Xbox 360 Fanboy

These parents are assholes! Maybe if they took advantage of the parental settings available in the Xbox 360's dashboard, they would'nt have this problem. If a child runs away from home for whatever reasons, don't blame Xbox LIVE, blame yourselves! If anything, staying home and playing video games will NEVER get you in trouble. KEEP RUNNING BRANDON!!! KEEP RUNNING!!!

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What if he would have played Bomberman and then ran away? Still parents fault?

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First and foremost, let me say my heart goes out to the parents. No one should have to go through what they're going through.

Now, let me also say that their son ran away in all likelihood, because they don't understand him or his interests. There's no Mafia connection on XBL. There's no gambling on XBL (aside from the occasional friendly wager between people who know each other that is), and while I don't doubt that there are a handful of pedophiles on XBL looking for love in all the wrong places, they make up an extremely small minority.

Next up, the game is rated M for mature - if you are worried about your fifteen year old son being exposed to the big bad adult world, don't let M-rated games in the house. Pay attention to what your son is doing. Again, they clearly don't understand their son's hobby enough to know what exactly it is that he's looking at or doing online.

Lastly, and this may not be true in every situation, but chances are mocking your kid and helping him pack to run away are probably not the best strategies for getting a family issue resolved. Instead, why not try compromise? He's playing too much, so set limits. You can make him a child account, and lock it at your discretion.

Now, I'm not saying this was all the parents' fault - the kid may not have been making things easy either. The one thing I will say the parents are doing very wrong is going all over the media spreading their ignorant opinions of XBL - No, the big bad Mafia didn't seduce your kid into a life of crime over XBL - that's complete and utter fantasy.

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I feel terrible for what this family is going through, but I do not see how they can place all the blame on Xbox. As a parent of 3 we place limits on the amount of time our children spend gaming and also make sure the titles are suitable for them.


I hope that their boy returns home safe and they are able to work out a solution for his gaming.

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I did not realize sleeping is a skill.
Great parenting, blame the game.

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So, if you pack the bag for the kid, then you probably hand it to him as he walks out the door. Why don't you just follow him? Failure to be a parent does not allow you to blame everyone else.

By the way, if you're letting your kid play so goddamn much that it's affecting his sleep and social skills, maybe you should have stepped in a little earlier. Maybe set some limits in the beginning.

And besides, he's in Canada. What could happen to him? Free healthcare while listening to Rush?

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My son is 9 years old and I let him play COD4 and Halo3. He enjoys the games and has become pretty good at them as well. BUT.... he is not allowed to sit there and play hour on end. I also instill the value of other games and activities for his age. He still a young kid and will play games like Viva Pinata and the Lego games, plus he loves playing outside with friends or watching cartoons and well as playing with real Legos. So my point is I think im doing a good job of monitoring what my son is playing and how much, plus his school work hasent suffered and if it dose he knows he gets cut off. Be a parent to your kid, dont let the TV or video games be your "Baby Sitter" for them.....

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As a parent I can't imagine losing my son (running away or otherwise). I would be completely freaked out. So with that being said I do feel sorry for them.

As for the whole games fault vs. parents fault thing. I feel the parents job is to set the rules for the kids. If he was playing too much CoD4 (I will not even get into the whole M rating and letting your kid play it) then it's their fault. You should set rules, Xbox gives you PLENTY of parenting options on the console.

When I was growing up I had a time limit on my NES. It was a battle for my parents to watch the time and get me off when my time was up but that's what needed to be done here.

They let him play WAY too long and then their solution is to take it away? How about setting a time limit but then again it's always easier to just take the thing away. Taking the console away to a kid who has been playing it all the time is like taking away a steak dinner away from a fat guy. Withdraws and the only way the kid knew how to deal with it was to show his parents how bad he wanted to play was to run away from home.

Funny thing is his dad helped him pack.

High quality parenting there!

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The part I don't understand is, they took the xbox but yet he was able to still get on and construct a run away plan with people. So why don't the police then get on the xbox and figure out who everybody on his friends list is from. I do beg parents out there to be aware of what these kids hear on xbox live.

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Completely agree with you! They let it get out of hand (massive amount of playing) and they tried to fix it the cheap and easy away.

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Family Timer anyone?

i guess you have to be a big tech savvy to know how to access it.

maybe they should just be better parents instead of blaming a game he shouldn't be allowed to play.

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