Run away gamer found dead.

[Slogger]

Source: Yahoo Australia

A Canadian boy who ran away from home after his father took away his Xbox game console has been found dead in a cornfield, local media reports said on Wednesday.

Brandon Crisp, 15, took off on his bicycle from his Barrie, Ontario home on October 13, provoking a massive police search with help from 1,600 volunteers that turned up no clues except for his abandoned bicycle with a flat tyre.

Xbox-maker Microsoft and others had offered a $C50,000 ($A63,000) reward for information on his whereabouts.

Police would only confirm on Wednesday that a body had been found in the search area.

The daily Toronto Star said on its website the boy's parents had been notified it was their son and students at his school were told the sad news at an afternoon assembly.

The teen's father Steve Crisp previously said he had removed Brandon's Xbox after noticing changes in his behaviour since Brandon started playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online.

The youngster started skipping school, stealing money and ignoring his studies, his father said.

In an interview with the daily Globe and Mail newspaper the father said he had not known how important the gaming system was to his son and how he would react when it was taken away.

Experts commented that gamers may form bonds with fellow online players.

"This had become his identity, and I didn't realise how in-depth this was until I took his Xbox away," Crisp told the Globe and Mail.

"That's like cutting his legs off."

"This is such an issue that hits every parent out there, with video games that are starting to control our kids' lives," he said.

"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."

Guess what's going to be getting the blame on this one folks?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Heh, I figured this would become international news once they found the kid.

I haven't figured out if it's Cole.

[Guest deknegt]

Lets bring on the usual scapegoat again...

[LexChaney]

In no way will the Father be blamed for this.

It's just way too easy for games to be blamed these days, kind of makes you think what they used to blame when videogames were not around.

[apsham]

Yeah, there's no real need to start the whole internet gaming "Ohhhh look who's getting the blame" when really, there isn't anyone out there right now in the articles that I have read, blaming video games. This is a freak case really, a very small percentage of people are going to react like this... the closest that anyone has come to condeming games is the father of the boy pointing out how games today are more and more starting to "take control over our kids lives" and to an extent... that's true. It's hard for a parent to really understand the attachment that kids have to games these days when it's something they're not familiar with. It's not like anyone ran away and turned up dead after their Atari was taken away.

But still, I haven't read much about it being blamed on video games so shush.

[Clawson]

Yeah he died like 15 minutes away from my house in Barrie. Trust me, the only way video games are getting brought up are through the fact the argument between father and son was about COD4.

And if anything, taking away the Xbox is good parenting if the kid is skipping school.

Edited November 6, 2008 by Clawson

[apsham]

In no way will the Father be blamed for this.

It's just way too easy for games to be blamed these days, kind of makes you think what they used to blame when videogames were not around.

Wait... what? That father should be blamed because he took away the X-Box of a kid who had become too attached to it as punishment, causing the unforeseeable reaction of the kid running away and presumably freezing to death in a corn field? Good work on that one, you're a work of art buddy... no one better fuck with your video games.

[LexChaney]

In no way will the Father be blamed for this.

It's just way too easy for games to be blamed these days, kind of makes you think what they used to blame when videogames were not around.

Wait... what? That father should be blamed because he took away the X-Box of a kid who had become too attached to it as punishment, causing the unforeseeable reaction of the kid running away and presumably freezing to death in a corn field? Good work on that one, you're a work of art buddy... no one better fuck with your video games.

It was a joke, and a bad one at that. It's odvious the father did the correct thing, but the kid should have been able to handle the situation a bit better, but most can't these days.

But still it's a two sided thing, some may blame the father, but a lot will probally blame video games and online play.

Edited November 6, 2008 by Sexy Lexy

[Scott McFly]

Not that it's particularly relevant to the tragic death of the boy, but why the heck was a 15 year old allowed to play Call Of Duty?

But yeah, I think perhaps a compromise where he could only play for a certain amount each day would've sufficed rather than taking it away altogether. Although obviously the kid still could've been unhappy with that and ran away.

[Slogger]

Not that it's particularly relevant to the tragic death of the boy, but why the heck was a 15 year old allowed to play Call Of Duty?

But yeah, I think perhaps a compromise where he could only play for a certain amount each day would've sufficed rather than taking it away altogether. Although obviously the kid still could've been unhappy with that and ran away.

It may have been rated 15 and over in Canada like it is here (In Australia), I'm not familiar with Canada's rating system or what COD4 was rated in Canada.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I think the ESRB handles Canada as well, so it'd be rated M/17+. Two years isn't going to make much of a difference.

[Ruki]

I think the ESRB handles Canada as well, so it'd be rated M/17+. Two years isn't going to make much of a difference.

Correct.

[RoyWill Rumble]

It's rated 'M' here for 17+, but I don't think the rating of the game really had that much of an adverse affect. I think at 15 you should be able to differentiate reality and video games. Unfortunately it seems this kid had a problem with that, or at least the article gives that impression.

Honestly though, a 15 year old playing CoD4 isn't that big of a problem.

[Scott McFly]

Well, he was still below age, but obviously the content of the game isn't the issue so I'll say no more.

Clearly this is just a case of a father seeing his son veering off the path a little bit and doing what he thought was best to help him. And it's had a tragic outcome. I don't think the father can be blamed or blame himself for this.

[DeeJam]

Instead of people blaming video games or the father, I wanna know the answer to a question Chris Rock once asked...What ever happened to just being crazy?

[apsham]

Exactly, people just can't be crazy no more? I am sure a lot of you here had the ability to use something that you liked taken away as punishment. And did you run away? Maybe you did, but you came back, lessons were learnt and yadda-yadda-yadda. There was just something different about this kid that caused this end result. Until it comes out how long he has been dead, it might just show an instance of him dying the night of him running away due to the cold temperatures and him thinking he'd be okay to camp out... either way, the whole thing is once again.. it's a pretty freak happening.

[King Ellis]

See, this is why Halo 3 is vastly superior to CoD4. No kids ever died after playing Halo 3.

[Matt]

See, this is why Halo 3 is vastly superior to CoD4. No kids ever died after playing Halo 3.

http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/09/05/news/news3.txt

[AJ]

Source: Yahoo Australia

The teen's father Steve Crisp previously said he had removed Brandon's Xbox after noticing changes in his behaviour since Brandon started playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online.

The youngster started skipping school, stealing money and ignoring his studies, his father said.

I can understand skipping school if you become addicted, but how on earth does playing COD4 make you more likely to steal money. The mind boggles, honestly.

Source: Yahoo Australia

"This had become his identity, and I didn't realise how in-depth this was until I took his Xbox away," Crisp told the Globe and Mail.

"That's like cutting his legs off."

Well maybe that would've been a better course of action, he couldn't have biked anywhere then.

Has anyone reported how he actually died? A cornfield and a bike with a flat tyre is rather mysterious.

[zero]

Honestly though, a 15 year old playing CoD4 isn't that big of a problem.

Agreed... I was playing Mortal Kombat at 8 and I'd argue that's far more disturbing than anything on CoD, which is pretty much a realistic depiction of what goes on in real life war.

The game had nothing to do with this and the father saying he "noticed changes" when his son started playing it is pretty shortsighted. You don't think perhaps he started changing because he's a teenage boy and these are the kinds of things many of them go through? A lot of teens have trouble adjusting and act out in certain ways, they're not all playing Call of Duty.