Missing Teenager's Parents Blame "Online Tournaments"

[Doug]

God why can't those parents grow a pair and accept that they didn't spend enough attention and time with there child, instead of trying to blame "online tournaments".

Because their two human being who's child has gone missing and maybe dead? Because this is something that I doubt any of us have had to face (in my case, I don't even have kids).

Panicking, worried parents tend to lash out.

While my heart goes out to these people, I'm inclined to agree with the sentiment that they are very wrong in blaming anything involving gaming for their child running off. Fact is, it could have been anything. If he didn't have Xbox, something else would have addicted him, if that's what the problem was. I sincerely do hope they find the boy alive and well, no parents should lose a child like that.

Agreed - on all counts.

 

[the monopoly guy]

Maybe everyone could stop flapping their arms up and down going 'Oh lawdy, lawdy, won't someone think of da children!' for five minutes?

If he's dead (which is looking more and more likely), this sort of thing is considered an object lesson where I come from.

Which is...?

The kid's like, what 11? I think he just overeacted when his parents did somehting he saw as irrational and just ran away; kids do dumb things.

 

[SinisterDeath]

How do they know he ran away? Did he physically run away within there sight? If so, why didn't they stop him? If not, who's to say he didn't get kidnapped by a pedophile? A Serial Killer? Micheal Jackson?

 

[Aries_Split]

Micheal Jackson?

He was framed.

 

[TheFitcher]

Most people are jumping to gaming's defence here when gaming isn't even under attack. It's a couple of desperate parents who have had their kid go missing, and are asking the police to check his online history for evidence because they knew he spent a lot of time on there. Where is the attack on gaming? They weirdly say they "blame tournaments", which shows they don't really even know what they are saying about the subject, but also shows no attack on gaming as such. They're just desperate and trying to help police find evidence.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Most people are jumping to gaming's defence here when gaming isn't even under attack. It's a couple of desperate parents who have had their kid go missing, and are asking the police to check his online history for evidence because they knew he spent a lot of time on there. Where is the attack on gaming? They weirdly say they "blame tournaments", which shows they don't really even know what they are saying about the subject, but also shows no attack on gaming as such. They're just desperate and trying to help police find evidence.

actually they are blaming games, sure they are using the wrong terminologies but due to their bad parenting skills, ie not properly punishing him as he grew up, they are now trying to find an excuse as to why their kid would do something like that

there is a better article where the paper doesn't blame games but really this has a lot to do with the parents of the kid

 

[James Raynor]

They changed there statement?

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Damn these kids with their hippity hops and dancing and their online net tournaments and nnghr..zzzzzz...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Online Tournaments Blame Missing Teenager's "Parents".

 

[Zac_Dai]

I think people are missing the point here.

Its not blame directed at games its directed at clan culture. Thats what they mean about "online tournamnents" "playing for money" and "gave him a whole new identity."

If they were blaming gaming the headline would of been "Ban COD4!!!"

You have to admit that clans take shit way too seriously, only have to look at WoW for instance or EVE where people set alarms to wake up in the middle of the night just to defend imaginary space on the internet. Plus there has been enough real murders because of clan wars that spilled over into real life.

You can't tell me thats a healthy enviroment for a 11 year old.

 

[Zallest]

I am sure that the kid wasn't in Play for money online Tourneys, I think what they are refering to the friendly Clan Vs Clan matches. You cannot honestly blame video games or clans for any of this but the parents have a right to take away the game if the kids is losing slip with reality. It happen to me once when i was playing a Online game, i was losing slip on reality and my parents stepped in. LUCKILY i wasn't 11 and knew why my parents honestly did what they did.

These parents honestly should have just sat down and had a long hard talk about the game rather then taking a 360 away. In a way they have no one to blame but themselves.

You have to admit that clans take shit way too seriously, only have to look at WoW for instance or EVE where people set alarms to wake up in the middle of the night just to defend imaginary space on the internet. Plus there has been enough real murders because of clan wars that spilled over into real life.

I've never heard of a Real murder over clan related matters, if you have a link to a report about this I'd like to read it and i also agree that clans to take video games too seriously but sometimes you have set times on WoW and stuff because everyone needs to organize. Some of it though is just crazy.

 

[Andy Chalk]

How do they know he ran away? Did he physically run away within there sight? If so, why didn't they stop him? If not, who's to say he didn't get kidnapped by a pedophile? A Serial Killer? Micheal Jackson?

In the last report I read, the police stated that when the parents took away the 360, the kid threatened to run away from home if they didn't give it back. They essentially said, "There's the door," and he took it. Not an unusual approach for parents to take, but certainly an unexpected result.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

How do they know he ran away? Did he physically run away within there sight? If so, why didn't they stop him? If not, who's to say he didn't get kidnapped by a pedophile? A Serial Killer? Micheal Jackson?

In the last report I read, the police stated that when the parents took away the 360, the kid threatened to run away from home if they didn't give it back. They essentially said, "There's the door," and he took it. Not an unusual approach for parents to take, but certainly an unexpected result.

Usually when kids run away they realize how cold and scary it is out there and return home quickly after. I'm afraid it looks like someone or something has the little guy.

Now that my cynicism has been expended, lets remember the kid is only 11, and both he and his parents are probably scared out of their minds. Lets not be TOO hard on them...

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Firstly, the kid's 15. Dunno where everyone's getting the "11" figure.

Secondly, the parents are expressly NOT blaming CoD4. What they were trying to describe, I believe, is the clan/guild structure they described as "online tournaments" (as Zac-Dai and Zallest point out). Remember, the parents were being awakened by the kid's chat over the mic.

Thirdly, the parents were dealing with it; sadly, what they tried just wasn't working. The kid was indeed obsessed with competitive play (as he was in sports until sidelined) and, in truth, so are many other kids I've encountered on the Internet; taking away the console didn't fix the problem.

If you're looking to an off-line metaphor to describe what happened, use the one that the kid fell in with a gang; that's overstating it, but it's a better match for what happened than comparing this to an addiction to crack. The parents saw things were going wrong, tried to discourage the kid from hanging out with this crowd to excess, then forbade him to hang wit' his homies when the kid refused. So the kid ran away.

-- Steve

 

[niblik]

How do they know he ran away? Did he physically run away within there sight? If so, why didn't they stop him? If not, who's to say he didn't get kidnapped by a pedophile? A Serial Killer? Micheal Jackson?

In the last report I read, the police stated that when the parents took away the 360, the kid threatened to run away from home if they didn't give it back. They essentially said, "There's the door," and he took it. Not an unusual approach for parents to take, but certainly an unexpected result.

Usually when kids run away they realize how cold and scary it is out there and return home quickly after. I'm afraid it looks like someone or something has the little guy.

Now that my cynicism has been expended, lets remember the kid is only 11, and both he and his parents are probably scared out of their minds. Lets not be TOO hard on them...

Yeah, I'm starting to think that someone has grabbed the kid. It's the worst scenario possible, but once anyone has been missing for a signifigant peroid of time it becomes more and more likely.

As for the parents choice to take away the xbox 360, I'm siding with the parents. As adults we are expected to deal with the reality of limitations and that you don't always get what you want. We learn this as kids and need our parents to teach us this lesson. There is nothing wrong with laying down the law: "You've abused this situation, as a consequence we are taking away your access to it."

Heck, I was grounded once for 4 months for bad grades. Straightened me right up!

 

[Fire Daemon]

I could have found if this kid was in a clan in a minute, less maybe, by looking at his gamertag and his friendslist. As soon as I know if he was in a clan I could have figured out the name of the clan and then just do a quick google search to find the clans website or gamebattles page and then find every clan member. I can then check out their profiles and see if I can discover where they live. I probably could't find out where they live so I will have to give the Gamer tags to the Police, they could then check through with Microsoft and find out where they live, they can then investigate the closer ones. This could lead to the lost child.

Someone should tell the parents this.

I don't think that the kid is hidding with a clan friend though. Why would anyone look after this guy? I think he may have been kidnapped while roaming the streets. Maybe someone offered him a lift home or just grabed him. I know it's not a very nice thought but it's really the only one that makes sense. Why would someone look after him for all these weeks without the guy wanting to go home or someone else wanting him to go home?

 

[Sixties Spidey]

*ugh..* this again? Can we just shut up about this now? Parent's fault, not gaming's fault, and not the kids. end of story.

So you saying the kids own actions are not the reason why he is no longer at home..

It must be nice to live in a world where you are not responsible for your own actions.

The parents were the one who made a huge fuss out of it. He just decided, "pft fuck this" and just went. I'm fifteen as well, and I play videogames like crazy (i once played Half Life Deathmatch for 5 hours one time.) and my parent's are responsible enough to limit my playing time. If anything, I believe it's the parents fault. It's not his fault he's addicted to CoD4. It's a great game with great online play.