Gamer Stabs Counter-Strike Foe—For Real

A Frenchman—possibly so divorced from reality that he failed to realize there's no respawn option in real life— hunted down a player who "fatally stabbed" his virtual character in online game Counter-Strike and plunged a real knife into the game rival's chest. The victim survived after the knife missed his heart by less than an inch. A court was told how Julien Barreaux, 20, spent 7 months tracking down the victim and plotting revenge for the online killing, the Telegraph reports.

"You are a menace to society," the judge told Barreaux, sentencing him to 2 years and ordering him to undergo psychiatric tests and therapy for anger management. "I am frankly terrified of the disproportionate reaction you could have if someone looked at you the wrong way in the street." (More stabbing stories.)