An Italian bloke who was so addicted to playing online computer games has been jailed after beating up his life for telling him to stop.

According to Italian press reports, the bloke who has been identified as “Nino C,” hails from Canegrate and spent 20 hours a day playing an online roleplaying game. It got so bad that he started to lose jobs and then, when his wife tried to keep him away from the PC, he started beating her up.

The man was stopped by agents of the Commissioner of Legnano following the complaint lodged by his wife, who finally decided to put an end to the abuse that lasted over a year. Although the fact that he also appeared to be having an online affair with another player did not help.

The family took off only holiday to Sicily for him to detoxify, but that just made him worse. He suffered from illnesses including seizures, until he was forced into a psychiatric hospital in Legnano. However soon after he was released he beat up his wife so badly she ended up in hospital and the cops were called.

The harrowing case is being touted in the Italian press as an example of the dangers of online gaming.