What do you do if your kids are addicted to video games? Hire a hit man to kill them off, virtually of course. That’s exactly what one father has done in China it appears.
Many parents have struggled with their childrens’ extreme video game addiction for years, sometimes even resorting to professionals for help. However Mr. Feng, a father in China, decided to take the task of ridding the gaming addiction of his son in his own hands, by hiring online hit men to ruin his son’s virtual gaming experience.
23-year old Xiao Feng, the son of Mr. Feng, began playing video games at an obsessive rate in high school, leading to terrible grades and a general unwillingness to find a job it seems. Mr. Feng became fed up of his son’s laziness and hired the higher level hit men to assassinate Xiao in-game.
According to gaming site Kotaku.com, Mr. Feng’s plan was to have Xiao become bored of getting killed all the time, which is definitely a different approach to kicking a gaming habit. He hoped this would lead to Xiao finding a job.
Still defiant, Xiao decided to stick it to his father by saying, “I can play or I can not play, it doesn’t bother me. I’m not looking for any job-I want to take some time to find one that suits me,” after repeatedly being killed in-game.
Mr. Feng reportedly became relieved by his son’s statement, but there’s no word if the addiction of his son is still ongoing or if a job has been found.
A November 2012 report from Yomiuri online detailed the situation of gaming addiction in China. At one student report centre there were 327 requests for help concerning game addiction from January to July of 2012. Additionally the National Web Counselling Association reported roughly 150 similar requests that have been sent in over a three year time.