37 GAME BUSTER

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PARENTS HIRE EXPERT GAMER TO CRUSH KIDS' CONFIDENCE

A Chinese gamer recently went viral after claiming that he had been paid by the parents of at least two kids to beat them at online video games to destroy their playing confidence.

Video games are generally pretty harmless if played in moderation, but in many cases these days children become so obsessed with these made-up virtual worlds that they start to ignore their real lives, school, and even their families. Getting them back on track can be a real challenge, and many parents are using desperate measures.

In China, for example, some parents sign their kids up for military-style anti-game camps. Others use sneakier methods like hiring skilled gamers to beat their kids at their favorite video games in order to crush their playing confidence and, the parents hope, convince the kids to quit.

One such “video game master” recently revealed that he was paid by the parents of a young gamer to “kick his butt” at his favorite video game and make him question his actual skills. The young boy’s parents said that he used to be a model student and an obedient child until the fourth grade; after that, video games changed him completely.

The boy now dedicates most of his time to online video games and dreams of becoming a professional gamer, supporting himself by doing what he loves most. His parents cannot accept that, but they cannot talk him out of it, either, so they decided to have someone else do the convincing.

It is unclear how the parents got in contact with the “pro gamer,” but he claims that they agreed to pay him his fee of 50 yuan (USD$7.20) per hour to challenge their son at his favorite video game and to utterly destroy his confidence in his skills. The anonymous gamer even posted screenshots of his conversation with the boy’s parents, as evidence.

The skilled gamer said that they played five games over five hours. He took his time in the first game, trying to tire out his opponent, before beating him. Then, he beat him very badly in the next four games, as his parents wanted. The victories were apparently so one-sided that the boy did not want to play anymore. His confidence in his skills as a gamer was shaken enough that his parents were finally able to convince him that he should focus more on his studies to build his future.

The video game master claimed that he has, so far, helped two families reclaim their game-addicted kids by beating them badly at their favorite video games. He added that this therapeutic “video bullying” also gave him a nice feeling of satisfaction.