Xbox to Blame for Boy's Death

In one of my latest blog entries, I talked about social media addictions amongst young people. This entry will be a continuation of that general topic.

It was just released that a young boy was found dead in Canada as a result of not being able to play his Xbox. This is yet another example of how social media is becoming so addicting to the young people of generation z/c that very negative things are happening.

15 year old boy, Brandon Crisp, ran away from home on October 14th because his dad took away his XBox. He had been addicted to and obsessed with playing the online game Call of Duty 4. What's really interesting is that once Microsoft, Xbox creators, heard of Crisp missing; they offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who could find him. Sadly, his body was found Wednesday by hunters.

In an interview with the media, Brandon's dad admitted that he had no idea how important this game console was and that he would react in such a way.

"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."

"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."

- Times Online Article

I was doing a little MySpace snooping while researching this story and I found this MySpace page entitled "RIP - Brandon Crisp". It's disturbing because it is mimicking the child's death. It was found that Crisp likely froze to death and the MySpace page is decorated with a layout that has falling snowflakes and its latest mood is set to "cold". The "about me" section reads: Brandon Crisp was a xbox player who loved to play "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," and when his parents decided to take his Xbox , Brandon was just following his dad's orders when he was told to "go chill out."

"In the east of Canada, born and raised, On the Xbox was where I spent most of my days. Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' with the door locked, All shootin' some Iraqis in CoD4.

When a couple of parents who were up to no good, Started making trouble up in ma hood. We got in one little fight and my mom got scared, She said, "We're movin' your Xbox 360 downstairs!"

I begged and pleaded with her for a day, But she packed up the console and sent me on my way. With no Iraqis to kill and no clan wars ma' guild, I left the house and said, "Imma' die irl."

I looked for my bike and when I came near, The tire was flat and it was missing a gear. If anything I could say that this bike was rare, But I thought, "Nah forget it" - "Yo homes get out of there!"

I pulled up to the road over 9000 or 8, And I yelled to my 'rents, "Yo hommes, smell ya later!" I looked at my kingdom, I was finally there... To die in the field, as the Prince of CoD4."

- "RIP - Brandon Crisp" MySpace

It is VERY disturbing that this MySpace page was just created today, November 7th. I speculate that it was made by one of Crisp's peers and fellow Xbox players. The page also has an active chatroom embedded into it which has many young users participating. After observing the chat for awhile I saw comments like "I played with Brandon. He didn't deserve to die like that," as well as other general discussions about parents taking away xbox consoles and playing Call of Duty. The MySpace page also has disturbing photos like the one posted below of Brandon being photoshopped.




I think this page should be taken down immediately by MySpace. It's horrible that someone is out there making a total mockery of this poor kid's death. This page is so inappropriate and so disrespectful to the boy and his family. It's really unfortunate that parents are not paying sufficient attention to how obsessed their children are becoming with such social media as online gaming. Like Autumn Eadows, Brandon Crisp formed an identity online. He had somewhere to go and feel as though he belonged and when that was taken away from him he decided to take matters into his own hands. These type of addictions are becoming more prevelent amongst young people. It's important that parents begin to closely monitor their children's usage and not let them become out of touch with reality.


11-8-08 Update: http://www.myspace.com/ripbrandoncrisp has since been deleted by MySpace.