Frustrated by his adult son's incessant gaming habit, a man in China reportedly hired a number of in-game master "hitmen" to annihilate his son's avatar over and over again in an attempt to deter him from playing.
Quoting China's Sanqin Daily, Kotaku reports that the fed-up father, identified only as "Mr. Feng," decided to embark on this cyber murder plot as his son seemed incapable of pulling himself away from the computer long enough to find a job.
The man's 23-year-old son, referred to in reports as "Xiao Feng," is said to have left his job at a software development company; he had been there three months but said that he was unhappy with the work.
Upset that his son has been playing games instead of looking for employment, the father reportedly concocted a scheme to discourage the young man's love for games. He hired a number of online assassins -- always more accomplished and stronger than his son's avatar -- to kill off the young man every time he logged on to play.
Xiao Feng, who had been confident of his game playing ability, told the Guangzhou Daily that he was initially shocked and disgruntled that his character kept getting killed after he would log on, but soon he began to suspect that something was amiss.
"There was never any bad blood or animosity between me and [the master game players who were killing me], so I knew there was something strange going on," he said.
After questioning a number of players, Xiao Feng soon learned of his father's plot. But instead of quitting his game playing, Sanqin Daily reports that the young man, who claims his father exaggerated the extent of his gaming habits, confronted his dad and told him he wanted to find a job he truly enjoyed.
Xiao Feng's dad is not the only parent in China who has resorted to extreme measures to respond to an overzealous gaming habit.
According to a Popular Science report from 2009, video game addiction bootcamps have become popular among some Chinese parents who believe that sending their kids to treatment programs staffed by soldiers of the People's Liberation Army will help them overcome their Internet addictions.
Ingenious or overkill? What do you think of this dad's plot to get his son off the computer? Tell us in the comments below.
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