Numerous people in the world struggle to find employment. It can be an exasperating process for the unemployed as well as the people who love them. This is especially true when people become discouraged and downtrodden about available opportunities and instead focus on less productive activities like playing a plethora of video games.
In China, one father recently took a unique approach to try to get his 23 year old son off the sofa and onto the street to resume his search for work. Mr. Feng of China blamed video games for his son, Xiao Feng’s poor performance at school, and inability to hold down a job. Although Xiao had found work at a software company he quit within the first three months and decided that online gaming was a much better use of his time than pounding the pavement.
This didn’t sit well with dad, so instead of nagging his son to death he hired assassins to kill him, virtually. The merciless mercenaries were employed to attack the younger Feng whenever he logged onto one of his favorite games and immediately stomping him into submission. Dad hoped this drastic tactic would take the fun out of game and his son would lose interest freeing him up to seek gainful employment instead.
Though Xiao Feng spent a lot of time playing online games and considered himself a master of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, he was powerless to the stronger, higher-leveled, and more experienced players his father sent after him. Frustrated but unwilling to give up the game, Xiao confronted the killers as to why they wouldn’t leave him alone. Unlike real-life trained operatives the team quickly turned over and spilled the beans about Mr. Feng’s master plan.
Xiao turned the tables on his father stating his lack of interest in finding work wasn’t about the video games after all. He said, “I can play or I cannot 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.”
The response satisfied his father who then called off the hit on his son’s avatar’s head. He was relieved to find that his son was holding out for the right opportunity and not addicted to video games. The compulsion to play is so widespread in China that in 2007 the government established a campaign to combat internet addiction including setting up clinics that used shock therapy to treat patients. The practice was banned in 2009. Now, many Chinese children struggling with video game addiction are sent to camp to curb computer cravings.
Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that point for Xiao Feng. Maybe he will be inspired by his father’s grand gesture and start a company that offers online assassinations to other parents who have trouble convincing their grown children to turn off the game and get a job.
Photo courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos
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