Buddhist monks. "Counter-Strike."
Not exactly two things you expect to have anything in common. But, while researching a story that has absolutely nothing to do with either, we discovered some monks in China that are big fans of Valve's shooter.
Honestly, I didn't believe Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford when he told me.
"I was a bit surprised when I was in China and I was told about a group of Monks who live in a temple next to a Cybercafe. Apparently, the monks are not permitted to drink alcohol, eat meat or be married, but it’s totally acceptable for them to play violent video games. Apparently, this group of Monks spent a lot of time next door to their temple at the Cybercafe playing 'Counter-Strike,'" Pitchford told Multiplayer.
He wasn't lying. Scouring the results of a simple Google search for "counter-strike monks" I found a number of visitors stumbling across monks firing their virtual AK-47s in de_dust (a famous "Counter-Strike" map).
For more, we spoke with a world traveler who actually saw the monks in person.