Hold up, can someone please explain this to me?

Okay, kid gets into an argument with his parents and runs into the wilderness where he falls from a tree and unfortunately dies.

Who is to blame for this? Well, video games obviously. I mean, clearly that is the root of all this. Video games are clearly no good, just causing all kinds of trouble.

Seriously, what the #%&@ do video-games have to do with any of this? The only connection seems to be the taking away of his Xbox 360 was the catalyst for him leaving, but couldn't one argue that poor parenting is once again the culprit and video-games are unfairly being utilized as the scapegoat to distract from that? They could have restricted how much time he spent playing all along, or on the flip side they could have just let him keep on playing, its not really that big a deal. From the sounds of it his parents were kind of paranoid that he was meeting weirdos through Xbox Live but that proved to be just that, paranoia. It was an accident that could have happened for any number reasons, the fact that video-games had a small role to play in this particular story doesn't mean anything.

Microsoft certainly didn't help matters by offering a reward. Seriously, this thing shouldn't have gotten any press outside of the immediate area affected by it. Yeesh.

Okay, kid gets into an argument with his parents and runs into the wilderness where he falls from a tree and unfortunately dies.

Who is to blame for this? Well, video games obviously. I mean, clearly that is the root of all this. Video games are clearly no good, just causing all kinds of trouble.

Seriously, what the #%&@ do video-games have to do with any of this? The only connection seems to be the taking away of his Xbox 360 was the catalyst for him leaving, but couldn't one argue that poor parenting is once again the culprit and video-games are unfairly being utilized as the scapegoat to distract from that? They could have restricted how much time he spent playing all along, or on the flip side they could have just let him keep on playing, its not really that big a deal. From the sounds of it his parents were kind of paranoid that he was meeting weirdos through Xbox Live but that proved to be just that, paranoia. It was an accident that could have happened for any number reasons, the fact that video-games had a small role to play in this particular story doesn't mean anything.

Microsoft certainly didn't help matters by offering a reward. Seriously, this thing shouldn't have gotten any press outside of the immediate area affected by it. Yeesh.

I feel sorry for the parents, and the kid didn't deserve to die, but what a dumb-ass.  >:|

I've heard very few people blame video games for the entire situation other than when its brought up to explain thats why he ran away, his folks took away his games and consoles as a punishment. A lot of people i've seen blame a combination of the parents and the boy himself, a 15 year old who acted like a little 5 year old and sadly got into an accident and died as he ran away from home.

I really do think that the only reason "omg games are to blame for this" keeps getting brought up is that video game players can't just let the story settle. They hear the fact his folks punished him by taking his games away and instantly seem to have fallen into the mindset that "oh man, everyones gonna blame video games" and that really isn't what i've seen happen with this story.

It is sad, and just another example of people always looking for someone, or something to point fingers at.

It was clearly his lack of tree climbing skills that got him killed.

It's a tragic incident, but let's face facts: If video games weren't involved, this probably wouldn't get so much mainstream media attention. Kids run away, get kidnapped, get raped, abused, killed, etc. everyday, and those stories rarely get as big as this one. And you know, maybe Hamz is right. If we stopped getting so crazy and defensive about any negativity the game industry receives, things might escalate to high levels less often.

I think the problem is that how gamers look at the business and how non-gamers look at it are totally different. We appreciate all the design elements and artistic merit that goes into making a great game, and they see them as toys.