A teenage boy who ran away from home last month after his Xbox was confiscated has been found dead in Canada. Brandon Crisp, 15, went missing on October 14 after his father forbade him from playing his video game console after becoming concerned about the teenager’s obsession with the online game Call of Duty 4.
Steve Crisp said he removed the Xbox 360 after his son’s behaviour began to change. He said Brandon’s grades were slipping, he had started skipping school and stealing money. Brandon fled his home on his bicycle and was last seen in a popular hiking and cycling path near Barrie, Ontario, north of Toronto.
A local newspaper and Xbox creators Microsoft offered a $C50,000 reward (27,000pounds) and 1600 volunteers searched the local area, but all they found was his abandoned bicycle with a flat tyre.
Brandon’s body was found by hunters in a cornfield on Wednesday.
Incoming Joe Lieberman & Hillary Clinton rant.
Stupid kid. I feel bad for the family. As far as I know, no real details have come up on HOW he died.
So very sad.
““This had become his identity, and I didn’t realize how in-depth this was until I took his Xbox away,” Mr Crisp told the Globe and Mail. “That’s like cutting his legs off.”
“I just took away his identity, so I can understand why he got so mad and took off. Before, I couldn’t understand why he was taking off for taking his game away.” .
Jesus. I guess video-game addiction is a disease, just like alcoholism.
However, the old man said that “he removed the Xbox 360 after his son’s behaviour began to change. He said Brandon’s grades were slipping, he had started skipping school and stealing money.“.
Which was it? His behavior began to change and THEN the guy removed the Xbox, or he removed the Xbox and then his behavior began to change?
These two would seem to be mutually exclusive.
Either way, it’s hard to see how video games are any sort of giant leap for mankind.
So sad…
Interesting that I see more sympathy on this blog posting about a kid getting his video game console taken away then being a brat and running away than on the post about the 8 year old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with the assault rifle under “parental supervision”.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still sad but so was the little boy at the gun show.
Maybe he would have lasted longer if he played more survival games.
Agree with you Stephanie, but these two situation is proving Darwin’s theory.
Good point Stephanie, maybe we a constitutional amendment guaranteeing kids the right to video consoles is in order …
Addiction can be very damaging. Tough Love is never easy either. The parents did the right thing. I’m sorry for their lose.
BTW, the father helped pack his bag. He thought the kid would return after a few hours or at worst the next day.
#6 Steph said, “Interesting that I see more sympathy …”
Or, how about some sympathy for terrorist bombing victims & condemnation of bombers
Hmmm?
Seems to me that its far more likely that the boy was suffering a mental illness well before ever playing CoD. If thats true then its entirely possible that he would have done the same thing no matter how his parents reacted to his slipping grades and other signs of him having problems that they were all too quick to blame on a simple video game.
Perhaps they should turn their anger over his video game towards themselves to see if they nwere actually good parents and gave their son the attention (and possible help) that he may have needed.
#12 – Paddy-RAMBO
>>Or, how about some sympathy for terrorist
>>bombing victims & condemnation of bombers
>>Hmmm?
Got any bombing victims in mind that you think aren’t getting any sympathy?
#14 Mr. Mustard, “Got any bombing victims in mind that you think aren’t getting any sympathy?”
Steph likes to excuse terrorist acts against innocent civilians…
#15 – Paddy-RAMBO
>>Steph likes to excuse terrorist acts against
>>innocent civilians…
I wasn’t asking about Steph, RAMBO. I was asking about you. You said “how about some sympathy for terrorist bombing victims & condemnation of bombers Hmmm?“.
Do you have any bombing victims in mind that you think aren’t getting any sympathy?
Or was that just verbal diarrhea?
Why would you steal money if your addicted to a video game. We aren’t getting the full story. As in most blogs
Eh. I’ve been watching this one. The police and parents aren’t even sure if it is Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty 3, or otherwise anyway.
These parents haven’t a clue what they are doing, nor what they are talking about. The kid ran away, ended up doing something stupid and was sadly killed. I feel bad for him, but that’s his decision.
Over CoD 4?
No WAY! Now if it was FALLOUT 3, that I could see.
Instead of taking it away, the parents should have set up rules so that he could play whenever he accomplished something.
Now the latest is that the school that he went to is going to have a “Dangers of New Technology” program for all the kids in the school covering text messaging, social networking and online gaming and not once has anyone brought up the point that maybe it is the parents that need a course on how to deal with thier kids in the modern age.
I’ll bet it wouldn’t make any difference no matter what the parents did or tried. Anybody mention drug use? Some children have a hard time growing up and won’t accept discipline in any way. COD4 is a good game for sure, but it could just as easily have been Red Faction or Tetris. Kids are kids. It’s a shame, the most interesting kids seem to always make the wrong decisions. His parents tried to help him, good for them!
Well, good puritans all. If the kiddie was addicted to game play the parents should have used it as “motivation” to modify his behavior. Outright bans against anything is rarely any good. Instead, “you can play 2 hours on Sunday and as your grades improve, you can play more often.”
Parental power trip to “ban” things. Imagine the sadness though to recognize the fruit of your own loins is so deficient? I’d blame my wife’s child rearing skills. That worked when our dog went rabid.
#18, Freyer,
The police and parents aren’t even sure if it is Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty 3, or otherwise anyway.
It matters? The kid was addicted to a video game. To the police, parents and everyone else with any sense it didn’t matter if it was CoD4, release A or B or the bootleg Asian release. It is a god damn video game the kid was addicted to.
These parents haven’t a clue what they are doing, nor what they are talking about.
And in your hind sight you do have a clue. The kid abused something. As punishment, for what father saw as being the cause of the wrong behavior, his video game was banned.
Sorry sonny, but you are the one who doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Such an unfortunate turn of events. I’m going to say a prayer for the family tonight. Imagine if this was your child…!
I’ve been watching this on the news. The contortions by the media to blame the game and game system instead of parenting skills has been, frankly, disgusting.
Remove the game from the equation and it simply isn’t as newsworthy, it’s just another sad statistic. Something that all parents dread.
#26, You’re right. That’s because the game is something easy to blame.
The kid was mentally ill. That is no one’s fault. Deal with it.
#15 – Paddy-RAMBO
>>Steph likes to excuse terrorist acts against
>>innocent civilians…
I wasn’t asking about Steph, RAMBO. I was asking about you. You said “how about some sympathy for terrorist bombing victims & condemnation of bombers Hmmm?“.
Do you have any bombing victims in mind that you think aren’t getting any sympathy?
Or was that just verbal diarrhea????