Chinese gamer stabs friend with scissors after thinking he was an in-game enemy

We often hear about gamers getting a little too engrossed in video games, but cases of gamers actually confusing games and reality are (thankfully) pretty damn rare. Unfortunately, though, one such case did unfold in China last week.

On the afternoon of June 9th in front of a guesthouse in Jining, the following scene unfolded in front of a growing group of shocked onlookers: the tall and heavy 30-year-old Mr. Teng (pictured above talking to the police) grappled with Mr. Zhang on the sidewalk. Teng was clutching a pair of scissors and stabbing at Zhang screaming “I’ll kill you,” while Zhang, naked from the waist up and covered in blood, was raising his left arm in a weak attempt to defend himself. “Everyone join me and help save the world,” Teng screamed at the crowd.

Needless to say, the police were called, but when they arrived, Teng didn’t run. Instead, he directly confronted the police, saying: “He must die. Just get in your car and go away, otherwise I’ll stab anyone I see.”

With the help of the crowd, police eventually subdued Teng, and Zhang survived. Police eventually discovered that Teng was schizophrenic and had a history of crime, but had been released from a mental hospital to live with his mother several months earlier. On June 9th he stole 100 RMB (about $16) from her and went to the guesthouse to play video games with a friend, Mr. Zhang, but things went wrong after a minor argument, and Teng somehow became convinced that he needed to kill Zhang in order to save the world. Zhang originally tried to hide in a bathroom of the guesthouse, but after Teng got in and stabbed him, Zhang fled outdoors.

As with most of these gaming violence stories, it sounds like games may have helped spark the violent incident, but they certainly were not the underlying cause. Teng was mentally ill and had already proven himself a danger to others previously, and his hallucinatory rage likely has much more to do with his illness than it does any virtual violence he was exposed to.

(via Netease Games)