Salon.com > Online Assassins http://www.salon.com Thu, 23 May 2013 12:02:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Father hires cyber hitmen to curb son’s gaming addiction http://www.salon.com/2013/01/09/father_hires_cyber_hitmen_to_curb_sons_gaming_addiction/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/09/father_hires_cyber_hitmen_to_curb_sons_gaming_addiction/#comments Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:11:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13165521 the fix A father in China has taken a creative approach to curbing his son's video game addiction, by hiring online assassins to beat the boy in his online games. Mr. Feng claims that his 23 year-old son, Xiao Feng, was doing badly in school and was unable to land a job, due to his compulsive gaming. So he hired players within his son's favorite games to hunt him down and "assassinate" him. He hoped that if his son kept being instantly killed upon logging in, he would soon get fed up and turn his energies towards finding a job. Xiao Feng, who reportedly became obsessed with playing video games in high school, had pushed his father to the limit after recently ditching a job at a software development firm after three months. "I'm not looking for any job—I want to take some time to find one that suits me," said Xiao-Feng. Although his current employment situation is unknown, it appears that as of now father and son have reached reconciliation. Gaming addiction is a problem throughout China, and the government has enacted various measures to limit access to online games.

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