Dad hires in-game hitsquad to kill his son's characters

The Chinese website Tencent reports that a father got so upset with his son's nonstop MMO playing that he hired an in-game hit-squad to kill his son's character whenever it spawned, in the hopes of discouraging the young man from playing. Here's some of Kotaku's English summary, by Eric Jou:

Unhappy with his son not finding a job, Feng decided to hire players in his son's favorite online games to hunt down Xiao Feng. It is unknown where or how Feng found the in-game assassins—every one of the players he hired were stronger and higher leveled than Xiao Feng. Feng's idea was that his son would get bored of playing games if he was killed every time he logged on, and that he would start putting more effort into getting a job.

Despite being sick of getting killed every time, Xiao Feng decided to stick up to his father and tell him how he felt. He was quoted as 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."

Father Hires In-Game “Hitmen” To Deter Son From Playing (via Super Punch)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: china • Games • mmorpgs • parenting

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http://undulantfever.blogspot.com/ Bruce Arthurs

You can’t have “dysfunctional” without having “fun”.
- retepslluerb
  
  Well, you can have in German.
  - Tribune
    
    German probably has a word for “having fun in a dysfunctional family where your father hires in game hit men to kill you”
    - http://bhtooefr.org/ Eric Rucker
      
      Well, it’s German, so given that so many German words are a bunch of words shoved together… (mind you, the exact spelling will be wrong, I used Google Translate)
      
      Spaßineinerdysfunktionalenfamiliewoihrvater heuertimspielgetroffenmännerumdichzutöten
    - TheMudshark
      
      “Bleumenschränzen”
Rider

Yeah pretty sure this did not really happen.
- niktemadur
  
  Quite possibly. This should make a couple of yellow lights go on:
  
  Feng decided to hire players in his son’s favorite online games to hunt down Xiao Feng
  
  Doesn’t Xiao mean little? Seems the writer didn’t even bother to give the guy a proper name in the article. All I’m saying is – food for thought, grounds for further research.
  - http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
    
    I don’t think Chinese is really a “doesn’t [sound] mean [meaning]” sort of language. There are a *vast* number of homonyms, and I don’t think that’s really a good standard of evidence by itself that something’s wrong here.
  - CH
    
    Well, the character is indeed “little”. But I would guess it’s here meant as ”Junior Feng”, as if it was a name it would be Feng Xiao. But anyway… Xiao (little) is a perfectly fine part of a name (Deng Xiaoping… yea, that Xiao there is little).
  - spacedmonkey
    
    Referring to the son as “Xiao Feng” is perfectly normal. This might not be true, but that certainly isn’t evidence that it’s not.
  - dragonfrog
    
    I recall a recent BB story people were heaping scorn on because of the “obviously bogus” last name of the author (Skorobogatov) – the supposed tip-off was that it apparently means “soon to be rich” in Russian.
    
    Except of course if you google the name, the first results page points to half a dozen different people named Skorobogatov.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/崔运迪/100003779401629 崔运迪
    
    Not always man.Xiao can be little 小 or dawn 晓 or 筱 also means little or 霄 cloud or any characters sound xiao.
    And this news is real.
Chentzilla

Trick of mind: when paired with “in-game”, “hires” reads as abbreviation of “high resolution”.
- http://www.facebook.com/david.guilbeault David Guilbeault
  
  I have been afflicted with this ever since the Apple ][ days. High-Rez rootbeer anyone?
http://twitter.com/elphud Pfad Rhamses XV

Spoken like a true American! What? Their Chinese? Well, fuck yeah!!!!
- plyx
  
  Their = third person plural possessive adjective, used to describe ownership
  There = multiple uses, most commonly as a noun that shows location
  They’re = a contraction of ‘they are’ often followed by the present participle
  - invictus
    
    I think the comment you are critiquing was written in the spirit of irony, and was misusing the adjective in an attempt to create an aura of authenticity.
    
    But I may be wrong — there were no sarcasm tags, after all.
    - Daemonworks
      
      Of course there isn’t.
      - euansmith
        
        Well, duh!
  - Bender
    
    Many people know the difference but can still make a mistake while commenting. Grammar police get to feel superior in these occasions though, so that’s always good.
  - Rindan
    
    Cool story bro.
dmc10

Might have be easier just to turn off / block his internet access no? Or install some parental software that can block specified apps from running. Though paying to have people grief his son is pretty damn funny imo.
- Boundegar
  
  Is there a way I can do this with Portal? Please?
  - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
    
    If the target isn’t an admin user, you have options. If they are(or could trivially become so) you might as well not bother.
    
    On either Windows or OSX(or Linux if Portal has become part of the Steam beta there, haven’t checked), simply modifying the permissions of the hl2 executable should break things readily enough(at least on Windows, ‘Portal’ is just ‘hl2.exe -game portal’ with appropriate resources available). On the more expensive Windows SKUs, you can also do some amusing things with Software Restriction Policies(which do more or less what you’d expect from the name, along with a few additional features). If you are on Linux, and are feeling mean, SElinux offers more knobs and switches for disabling things than you are likely to ever need.
  - euansmith
    
    Build more lethal test chambers.
    - Boundegar
      
      Not even a slim chance I could outwit my teenage son at that game. He’s logged enough hours to get a Masters degree.
      - euansmith
        
        I’m not talking about “in game”…
- ocker3
  
  His son may well have admin rights to the home machine, meaning he has Quite a lot of control over it. He would have much less control over the game environment.
  - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
    
    At least with MMORPGs, you can always toast them at the router(though it isn’t much more likely that daddy dearest has the technical upper hand there)
- dragonfrog
  
  He might have preferred to play in Internet cafes, far from the distracting sound of his father’s voice saying something-something-job-something-something-six-hours-something-sleep
- http://www.facebook.com/people/崔运迪/100003779401629 崔运迪
  
  Turth is that guy is a adult and his father can’t do that.
  - dmc10
    
    IF he lives at home and isn’t paying the bills — they yes, he certainly CAN do that. If his child can’t act like an adult, he shouldn’t be treated like one. Throw the kid out of the house, let him pay for his own own PC / gaming subs.
  - wysinwyg
    
    dmc10′s point is kinda valid although I think parents kicking kids out of houses is almost always indicates a failure of the parent as a parent and almost always has terrible results. More importantly, there are no laws or rules against hiring people to go gunning for the MMORPG characters of others. The father is well within his legal rights here and I think this solution is actually a lot better than dmc10′s of kicking the kid out of the house (though probably still not the best possible solution).
http://www.facebook.com/bill.sides.77 Bill Sides

“I can play or I can not play, it doesn’t bother me, ” said the addict.
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

FUCK YOU DAD I JUST LEVELED OFF YOUR GOON SQUAD. SEND PROS NEXT TIME
- http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
  
  It does seem a bit like a Pink Panther approach to parenting, no?
Nate Foote

Maybe I missed it, but did the article specify whether or not this adult lived in his father’s house?
If not, tough luck dad, your child is off and on his own. Get over it.
If he DOES live at home still, be a parent and enact rules and responsibilities. You have the power to remove his computers/consoles.
- invictus
  
  Given the current state of the real estate market in China? If this had taken place in a major city (or, indeed, had taken place at all), then most likely the son is living at home. Or has no reason to look for a job in the first place, as the parents are millionaires.
- Glippiglop
  
  He’s probably playing at Internet gaming cafés. They’re very popular in China and he wouldn’t have to travel far to find one. Gaming addiction is prevalent enough that it’s formally recognised as an illness and societal problem amongst the youth and unemployed over there.
  - Boundegar
    
    That’s how it worked in REAMDE, so it must be true!
  - Ramone
    
    “…it’s formally recognised as an illness and societal problem amongst the youth…” As diagnosed by the Chinese government? I’m sure they’re very understanding/compassionate in their treatment.
    - euansmith
      
      “… attach the Groin-o-Shock-a-Matic Adapter!”
- Jonathan Roberts
  
  There’s quite a lot of pressure on young people in China to get a great job and get married to the right person, then have a child at the right time. Basically, Xiao Feng will be expected to get married and have a child, then look after both sets of parents into their retirement as well as ensuring that the child has the best start in life (which often includes extortionate tuition fees in order to get an actual education). For their part, the parents look after their grandchild so that both parents can work. If Xiao Feng doesn’t get a job now, it’s not just him who will suffer. It’s hard to imagine this in the west where children are more free to choose their own path, but your responsibility to your family is only just getting started in your 20s if you are Chinese.
  - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
    
    My understanding of why Xiao Feng prefers escapism, even at the cost of getting spawn camped all the time, is much increased…
    - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
      
      If that’s what he has to look forward to, I could see repeatedly getting killed as a happy, relaxing, fantasy, like someone looking wistfully over a high precipice. or habitually putting toy guns into his mouth.
  - dmc10
    
    They by any definition, especially Chinese, he is a total ‘epic faaaaaaaiiiiiilllllllllllll’ !
Napalm Dog

It’s entirely possible and plausible. A couple of guys were hoping to start a company by paying bounties in the game DayZ…

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/06/dayz-bounty-wants-to-pay-you-real-actual-money-for-killing-zombies-and-fellow-players/

And if you haven’t heard of or played DayZ, you are truly missing out in regards to open gaming…
jaytkay

Son, I am disappoint.

I am also in ur base killin ur d00dz.
- euansmith
  
  “All your house are belong to us!”
orwell

xiao does mean “little,” but many adults, children, family members, etc., are referred to in such a way, in china. often, family members will even call their own siblings by these descriptors (i.e. little, big, uncle, older brother, etc.) instead of their formal name. very standard practice…
jimmyungreek

whadayaknow!!!
Boris Bartlog

Well, it beats being sent off to WWASPS. Or getting stereotactic surgery on your nucleus accumbens. So I guess, uh, props to dad for being sort of reasonable :-/
- ocker3
  
  It certainly was a creative response
James

Guys, I’m getting turned on.
Jonathan Roberts

Best comment from the article: His son should get a job working for other fathers to kill their sons in online games.
Mitch_M

I asked a Chinese freshman whom I take to the video game store a lot “Are your classes so easy that you don’t have to study much?” He said “I don’t know. I have not been to class yet.”

Maybe I should get his name off his credit card and write his Pa a letter!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  If you’re planning to hire some egghead to take your tests for you, it would be pretty dumb to go to class and make it easier for the school to notice that it’s a different person.
Van Diemen

So what game was he playing?
I want to play it if it’s THAT good.
- euansmith
  
  Second Life. His online character is a dutiful son who has a wife, child and a high paying job.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/崔运迪/100003779401629 崔运迪
  
  Maybe World of Warcraft
euansmith

Everyday life gets a little more Sci-fi; but I’m still waiting for my frakking Grav-belt!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RREC2OY32JFN6JWSK4KZNBZF7Y Jim

As a parent, I love this story. Props to daddy Feng for creative thinking.

Does little Feng live with mommy Feng and and daddy Feng? If little Feng plays at home, daddy Feng can and should cut off little Feng’s internet access. If he plays at a cafe, how does he pay for it without a job? Money from daddy Feng? Again, something to cut off.
- dmc10
  
  I posted something similar. I’m thinking without a job he MUST be living at home, so dad needs to grow a pair and turn off access, take his pc, not give him any money (for the sub), etc.
  
  It sounds like he’s not contributing anything to the household, cooking, chores, errands, etc to at least earn his keep even a little.
http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke

Dad would be better off toughening up his kid by hiring RL thugs to randomly ambush and beat him up. Now, THAT would make him a better person!
http://twitter.com/Butterbeasil Beasil

Yeah, this sounds pretty fishy. Most online role-playing games don’t feature unlimited free-for-all PVP, but if these -were- games that focused on multiplayer combat, little Feng could probably have reported the virtual “assassins” (where does a parent go to look for something like that?) for griefing. I call satire.