Body Found Near Barrie May Be Missing Gamer - UPDATED

[ElephantGuts]

Aw, crap, not video games are going to get even more bad press. Maybe the US will end up looking like Australia, as far as game censorship atleast. If that happens, I'm going to hate this kid even more.

And if this kid really did get killed by someone he met on COD4 because he ran away from home when his parents took away said COD4, he really will be the most retarded kid I've ever heard of. Well, as has been said, atleast he won't live to spread his genes.

 

[Ronmarru]

I just commented on the other post about this a couple hours ago. Real sad. As much as I don't think it will happen, I hope the anti-game section of the media leaves the family alone. From what I gathered from the story, it seams that he was obsessed not with the game, but with the community where he felt like he belonged. When the parents took away his friends he ran away, but I don't think he meant it to be serious. It sounds like he was walking alone and there was some sort of accident, or somebody thought he was an easy target. Either way, it's a sad story that the media will exploit.

Edit: What's with everyone blaming the victim and calling him retarded? I thought the Escapist community was a little more mature than that.

 

[Greyhawk]

A tragic outcome that I, sad to say, had a gut feeling would come to pass.

 

[Raven28256]

Darwin wins again.

Huh?

I really have no idea what you are trying to say here...

I think he's saying that the kid died because he had disadvantageous genes and would not have survived to reproduce anyway.

Basically he's saying the kid deserved it.

I think he is also making a reference to the Darwin Awards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards

Anyway, a few people unfortunately predicted that this was coming when the article first ran. They found his bike abandoned in a ditch, so I'm sure most of us saw this one coming eventually. Unfortunately, the ambulance chasers will use this tragedy as an excuse to bash gaming, as usual, instead of just leaving it alone and letting the family be at peace.

"Video games are EVIL! They make your children run away from home to get picked up and murdered by sexual predators!"

Remember, I fucking called it.

 

[Sennz0r]

I´m just wondering what the hell happened to him. Nevermind the game-bashing, I hope the media is a bit less retarded than continuing the "games made him run away" story. I think we all know this isn't about the running away anymore, and making a link between a boy who runs away and dies/gets murdered (don't know what happened) is just insensitive and incredibly dumb.

 

[Mr Goostoff]

I just commented on the other post about this a couple hours ago. Real sad. As much as I don't think it will happen, I hope the anti-game section of the media leaves the family alone. From what I gathered from the story, it seams that he was obsessed not with the game, but with the community where he felt like he belonged. When the parents took away his friends he ran away, but I don't think he meant it to be serious. It sounds like he was walking alone and there was some sort of accident, or somebody thought he was an easy target. Either way, it's a sad story that the media will exploit.



Edit: What's with everyone blaming the victim and calling him retarded? I thought the Escapist community was a little more mature than that.

You haven't been to Barrie before, have you?

 

[hippo24]

While this is sad its by no mean anything new or "out of the ordinary". When a parent takes something away from the child, the child begins to go into a slight withdrawal. This is in part because a child's brain, in large, is not very observant or rational (because of lack of information processing and before the normal mental change that occurs around puberty) which causes them to think that there is no way to get around the loss of the item. Causing the child's view of the object to become more obsessive, leading him to try and reach his goal by any means he thinks is necessary.

Many child psychiatrists recommend weening an obsessive child off of a destructive activity instead of just removing it, or to supply him with an alternative to the aforementioned problem. While the parents were doing the right thing to try to control his obsession, they did it in a way that was a punishment rather then an intervention. So I think this is an internal, or domestic problem not the fault of video games.

 

[ckeymel]

I have only loosely been paying attention to this story - have they ruled out the possibility that the kid was just threatening and not actually planning to run away and perhaps coincidentally was abducted and murdered just going to a friend's house or something?

All the same, its a sad ending to this story.

 

[OverlordSteve]

Damn, what happened to him to make it so they need to preform an Autopsy to figure out who he is?

 

[Susan Arendt]

Damn, what happened to him to make it so they need to preform an Autopsy to figure out who he is?

Time, exposure, and animals, I'm guessing.

 

[Alone Disciple]

The problem with an "obsession" is that sometimes the damn thing is a clinical problem and just "taking it away" only aggrivates the issue, causing said person to do something extremely stupid, case and point, running away.

But can you honestly get "obsessed" with CoD4? To me it seems like he simply left to "show 'em" and then the plan failed along the way.

I don't see why you can't get 'obsessed' with . It clearly happens in Korea where kids are staying up for hours on end pushing their body past it's physical limits where they die of exhaustion from gaming.

Here in the states I've read plenty of articles on divorce rates, job losses, and other manic behaviors tied to obsessive complusive disorders not unlike a gambling or pornography addiction.

I think we all have the potential depending on our personality, environment and upbringing. I have a friend who plays CoD4 nightly since the dang thing came out. He doesn't play any othergame. For me, I have the capability to play WoW 10+ hours straight on both Saturday and Sunday if I don't keep myself in check. I keep saying to myself 'Just one more quest...one more kill...one more gold piece.'

I do feel bad for the parents. I can't help to think that everytime the dad or mom sees a Xbox or video game console they will be reminded of that day over and over again.

 

[Hookman]

At least now if it is him they wont worry anymore. Better to know hes dead than to worry that he might still be alive.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Damn, what happened to him to make it so they need to preform an Autopsy to figure out who he is?

Time, exposure, and animals, I'm guessing.

There's also the idea of confirmation, it may look like him, but there would be decay and hence they need concrete proof before making a concrete statement.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Damn, what happened to him to make it so they need to preform an Autopsy to figure out who he is?

Time, exposure, and animals, I'm guessing.

There's also the idea of confirmation, it may look like him, but there would be decay and hence they need concrete proof before making a concrete statement.

Not to mention that they need to confirm a cause of death anyways. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Damn, what happened to him to make it so they need to preform an Autopsy to figure out who he is?

Time, exposure, and animals, I'm guessing.

There's also the idea of confirmation, it may look like him, but there would be decay and hence they need concrete proof before making a concrete statement.

There's also the remote chance that it's somebody who looks exactly like him, even down to the clothes.

I'm not being sarcastic about this, I actually know somebody who looks exactly like me without being related to me at all. The first time I met him, we were even waring the same clothes. It was really freaky.