After 11 days, 15-year-old Canadian gamer Brandon Crisp remains missing.
Rewards in the case have increased to $20,000, while a message on the Facebook group Where is Brandon Crisp? outlines a major volunteer search effort that will begin today and last through the weekend:
The public search for Brandon will take place Friday - Sunday October 24 - 26. The command centre for the search each day will be located at Burl's Creek in Oro, and teams will be organised there to search throughout Oro and Orillia.
In addition to ground-searching, volunteers may be asked to perform support-related duties for the search, canvass neighbourhoods and post flyers in high-traffic locations.
The Command centre will operate Friday Saturday and Sunday from 10 am through 5 pm. As we expect many volunteers, we ask for patience while we organise each volunteer into proper roles; we need to make sure we execute the search to the best of our ability.
Canada's cnews reports that Brandon's distraught mother, Angelika Crisp, clings to the idea that he was taken by a fellow gamer:
She insists her son was taken by some misfit teammate who may be participating in a bizarre video game that has somehow crossed over into reality.
Crisp said her son was "addicted" to the terrorist war game, Call of Duty, and might have met up with team players online.
"I think someone has him," Crisp said.
In addition to the Facebook group (which now has over 9,200 members), a website has been established at FindBrandonCrisp.com
Comments
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
No, but you still can sue for libel and slander. The main issue for that would be to prove that A) the mother knew that COD wasn't a driving force behind his dissapearance (perhaps being instead a trigger AKA straw that broke the camel's back sort of thing) and B) that the publishers of COD & related business associates took real and significant damage either to their reputation or financial business.
As you can guess, that's a mite difficult. Is why you don't really see slander and libel suits in general as proving A) and B) aren't the easiest of things...
Best keep your wits about you: The gears of life are always spinning, and ignorance eventually means you'll get caught in them.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Ah, but this is America, where the government will often support attempts to sue people in other countries if the plantif is loud enough.
Plenty of times some American has been pissed with someone at anount country (where they did nothing wrong) and got the US government to cause the person real trouble. An example would be the foriegner has to travel here (at their own expense) to defend themselves, if they don't there is always the 'if you ever enter the country you will be arrested' issue, and some assests are considered suffiently international (trans-national banks) they the plantif could go after them.
All sorts of nasty things someone can do,.. just being elsewhere isn't enough.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
althou it seems like its being abused this is one reason I like being canadian
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
http://www.myspace.com/hermoinefan_420 (and boom goes the dynamite)
what kind of holes if i can ask
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
The biggest hole comes from the Father's statements. Brandon's father claims to have helped him pack a backpack with undisclosed contents and show him on a map how to get to where he wanted to go, yet no one can find him and there has been one eye witness account of him the day he left home.
If Brandon asked about a specific destination then wouldn't that be where he was headed? I understand he could go somewhere else or get lost, however you would have a general direction he was headed. Also, the destination isn't divulged. Doesn't that strike you as just a bit odd when you're looking for someone?
Brandon's parents are blaming his behavior on a video game addiction to COD except:
A) If you're an addict you'd want what you're addicted to and he didn't take the Xbox nor does it appear he's logged in under his Xbox live account
B) His parent's story keeps changing about the game
C) His parent's "know" he was abducted by another gamer, but can't say who
The most disturbing part of all of this is that the kid is still missing. That leads to a conclusion of he's with a well known friend or family member who's protecting Brandon at his request due to possibly home life, I don't know, there isn't enough evidence at this point to know precisely why Brandon really left, but there is enough information to know it wasn't simply because the Xbox was taken away. The other conclusion is Brandon has met with some bad luck and has been killed. I'm really hoping it isn't the latter.
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Let's put the "Brandon's father packed his bag" business to rest please.
From my contact at the CTV National News:
Hey Brad,
Spoke to some people at the (Toronto) bureau working on this story. They've been following the story pretty closely have not heard anything remotely close to what you described. Sounds like crazy internet sensationalism to me.
If you have a major media or police source that differs from this, I would dearly love to hear it.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/521731
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Begging your pardon Dennis, but methinks that perhaps exgamer feels the need to lie because he, you know, has no basis for most of the things he says.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
So this is the modern day parent, eh? No wonder kids act the way they do...
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Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
His Mum has been watching too many of those criminal investigation dramas. Every time they have a video game episode it's about 'the game crossing over into real life'.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
It wouldn't suprise me if this was (part of) the case...
Part of me wants to make an episode/movie/whatever where this is led to be the idea for most of the episode, only to have that theory completely and utterly torn to shreds (In the form of someone saying something along the lines of "Wait, you actually thought that <game> caused this?! *starts laughing, suddenly stops* Oh, you're serious... Oh wow... *goes into explanation of why that theory is full of crap*"
- Tim Kowalenko
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
http://www.myspace.com/hermoinefan_420 (and boom goes the dynamite)
didn cod come out not even less then a year ago???? if he was playing any cod for a long time it either had to be 2 or 3..but then again that would be asking people like the parents to actully look into that and we cant have that now can we
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Terrible parents.
The fact that they let him play M rated games aside, if they are willing to blame video games for his behaviour, then it should have been delt with ages ago. He shouldnt have a 360 to begin with. He should have been stopped at PS1.
The kid is fine, he is just hiding out at a friends place, no doubt. The fact that it has pretty much blanketed the media here in Toronto (Barrie is just north of Toronto), means the parents are playing right into the kids hands. He's probably at his buddy's place, playing Xbox, laughing his little obnoxious head off.
The fact that they're making such ignorant claims has probably also humiliated him. He's probably waiting for the hysteria to die down before going home to avoid media suffocation. He's thinking to himself "Man.. I can't belive my dipshit parents are willing to go on international record as saying that video games are the cause of their kids poor behaviour." It's a cry for help and they're obviously not giving the kid the attentions he's needed. Like so many parents discussed on this site, this pair of losers is focusing on the symptoms and not the problems.
Just come out and admit you're bad parents who don't know how to handle a stupid brat of a kid and your stupid brat of a kid will feel vindicated and return.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Almost all of the people who talk like you aren't parents, just single young men/women who THINK they know how to parent.
Ignorance does not make them bad parents. Parents aren't going to know everything about their kids. I remember a psychology case study I read up on where the parents thought a kid was fine because he was acting normal and never told them about any trouble, but the kid commited suicide, and the parents had no idea why - they just grabbed at anything to blame as a medium for their anger, sadness, and sense of loss. It's the same thing here.
They actually, genuinely care about their son - maybe they're ignorant, sure, but the average American citizen is pretty damn ignorant, if you ask me. Just look at you; you've passed judgment and all you know of this case is the stuff you've read in the media, which is very limited information.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I normally do not agree with 'non parents just don't understand' type posts, but this was well written and made some good points.
Though something to keep in mind (which you started to touch on), parents do tend to have some pretty emotionally charged blinders on that non-parents often do not, which can (I say can because there are a lot of non-parents that really don't understand and are talking out of their, well, you know where) give them a objective clarity that generally people who have kids have trouble seeing.
Sometimes, but not always, being further away from something does give one better perspective then being wrapped up with it as a lifestyle.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
What do you know about the average Canadian citizen?
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Enough to know that they're human, so they'll have similar reactions to situations as Americans.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Really? Because I'm 30, married, a gamer AND a parent. The parents ignorance that you state is a far better reason to judge them than to forgive them. What you're saying is it's ok to pass off responsibility on some media scapegoat than to own up and come to realise that YOU could have prevented this. If a parent is not willing to partake in their child's chosen activity, or at least pay close enough attention to said activity so that they may aid in the appropriate understanding of the subject matter then they are bad parents. Their ignorance in this situation supports this.
I'm sure they do care about their child, but caring is not enough. Ignorance of any kind can not be an excuse in this situation, nor is not being able to control their child.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Your tune will change when you lose your child.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
"What you're saying is it's ok to pass off responsibility on some media scapegoat than to own up and come to realise that YOU could have prevented this."
That's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is that parenting is difficult and I think every parent is pretty much learning the job as they tackle things. I'm not taking a devil's advocate stance; I definitely think the parents are out of their minds if they think a game did this to him, and that there's more to this story than what we're actually hearing, but if we're saying that games had nothing to do with this, then we can't say, in the same breath, that they could've prevented this if they had paid attention to their child's gaming habits, since it supposedly had nothing to do with his disappearance in the first place. It's kind of an argumentative loop.
Now, you're being proactive in your child's life, and I wouldn't try to assume what your family life is like, but if the cases I've studied in psych class are any indication, every kid has some sort of secret from his or her parents. Not knowing every detail about your child's life is hardly 'bad parenting.' My dad has no idea about the games I play, and my mom only dabbles in Bejeweled type stuff and is ignorant about other game types, but they're far from bad parents.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I'm not saying it's an acceptable reason. I'm saying that people yelling that 'bad parenting' is the root of any kid troubles are just as irresponsible and irrational as people pointing to games, movies, and/or music as the root of any kid troubles. There are, inarguably, cases where bad parenting is the cause, but there are just as many cases where the parents are great and the kid was just a bad apple.
Note this: I am not defending these parents in any way, I'm just saying that our community, as a whole, should take every opportunity to consider every angle of a given problem, instead of just shouting "OH MY GOD STOP LOOKING AT THE GAMES AND LOOK AT THE PARENTS JUST LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE GOD DAMN IT." It makes us seem unsympathetic. When media tries to deflect it on us or our pastime, we shouldn't be trying to deflect it elsewhere just because we're tired of people targeting our pastime - it creates a bad image that people can use against us, even when we're wrongly accused.
Think of it this way: to the uninformed third party, this looks like a kid hooked on games and 'going bad' for lack of a better term. The media blames games and gamers, and gamers cry out in outrage. That third party is going to think "In the face of such a crisis, these people are more worried about their pastime than the life of a child?" Irrational? Unreasonable? Unfair? Yes. But media panders to the ignorance and emotional knee jerk reactions these people have, and we need to be sympathetic while arguing our stance. Who are you going to listen to more, someone who appears to be willing to consider everything but is leaning towards a particular theory, or a doof who's just screaming what he thinks in everyone's face?
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Pot calling the Kettle black?
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I don't see how. I'm not passing judgment.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Just look at you; you've passed judgment and all you know of this case is the stuff you've read in the media, which is very limited information. -- sounds like a judgment made about the individual above to me ... could be wrong.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Not really judging, just saying that we don't have the whole story, so we shouldn't be screaming at the top of our lungs that what we're saying is undoubtedly the truth.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
You're passing judgement on "Americans." And sounding a bit condescending to boot.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I used a poor choice of words. Your average layman is rather ignorant, and their actions are fueled by emotion rather than logic. You can always find a topic that someone is ignorant about - one person is ignorant about sports, while another may be ignorant about music, so on and so forth. Screaming at their ignorance doesn't solve problems, it causes them.
I prefer to operate by the stance of "Don't hate, educate."
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
It's odd that you say that our average layman is ignorant, when you don't take into account the current amount of information from our media-which picks on the lowest of the low most of the time-that your country gets, and other countries get.
Now, if your country was outputting the same amount of media information, plenty of people would believe your 'laymen' were pretty stupid too.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I don'tmean 'your' as in 'Canadian' I mean 'your' as a general term, like 'your average Xbox' or 'your average boy,' etc. This isn't a dig at any country's populace. I'm saying that the average citizen of ANY country is somewhat ignorant in many important subjects.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
the mother is hysteric, that's all.
she needs to either calm the hell down and/or shut the hell up IMO
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
This just proves how ignorant she is of her own child and his friends. I do truly hope the kid is alright, but either way his parents need to be arrested after he is found. People like that can not be trusted to raise children responsibly.
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I second that motion
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Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I 4th that motion
--- Official Protector of Videoland!
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Motion passes. We will now hear the case of the idot who who bought the 1,200 Watt powersupply for his Desktop.
"We do not hear debates about teaching whether the holocausts happened or did not in history classes, so why should we even entertain the notion for Intelligent Design?"
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
More details are needed on this powersupply, but assuming that it was not compatible...
Punishment for the 1,200W powersupply: A hard kick to the balls, if otherwise too stupid to risk him reproducing proven by other event then kick in the balls by a pro female soccer player. Either way, now he shall feel the stupidity physically as well as mentally/emotionally.
Next case...
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I second the second.
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
I'm still surprised they're sticking to the theory, but... Didn't you catch "terrorist war game," be any chance? Because, you know, Call of Duty 4 was all about being a terrorist instead of trying to stop them.
And, again, I thought the information on the game conflicted with the release date of CoD4? Or did I miss an update?
Re: Cops Organize Big Search for Missing Gamer; Mom Clings to
Wait, wait, wait... His mom is STILL saying COD4 did it? What the f***ing [heck]?
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I AM DOOMED TO HAUNT JACK THOMPSON'S DREAMS UNTIL HIS CRUSADE AGAINST VIDEO GAMES ENDS.
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I AM DOOMED TO HAUNT JACK THOMPSON'S DREAMS UNTIL HIS CRUSADE AGAINST VIDEO GAMES ENDS.