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Dad Hires In-Game 'Assassins' To Get His Son To Stop Gaming

An anonymous reader writes "An irritated father of a 23-year-old gamer hired 'In-game assassins' to attempt to make his son quit playing video games and have him get a job. '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.' While the son recently had a job at a software development company he quit because he decided he didn't like the work."

40 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Just kick him out. by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No need for that, just kick him out.
    He will find a job when he needs a place to live and food to eat.

    1. Re:Just kick him out. by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, finding a job when you don't have an address, money, food or means will be a snap!

      The US street are littered with kids whose parent did that instead of actual get professional help.

      .

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:Just kick him out. by jjsimp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is just so simple, but parents these days are just so stupid. My dad gave me three options when I graduated from HS. Join the military, go to college, or GTFO. And for the current teens/twenty somethings I do not hate my father. In fact I respect the man.

    3. Re:Just kick him out. by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This was in China though. And the Dad evidently gave up after the kid said "No, I'm STILL not going to look for a job." Sounds like the problem may have been lack of tough love. Furthermore, h4rr4r's suggestion doesn't need to be an immediate and total severing of all ties and support.

      "You have a month or two to find a job, after that time you'll either be gainfully employed and enjoying your hobby on your off hours, or you will be sleeping on the concrete and won't have a computer."

      If the kid chooses the latter, that's his fault.

    4. Re:Just kick him out. by razorh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The US street are littered with kids whose parent did that instead of actual get professional help.

      Really? Where? Reference? Honestly, I've never heard that parents kicking deadbeat children out of their homes was a serious source of homelessness.

    5. Re:Just kick him out. by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The US street are littered with kids whose parent did that instead of actual get professional help.

      No, they aren't. They are littered with people who have schizophrenia and other mental illness, but cannot be compelled to take their meds. This dude isn't hearing voices, and he doesn't seem to be self-treating his "illness" with alcohol or heroin.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    6. Re:Just kick him out. by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not always - it's the curse of overqualified.

    7. Re:Just kick him out. by tnk1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My parents let me stay at home between college and my first (post-college) job. That was a total of one week. They probably would have let me stay for longer, but I didn't want to. I like them just fine, but how precisely was I ever going to be an adult, have good relationship with women, and learn to take care of myself if I kept living with them? I love video games, but not so much that I can stand to play them all day, every day. After work and on weekends is more than enough time for that.

      If this kid doesn't like his job, he needs to do what every responsible adult does: work it until you can get a better one somewhere else. You're never going to get a good job unless you're really lucky or you work through the bad or mediocre ones first.

      I haven't liked every job I have worked. Some I downright hated, but they were a means to an end. Now, I have house, cars and family of my own, and my parents get to enjoy the rest of their lives without me hanging around mooching off them.

      That is not to say I am not in favor of using your parents as a springboard to get you there. If you truly can't find a job, you need to do what you have to do. There's no shame in living at your parents' home to get back on your feet, just as long as that is what you are trying to do. In this person's case, I'm not sure he's being an adult.

    8. Re:Just kick him out. by codewarren · · Score: 5, Funny

      Indeed, how will he ever conceal the fact that he can write software? He's doomed.

    9. Re:Just kick him out. by spiffmastercow · · Score: 3, Funny

      The US street are littered with kids whose parent did that instead of actual get professional help.

      Really? Where? Reference? Honestly, I've never heard that parents kicking deadbeat children out of their homes was a serious source of homelessness.

      They're all in Portland. Also, most of them deserve it and would not contribute to society in any meaningful way regardless of whether they're on the streets or in their parents' homes.

    10. Re:Just kick him out. by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Informative

      If the dude has the skills to get a job as a software dev, he can work as a gas station attendant, which would give him enough money to room up with someone and eat. From there, it's his problem.

      Clearly you never tried living on your own on a gas station attendant's wage.

      Clearly you never tried reading the post you are replying to that specifically stipulated *rooming with someone*. But you are correct even 40+ hours a week at a gas station (almost impossible to get since they prefer part-timers) is barely enough for rent, gas, and a little cheap (unhealthy) food. It sucks.

      And clearly neither of you actually RTFA, which said it was in China. I'd wager you have no idea what a "gas station attendant" makes there, how much rent or food is in his town, or what the hiring preferences of Chinese gas station owners is.

    11. Re:Just kick him out. by superdave80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure the dad would let him use his address if it meant getting a job. Sheesh, I wish people would think for more than five seconds before posting 'problems' like these...

    12. Re:Just kick him out. by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      his was in China though. And the Dad evidently gave up after the kid said "No, I'm STILL not going to look for a job." Sounds like the problem may have been lack of tough love.

      Sounds like it might be 421 aka Little Emperor Syndrome at work.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    13. Re:Just kick him out. by spiffmastercow · · Score: 5, Informative

      Coincidentally I am in Portland.

      "most of them deserve it and would not contribute to society in any meaningful way" Fuck you, you poor excuse for a limp wristed cum stain.

      YOU and people like YOU are clueless fucks that would watch society burn to the ground to hold onto you belief instead of thinking. They need help. Most haven't even been taught how to plan or work, then suddenly they are on the streets becasue they are lazy. The do nothing parent scratch their head and can't figure out why ignoring a child for 18 years has lead to them being 'lazy'.

      I lived in Portland for many years. Hell, I hung out with some of those kids, and even had roommates who were one step up the ladder (renting a room in a shithole on 82nd street). The fact is, they're lazy fucks. There's all kinds of resources to get them food, shelter, and jobs, but they'd rather get high instead, and most of those programs require that you remain clean. Also, the vast majority of them simply go back to stay with their parents during the winter months -- notice you only see them around in the spring and summer?

    14. Re:Just kick him out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      And since when is "education or experience" required for software development?

    15. Re:Just kick him out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      It used to be easy to conceal the fact you are a code monkey, until they invented the banana test... It can't be fooled.

    16. Re:Just kick him out. by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't give him internet access at home and don't give him any money to spend at the cafes there. If he wants to play his games he came pay for them himself.

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    17. Re:Just kick him out. by VortexCortex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are littered with people who have schizophrenia and other mental illness, but cannot be compelled to take their meds. This dude isn't hearing voices, and he doesn't seem to be self-treating his "illness" with alcohol or heroin.

      Have you ever been homeless? I suspect not because that's a load of bullish. I have been homeless. The streets are littered with unfortunate souls who for one reason or another wound up on the streets and either can't get a foothold back into modern civilisation. There are the deranged, lazy, addicts, etc who won't work, but these are a SMALL portion of the homeless population. I guess you think "all niggers are lazy thieves"? No, of course not, that's racist? Then why the fuck would you think in much the same way about homeless people?

      I couldn't get along with my abusive step dad. Out on the streets at 17, despite having been running a software business since age 15 (selling my wares on Compuserve and other online services), I found it near impossible to get a job doing ANYTHING, even cleaning toilets. Homeless are thought to be thieves, murderers, rapists, etc -- They must be really horrible people if they have no place to live, they did something to deserve that life -- WRONG. Maybe some have, but it's not the majority. The majority I've encountered made bad financial decisions, or specialized in a field that became obsolete, simply had a home foreclosure while being laid-off and unable to find work. Entire families may seek help from other relatives, even giving legal guardianship of their kids to relatives until they themselves are homeless. Sometimes they have no one to turn to, the shelter is full of folks like this. What did I do to deserve homelessness? What dysfunction caused me to live on the streets? I provoked an abusive man to keep him from abusing my two younger brothers. My mother finally wised up when he started abusing them, originally thinking that I was just an ungrateful problem child, and thus was the black sheep of the family. My other relatives thought it would be better for me to live on the streets and learn "tough love" than to give me refuge.

      In short: Get bent you ignorant prick, you're pulling shit out of your arse, typical slashdot armchair sociologist, you're worse than any homeless person I've ever met.

    18. Re:Just kick him out. by 0111+1110 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some managers don't like to hire people who seem overqualified in any way because they figure you will just end up quitting very soon when you find something better. They'd prefer someone like a recent immigrant who doesn't speak much English because they are less likely to be upwardly mobile or whatever. In any case they prefer to hire someone who seems like they will stick around for awhile after they have been trained and have figured out how to do the job. I think it's also helpful not too seem too intelligent.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    19. Re:Just kick him out. by mark-t · · Score: 3, Informative
      But with a basic job like gas stations, flipping burgers, etc... there really isn't much as "overqualified"

      Actually, there is.... and I'm speaking from personal experience here. I've seen both fast food places *AND* gas stations decide to *NOT* hire a professional that they felt would leave them too quickly, needlessly wasting valuable time on training, when they can get another desperate and less over-qualified person for exactly the same amount of money, who is less likely to leave them right away.

    20. Re:Just kick him out. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not always - it's the curse of overqualified.

      Bullshit - I know people with Psych Ph. D's who work at Steak N' Shake.

      Fast food places do not give a singe fuck what your education is; all they care about is that you're willing to do shit work for shit pay.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    21. Re:Just kick him out. by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The majority I've encountered made bad financial decisions,

      This is true of every homeless person I've ever met; every single one of them (anecdotal) had problems managing money. A lot of them know how to earn it, I knew one guy who could manage a team and make $2000 for himself in a single week doing construction.

      He spent it all. In general, if you give a homeless guy $10, he'll spend it immediately. If you give a homeless guy $100, he'll call his friends and spend it immediately. If you give him $1000, he'll have it spent by the end of the week. He might even do something silly like stay in a hotel, instead of renting an apartment.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    22. Re:Just kick him out. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think it's also helpful not too seem too intelligent.

      23 years old, lives at home, and does nothing but play video games.

      Yea, something tells me being seen as 'too intelligent' not a risk for this particular waste of space.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    23. Re:Just kick him out. by LordLimecat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess you think "all niggers are lazy thieves"? No, of course not, that's racist? Then why the fuck would you think in much the same way about homeless people?

      From :

      What are the greatest causes of homelessness? ...
      For singles, the three most commonly cited causes of homelessness are:
        * Substance abuse
        * Lack of affordable housing
        * Mental illness

      Guess PBS is racist now?

    24. Re:Just kick him out. by fatphil · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is tales like these that are why practically the only charitable donations I make are to homeless charities (and very closely related causes such as soup kitchens, food banks, clothing banks, etc.). All the diseases that you get when you're old, and might die of, fuck it, I couldn't care less about - you've got to die of *something*, finding a cure for one of them just means you die of a different one; so all those charities miss out completely. I rarely give cash in person (I find it hard to overcome an "they might spend it on the wrong thing" attitude), but will often offer food to those who look like they need it most.

      I think those with a negative prejudice against the homeless should be forced to play "The Bum Game": http://www.globalgamenetwork.com/bumgame/ . And not be allowed to stop until they win, or recant.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  2. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How does this crap get on Slashdot? Seriously! Can we possibly have some tech related news that promotes some form or interesting and educational discourse?

    Please!

  3. Welll, Now i know my new carruier by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    in game assassin. 200 bucks a day, plus expenses. I can even see the misspelled gold lettering on my office door.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  4. Just pay the son by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because he thinks his son should make money instead of game all day, he hires someone to make money by gaming all day?

    1. Re:Just pay the son by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe his kid should look for a job as an in-game assassin? Apparently there's a market for that kind of thing.

  5. If you kill him.. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you kill him, he will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  6. Useless by Blindman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At best, you would be encouraging him to find a different game. Presumably, he would find one without player kills.
    People generally find jobs because they need a job--not because they are too bored to do something else.

    --
    I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person that I'm preaching to.
    1. Re:Useless by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If he can't hold a job because he's addicted, and he doesn't want to look for a job because he's addicted, then souring the high may work. They do it with alcohol, so his father was trying the online version of disulfiram. Now, if he's just lazy and fills his lazy with games, then he'll find a different game to fill his time.

      And yes, some people find jobs because they are too bored to do something else. Lots of retired people get a part time job or something like that because they are bored. People plan all their life to retire, but don't plan what happens after.

  7. Career by biojayc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd love to see someone try to make a career out of this! Pick a game like WOW and then advertise that you will make the game hell for whoever for a fee in an attempt to get them to quit. Two main clients I'd image: dad's and girlfriends. Wonder how long before Blizzard or lawyers step in.

  8. Irony by Nadaka · · Score: 4, Funny

    What if his son is running a business by selling his services as an ingame assassin?

  9. Seriously? by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the father is overthinking this. I can't get at TFA from here, but if the son is living at the father's house, there are much better solutions. If it's a game console, disconnect it and donate it to the Salvation Army. If it's the son's personal property, fine, but if the son is living at the father's home, the internet connection probably belongs to the father. Login to router, disallow son's device. (And change the admin password.)

    What it comes down to is this: "It's my house. If you want to live as you please, go out and get your own place. You're old enough. And if you think you can keep an apartment as a professional game player, let me know how that works out for you."

    We had a similar issue at my house. I was at work and missed the fireworks, but I'm told they were spectacular. Wife was absolutely addicted to a Facebook game, wouldn't get off the couch except to go to the bathroom. Daughter needed food, couldn't get wife's attention. So daughter went out to the garage and turned off the router. (Wife doesn't know a router from a coffee pot, didn't know what to turn on.) Whoo boy. Initially wife's reaction was "I'm not going to do anything for you until you turn the internet back on" (imagine that much louder and a bit hysterical). Daughter's response "you weren't doing anything anyway, so what have I lost?" I'm told that after shouting back and forth for awhile, and a half hour of sulking, wife finally got up and made dinner with very bad grace. As soon as the food was ready, daughter turned on the router.

    Later, I got home, said "hi" got no answer. Said "Hello" a little louder, still no answer. Called wife's name, got "Don't. Talk. To. Me." Ooookay then.....

    I tend to be self-correcting on games. I may have mentioned before, I was a Warcraft addict for awhile, and when I realized I couldn't stay away, I gave the disc to daughter and told her to hide it. A year and a half later, I still don't know where it is. But I have so much more time at home to actually interact with my family (when wife isn't playing facebook games) and do stuff around the house.

    In yet another instance, I had a nephew staying with me, and when he quit college because it's "too hard" and decided he could make a living as a game tester if he just put in enough practice, it was time for him to find some place else to live. I hear he slept in his car for awhile.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Seriously? by Beorytis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you and your wife should prepare for the eventuality of your daughter kicking you both out. She sounds like the responsible adult in the house (though she probably could use a cooking course).

  10. Re:If you're assassinated in a video game... by Sulphur · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you're assassinated in a video game, what happens to your assets? I can totally see a new a career here. First, I play video games all day long and get really good at them. Then, I offer to assassinate other players with the stipulation that I get to keep all their goods. So I get real world cash for the hit and virtual world goods from the person I just wiped out. And all while sitting on my ass playing video games. Hmmm I think I need to take this idea to a good VC firm before Zuckerberg steals my idea and integrates it into Facebook.

    He'll make a killing.

  11. Spoiled. by MaWeiTao · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a fairly common problem in Asia, and possibly more prevalent in Chinese speaking nations. Sons continue to be revered to the point of being spoiled rotten. So they go through school and enter the workforce incapable of handling the responsibilities and stresses of life. They expect everything handed to them and many have trouble being told want to do in the workplace. It's not fundamentally different than the entitlement culture parents are creating in the west, but it's a bit more focused in Asia and manifests itself a little different.

    Where American youth expect they should be free to pursue a life of leisure young men in Asia have it in their heads that they're budding entrepreneurs. So they'll refuse to get a job because they don't want to work for the man. They leech off the parents and because of the strong sense of family and obligation parents will support them indefinitely. They'll even go as far as helping them start a business which doesn't improve their work ethic. For the guys with wealthy and connected parents they'll get a cushy, high paying job doing not much of anything. The irony is that the daughters still get the short of the stick, but end up being the responsible ones who in the end support the parents and the slacker brothers.

    Of course, there is the subset who have no aspirations whatsoever, like this guy. So his father didn't kick him in the ass when he should have, let the problem persist and grow, and now is trying to do something about it when it's too late.

  12. Just cut his internet access off after 10pm by Farmer+Pete · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just cut his internet access off after 10pm...oh wait, he might try to drug you so he can get his internet on.

  13. Re:Just kick him out.(you don't understand) by StillNeedMoreCoffee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem is loosing your child. China's one child policy has left much of the country with families with one child (little emperors) that know that they can just leave there parents which for a Chinese family is a horrible idea, unthinkable, especially a son. So you have children that know they have presure that threat to disown their parents as extreme leverage. So the "Just kick him out" is truly a scary , not to be considered because of the consequences action. No wonder the father took indirect steps to make his son want to stop game playing. The Chinese do things indirectly and communication is an art in a way that we don't fully understand. So assuming the same value system, and behaviours we would take in the West have any resonance in the East.