Personally, I think if you start to set the rules early, a kid won't become a 24/7 gamer. Waiting until a child has stepped so far over the line into the ridiculous is to long. Rules and limits should be set from day one when the video game system is brought in to the house. Games are a reward, not a right, and they should be treated as such. For every hour on the game, an hour of phsical activity should be required, unless the game is physical (like the wii games). So if kid had an hour of gym in school, he gets an hour of game. If he walked home from school for 30 minutes, he gets 30 more minutes of game. If the kid misbehaves or back talks or grades slip, games start to go into the trash or into the donate bin. Consequenses must be permanant for their impact to be realized.

Parents have to parent and stop leaving things up to the school, the tv, and the video games. Sure kids beg for all the new awsome stuff, but in the end, an hour of your time is way more valuable than a Xbox 360.

Pouse, no need to be rude to me. I did read your first post, and I did understand it. I guess we have different views of what you wrote. Gee, I never thought "moms" could be so childish.

I just heard an update about the Canadian Case: Brandon Crisp - apparently, he fell out of a tree, and died from a chest injury. It has not been cold enough out there, for him to freeze to death.

Something caused him to climb a tree, and he was found at the base of the tree, with a crushed chest.

It will be featured on America's Most Wanted tonight. (Nove. 8/-8)

I do not think video games, are serious enough, to allow my child to leave the house, and not come back. At least, you know where your child is, and that he is in your home. They could have handled this situation so much better - when he goes to sleep, you dismantle the gaming system, put it into the trunk of your car, and take it to work with you. Keep it in trunk, the kid would not know where it was, and would get the message - without chasing him away from home.

Im sure his parents are regretting alot of stuff right now. I say, pick your battles very carefully, and use creative thinking, in getting your point across - never cause a yelling match, cause when you start yelling, you have lost. Different strategies are there, for those who THINK about it! You child is not your enemy.

This is a very sad tragedy. I feel really bad for the Crips family. I believe this is a very unexpected ending. Probably the boy was already planning on going home eventually. I can't blame the parents because they were just trying to do what they thought would be good, and could never expect their son would go so extreme.

Well, I used to be a 24/7 gamer. I even knew my boyfriend, the current baby father, through an online MMO game. I have to admit, in my case, games really did ruin my school, physical health (due to lack of sleep and eating) and social life. I constantly just thought about the games every hour, and whenever I got a chance, I played. I rather stayed in dorm to play games instead of going to class or going out with friends. When exams came, my studying was gaming again! And I introduced this game to a few friends, and some of them got really addicted just like me, and didn't study for their exams because of the game. And we were actually in college at the time (so we were not little kids anymore), and the university is a very good one too, one of the top in the public school category over the nation. Another friend of mine got a young teen brother, who is also a hard-core gamer. He once threatened my friend that he would hit her, when she refused to log onto the computer for him to play games.

For some people, they can handle addiction pretty well, but some don't. It is really hard to say gaming is good or bad. Many people play games for instant entertainment, which is good for relaxation, and they don't develop serious and dangerous addiction. But for some people, these games are their life. There were a few cases: A 13-year-old Chinese boy, wrote a letter to a few of his gaming friends (using their game names), and committed suicide by "flying"(in his definition) off from the building, because he felt he could no longer tolerate the difference between fantasy and reality. Another 30-some-year-old man, had constantly played a game at an internet cafe for three days straight, eventually died in front of the computer. (These cases can be found anywhere on the internet.)

Yeah, it is true that among millions of gamers, there are only some extreme cases. But the problem is still serious and important. As a new mother, I cannot predict what kind of entertainment systems will be dominating in the future when my baby become a teenager. I think my baby will very likely become a gamer, because both his dad and I love gaming and are even trying to become professional game designers. But I believe "balance" is the essential idea. I would try my best to conduct good communication to guide my baby in balancing his well-being, game interests and other interests.