A Chinese man hired a hitman to track down and kill his addicted son's virtual characters, according to local reports.
The addicted gamer was named by Kotaku as Xiao Feng, 23.
Gaming addiction is a serious concern for many parents, particularly in Asia where several deaths have been blamed on hooked gamers unable to leave their workstations.
Feng was apparently so hooked on Chinese online roleplaying games that his grades suffered, and he wasn't able to get a job after leaving school.
And after he failed to complete a placement at a software development company, his father stepped up his campaign to lift his son's eyes from his computer screen once and for all.
Sanqing Daily reports that he hired in-game assassins to kill Feng every time he logged on.
The idea was that his son would get so bored of being relentlessly killed, that he would eventually give up.
As far as we can tell, the result was slightly disappointing.
Feng apparently decided instead to stand up to his father, which is good, but to refuse to get a job. Which is less good.
The son told his dad that he wasn't looking for "any job, I want to take some time to find one that suits me".
The result is apparently that the assassins have been stood down, but his son is still unemployed. Still, alls well that ends in relentless online murder.