If anything this is a failure of the Japanese Social Services and the ever increasing addiction of mentally unstable people.
This the thing is... this is not down to gaming.
Lets take Korea and Japan as examples of "high tech" cultures. The mass production of cheap electronics has got to the point now where every member of society is able to afford a computer capable of playing games. Someone who is prone to addiction will latch onto gaming quite easily, but it will not be their only addiction. If it wasn't for gaming, it would be drugs, alcohol or both.
The reason we don't get deaths like these in the US or UK is because it's still relatively expensive to buy a PC or a laptop. Those who are mentally ill, who are unable to hold down high paying jobs, let alone unskilled part time jobs, will not be able to afford the addiction of gaming. In our Western societies, these people will turn to drugs or alcohol first. Due to the official recognition of alcoholism and drug abuse, children are taken into care much sooner. These neglectful deaths still occur, but due to the structure of our society and culture, it is almost never down to gaming addiction.
With the price of computers set to decrease, there will come a point where our societies will mirror that of Korea, where child neglect has cropped up before. We need to take action now to battle all sorts of addictions, including gaming addiction.
And before anyone flames this, you have to agree that there is a difference between recreational gaming (anything up to 6 hours a day, depending on your job) and addicted gaming (something like 12 or 14 hours a day). The latter takes up so much time, in the same way as drug abuse and alcoholism, that it affects the persons ability to function normally. It's this feature about addiction which leads to child neglect, abuse and premature death.
Facebook
Twitter