How to stop your kids gaming: hire a gang of hitmen

In one of South Park’s most celebrated episodes, the four main characters get addicted to beating a fellow player on World of Warcraft

In one of South Park's most celebrated episodes, the four main characters get addicted to beating a fellow player on World of Warcraft and are only able to stop when Stan's dad is given a special sword by the game's maker. Now a Chinese father has staged a rather more impressive intervention, according to local reports.

Sick of his 23-year-old son Xiao Feng spending hours playing a Chinese online role-playing game, Mr Feng – according to the Sanqing Daily – hired a group of expert players to find his son's character and assassinate him in an attempt to make him get a job and to punish him for poor grades caused by playing too many games. Ouch.

Clearly, there are two – contradictory – lessons here. One, if you spend too much time gaming then there's a chance that your life could get so waylaid that this kind of intervention is neccesary. On the other hand, it's proof that if you play well enough for long enough you'll be able to make a fine living as an in-game contract killer...