been so consumed by the game that she’s forgotten to eat, skipping on sleep in order to carry on playing. She said she’d repeatedly tell herself ‘This will be my last round’, but just wouldn't be able to stop.
She had been playing in her parents’ home in Dongguan, in the province of Guangdong last weekend when she suffered extreme pain in her eye. She went to several hospitals that were unable to determine the cause of her condition, but it has been confirmed that it was due to excessive fatigue from playing the game.
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Apparently, her parents often tried to stop her from playing in case she ‘went blind’ and she has said that she feels afraid and regrets not listening to her parents.
The game, Honour of Kings, is owned by Chinese Internet giant, Tencent and it’s become extremely popular - there are 200 million registered users in China. Clearly aware of the addictive nature of the game, Tencent has introduced restrictions for younger players, with those between 12 and 18 being allotted a maximum of two hours a day and those under 12 just one hour, before 9pm.
There has also been a similar story of a Taiwanese woman suffering temporary blindness after spending too much time on Pokemon Go.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.