You people make me sick. Its people like you that give us a bad name because of you ignorance and stupidity. I hope to god you guys get sued.

The kid got his fun hooby revoked by his parents, he ran away and for some odd reason decided to clib up a tree where he fell down and died and you blaim this on videogames?

Kids have been running aeay from home before, Take away your daughters phone and tell her that she can't call a whole month and she will run away too.

I just find it Ironic that he died falling out of a tree. He had to have "Climbed" the tree In order to have fallen out of it. Therefore, Technically it was Physical activity that caused his unfortunate accident.

Either way I feel bad that the child has died. And I believe that blaming an video game system is easier to do, Than to blame ourselves for overlooking the consequences of our actions.

The number of logical fallacies and errors in this piece of journalism are astounding.

1) Brandon Crisp is not the first child in history to ever run away because his parents took aways something he liked doing - I wonder when the Fifth Estate will cover the dangers of watching TV, listening to music or using cell phones - all of which I'm sure have prompted children to run away because they were deprived of these things. This is a tragedy only in the sense that Brandon was part of a terrible accident, not a grand conspiracy from video game companies.

2) While some game players do become professionals, the percentage is about as miniscule as the number of people who play hockey becoming NHL stars. Adults and children alike are not playing video games because of a dangerous lure of fame and money, they are playing them because they enjoy them - just like I'm playing hockey in a recreational league because I enjoy playing hockey, not because I dream of being an NHL player.

3)Ultimately the parents are to blame - they bought him the game, they supplied him with the machine to play it, they paid for his online service and they gave him a TV. The game is clearly not for children and it isn't supposed to be - as it's clearly stated on the box. The logical argument the Fifth Estate makes is akin to me buying a 12-year old alcohol continually and then complaining about the dire consequences of that choice. Both the parents and the Findley clearly need to educate themselves about new media. The parents and the reporting would be better off for it.

*sarcastic clap*
It's sort of disappointing(and yet not surprising)that the Fifth Estate portray gamers as insane sociopaths. It is also not surprising that the media portrays us all as FPS players. The only saving grace of this episode was not bringing in Jack Thompson.

Please do a follow up on this. Take into account the above comments, because all of them seem to be saying the same thing;
Games can be dangerous. But parents need to spend more than 30 seconds looking at the front of a case. Check that big white box in the corner, and if you don't know what it means when there's a big "M" there, check the back. Parental controls are in ALL game consoles, from the PS3 to the Wii.

Can we please have some intelligent discussion on this. All I see are shows like this one that are so one sided one way or the other. Its only taking pot shots at the other side. Gamers do this all the time too they just don't have a TV station. Anyway from what i gathered games are bad because they are fun to play. So one could argue that hockey not being fun for a backup goalie is perfect or even preferred and not more of a problem than gaming.

I think the ESRB should be an age rating not an M or T. An age number can not be mistaken and it should be standard for movies, music and anythings else that needs an age rating. then whenever you see it it means something and is not just another logo on a box filled with logos. so at the end of every video game commercial instead of saying "rated m of mature" say "recommended for people over 18" and show some nice graphics with of a box and where the rating is located with a message like "always check the rating before you buy a game". Maybe instead of having an hour of programming showing how games are Evil we should have commercials that run all the time informing people about the ratings. Then there is no excuses. all this program does is fuel the argument and achieves nothing. The gaming companies and the ESRB they should want this idea of the games being the problem to go away.if you get rid of the idea that games are bad, you can also get rid of the idea that these games are just for kids, they are not.

Also people must keep in mind that kids are going to play a game if they really want to anyway. so why not take the advantage and play it with them, spend some time talking about the good and the bad and i don't know be a parent. its better if they play it with you and not at a friends behind your back. Its up to the PARENTS to NOT BUY GAMES their children are not ready for. I don't think his parents are bad parents just misinformed and i think there are many more of them.

I hope someone reads this and does something I'm sick of this argument ether prove its bad and get it band or get over it.

This is my top 8 list of things that was reported either incorrectly or was missing entriely most and how easy the explanation for it was.

1) There was absolutely no mention of inbuilt parental controls that are designed to prevent long use of play for ALL consoles and also downloadable programs for a small cost for the PC. But we have parents saying that they don't know what to do? What do people normally do when they get a new TV for example? Or they want to know how to set a timer on a microwave? They read the MANUAL. If parents are so concerned that there children are playing too much then research on how to prevent them from doing so by looking at the manual and learn how to implement parental controls! In this case on the 360 there are also controls to limit the amount of hours per day it can be turned on for, what rating of games can be played (so you can't play M games if you tell the 360 that it can't because that rating is hard coded onto the disc.) and also whether any game can connect to Xbox LIVE to even play online.

That was the most basic of errors. If that had been done it would of stopped it right from the start and this most likely would not of ended in tragedy.

2) The rating system (in Canada/US) is not flawed. (For those who don't know the system is: E for Everyone, E 10+ for ages 10 and up, T for Teen 13+, M for Mature 17+, or A for Adult 18+.). The descriptors of why it received that rating is not on the front of the box but on the back. (Like "Moderate Violence and Sexual References") It is on the back of the box and offers a better description of why it received that rating in detail unlike other forms of media. The doco clearly stated that no where did it show these descriptors, yet it CLEARLY does on the back. If it is such a problem being on the back then maybe they should investigate the Australian ratings system which has the descriptors on the front of the package as well as the rating symbol (eg M for Science fiction violence.)

3) The fact that the doco blamed the PUBLISHERS and DEVELOPERS for retailers selling games to minors is absolute stupidity. Retailers are ultimately responsible for the games they sell and it is illegal for them to do so or else they face consequences. There has been talk of people who work at EB and GT and such that parents buy these games for there kids whatever the rating is. If parents do this and then blame the ratings system for failing them is absolutely stupid beyond belief.

4) The fact that the doco spent a good 6-8 minutes saying that Pro Gaming tournaments allow people under the age of what the game is rated to participate in these tournaments and then at the end in the last 10 seconds it is revealed that they require parents consent and signature on the sign up form in person to be able to compete. This is just bad journalism. Isn't it the parents choice if they want there children playing mature games or not?

5) The fact that all the interview with the Pro Gamers, Friend of the boy and the PR for the video games industry was so obviously edited to make things slant in the way of the story always disgusts me. The fact that they do this all the time on these types of shows like ACA and Today Tonight, all to "Position the audience" and they only show parts of the interview that they want you to see disgusts me. All those interviews did was show the world that this is not unbiased reporting and that the makers of this show clearly had an agenda from the get-go.

6) Another joke is that this report is worse then the Fox news report on Mass Effect and the supposed "Fully interactive sex scenes". At least they allowed the Game Trailers TV host to defend the game somewhat (even though he was cut off repeatedly). Your story on CBC does not have any defense of the games industry whatsoever (except the Pro Gamers and the spokeswoman from the video games industry but they were so clearly edited for your own gain it doesn't count). It reminds me that the supposed expert on the Fox broadcast, who had never played the game, never seen the actual scene itself (which did not have any nudity and only went for 20 seconds in a 30 hour game) is just like the journalist in this story. She had obviously never played a game in her life and was reporting that video games are evil. This was clearly demonstrated when she "tried" to play Halo 3 with the Pro gaming team.

7) Pro gaming is targeted in this segment when it had absolutely nothing to do with buy who died. Yes he was entered onto a ladder, my clan does this all the time but not for the prizes or for the money (most times there are no prizes or money) but to play against the best in the business. These matches are normally friendly even though we compete for "Ranking" and strategy and tactics are used to WIN these games it is the only real time that you can work as a team with your friends because public servers just don't allow for the strategy and competition that clan/scrims allow.

8) This is just a minor quibble but the fact that they repeatedly used terms that they themselves did not understand is just stupid. When in the hell did Call of Duty 4 become a FPS/RPG. If you are going to use these terms then please for the love of god use the terms correctly and don't try to look smarter then you are. Also do not use the "Hell March" music from Command and Conquer (which is one of the best RTS games out there) when you are trying to bag COD4, Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 which are all FPS games.

I am calling CBC out and i hope others do to. Get them to force a correction on this to at least provide the other argument that was raised in this post in defense of gamers. I hope that they also get called out by the game publishers, developers and the rest of the community to force an apology and also to set the record straight. I also hope that one of CBC's competitors pick up on this and run a story against it.

I stopped watching the 5th estate a few years ago because the style of
reporting. Panic, fearmongering, almost over the top. They can spin a style
of story to make a peanut butter sandwich seem like a killer. Gawd awful
stuff.
Anyone listen to the background music of the story, meant to pull your
emotions up and down, give me a break....why would the report refer to
games or gaming as A DARKER PLACE. Just crap reporting. Also they
mention the online experience as a "parentless universe". Wow thats new
kids not wanting to go where their parents are. Think back to when you
were a teen. Yes fps games are violent duh....but should not be blammed.
The gaming industry is huge big business, been that way for a few years now, this report was like "hey everyone it killed this boy". Again awful stuff.
Just wait till the next generation of gaming(you seen minority report movie)
ya, that one sene where people were emmersed in their game world....just wait. oooh no... scary... dark... parentless... omg

yes this is an unfortunate ACCIDENT. I feel sad for the family, Ya its easy to say oh the parents coulda, shoulda......etc, but dam its not easy being a parent nobody is perfect, so unless you have a situation at your home like this, shut up and dont criticize the parents who lost their boy.
btw i have a wow level 80....am so bad

I'm confused..I thought this was CBC not FOX.
Why don't you get an investigative reporter who actually knows the topic before they open their mouths and spurt out garbage?

Most of my complaints about this edition of the Fifth have been addressed in other comments. But I will reiterate my key feeling: there is an irresponsible lack of investigation done into this story. I'm an avid supporter of the CBC, but it saddens me when my tax dollars are used to fund sensationalistic "investigative" journalism.

Brandon's death is a tragedy, but I would have hoped that it would have forced us to turn inwards rather than blaming the faceless video game and makers. The tools exist to help parents make responsible decisions for their children (ESRB ratings, parental controls, etc). It is a parent's duty to be informed about what their children are involved in. It's too convenient to blame the failure of parents and society on the "cause du jour" cultural ill.

I'm disappointed, CBC. You've stooped to Fox News level of fear-based journalism with this.

If this boy had been denied anything else (i.e. access to girlfriend/boyfriend, junk food, music (excepting metal, of course), etc.) and had run away as a result, there would be no T.V. segment telling his story.

This segment is the result of total bias on the part of the reporter. It's a pretty magical example of shoddy, fear-mongering news reporting.

To even suggest that Brandon Crisp's death is related to video games at all is an erroneous claim. I remember "running away" once because I refused to do my homework. If I had fallen out of a tree and died on that occasion, would anyone say that homework had killed me?

Why don't people focus on the apparent lack of parenting skills that caused Crisp to run away. How did he an M rated video game anyways?

This Episode did bring up many concerns but laid the blame on the wrong people and the wrong areas, Games will not be sold to people underage, so how are the underage getting them? their parents, now thats all well and good whatever its their choice. Now letting their kids get to the point that their whole life revolves around a game, is the parents fault! most parents seem to have no control over their kids because they dont raise them properly, when i was younger i had ALWAYS had a restriction on how much i could play a day, no if's and's or but's its that simple. As for games being to violent, look at Movies, cartoons and even Regular TV programming, violence is abundant and not just in videogames. A videogame is not reality. if you cannot perceive the difference you need help.

In summation, Biased, laughably dumb and its about time parents stop blaming companies for their kids problems, its YOUR FAULT, now get off you butt and be a real parent control your kid and stop being so lazy.

I am Largen a 17 year old Gamer, and it seems i have more maturity then most parents do, thank you come again.

Lol CBC...you should just turn into a 24/7 hockey channel as that's all you're really good for anymore

I got to 22 minutes before becoming bored

Why not do a worthwhile news story and blame cell phones because some dumb bitch in the states stabbed her parents because they took it away?

/sigh

I watch with amazement and horror this story since my son (like Brandon) is of the same age, physically very similar (small stature and height, blond), very interested in video games, a hockey goalie near the end of his "career" and more importantly is pushing us very hard for an X-Box these days... We are following his development (with some length on the leach though) very closely from day one, but do we really know him as your program demonstrated it very well ?

Thanks !

The thing that struck me the most is that Brandon's father mentions how he had no idea how important this game was to him.

This is really a societal problem where parents use video games as well as television as a 'baby sitter'.

Where does a 13 year old get the money to buy these games if not from their parents? A ride to the store?

Its easy to blame an industry when it takes away personal responsibility from parents.

More journalistic sensationalism at the expense of the Crisps! Why is it that we have to blame someone or something for this tragedy rather than seeing it for what it is - a family working through the challenges faced by every family, but with the rare and unfortunate outcome that a young man died.

I'm dating myself here but I remember the witch hunt that took place when a Dungeons & Dragons fan killed himself many years ago. The media lined up against Dungeons & Dragons. At the end of the day thousands of kids played D&D and loved the experience just like thousands of kids play video games and love the experience.

Tonight, I will have the pleasure of signing on to Xbox Live and playing video games with my 15 year-old nephew. I recommend more fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts do the same thing. It's a great way to get to know kids on their own terms.

You just lost another long time viewer. Terrible journalism, if you can call it that. I don't need to elaborate as 90% of the posters agree and have covered what I would say

It's painfully obvious that almost all of the comments submitted are from kids who have had their brains turned to mush by playing Video Games such as "Top Gun". Their spelling and grammer are atrocious. Come on kids - lets try reading a book . . .

The Fifth Estate should be ashamed of their irresponsible journalism in this case. I'm sorry but its not the video games, the consoles they are played on or the people that make the games that are responsible for Brandon Crisps unfortunate death. The people to blame for his death are his parents for not taking a more active role in their child's life.

This isn't the first time in recent weeks that The Fifth Estate has produced one-sided journalistic views and its a shame that the real story wasn't told in this case.

These are the shows that are supposed to clear up the ignorance of the main stream media instead they have just joined all the rest of the garbage.

Wow , I guess the journalistic integrity is a word that CBC's fifth estate has forgotten to include as a criteria for stories. I have not come across such bias from a reporter since I watched FOX News. There are always to sides to each coin, and I am not here to blindly defend video game industry, but the way it was portrait in this show is just untrue. First of all it is not like kids get the expensive video console by themselves and it is not like they buy their own games. I myself witness numerous times how parents purchased Mature content games for their 14 year olds despite clerks explicit warning that this game is not for kids. Many activities can be addictive , and fact that some people obsess about those activities is an outcome of many factors such as their personality, socioeconomic situation, parental supervision. To blame only video games for a child running away is irresponsible and without an adequate explanation it downplays a real issue in today's society. I feel terribly sorry for the family and for their loss and I am not saying that it is their fault alone, but you cannot blame it on video game industry. As a society we need to take more responsibility for what we buy and how we take care of our children. Blaming the big marketing machine that sponsors the video game tournaments or the video game industry alone for the issues we have with our children is simply dodging the responsibility we have in getting involved in children lives and paying attention to the changing world. If we really don't like it so much then stop buying the games, vote for people who will bring regulation if that is your purgative but don't just sit on a fence and proclaim that major league gaming ( dumb name btw) caused the death of a child.

Thank you CBC for trying to make us gamers look like we all have some kind of sick addiction. So the idea of the game is to shoot the other guy in the head for points? It's the fact that I just beat you that makes it so fun.

If I kill 10 people in a row in Halo 3, it's not because I enjoy shooting people. It the fact that I'm proving I'm better at those people at the game. What's exhilarating is showing other gamers that "Hey, I'm better than you look at this!".

Along with video games, I play a lot of basketball. It's safe to say I've seen a lot of people argue, yell, and swear during a game. I've even seen people get into fights over a simple foul call. Should I start blaming Dr.James Naismith for creating something that millions of people enjoy but are getting overly aggressive about at times?

That was extremely frustrating to watch.

I am a 43 yr old Father of a 12 year old girl, and 13 yr old boy. We ALL play video games online, Call Of Duty 4 is our favourite. As far as hitting prestige, my son and I have hit 10th prestige #55, and we reset and are doing it all over again. This was a very biased anti-video game report. Major League Gaming, hosts the site that tracks clan matches, these matches ARE ALL PLAYED ON THE GAMING CONSOLE! Both Xbox and PS3(I have both), have checks and balances in place that parents have to override in order for their underage children to play Mature rated games. Parents have to pay for the Xbox live feature(PS3 is free). I feel badly for poor Brandon, but Video games are as much to blame for his death, as Labatt's is to blame for underage drinking. Playing online video games is extremely fun and my kids and I are eagerly awaiting Call Of Duty 6. Call Of Duty 5 wasn't so good !

This is absolutely terrible, most of this video was a pure attack against the video game community with no "true" reason for it.

This insane video is attempting to blame the problem on an M rated game, and on the gaming community. Almost all of this problem is to be blamed on the parents.

Firstly, if your actually concerned about what your children are playing, then actually "DO SOMETHING" the kids playing an M rated game, which shown in this video the parents clearly didn't care. Further more if they really believed their son had a gaming addiction and wanted to stop him playing the game, they could have easily learned about what he was actually playing and the Xbox itself. The console is jampacked with Parental controls and timers to block the child whenever they wanted. The fact this was never done, and never even mentioned in this video shows how ignorant the producers of this video and the parents are.

Not only that, there are dozens of methods to stop a person playing the game, yet you failed to realize how simple they were because of your bad parenting, this is NOT the gaming community's fault in any way.

The fact you called your sons bluff is insane, you should be ashamed of yourselves, once again not the games fault he ran away, you simply did not control your son properly.

Finally, it is unfortunate that you have lost your son, but he fell off a tree and killed himself, this.. once again has nothing to do with the gaming community and the industry yet this video attempts to fully blame it.

Very sorry for you that you have lost your son, its terrible news for all, but dear god, recognize your own damn problems instead of blaming everyone/everything else. Besides its common since what the problem was, this video just embarrasses you and Fifth Estate.

As for Fifth Estate...

You have created a video that attacks the gaming community and industry very unfairly. You have no evidence or general sense of the claims you have stated in this video, and even when you interviewed people that attempted to defend your vicious accusations, your journalist attacks the people being interviewed by simply trying to make them look like the bad people with no decent reason or discussion.

In most countries here in Europe there is no legal enforcement of the rating system of the games.

I am an 28 year old avid gamer and enjoy playing FPS games online.

I am also a parent who recognises that the content of the games I play is entirely unsuitable for my growing daughter.
Though she is unable to take hold of the controller yet I am fully aware of the methods a parent to look after my child.
A quick google search using the phrase "Parental Control *insert relevant console*" will direct you to the homepages for the console manufacturers and instructions on how you as a parent can limit the time allowed and content available through the console without abruptly tearing it from the wall.
For those of you with PC gamers in the family, Windows Vista and XP both have forms of parental control.

Brandon Crisps death was a tragedy that could have happened a couple of years earlier if they had taken away his hockey stick.

It is impossible to blame the parents for such a tragedy but neither should you blame the games manufacturers, MLG or even Pepsi.

I think Fifth Estate should reevaluate their position and allow for a truly balanced report of the events leading to Brandons death and not adopt the knee jerk reaction that has been so common with the media over the years.

Lets take a 21st century review of James Dallas Egbert III and the D&D controversy. It's the same polemic from the media that we've had for more than 30 years.

Incidently, in the coming year I will be holding lectures on precisely this topic because of the medias persistant misrepresentation of gaming.
It leads to ignorance on the parts of players and parents alike.

I have never watched this fifth estate before, and after this episode I don't intend to ever again. One of the reasons is the sheer hypocracy of some of the statements made by the host.
Video games are made to be addictive? They are made to be entertainment, which happens to make people happy(or distract them enough to think they are happy) which happens to be addicting, yes, but the bases for television and television shows does the exact same thing... although, I must admit this program isn't very entertaining in itself... Basically most buisnesses are about that though, panning to their audience so that they can make sales and earn money. Maybe you should make a show about how horrible capitalism is...

Anyway, my point is that video games aren't responsible because they are made to be addictive, since anything for a consumer is made to be appealing or addictive in a similar way. although there are far better points I could have made I felt this one was touched on the least

I would like to say that people should not attack the show fifth estate, the video game developers, or the parents or the child himself in this case. If you were to ban video games, then what about smoking? Isn't that worse than games?
I think the issue at hand here is how people are living their lives. People have a bad lifestyle today and this case shows it. Video games has existed for decades, and I believe it is a great source of entertainment and relaxation until it is put into abuse. Whether you watch a movie, eat food, or even play sports, when it becomes an obsession and you spend hours beyond hours doing it, it will damage your health. For example, watching endless movies will be bad for your health, eating too much food will make you unhealthy etc.

The point I am trying to make, is video games is only sending us a small message that we are abusing a good form of entertainment and we should have a balanced lifestyle. Right now, it's not a matter of age, or how we buy the games, or playing for money. The point here is not to make something into an addiction but just a form of entertainment and enjoyment until it becomes a profession.

News reporting such as this biased crap isnt getting a meduim such as yours the "networks" and people who aprove of such garbage anywhere.
you forget we will be the ones watching your programs, and we dont take kindly to lies and see the bull that is being slammed into the weaker minds. We will ignore you. You will fade from memory.
and we Gamers will still be around.

I guess I see a different story here. I see a story where a kid overreacted when a parent punished him(as they often do). Then I see a parent that put stubbornness before their own child's safety.

Whatever started the fight is moot. My kid has threatened to run away because of an argument that started with him not rinsing the sink after brushing his teeth. Children in their early and mid teens often overreact to active guidance from a parent. As parents, it's our job to try and weed through the drama, and not get sucked into a battle of "who can be more stubborn"... Here's a tip, when a kid threatens to run away, telling him "Don't forget your coat" is NOT good parenting. Instead, try staying calm, and explaining that you don't want the child to leave, but you aren't going to bend on the rules either. Letting the child know that they ARE still wanted goes a long way. Even if the kid should know that the parents want him to stay, saying it actually puts it into the child's mind and it's something he will think about as he's walking away from his house, if it even gets that far. The attitude those parents gave seemed like they didn't care (in the child's eyes) and basically pushed the kid out of the door. That kid wasn't planning on coming back until the parents went looking for him, just because of their attitude.

I'm not saying his death was the parents' fault. It was an accident that could have happened at any time. It could have happened even if the kid had never touched a video game. It could have happened even if the kid had never run away (unless kids in Canada only climb trees when they run away). So I really don't see what this had to do with Video games.

Sure, the kid played games too much, but that's typical for any parent that lets their child play games as often as they want. A child that age typically won't police themselves. It's up to the parent to set limits for TV, Games, Computer time, Phone time, Curfew, etc...

In my opinion, this was a horrible accident, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with video games. Shame on everyone involved in trying to make that Gaming Industry Spokeswoman feel guilty for his death.

This truly is a pathetic and aggravating trite piece of journalism.

My sympathy goes out to Brandon's Crisp's family and friends, it was a tragic accident and no one is to blame for it. Parents and children are bound to get into arguments with each other, and it is not unheard of when a child runs away from home. The circumstances that led to the argument are not uncommon either: when a parent believes their child needs help, they take action. In this case, the Crisp's took away Brandon's Xbox 360 because he was so obviously addicted to it.

The Crisp's letting Brandon play mature-rated games (such as Call of Duty 4) is perfectly fine, as long as they were positive that Brandon was "mature" enough to play such games (and I have no doubt he was). Likewise, letting Brandon play online with his friends is perfectly fine as well. In fact, it's quite healthy: it's a social activity Brandon could partake in at any time where he can play and have fun with his friends.

Brandon's addiction to his video games certainly needed to be handled by either limiting his play time, or stopping him from playing altogether so that I couldn't get any worse. The parents taking action is what caused the conflict, and in turn caused Brandon to run away from home. When he did, he climbed up a tree, fell, and died. If this had not happened, in all likelihood, Brandon would have returned home within the first few days of running away (he was only 5km away!).

And this is the entire story. It was an string of events that led to a tragic accident. For CBC to simply wish to imply that ANYTHING relating to video games caused Brandon's death is beyond ridiculous. Worse yet, the execution of this Fifth Estate episode was biased, ill-informed, and in some causes, flat-out incorrect. And bringing in MLG? Seriously?

It is astounding that people these days actually still use something as harmless as a form of entertainment such as music, movies, or video games as a scape-goat to personal tragedies or family matters. While I feel sorry for the Crisps, I am equally as angry at them for believing that video games caused their son's death.

Awful, awful job CBC and The Fifth Estate. This is truly one of the worst "news" reports in existence. And with FOX News in this world, that is really saying something.

PS - It was not surprising that The Fifth Estate left out a worthwhile tidbit that Microsoft donated money for Brandon's search team. I guess making the company responsible for the Xbox 360 out to seem like a caring, compassionate organization would not favour their negative bias. What a shame.

Kid fell out of a tree. This has nothing to do with gaming. He could have ran away from home for any reason, the result would have been the same.

PARENTS: Read the packaging of the games you buy your kids, and learn how to set the parental controls on the video game console. Most parents don't even know how to turn an Xbox on.

KIDS: Go outside for some fresh air and to play with your friends. You will likely not make a career out of video games any more than you will out of hockey.

CBC: Do better with your reporting. I know you can!

Having read as many of these comments as I could--there are too many to read them all--I must express how proud I am of the viewing public. It seems that everyone who viewed this Fifth Estate segment, realized how completely absurd the argument was.

After watching the segment myself, I immediately wanted to express my concern to the powers that be that such an unwarranted and biased piece of reporting can not be tolerated. Upon opening this "Comments" page, I quickly realized that the public had already identified all of the problems with this program.

Those of you who commented, have restored my faith in the citizens of this country. Thank you for not believing what you see and hear on TV. The CBC has dropped greatly in its credibility, now even in my eyes with FOX Broadcasting during election coverage.

"Its the digital age, it only makes sense that we have a new digital sport."

Well at least Richard Gibbons is on the hysteria bandwagon.

'Crack dealers'? Even if I let you equate a form of digital entertainment to a highly addictive physical dubstance, the PARENTS not only supply the money but also make the purchases for their kids as in the Crisp's case.

What kind of parent goes out and buys crack for their kids? One that is either indifferent or ignorant.

Booze, cigarettes and pornography are legal for people over 19 (unlike crack which is legal for no one). Are these products are to blame if a parent goes out and buys them for their kids, rather than the parents themselves?

Unlike the misinformation presented in the show, the ratings are clearly marked, including an explanation, on the game packaging. Make it bigger? Please, what a lame excuse for being ignorant about the ratings.

Parents should be aware of and control the content as well as the amount of involvement their kids have with video games, just like they should control their kids access to booze/pornography/cigarette. The consensus is that kids shouldn't be involved in these things, and that's probably for the best.

Still, a sip of wine or beer for teenagers is considered acceptable to many parents across the world. The situation described in Crisp's case was more like his parents buying an unlimited supply of bottles to drink alone in his room. Completely irresponsible.

What happened to the young boy in this story is obviously heartbreaking from the standpoint that a young life was wasted on something so trivial. I wouldn't pretend to understand everything that contributed to the young boy leaving his home simply based on what you see in this program.

While it is true that kids do get a hold of games not rated for them, it truly does fall to the parents to be vigilant in staying a part of their child's activities. Be it videogames, sports, television programming, etc...parents all too often leave this type of discretion to that of their child. Again, I wouldn't pretend to say that the parents in this story are to blame as their could be (and most likely is) many factors that lead to Brandon running away, but parents are THE single greatest factor that influence their children.

Teenagers can buy cigarettes, alcohol, pornography, R-rated (or higher) movies, and M-rated videogames. This medium is no different than the movie industry and last time I checked, adults didn't want all television and movie programming to all become G-rated. The average age of a videogamer is around 35 years old. The media loves to make videogames out to still be a child's hobby and the truth of the matter is it is NOT primarily marketed, nor created with younger children in mind. The videogame industry is decidedly aimed at grown adults.

Parents need to stop letting various types of media babysit their children and spend quality time together with them. Get them out of the house several afternoons a week and put limits on what time videogame consoles can be used. And for heavens sake, if you are going to use one of the console manufacturers as a scape goat for preying on the young, report the fact that they also build parental controls into the systems that are password protected and won't allow particular rated games to even be played. News outlets need to start gathering all of the facts about videogaming and stop slanting their reporting to that of sensationalism in hopes of getting parents fears going and driving up ratings.

I am disappointed about this episode enough to write a comment here.

The report incorrectly identified the cause of Brandon’s incident. Instead showing the problem of lack of parenting skill in today’s parents; it targets a particular extracurricular activity as the cause of the problem.

The show did however correctly identify the psychology of motivation; where gamer try to achieve recognition and respect by winning competitions. If Brandon’s parents have provided this need, I don’t think he would try so hard to seek it online.

We should strive to understand the psychological health of our children to ensure our children grown up psychologically healthy. Ripping out the Xbox out of the room is no way to nurture the psychological health of the child.

CBC, this is a poor story. The gamers shown were professionals and addicts. Extremes. As an 18 y.o. recreational gamer (about five hours a week on average), I do not get near as excited or annoyed with my games as the people shown. I don't get excited about killing people. I like winning games, I am competitive. The same goes for basketball, I try my hardest to win fairly. I get excited when I have a nice snipe or multikill, just as I get excited about a great assist or a dunk. I have both Halo and Call of Duty 4. Yes, I admit, I get annoyed with people I know on the game when they consistently play poorly. But, I also get annoyed with my basketball teammates when they constantly play poorly. Is basketball bad because I have adrenaline rushes while playing and have strong emotions for it?

I cannot imagine how your reporter could think it is the ESRB's job to restrict gaming further when they already clearly label games and place age restrictions on sales. Parents, it is not the ESRB's job to raise your kids. Who bought him the game? Who allowed him to constantly play? Who did not place restrictions on his playing even though they knew he was playing excessively (the dad said he walked in early in the morning several times)? If it really was his dream to go pro, who knew him so little that they didn't realize it?

To the uneducated community, this kind of stuff gives gamers a bad name. The educated community sees this as a hilarious cheap shot. CBC, you made yourself look foolish.

The way the media speaks about video games is truly disgusting.

As a gamer I am going to say this:
Gaming is not addicting
Gaming does not influence what someone does in real life (no one goes out and tries to imitate what they did in Grand Theft Auto most of the time the media makes that up)
Parenting is the real problem when a parent like Brendon Crisp's pull a move like that they do their best to blame it on video games. If it was a concern to them they would have done something about it earlier.

I do not know one person who has ever felt like shooting someone after playing a video game.

If anything movies and tv, even books are just as bad as video games for violence, games don't even have sexual content.

to anyone who has watched this please take it with a grain of salt gaming is not bad nor is it harmful. If you truly have a concern over your child's game time talk to them or give them something else to do limit them if you have to. Sure they will be mad but they wont be "addicted" or constantly playing. And if they want a violent game I say let them if you don't allow it they will most likely find a way to get one anyways.

So you can become a professional gamer in the 21st century? You can earn a six-figure salary for this? For what? Living in a fantasy world, and pretending you're an athlete? Give me a break. The entire idea is to simply sell more 'e-stuff' to a bored and aimless segment of the younger generation. Typically corporate and North American in it's logic. Increase the volume of the marketing campaign, add lots of swirlly colours and caffeine and you got them. This is how Big Tobacco operated. Granted, gaming is not smoking, but the same marketing scheme seems to be in play. What really makes me wonder is the desensitization to the violence that these games create. The American military loves to recruit gamers for this very reason. Alot easier to break them down and have them kill real people. They already have years of practice at it. Now that's synenergy for you. Small wonder it's easy to sell foreign wars of occupation to lots of North Americans. It's just real life with a restart button. Don't like the outcome, start again. Don't get the same buzz? Jack it up! Get the latest version because the last one sucks. What a spoiled bunch we've become. Keep me entertained with things that are just fantasy for most of us and pay me big dough! Yeah right! How many fit in that category? Not many! The 'pros' are just corporate shills hocking one more disposable consumer product and unrealistic lifestyle. It's all hogwash. As for the remarks from the 'gamers', many seem to be rather sensitive and edgy about any sort of criticism. Relax, smokers have made the adjustments and have learned to live with incessant criticism. So can you. But really, don't you think that getting cracked up for the "$100,000 massacre" is over the top? What's next on the list? A genocide against space invaders? PS, just wait till you have kids!

I found your most recent documentary about video games very poorly researched, narrow minded, and pathetic. Not only did you miss the larger picture of the entertainment industry and its place in our society but you ignored personal and parental responsibility for regulating what their kids are allowed to do. The CEO of MLG was the only intelligent person you spoke with. The documentary portrayed nefarious practices of the gaming industry while almost completely ignoring the lack of participation of parents in their kids lives. Ignorance, stupidity and laziness are not reasons to give parents a pass for what occurs in theirs kids lives. My son plays video games but I know what games he is playing, when and for how long. I have rules in place so he understands when he can play and I actively share in other activities with my son that keep his life balanced. I hoped the documentary would have delved deeper into the more complex social issues that exist today to demonstrate why some kids spend so much time playing video games, but instead, you decided to pull on viewers sympathies with the tragic death of Brandon, while ignoring the real issues involved. I was interested in seeing this documentary because I thought I would see an intelligent piece of journalism but instead we got a study in mindless and deplorable reporting. Many of your documentaries are well done but this was truly an embarrassing piece of journalism. Nothing here to be proud of guys. The fifth estate should apologize, or better yet, do a proper an intelligent report on this subject. Sad.

I always tell my friends down here how different, even and balanced Canadian Journalism is compared to down here. Today I have to stop saying that.

I'm a proud Canadian. I've been married and living in the US for 5 years now. I have been an avid gamer for many years. My husband is also an avid gamer. We met online because of gaming. He also works in the industry. All in all, I know I am totally not the typical gamer. I'm 40, married, and female.

Over my many years of gaming online, I have mentored and befriended countless numbers of young kids, become their confidante, done their homework, and been there when their parents haven't bothered with them.

To blame the industry for this when:
1) games are rated
2) parents have to provide internet access, subscriptions to online services, etc.
3) if people could be bothered to understand why gaming is important to kids... it's not just the achievement, or the thought of becoming professional. the vast majority of us know we'll never be professionals in this field. the important thing is the social aspect of online gaming. whether you're playing a fps, or mmorpg, or cribbage, it doesn't matter, it's the people you meet and build relationships with.
4) next time, please try talking to normal people, normal gamers, and talk to them instead of hurling accusations and things like you did to the pro team on the episode.
5) most importantly, parents need to be involved with their kids and interact with them and watch, read, listen to and play what they're playing so you can understand them

All in all, I'm fairly disgusted right now. I really expected that the CBC, of all people, would treat this fairly and in a balanced matter. I won't expect that again.

Whenever video games - or gaming as a hobby - make it into the news you can pretty much stake your paycheck on the reasons being negative, with seemingly befuddled reporters reacting with confusion at the popularity of the hobby (not to mention that fact that it is considered a “hobby” at all) and bleary-eyed surprise when they learn the size and scope of the industry … which is multi-billion dollar, bigger than Hollywood, et cetera, et cetera. What confuses me is that none of this is exactly new – most thirtysomethings (myself being one of them) grew up on video games, and the industry simply grew up with us. It’s been that way for a while now. Games have become just another medium, albeit an interactive one. These days, folks of my generation have their favorite books, their favorite movies, their favorite CDs … and their favorite games. They’re just there, and they’re not going anywhere. Get used to it.

The “Top Gun” piece – not to mention the coverage of the Brandon Crisp case from its very beginning to its unfortunate end – positively drips with the mainstream media’s typical disdain for games and gaming, and its seeming eagerness to lay the blame for any tragedy involving teens at the feet of the industry. While it does appear that Brandon had issues with addiction (or at least with learning moderation) I can’t help but wonder if the media would have been as focused on the WHY of his situation if the point of contention with his parents had been something else … namely, one of the dozens upon dozens of other things teenagers can disagree with their parents over, sometimes to the point of tragedy. Yet every time the case came up on the evening news, the reporters were very careful to remind the viewers about the specific reasons Brandon argued with his parents. Exactly why was this relevant? Would it have been as relevant if, say, Brandon had disagreed with his parents over his choice of girlfriend or his curfew?

I doubt it.

Here’s what else I learned tonight:

- The Crisps’ decision to set up a fund to help kids get involved in team sports (or “real” sports, as the reporter so condescendingly called them) seems to border on childish arrogance, setting team sports up as wholesome and beyond reproach when we’ve all seen how easily it can go wrong, with crazed parents pushing their offspring to win at all costs and fighting each other on the sidelines when their kid’s team loses. Again, it smacks of alarmism and laying blame where there is none – “violent video games killed our son … when it would have been much better if he’d been out there getting his teeth knocked out playing hockey.”

Hey, at least he would have been fighting REAL people, right?

- The industry can’t do anything to please the alarmists – they will always be regarded as the villains. Bring in a ratings system and insist that the parents enforce it? Not good enough, apparently. So the government takes a page out of the Big Book of Totalitarianism and steps in, telling retailers who they can and can’t sell to. I work in the games retail business, and from my own observations enforcement doesn’t work even when it’s done by the book – I’ve seen parents with ten-year-olds throw screaming fits when we refuse to sell or rent M-rated games to their kids, while seventeen-year-olds – who are legally entitled to buy games like Halo 3 - are turned away because they don’t have ID … and I’ve been told that if we break these rules we’ll be facing a fine (a PERSONAL fine) somewhere to the tune of $600 dollars, not to mention termination of employment. Funny – I don’t recall that “Being a Surrogate Parent to Everybody Else’s Kids” was in my job description. Another victory for the Nanny State.

- According to the Fifth Estate, parents are indeed helpless, lamenting that they just don’t know what to do when their teens become “obsessed” with games. Are you kidding me? Maybe you should wind the clock back a couple of decades and NOT HAVE KIDS if you’re that powerless. Or you should go on the Maury Povitch show and have him tell you what to do. Or you could just blame it all on somebody else’s mode of expression. Please check all that apply:

( ) Comic Books
( ) Rock Music
( ) Video Games

Here’s what I’m looking forward to – thirty years from now, when games really are just another medium and nobody bats an eye at an online tournament, we’ll be looking back on this show the same way we look back on 1950s preachers claiming rock ‘n roll was the devil’s music (we now have Classic Rock stations all over the radio band, and nobody's complaining) and senators claiming that comic books are the devil’s literature (anybody seen that modest little comic-book movie called “The Dark Knight?” How ‘bout “Watchmen?”) It’s all about generation gaps, folks, and that’s a story as old as time itself. Young people create new things, and those creations frighten the establishment who couldn’t even conceive of them in their own youth. What surprises me is that nobody ever seems to recognize that, even as we live it over and over again ...

Oh, and I just read the comment further down the page by R.W. Watkins. I agree with a lot of what you say, but seriously, you WANT teens to be throwing beer-soaked parties and getting drunk? Obsession with alcohol is part of what screwed up MY generation – most of my contemporaries can’t even go bowling without a beer in each hand. Sobriety, for us, is a social sickness. Oh well … another subject, I suppose …

A brilliant satire of recent sensationalism in the media concerning gaming. I just wish they hadn't used such a sad case as a central issue. Oh well, the lengths we go for comedy, I suppose...

This is pathetic. The absolute worst, uninformed, most biased broadcast I think I've ever seen.

thanks alot now my mom is not letting me play video games thanks to your show your giving the false inrormaion that just because your son plays video games it means that there gonna run away if you take away there game system the reporter only fovused on the negetive things on gaming meaning she took the place of a bias reporter as the show moves on it starts saying that it is just because of the game system that the child ran away if his parents had paid more attention to what he was playing or tried to comprmise how often he was allowed to play it

As someone who worked for a video game retailer, the ignorance in this documentary is frustrating. It is illegal to sell M-rated games to minors in Ontario, and my employer threatened termination to employees who didn't follow this law. I told countless parents that games like "Gears of War," "Grand Theft Auto 4," and "Call of Duty 4" were NOT for their 13-year-old sons. I had few parents heed my advice, while many would just toss my warning to the side as they laid the cash down for the money.

The parents who listened were the ones who read the ESRB warning labels on the back of the box. It amazes me that the fact that clear content descriptors such as "violence," "blood and gore," and "sexual content" were ignored in this documentary. These warnings are pasted on the back of the box. My employer had posters telling parents how to understand the rating system and where to find information on the box.

The fact that console manufacturers like Microsoft have even built in parental controls into their systems -- and that this wasn't covered -- further disappoints me. Parents now have the power to control games their children play with respect to the ESRB rating that is coded onto the disk. Parents can set weekly play time allowances. Parents can even forbid their children from playing online. This is all done through the console and is password protected so that the child cannot counter their parents' efforts to curb abusive play habits.

In the end, the parents either have the choice to become educated in the ESRB rating system and parental controls built into modern day consoles. Taking an interest in what the subject matter of the games their children want to play will stop them from buying violent games like Gears of War for their 13-year-old sons.

If a parent isn't prepared to do this for the welfare of their child, they can simply choose to spend their money elsewhere.

The thing that bothers me is that you did not have any information on the fact that his parents, if they knew, could have done one of three things to prevent him from playing as much.

1) They could have made a parental lock on the XBOX (it's built in) with a passcode to make sure he would not get online without their permission.

2) The parents could have, with the same parental locks, blocked the kid from using M-rated games altogether. That's an option there too.

3) As of a year and a half ago, the XBOX team added a new feature to restrict how long a kid may play on his XBOX by any time amount (i.e., hours per day, days a week, etc.)

None of this was mentioned and overall, it could have saved his life. These options are on almost all videogame platforms and are there to help parents out. It's too bad you people didn't know this in your journalistic investigation.

-Jared S. age 20

This boy's death was a tragedy. No one should be taken at such a pivotal point in their life. 15 is a wonderful age to be alive. You're a young adult and you becoming more responsible. However this documentary is just outrageous. The parents and the boy himself are the ones to blame for this death, not the gaming industry. This 15 year old was playing an M rated game. He shouldn't have been able to buy it without his parents present at the store. The games do have rating on the front of the box and on the back it explains why it received its rating. Blood, gore, intense violence, all of these are listed on the Call of Duty 4 game box. CBC has treated the gaming industry like Big tobacco. Why is it the gaming industry's responsibility to parent these children? Even though the ESRB has put rating on games much like the MPAA with their movies apparently that isn't good enough. Music has its explicit lyrics sticker, movies have their ratings, as do games. Perhaps we should now rate books. We'll have to rate what is acceptable for children to read. Paintings too, the Venus de Milo shows bare breasts, I don't want my child seeing those until he's old enough and ready.

The parents knew he played the game, they allowed him to play all day and on the weekends. They allowed his fascination with the game to turn into an addiction. Yes, I am a gamer who admits that games can be addicting. They didn't care that he was playing a violent game until they discovered he was dead. This was a family issue that the media has taken and used against an industry they don't even understand. The Xbox 360 contains parental controls that limits the amount of time you can play games each day, and it limits what games you can play by their ratings. When you open the Xbox out of the box you will find a pamphlet explaining how to use these parental controls.

A system is already set up to stop kids from playing violent games. And from playing games too often. We, gamers and those in the gaming industry, are trying to educate people about this system but apparently you do not want to learn it. You would rather say that video games are corrupting the youth like rock and roll, horror comics, violent movies, and rap music. This is just the next medium of entertainment that will be scrutinized by those who do not understand it and they will try to abolish it.

Unfortunately, this is a prime example of lackluster journalism. Not enough research went into the piece to back any of the claims trying to be approached, and a rhetorical argument towards a major sponsor of a gaming event (Amp Energy, owned by Pepsi, sponsoring Arcadia in Montreal) shows even more the counter-point: Parents today don't parent their children enough. If the parents were more active into what their children were doing online, gaming or not gaming, and more active into what their children were doing in real world society (being short and being a goaltender is pretty common in Canadian hockey, even at younger standards), then perhaps we would have never gotten into this tragic argument.

I've started a group on Facebook against this use of CBC programming to sensationalize professional gamers in such fashion, as it is inappropriate to deem gaming as a scapegoat towards what easily appears to be multiple cases of poor parental choices. Brandon Crisp's parents had to have known what he was into, and clearly didn't have enough involvement in learning how well he was at the game, or what the game was even about to him. They made the right choice to take the console away from him, but allowing him to run away without having a more distinct and serious conversation about the importance of school would have been obviously paramount. Brandon's tragic death could have happened to anyone, with or without the emotional and dramatic situation.

If the CBC and the Fifth Estate wishes to send a message to sponsors who would rather put money into gaming than their own programming - which I might add sounds like a wonderful idea for sponsors to do so - then perhaps the Crown Corporation would like to lose something else instead. As a taxpayer, this use of my money to tell me that one poor child's death is the result of the life I live, well, I will tell my local MP that the CBC isn't worth my money. Meanwhile, I will continue to fight the good fight in whatever video game I play, to whoever I frag, kill or whatever word you want to use about the situation, and being a social member of a community that is much larger than the CBC could ever wish to grasp.

After watching this program I can not believe that my hard earned tax dollars were used to create such propaganda. This is nothing but grandstanding on the part of CBC. Mrs. Findley should be embarrased to have been a part of this piece. It's extremly unfair to label video games as the sole reason for the tragic demise of Brandon Crisp. If you are to label video games as dangerous and so on maybe religious leaders should also be marked with some type of warning. Persons in their position have been known to occasionally do more harm than good to children. I know ridiculous right. I also don't understand why people want to fight the fact that playing video games is refered to as a sport. If video games can't be considered a sport then maybe we should take a harder look at horse racing, chess,poker and golf because these "games of skill" are comparable to video games based purely on there physical requirements.

I appreciated watching your show on gaming. I personally know of two families that are affected by this new addiction. One is a teenager. His father has thrown out the computer and software twice, and his son continually find ways to continue to play. The second is a 40 year old married man. The many consumed hours and sleepless nights have affected both of these families. These games are designed to keep their players captivated. Those of you who have commented that this boy's experience isn't valid should be HAPPY and GRATEFUL that you don't have an addictive personality. Do you think gambling isn't addictive also?

This has to be some of the most irresponsible journalism I've seen in a while. 2 minutes into it, and you already know that the "journalists" that put this piece together had an agenda, and every minute after that simply reinforces that fact. Whatever happened to journalistic integrity? Whatever happened to reporting the facts while retaining objectivity? The biggest thing that scares me is that people will see this story and will take all of the half-truths as hard fact.

A troubled teen is dead, and the only thing you guys can do is use the boy's hobby as a scapegoat, completely ignoring what really caused his death...lax parenting and behavioral issues, brought on by other factors that simply manifested itself as an obsession with a video game that his parents never should have allowed him to play in the first place (the video game was rated M for a reason). This unwillingness of the media (and society as a whole) to hold parents accountable for their own unwillingness to be active participants in their children's lives is not only sad, but dangerous. Children are growing up thinking that there's always someone else to blame for their problems and that personal responsibility never applies to them and irresponsible "journalism" like THIS simply reinforce that view.

Where the hell is your sense of responsibility? This is yellow journalism at its worse, plain and simple. Ignore the facts in favor of sensationalism. I'm disappointed in myself that I got suckered into watching this piece of garbage. The least I can do is comment on it and let people know that this is not journalism. It's dangerous con job to divert attention away from the real problem...parents who no longer know how to parent.

Anyone who had a hand in producing this episode should be ashamed of themselves. Using a tragedy like this in order to push an agenda. I don't know how you could look yourselves in the mirror everyday.

To:Richard Gibbons

Are you seriously comparing illegal activities to playing video games? This is completely the parents fault for not properly controlling their kids. They needed a scapegoat so they just used Video Games.

This episode makes me sick. It makes all gamers look like sick sociopaths, and its disgusting that there only showing the one side of issue, making gamers out to be serial killers, it's shock journalism at it's worst and I for one am sad that our tax dollars are going to demonize a minority that is already made fun of, and made to look like school shooters and addicts. Shame on you CBC.

Once again the media tries to pin the death of a mentally unstable person on video games.I swear when ever the newest generation finds something like comic books or rock and roll the last generation views it as some sort of evil.Also way to go on calling your kid's bluff mom,He might still be alive if you sat done and talked to him about his fixation instead of being a smart ass

I always held the CBC and their reporting in high regard, but such a descent to nothing more than shock and scare tactics, sensationalism, and overall misinformation leaves me with nothing else but disgust.

Top Gun is nothing more than a shameless feature that uses the death of a child to promote a campaign against a medium that the Fifth Estate clearly does not understand.

The only section of Top Gun I found agreeing with is the horrible conduct of people in online communities, especially XBOX Live. That is something that should be addressed.

Yet, this is no part due to the violence in the game, but the fact that, as the video mentioned, they are isolated from an authority figure. This is the way a 12 year old will act once they are separated from their parents. Not just in video games, but any part of life.

Blaming the problems of a family, or even our society, squarely on video games is just scapegoating. The same has been said for decades about other mediums, ranging from movies to rock music to Dungeons and Dragons. Since the early 90's, video games have been the current target of such tactics. You would think by 2009 journalists in our country would know better.

In my eyes, The Fifth Estate's credibility, as well as the CBC's in general, has been shattered.

While I agree with the general consensus here that the report was poorly researched and overall a biased attempt at the usual fear mongering and scapegoating, I do recoil a bit at a lot of the posters who quickly jump into the opposite camp and write it off as 'blame the parents'.

Yes, it's true that Call of Duty 4 is an M rated game and the kid probably should have been playing it. But from what we're told it seems quite clear that the parents did try to take action. First they tried talking to him, then they tried restricting access which brought about the tragedy.

It's easy to sit with the benefit of hindsight and talk about how they should have done this or that sooner, faster or better.

Ultimately I think it comes down to the fact that it was a sad and senseless tragedy. A kid got mad and decided to run away. This resulted in his death. The fact is that kids tend to over react, they sometimes do stupid things, they struggle with their parent over control and boundaries. But this tragedy could just have easily been over a girlfriend, going to a party, getting a car, being grounded for being rude and a thousand other reasons why teenagers get mad at their parents.

I don't think it's fair to blame video games, but I don't think it's fair to blame the parents either. There's plenty of tragedies caused by bad parenting, however this dosent appear to be one of them.

Blaming video games for these types of tragedies is really a shameful thing to do. How the parents in this story did not get accused of negligence is beyond me. The father "helped pack his bags" and jokingly "called his bluff", wow. Let's face it, these days most parents don't have time for parenting anymore. Parents have become workaholic zombies; ironically, much like their gamer zombie children. When adults buy xbox or similar machines for minors its their RESPONSIBILITY to be informed consumers before buying the product, and while your at it take parenting lessons too.

This was very poorly researched, and extremely biased. An example of this is around the 17 minute mark when the reporter tries to imply there is nothing in the store to tell parents why a game is rated the way it is.

In actual fact on the front of every video game is the rating (If the game is rated Mature it will have a large M printed on the box, and it will say Mature +17 just above that. On the back of the box it will list the reasons why it got that rating such as violence or strong language).

The research isnt that hard to do (this goes for parents too). For example, on Brendan Crisp's console of choice (Xbox 360), there are several parental features that allow parents to limit games with certain ratings (so games that are rated M cant be played, for example), control time limits, whether or not games can be played online, etc, etc. These features alone pretty much nullify any connection between Brendan's unfortunate death and the video game industry, no matter what the Fifth Estate says.

I just finished watching your program on video games, and am simply disgusted by the bias of your programming. You presented, through ads for your programming and the programming itself that video games were creating an evil and destructive environment that while didn’t kill the child, was obviously responsible and was the greatest contributing factor. In addition, you belittle the players who are on professional teams, showing no respect for something that you did not understand.
Speaking as a young man, a well rounded young man, who plays video games casually, in between my commitments to University, training as a cyclist, work, family, and church, I felt, offended by your programming. Young teenage males, and their counterparts in their 20s and 30s, do play video games, and are the biggest market. In my personal experience, video games were strictly a weekend affair. Because its potential as an educational tool is virtually untapped, there is no association with school, which is the work week for most of these players. To them, video games are the antithesis of school. This furthers the appeal of these games. Your programming left this important section essentially unexplored, leaving it to a 16 year old to analyze the reward structure inherent in a video game. A game like Halo, or Call of Duty 4, both of which I own, and play, creates an environment with clearly stated objectives that the player must complete, and are presented obstacles that they must overcome. This structure appeals to young men, because it has goals.
Video games are regulated much more strictly than movies. Realistic graphics in current generation video games cannot compete with live action movies, or animated movies for that matter. Yet you did not explore this comparison at all. Purchasing an R rated movie with explicit language, nudity, and violence far in excess of any Mature rated game I’ve ever played is much easier than purchasing a video game. Yet video games are much quicker to be blamed. When I was in grade 5, I remember a friend’s birthday party, where we played Goldeneye, a highly successful and acclaimed video game based on the Bond movie of the same title, and watched The Matrix. Now, I can play in my mind, the movie and the game side by side, and compare the level of violence, and explicit detail of the movie, to that of the video game. Perhaps you should do the same.
Anything new is feared, and sneered by the established tradition. Are video game athletes any less than a professional bowler, billiards player, or dart player? These all have more similarities with video games than traditional bat and ball sports prevalent in North America. An even more direct comparison would be a chess champion with a video games champion. The chess player takes down his opponents pieces, but one could easily say his queen killed the pawn, just as a video game player can say, I killed his character, or my character took down his character. If the video game player said I killed him, “him” implies his character, as any sane person can tell the difference between killing someone, and killing a video game avatar. And anyone who can’t, has issues that they need to see a professional about that are much deeper than a video game. So please, show some respect for something you clearly do not understand. Broaden your horizons. Know that there are many sports much more popular than Lacrosse and Hockey.
It is not the job of a video game maker to be the parent. It has simply become the newest thing to be the victim of a blame game that other forms of media are quick to contribute to because they were the target when they were the new kid on the block. While I was growing up, my parents understood that children have less self discipline abilities compared to an adult, and as such, limited my play time to an hour a day, on non-school days. In addition, they were not afraid of their kids, and did not allow them to get away with anything they were displeased with. They were just as busy as any parent are now, just as busy as they are today. But they cared to give time to their child, and were not so self absorbed with their own lives, and understood that as a parent, your greatest responsibility is to create contributing members of society. The child who died, his parents admitted that what they were doing was taking an easy way out. It is much more interesting to be doing something with your parents, if the parents are interested, than playing a video game.

Sincerely,
Lincoln Lu

just as it is the responsibiliy of parents to keep their kids from drugs and gangs, it is their responsibility to know what their kid is up to and to keep them from violent games and movies. these parents clearly had no idea about their son's life.

the video is also very biased. an example is in the interview of the woman who represents the gaming rating in canada. the label is very clear that it is for children which she does say but the reporter countered it by basically declaring that it is not clear enough and not detailed enough. but the truth is that it is. not only that but it lists the reasons why right on there. in fact it is more detailed and more visable that on a DVD or VHS. but video editing is a powerful tool and though im sure that the representative said that, it was cut out to drive the point.

lastly, to blame video game companies for the tragedy is like blaming mcdonalds for making people fat. stay informed and make smart decisions. know what your kid doing. if you let them play violent video games, you must obviously know the risk. if you didn't even when they are so clearly labeled, then it is your fault. this goes for movies and music as well.

As an employee down at the local EBGames, I did NOT appreciate being painted as a filth-peddler who just cares about making a sale. The store I work at gets a high amount of young kids - and many who DO want to get their mitts on the newest "Mature" rated games. (It's the classic "Big Red Button that says 'Do NOT push'" scenario - the kids may be told it's dangerous or bad for them, but they'll want it more)

I ask for ID almost compulsively, and many of my co-workers are exactly the same as I am. If the kid is clearly underage and comes in with their parent to buy the game, then I actually take the time to show the parent the back of said box and explain that it's an 18+ game and the content that makes it so before I ask the parent if they're okay with the kid playing that game.

I've been working there since August, and of all the parents I've told that to, only two ever said to the kid they'd get them something with a lower age rating. Yes, yes, the filth-peddler is pointing at the parents, but there are times where I genuinely feel that they don't care about what the kids are playing - many will just nod unenthusiastically or cut in with "Yeah, s/he's been playing these games for a while now". Just two weeks ago a parent wanted to buy Gears of War 2 for their son who looked only about 7 or 8. In all honesty, I wanted to tell the mother that I wouldn't feel comfortable having her buy the game for a kid that young. At all. But I'd guarantee you a paper plane to an F-16 that I'd get the "Poor customer service" rant shoved in my face.

And surely the journalists should realize that you can't go hanging "Mature" banners all over the store because *Gasp* there ARE different games for different age groups! Oh, wait, to these people it'll probably be all the same - Call Of Duty teaching violence to children would be no different than Super Mario Bros. teaching kids that stomping on turtles and eating strange red mushrooms are perfectly okay.

Granted, I started playing video games at an early age. Kid Icarus was my first, but I quickly moved up the ranks to violent titles such as Street Fighter. But y'know what? My parents were right there teaching me the difference between real life and video games. Meanwhile, look at that Brandon Crisp kid - the XBox was right in his bedroom, giving him access to probably pull all-nighters and only feed the addiction further. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but since my NES, my parents kept it hooked up in the den downstairs, and I'd always have to give up the room at 8:00 so they could watch their TV shows. Sure, there'll be times where I'd be a little miffed that my one-hit-away-from-killing-final-boss-moment would be cut short by "CSI", but at least there was some parental involvement from an early age. Hell, if the Crisp family took some time to look at the Xbox instruction manual, there is a way to set controls on the amount of time it's played, but once again human laziness prevails.

In short, if the parents are just going to park their kid in front of a Xbox like it's a babysitter and not talk to thier kids about the games, there's going to be problems. And yes, there are people that will become more...into it than others, but if parental mediation isn't working, maybe the child needs some professional help instead of the "Oh, but s/he's a smart kid. It's the game's fault." excuse. Please, if it was REALLY the fault of the game, I'm sure there'd be mass-suicides and kids leaving home instead of some isolated incidents.

BTW, one of the guys in the competitive gaming part they spoke to is a friend of my co-worker. I met him a few times, and he's a rather smart, well-spoken guy. To see that the Fifth Estate had edited the footage to make him look stupid/shocked is probably the biggest proof of bias there was. Why didn't they just splice in the "I grabbed her...Sweeeet can--" part of the Simpsons while they were at it?

Watching Mr Blomberg telling us that the manufacturers, promoters and vendors can not be held responsible for abuse of the "sport" by juveniles and that the parents are the ones who should control use, I am reminded of a drug dealer telling us that "Hey, I only supply the Crack Cocaine and it is the kid's parents who should control use of it" or, perhaps a pimp telling us that he only provides the Johns and is not responsible for the grief caused to underage girls. Come on Blomberg, you make big bucks through the abuse of these young people. Disgusting. . .

Look to the failure of the parents, who should be the primary influence on a child's life. Utterly ignorant of the boy's hobbies, using a machine as a babysitter. When they take it away, the child runs away! No child in history has ever run away from home before video games, RIGHT?

This is a typical alarmist production by lazy, shock-jock "journalists". I use "journalist" in the broadest possible way; the people behind this production are to true journalism as excrement is to cream. This sort of media garbage is nothing new. Roll the clock back and insert "Rap", "Heavy Metal", or "Television" instead of video games, we've been down this road before. Video games are the scapegoat of choice for the decade. Video games, like music and television before them, are a simple target for people too weak-willed to delve deeply into the issues that trouble us, and for seniors who obsess over "the good old days" though rose-colored glasses.

I am embarrassed as a Canadian in knowing my tax dollars were spent on this drivel.

Bradon Crisp is an idiot. Bradon Crisp's are idiots. The Fifth Estate (a program that I recently come across)are ignorants and shameless.

To blame video games for this tradgic, yet moronic event is ridiculous. Brandon is underage and the game was a mature rating. This is bad parenting!

Given, most parents don't know, but it is the responsibilty to learn in order to gain that knowledge.

As to The Fifth Estate, I'm not suprise that you have present this program. It is very much understood that most news media do not have journalistic integrity these days.

You are very lucky that I was not in the program, but we all know that I would never have the chance, and if given that chance... video editing works wonders.

I have been a gamer since I was 10 years old and while I have played M rated games under the age of 17 parents have many ways to restrict their kids BUT you just have to spend 10 seconds on xbox.com to find the area that shows parents how to limit their kids with content restrictions, game timers, and more. This was a horribly done video and I must say that as a gamer I am almost offended to watch this. As the producers you need to go the the game creators actual websites where TONS of information is right in front of you to write a TRUE story! As always though parents should pay attention to what their kids are playing. But I still find it amazing that his parents blew off the kid running away! Seriously NEVER DO THAT! As a gamer I feel that this video is a poorly constructed attack on our great community.

This feature was biased and did not include the many different angles that should have been seen by your audence.

I understand that the majority of your viewers are 50+ and because of that you decided what the outcome of your feature was going to be before you even began to film it, but as a man in his late 20's who runs a series of popular gaming websites for Canadian gamers, I found this a huge disapointment and quite pathetic.

This will be viewed by the millions of gamers in years to come as a joke, much like the 1960 propaganda videos of being able to survive a nuke by ducking under your desk. You twisted the words of Bruce and the AMP team. Only MLG's CEO saw the angles you were desperatly reaching for. Even other media publishers have said that your views are lazy.

CBC, you've disapointed your viewers, your peers and your country. Pathetic.

This honestly was one of the absolute worst news stories I've ever seen. This was simply CBC jumping on the "blame violence in video games" bandwagon we've seen out of the media as of late. This report basically made me want to scream, the fact that this kid played an online video game competitively had absolutely zero bearing on how he tragically died. These parents should have been able to sit their son down and talk to him and explain that he needs to be able to balance his other responsibilities such as school equally with his training for his competitive gaming career or what have you.
CBC Fail.

the thing that annoyed me was when the "reporter" was arguing that there was no warning to say it's not suitable for children, i guess she didn't look in the bottom corner of the box which clearly shows a rating.

it's not video games fault, it's down to poor parenting.

Of course parents are going to blame video and computer games. Who would want to blame themselves when it's easy to blame something that's been used as a scape-goat in the past. In the seventies it was Dungeons and Dragons that was responsible for the death of James Dallas Egbert III. Never mind the fact that he was clinically depressed and taking drugs and had attempted suicide once. Once the media discovered he played D&D, a whole slew of "studies" was released. Christian groups labeling it as a form of "satan worship". It all comes down to the fact that the kid had unresolved issues, did something extreme and the parents did not pay attention when he tried to ask for help.

I'm also surprised no one has drawn parallels to this from sports or any other form activity where obsession can turn lethal. This is no more an addiction than someone who spends all of there earnings on an entire season of hockey (or insert random sport here).

Understand that from a mature gamer’s persective, aged 16, that the said incident involved a fourteen year-old that had no boundaries. I am NOT saying that his parents are at fault, but they need to be as aware of the ESRB Ratings as they are of the Movie Ratings.

Nevertheless; most gamers see games such as C.O.D 4 (Call of Duty 4), Halo 3, and other FPS (First Person Shooters)as mere entertainment, or fun. That directly relates to the said study that one in twelve players can be clinically diagnozed as addicted.

Maybe we should keep this footage, as well as the FOX news garbage, archived. That way, when the inevitable History Channel documentary "The Digital Witch-Hunt" gets ready to air, the irresbonsible journalists will go down in history as some of the most retarded and morally corrupt individuals of the era.
I think the best revenge we can take against such irresbonible journalism is to never forget how these specific individuals lied to us.

Ambulance chasing doesn't even begin to describe this.

Aside from baseless statements and a complete lack of understanding of the industry, this is just sensationalism.

Games are not to be taken seriously, and I'm sorry this boy's parents completely failed to take responsibility by kicking him off the game.

I play games avidly, as well as any other, and I go entire weeks without playing games simply because I find something better to do.

Take responsibility for your kids. I don't play games on XBox Live because everywhere I go I hear 12 year old kids swearing at me.

It's poor parenting and sensationalism, plain and simple.

Had he been physically larger he would have continued with his hockey practice and I rather doubt the parents would have taken any drastic measures just as he was approaching a level at which he might become a professional hockey player.

Canadian parents are aware of and tend to approve of hockey far more than they are aware of or tend to approve of video games.

Irrespective of the ignorance of the parents, it was a simple teenager-parent dispute that caused the young lad to make a decision regarding climbing a tree and suffering a "fall" from it.

Having recently watched the episode "Top Gun" by Gillian Findlay, I feel the need to express both discontent and disappointment regarding both the episode's message and Findlay's logic in her fact-gathering and the presentation thereof.

Regarding Findlay's focus on the death of Brandon Crisp of Barrie, Ontario; Findlay does indeed raise a pertinent fact in that one should not allow oneself to be drawn in too much into a video game, and the parents were shown to exercise good judgment in restricting Brandon's access to his Xbox 360. She also points out that, as is the case with Brandon Crisp's parents, it is quite often the parents who will purchase these games for their children, and that therefore parents need to better educate themselves about the games their children play.

However, Findlay makes utterly no mention of the Xbox 360's parental control features--nor even if Brandon's parents were aware of them. There is also no mention made as to whether the parents were aware of the Entertainment Software Review Board's rating label on the front of Call of Duty 4's packaging or game disc, which is designed to inform consumers about the game's content.

Further, no word is heard of any possible attempt by Brandon's parents to acquire professional help for their son's addiction.

The death of Brandon Crisp was a tragedy for all who knew him; we do not know his precise thoughts when he ran away from home. We are unaware of the exact factors in his family life which may have contributed to his falling grades or general isolation from the outside world. For all we know, his lack of access to the Xbox 360 may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

If all sources agree that Brandon was an avid video gamer--and he quite obviously was--then it is perfectly understandable that he was frustrated and angry at his parents for taking away something he enjoyed. The same can be said of any child who has a favorite toy suddenly forbidden to them.

Would Brandon's death have attracted such attention if his parents had forbade him something other than a video game console? Something like drugs, a movie, or even a magazine or comic book that they deemed to be inappropriate or otherwise detrimental to Brandon in some way?

In my life, I have played many video games that are exceedingly violent: F.E.A.R., all iterations of DOOM, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, all games in the Fallout series, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Hitman, Grand Theft Auto, The Witcher, and many, many others. Yet I am far from violent, and I have never used any of those games as an excuse to run from home. And I do not let them dominate my life--though I do understand how enthralling they can be.

However, I take exception to the assertion that violent video games are inherently bad because they are linked to rare, isolated, unfortunate deaths such as that of Brandon Crisp. Further, I reject the implied notion that playing such games will lead to an addiction as deep and unhealthy as was his. Several major studies by groups such as The Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health, The Journal of Adolescent Health, and The British Medical Journal have shown no conclusive link between video game usage and violent activity or aberrant behavior such as running away from home.

On the subject of online interactions in video games, the segment Findlay shows us wherein online players are seen to be highly profane and insulting is not representative of online interactions in video games as a whole. I myself have played--many times--online against players who were not only polite and intelligent but showed themselves to be capable of sound, deductive reasoning in both online play and non-gaming-related activities. Moreover, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the entity which is responsible for rating the content found in video games in North America, does not and cannot rate the online interactions between other players because they are incapable of controlling exactly what players say and do online.

Education in what material children are allowed to peruse is paramount. And education does not come from a label on video game packaging, though it is certainly part of the process. Education comes from our teachers and, more importantly, our parents. Efforts can and should be made to educate parents about the rating system on the video games their children play; it is not the responsibility of government or the industry to control this. All that either body can do is advise and inform.

"Top Gun" provides a crassly negative picture on video games and has a very narrow view on those who play them. That Brandon's obssession with Call of Duty 4 and the subsequent negative impact on his life is portrayed as the primary motivator behind his decision to run without examining other real-world factors is grandstanding and disrespectful both to him and gamers worldwide. I object to such mainstream fearmongering vehemently because it is a tired, old story putting video games in a negative light and has been consistently disproven time and again.

This was the most stupid movie I've seen. Stop doing these things because they really suck.

As a journalist myself, I am appalled by the CBC's irresponsibility in writing and airing this segment, demonstrating a complete disregard for journalistic integrity.

According to the National Runaway Switchboard, between 1.6 and 2.8 million kids run away in America annually. In fact, I remember at various points in my childhood several of my friends running away from home for a few days because they were upset with their parents; its perfectly natural. The series of events leading up to Crisp's running away are no different than the millions of other children who have tried to run away before him (including those who did BEFORE video games were invented).

Imagine, if you will, its 1965... A young boy receives a brand new bicycle for his birthday. Happy with his new present, the child begins to ride his bike everywhere, and couldn't be more excited. Then, one cool summer evening, while playing baseball in the yard, the boy manages to break his parents bedroom window. Upset, his parents ground him in the manner they know will upset him most: they take away his bicycle. The upset child, in an act of vengeance, makes the decision to run away from home... but it the process of running away (for however short a time was intended), the young boy suffers a critical injury and perishes. A reasonable and believable enough story, correct?

The question I put before you is this:
Why would we blame the bicycle company?

No, Brandon Crisp's death was an accident, plain and simple. Sometimes bad things happen to good, innocent people and we may never understand why. Its only right for his parents to want to put the blame somewhere, but there is really nowhere to put it.

The only reason this story is even getting reported is because media (such as CBC), has found a way to put a spin they like on a pretty face.

I am 22 and an avid gamer, though I do not fit the typical profile as I'm a woman. Growing up I did have a problem with obsessive behaviour and getting too lost in a fantasy world. I've only just recently gotten my first gaming platform however, and with only one computer in the house(kept in a public place mind you) I didn't get much time to play on it fighting with my two siblings as well as my Mum who did a lot of work on it. My obsession when I was younger and that still continues today is reading. I'm a voracious reader, my mother would often check on me after putting my sister and I to bed and find me under the covers with a flashlight and my book. I have hundreds of books and thanks to libraries have read hundreds more(not an exaggeration). There is no rating system for books, no m for mature on the cover of books like Lolita or Lord of the Flies(a book commonly assigned in school and is in my opinion one of the more disturbing pieces of literature I have read). I was reading Shakespeare and Jane Austen by 13, so it would have been easy for me to get my hands on all sorts of inappropriate material. So with no rating system in place and no real way to limit my access, highly portable and accessible as books are(I even developed a habit of reading and walking at the same time, which got me several scrapes and bruises) how did my mother manage to keep me from reading material that was inappropriate for me? She managed by being a parent plain and simple. She kept the lines of communication open and monitored what I was doing. We discussed what I was reading and issues that arose from what I read were addressed and explained openly. Please parents, don't kid yourselves, video games are not the first or last place your children experience or imagine violence. If they're old enough to read Lord of the Flies, they are old enough to play video games. If they're old enough to play hockey or football and understand that the very real violence of those games should not be translated into real life, then they are old enough to play video games.

My "addiction"(a word far over used in our society to excuse people of responsibility) to reading is still going on, and I read at least one book a week. But I have never once been told that it is unhealthy or been told to cut back, and in fact have been continually been praised for it. But why? Its not so different from gaming. I sometimes sit on the couch all day, sometimes forget to eat a meal and don't notice how quickly time is passing and if I am at a particularly good part of a book I will refuse to interact with family and friends. All of this sounds extremely negative, but because we have as a society come to recognize the benefits of reading its okay and not at all unusual.

All of this hypocrisy in the regulation of new media is just humanity's fear of the unknown rearing its ugly head once again. It takes centuries for human beings to become comfortable with things, to learn how to deal with them appropriately mainly because new things are not always met with openess and understanding. Perhaps of we tried less to demonize their favourite activity young people would feel more comfortable discussing the issues with their parents.

And to comment on this show specifically I think its disgraceful that this discussion centered around Brandon Crisp's tragic death. By doing that you automatically disallowed any arguments for parental responsibility to be made convincingly and in depth because doing so would be seen as speaking against these poor parents. Shame on you fifth estate for what I consider some very dirty tactics.

"I think these companies ought to be held criminally liable for the effects their products produce."
Geo Rutkay

You probably think car companies should be liable for all the deaths due to car accidents too right?

In the first 90 seconds of the segement, Findley talks about parents "going down to the basement" and then further about games "in the bedroon".

Really?

Why is a 15 year old playing playing an M rated game at all, nevermind alone in his bedroom.

I realise that it's currently fashionalble for the media to lay societies ills at the feet of the video game industry based on a never ending parade of questionable science, but I really expected more from CBC.

I really didn't understand what MLG had to do with his death? The kid had a fight with his parents because they took away his xbox, so he ran away... climbed a tree, fell out of it, and died. The parents are to blame for all of this. I don't get this whole episode really, like are the parents trying not to blame themselves for his death by blaming it on video games... come on, really?

At the very end they acted like MLG should've canceled the finals in Vegas because of Brandon's death... get real. If he died at the last MLG event because some one brought in an actual battle rifle and killed him, then I would completely understand this video. But no, the parents let a 15 year old run away. He fell out of a tree on accident and died? I don't see why they didn't attack the professional loggers on ESPN for that one. It would've made more sense. Two words describe this video " family problems ".

wow they try and blame mlg for not haveing any restrictions on gamebattles when the mom knew he was playing cod4 lol i swear blame your selves parents and not mlg or the video games. i swear what about when kids who die from sterods cuz they want to be big football stars??? you dont see the news going after the nfl.

It was an accident and its nobodies fault. The poor boy had an argument with his parents and ran away. He then fell out of a tree. It could have happened to any young boy. Its not the kids fault. Its not the trees fault. Its not the parents fault and its not the games fault. Its just a series of events that led to an accident.

If he was playing Guitar Hero, maybe it would be rock'n'rolls fault. If the kid wanted to draw all day and his parents took away his pencil, would it have been arts fault? Replace video game with anything, baseball, anything and you see that the tragedy isn't at all related to the argument the boy had with his parents.

Get some perspective people. The story is really about some people not liking games or gamers. They exploit this poor families tragedy to further their agenda. Thats all.

Why dose nobody blame the parrents? There are restrection parents can set on an xbox to limit such things as online play, the time allowed to play on a console and you can also set it reject games based on their esrb rating. All the tools that the parents need are there, the problem is not the games but the parents who sit by and don't spare a moment of time for their children until it is too late. How many people play videogames? How many of them displayed same kind of behaivor as Brandon? Is it a big enugh number to start blaiming videogame? Witch do you think had a bigger influence on Brandons life, Call of Duty 4 or his parents? I've played about 8-12 hours of videogames a day for a good long time, and my grades never suffered, I never fought with my parents over this, I never lost frineds. Brandon being 15 could not buy this game, he could not open an xboxlive account, and he did not have a job so who bought all of this? His parents, and if they truley were conserned about Brandon they could have taken a bit closer look at the entertaiment they were providing him with. Don't blame a harmless videogame, when his parents were so neglective.

What a disappointment, I really did expect better of CBC than this. I realize videogames are such an easy target to demonize, but maybe if people didn't look for easy answers, that poor kid would still be around.

At some point people are going to have to realize that if you are a parent, you have to PARENT your kids. You cannot let media outlets (TV, movies, video games,ect...) do it for you. People blamed rock and roll, movies, and now they are blaming video games. Please, would people take responsibility for their and their children's actions.

This was possibly one of the most sensationalist, irresponsible, and utterly counterproductive reports on video games that I have ever seen. I expect better, MUCH better, from the CBC. This isn't FOX news.

You've done a huge disservice to the work of the game industry to limit the access to M rated titles by minors a huge disservice.

You've done parents and children a huge disservice by placing the blame on the industry, rather than the parenting, which will only serve to place focus, not on controling behavior, but on prohibiting access.

You should be ashamed that this report ever saw the light of day.

What was fascinating about this story was everyone's focus on the games. When it comes right down to it, it was just happenstance that video games were the reason that THIS time, a young man had a large disagreement with his parents and ran off to blow off some steam.

This could have happened because his parents wouldn't let him get a driver's license yet, or go to a party he'd been itching to go to for weeks, or stay over at a friend's house, or go out with a girl...

That argument could have been about anything, and Brandon's accident had NOTHING TO DO WITH VIDEO GAMES! He did not cave his head in with an Xbox, did not get a Wii controller in the eye, nor did he choke to death on a Nintendo DS stylus. Investigators reported that he had CLIMBED A TREE (a healthy, physical activity outdoors, I might add) and died falling from it.

I realise that the media taking the video game angle and running with it seemed like a great (lazy) spin for a story, and that it helps victims and victims' loved ones deal with a senseless tragedy by finding someone to blame, but the only tragedy here is that a couple of parents and their son had a serious disagreement, the son ran off in a huff, and subsequently had an accident. Parents and children have disagreements, either of them can be at fault, and the Crisps can hardly be demonized for that. But the link to video games is only circumstantial.

In the haste to finish a story that frankly has American tabloid reporting stink all over it, there seemed to be very little intelligent, balanced research done on the ESRB, STRICT parental control options available on EVERY video game system, and created a tunnel-vision story that looked eerily like a video game version of "Reefer Madness". Nor does it talk about the huge range of non-violent games that are not only on the market, but decimating the sales charts (Rock Band, and the Guitar Hero games, for instance), or the fact that the Nintendo Wii was created as a conscious effort to design a system that catered to everyone in the family and focus more on young audiences, party games and active play. There are violent games available, but that market is no longer their priority at ALL.

I'm 32 years old, and if my daughter (now a toddler) decides to take up video games, soccer, fencing, chess, (jousting?) or stock car racing one day, I know that I have to first take the time to understand her past-time to its fullest (kudos to "Ellen" below, who talked about doing the same with their child). By understanding more about the past-time, I'd hopefully be able to discuss it more knowledgeably with her. I've learned even from her tender, tiny age that you have to figure out how to communicate first, and having a common language between you is the only way to really do that. "Top Gun" completely failed to talk about anything proactive.

This story is not only lazy and sensationalistic, but frankly makes Mrs. Findlay appear completely out of touch with reality. And why did it take this long to finally get around to releasing a report on a story that happened just a few days shy of seven whole months ago?

And trying to get the rep from the gaming industry to take any kind of responsibility for Brandon's death was just plain lame and embarrassing. When the CBC cuts start rolling in again, I hope that Mrs. Findlay, (and whoever thought it was a good idea to air this story) is in the out tray. I expect and trust CBC journalism (especially on the Fifth Estate for Pete's sake) to be of a much higher calibre than this pulp.

I was forwarded a link to this from a Canadian friend. I have to say, that, as many other commenters pointed out, this is report is very misleading. Not only does this piece skew things to the point of suggesting that "video game addiction" is analogous to the physical addictions that truly do destroy many people's lives, it also, as many other posters here have pointed out seems to go out of its way to ignore all the typical warning signs that are on a video game box. As the child of a recovering Alcoholic I very much resent the analogy. Furthermore, while there is a lot of talk among medical experts of classifying video game addiction as a proper sort of addiction it is seen only as a psychological (not physical/chemical).

Ultimatly, what I find repugnant about this report is that a) it exploits Brandon Crisp's death and his family's tragedy for a cheap scare story and b)in pursuit of this cheap scare it actually does a disservice to parents by not presenting all the facts.

As an aside, I was a teenager once too and was obsessed with a great number of things that kept me up much later than I should be. As another poster noted, 14-16 or so seem to be the worst years for any sort of obsessive behavior (makes sense too... I read enormous amounts then in a desperate effort to avoid how difficult socializing in highschool felt).

Kids get video games for presents, why? Because they are expensive and say that you have a lot of money.
I bet half of children with video games got them as a present for a birthday or holiday.

I don't want to say this to harshly, but I don't have many other ways to say it; Children "addicted" to video games often have nothing else to do, because their drug-addicted parents don't spend time with them or let them socialize.

Running-away is something that almost every kid does once in their life, and because he accidentally dies, it doesn't mean he wanted to.

When you buy video games for kids under 18 that have a mature rating, employees always tell you that it is rated M. Most parents just jump through hoops so that they can get their kid drugged on some ADD meds and stick them in a bedroom for a week, without having to worry about him walking in on them doing crack.

Video games have never been called a sport, except for in the media. There are tournaments, prizes, sponsors, and a lot more, but it's not a sport.
Sports have rules, penalties, and cheaters. In video games you can't cheat because you can never change the game itself. There are no penalties because of how many ways there are to score, and the rules are built-in.

Plus, video games are safer because there aren't millions on the line, and there aren't any enhancing drugs.
Nowadays everybody drinks energy drinks, they help you stay awake, and they taste great. It's the coffee of tomorrow.

I wonder what would happen if you took somebody who has never played video games, and let them play for a week. At the end I bet that they would say it was fun.

Oh, and halo isn't about killing robots, if you did any research whatsoever you would know it's about killing insane religious aliens that are a metaphor for Christianity.

- Sincerely, 14 Year Old Jordan Branconier.

This report was substandard at best. The journalist was obviously ignorant to her subject matter, and that ignorance led to a blatant bias in her wholesale indicment of "video games." I thought the Fifth Estate would be above the exploitation of a family tragedy for political purposes, but even respectable news magazines can bottom out at some point.

Video games are an easy target for "family values" media. However, given the lack of evidence that links video games to violent behavior, shows like the Fifth Estate have found a new smear tactic: video games make teenagers do extreme things.

Well, listen up Fifth Estate, you haven't contributed anything to the debate. I've always had respect for the high calibre of journalism that flows from the Fifth Estate, but now I am appalled by the lack of judgement of one particular reporter and the producers who let this smear job go to air.

I'm not sure what your intent was with this piece, but you should be ashamed for attempting to pass of this report as legitimate journalism. Judging by the comments on this board, which are overwhelmingly critical of your lack of research, I would suggest that you not allow the grief of parents determine the angle of your story. The end product is this type of drivel.

The boy isn't 18, the parents let him play a mature game.
This isn't a tragedy, it's a lack of parenting.

A kid touches the stove when it's hot.
Holy scoops, is it news?
No, it's a lack of parenting.

Calling this episode of the Fifth Estate, "Top Gun", "investigative journalism" is a joke. All this did was further cultivate misconceptions about gaming as a whole and that just makes me really sad. This could have been an opportunity to educate parents on how to use the tools available to them to keep games intended for adults out of the hands of their children. Should we expect an episode about how violent movies need to be eradicated because the movie classifications mean nothing? That is the equivalent this episode had in regards to gaming. Changing the rating system would do nothing because the current problem is that parents aren't bothering to learn the current rating system. Many game stores are now offering classes to parents to answer any questions regarding the rating systems but the problem is many of the parents that should be going to those classes are opting to either stick their heads in the ground and blaming the games as evil.

To blame the industry for children not understanding limits is just silly. Kids haven't been able to set limits for themselves long before video games were introduced. This is why in decades past it was up to parents to make sure their kids were making the right decisions, eating right and doing their homework. The industry is bending over backward to give parents the tools needed to prevent kids from playing games that are inappropriate but many parents are either unaware or just don't understand the tools being given to them. I didn't hear one single mention about parental controls and the only blurbs regarding the rating system was to act like the game needs a large flashing sign saying not to buy the game when the current system can be seen easily if parents would actually open their eyes and look at the at the box. There are even items available out there today which you can set it to allow a parents specified length of time a child can use a computer, a television set or a game console and after that time limit is up the box shuts down the item till the following day.

I am so disappointed to see a wonderful opportunity to educate people go to waste. Many people making comments blaming the parents but this tragedy could have been prevented if those parents had been informed that they had tools that exist and how to use them. But I guess it is just easier to blame the industry than to actually educate people/yourself.

Since this "documentary" was one sided & loaded, I will reply with this:

This is yet another "documentary" blaming a VERY successful & new industry on the downfalls of society and its parents lack of well, parenting. This industry is no different than smoking, alcohol, TV, movies, drugs, body builders etc. They are all choices, no one person are forced to participate in such activities.

Parents/Guardians, I do not believe your children bought the $500 gaming systems & $60 games for your children to play on. You bought it for them, you can take it away. ("I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it", Sure worked for me!)

You see your children every day, if you would only interact with them, talk to them, realize that YOU are their future, YOU are their guidance, YOU are their reasons they do what they do. Become an Example.

Parents, stop using scapegoats for your mistakes & negligence on your behalf. You are 100% responsible for your children, not an industry, not the government, not their friends, not their teachers.

If they were smoking would you blame the industry/government, the lack of laws & regulations? If they were diagnosed with cancer I am sure you would find a way to blame someone else and not yourself, it is only human to of course.

Choice, everyone has it, many do not realize it.

Oh yes & I work 8-10 hour days 6 days a week.
I am a professional athlete & national champion.

Oh yes, and in my childhood I played 10+ hours a day on video games, and plan on getting back into it when i have time.

Kid obsessed with playing piano has piano taken away and responds negatively: Yeah that makes sense.

Kid who collects civil war memorabilia has it all thrown away and responds negatively: Poor kid.

Kid who has video games as a large part of his life has games taken away and responds negatively: DEMON ADDICTION ALERT THE MEDIA THEY ARE DESTROYING THE WESTERN WORLD.

The Crisp parents were terrible parents for letting it go this far, and the boy was a child throwing a fit because he got his favorite toy taken away.

I wonder, if a kid were to kill himself after watching a depressing/violent movie, would movies get ragged on like this?

People, THINK for a second.

WHY DID HE DIE? He fell from a tree, and crushed his chest.

What do video games have to do with this? What does his addiction, his habbits, his parents, Major League Gaming, Call of Duty, Xbox... What does any of that have to do with falling from a tree and dieing?

Nothing. This news story is making a link where there is none.

He could have never touched a video game in his life and fallen from a tree to his death. It could have happened in his back-yard to the same results.

See the problem with this piece is that there are two stories here.

The main one is the story of a boy who plays so much video games that when his parents take his game away, he runs from home. It's a decent enough story, but not too poignant.

The second story is one where a boy climbs up a tree and fells to his death. Sadly it's not too interesting a story either, because boys will be boys and boys climb up trees, and unfortunate accidents are bound to happen sometimes.

Yet this report, to attract attention to itself, decides to link these two stories together, glossing over the fact that video games have nothing to do with climbing trees and falling to your death.

If anything, a point could be made that playing outside is very dangerous. You can die, falling from jungle gyms, a bad fall playing sports. Getting hit by a car on the way to the playground, falling from a tree.

None of that happens playing video games. Video games are a safe way for our children to entertain themselves. Just look at this story: When parents confiscated their childs Xbox and forced him to play outside, he climbed up a tree and accidentaly fell to his death! If only they'd let him keep playing his safe game...

simple and easy idea before you buy a game for your children how about you ask the people that work in the store if the game is suitable for your child

oh ya if your child doesn't have there own credit card and a job then they shouldn't be playing online games to begin with

i', a 25 year old male and yes most gamers are male but the fact is war and violence is built into our beings we live and breath it every day we are barbarians so you cant blame anyone for the fact company's provide these kinda of games we are addicted to war

Tabloid journalism at its finest.
Congratulations CBC you've just rivaled FOX News for lies and propaganda.

I think this was one of the weakest 5th Estate stories I have ever seen. It was ill informed, poorly researched, one-sided, and sensationalist. It reminds me of the child who committed suicided listening to Black sabbath in 1979 - all rock is evil-dont let your children listen. Or maybe we could go back to Elvis's debut on National US TV and the "pelvis" backlash. I mean seriously. First Person Shooter games are but 1 genre in a large video game universe. I did not notice any pictures of mom, dad and the kids playing Guitar Hero as a family past time that is very common...or Wii Fit to name but two. I really expect more from CBC - I think they have been taking journalism tips from Fox.

that reporter is seriously biased i cant stand this episode

I solely blame the death of Brandon on his parents. They would have to be one of the worst parents i've ever seen. I feel bad for Brandon, his friends and his extended family but i do not wish his parents well at all. How can you even let your child leave home like that. How do we know that his parents didn't kill Brandon. There is something a little fishy about all this. Especially the fact that it didn't look like his parents even liked Brandon all that much.

This makes me mad. cbc decides to make this, and as they interview the companys and the people, you can tell they have apsoultely no idea what they are talking about. all this episode of the fifth estate did was bash the video game industry and the people who play video games. Video games aren't the problem its the parents that dont regulate there kids playing time and dont enforce it if it gets out of hand.

This is a pathetic attack on the video gaming medium. To say that video games are perpetuating violence and stupidity is foolish at best. These parents are responsible for their child. Major League Gaming is not. This woman constantly takes video games' missions, functions, and online experiences out of context. Even the editing in the beginning chops up MLG commentary to make this sport seem brutal.

You know what? If this kid ran away because his parents took his basketball, everyone would want the parents' heads. This ignorance and hypocrisy is a burden on our society as a whole.

Oh, and good job by the parents on ignoring their obviously upset son's cries for help. The kid may have had other issues, perhaps mental ones. After he spent an entire weekend locked in his room without interruption, the parents still ignore him. The mother, in particular, is just a moron. "I was calling his bluff," she says. The threat of your child running away is so insignificant to this family that she ignores it?

I lot of people point the finger at the industry for all the problems, in fact everyone is partially to blame. There needs to be laws to enforce the ESRB rating system, parents need to know their kids gaming habits and what games they play. They need to learn about the games before buying them. The kids need to learn that gaming is only entertainment and when enough is enough. I am a gamer and I have ran into my share of verbally abusive players online, mostly young kids trying to be cool. Some take the game far to seriously and need to relax. The majority of the gamers out there are mature and have a good attitude toward each other.
I know Xbox Live has a player review feature that you can use to avoid certain players or submit a complaint. There is also a parental control feature that parents need to use if they feel it necessary. As a gamer I ask that before judging learn about it first. I know you will be surprised at what you will learn. The gaming community is close bunch of people, and yes there are some bad apples as there is in any community.

I'm appalled that this show would stoop to the level of yellow journalism like this. Are we back in the 60's, blaming comics for everything wrong with our society? Or is this the 80's/90's, where movies and tv were the centerpoint of everything wrong in the household?How can you blame a gaming competition when even to enter it takes time, patience, travel, and devotion? Or how can you blame an industry that polices itself AND gives fair warning to parents and adults that should be invovled with the lives of their children?While I feel for the parents of Crisp, I believe that the blame does not lie on video games, because a man addicted to pork and beans will act the same way as a child addicted to a game if it is taken away. The blame here should be squarely on those that took care of Brandon and were supposed to be there to guide him, not on his electronic babysitter.

First Note: To the CBC, Your influx of traffic to this site is because your fifth estate piece has been featured on more then one gaming interests blog. Please do not assume this is due to high non-gamer interest, and is an open ticket to complete more of these particular style of inquiries.

Second Note: Everything else. Look, you have a community of upwards of 10 million Xbox Live Gold subscribers, and most Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are split between two or three people in a household, you could expect roughly 15-20 million people who use Xbox Live, not including people such as myself who have stopped playing Xbox online because of the exorbitant cost, in addition to the people who now play on the Playstation Network, and Wii Live, (Similar online systems for the Sony Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii) AND the people who play online games on the Personal Computer. Altogether, the most recently available information (Nielsen Entertainment Study, 2006)showed approximately 117 million gamers in the United States Alone, of whom 56% played online. The numbers can only have increased since then, as you stated in your article about how video games are the fastest growing entertainment media. To summarize, there are literally hundreds of millions of gamers on the face of the planet, which more likely then not have
engaged in socialized online entertainment of one form or another during their life.

I find it interesting that you chose as a representative of this incredibly large gaming community a 15 year old runaway, and a self admitted "gaming addict". How about Paxton Galvanek, who saved two men's lives using techniques he learned playing an American Army simulator? Or how about Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, who were recently honoured by the Washington State Senate for their Gamer Based Charity which has raised in this most recent year $1, 434, 377.00, for sick children across North America? How about Steven Preeg, who just won an Oscar for Visual Effects, and is a guild leader in a World of Warcraft clan? Gamers function within today's society, they make your movie's interesting, they entertain you, they could be sitting next to you on the bus, and sometimes tragic things happen, but the links between the two are tenuous at best.

Here's where I am coming from: I played World of Warcraft, for upwards of 40 hours a week at one point in my life. I've been gaming since i was 5 years old, i played N64, PC, Playstation One, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Sega Dreamcast, Gameboy, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, and Nintendo Wii. I played Call of Duty 4, and logged upwards of a 4 days of played time in it in less then a month (96 hours in game). I am not unusual for gamers over the age of 18. Gaming to me, and my friends is a hobby. It's no different from any other hobby, except that at the end of the day we as gamers are a little bit pastier, and a little bit chubbier.

His parents allowed him to Game as a hobby, and they allowed him to purchase Call of Duty 4 as part of that hobby. Right up until then, they were actively supporting him in this hobby, and when they had regrets, they took it completely away from him. This is akin to encouraging a kid to play hockey, taking him to buy equipment, showing him around the hockey rink, and signing him up for a team; Then, when the kid is starting to have a good time, and starts devoting some effort to the game himself, You suddenly rip him out of the sport, and throw away all his equipment, and tell him never to play it again.

If PARENTS took five minutes to READ THE MANUALS they would know how to set restrictions on ratings, timers and locking online features out. The fact that they found an "Expert" to pander to their fear mongering over gaming. Lets put more pressure on the people who are actually responsible, Parents.

So...MLG doesn't have an age limit. That's really odd because when I play NHL04 for the P.C. You need an EA sports account.Guess what? When I tried to sign up it said, "We thank you for your interest, but you must be at least 13 to play." and it's HOCKEY. Plus that game was rated E for anyone 6+. MLG is letting anyone play at any age and that's. As for E.A. Sports online I could still lie about my age (I'm 12 and turnig thirteen in October.) So I could wait and be honest UNLIKE most people.

What the FUCK?!

This kid didn't die becuase of pro gaming!!!

The events leading to his death were due to crappy parenting skills! News companies just report it like this because it gets the most attention!!!!

And another thing: Violent Games aren't automatically bad. I am so sick and fucking tired of stupid 40 y.o christian parents believiing every fucking thing they hear just becuase "it said so on the news" or "the priest siad so at church" or some other bullshit garbage.

Every single day, I play Halo 3 online with my friends, and am I a violent person for it? NOOOOO!!!!! It promotes teamwork, comeraderie, strategic thinking, and good sportsmanship. Soemtimes I even think that I would much rather have my future kids play cooperative vidoe games than baseball, where children are often under painful amounts of pressure to make their parents look good.

CBC, you should be ashamed for not reporting the truth just to get more viewers. By doing this, you make hardcore gamers like me look bad, you make a reputable, honest industry look like a bunch of money-hungry criminals, and worst of all, you blind those who are not skeptical enough to see the truth.

"Top Gun" shows a lack of understanding of and clear bias against video games in general, especially first person shooters. The Fifth Estate ignores the core problem, they mention that the games are not legally allowed to be sold to people under the age of 17 and yet they fail to thoroughly pursue the question of why violent games are in the hands of minors. Games are clearly labeled depending on their content, on the front of the box there is a letter T, M, E, etc. and that content is listen on the back of the box in a similar fashion. The game box itself also contains both pictures and descriptions that make obvious the content of the game, and since that is the case, why are parents buying games for their children like 'gears of war', where you can literally chainsaw monsters in half, or 'call of duty 4' where you massacre your way through seemingly endless waves of enemies.

It's not that parents are stupid, and there are many parents that identify whether or not games are appropriate for their children, but often it is the parents who fail to recognize the content of the video game. It is more often than not these parents, who bought the game anyways, who blame the government or the game companies when it is they who are not reading the warnings on the box, or researching the game on the internet. I have never once seen a child being allowed to buy an M rated game in a store, and have often seen teenagers asked for their IDs and in some cases turned away, and in most cases they'll shortly bring with them a parent who'll buy the game for them without even looking at the box. Another major point overlooked by "Top Gun" is that the Xbox 360 has a built in parental lock system that can be engaged to limit time allotted for playing games, limit what rating level can be played unless a code is entered, etc.

All of the tools exist for parents to prevent games from being a bad influence on their children, so what are these parents doing? While Brandon made up his mind to run away, his dad did help him pack and simply let him leave. It was his parents who had bought the console, not digitally limited the time he could play, bought the M rated game, and had bought him the subscription for xbox live (which is clearly stated by microsoft that online play is not recommended for minors on both subscription cards bought in stores and when signing up on the xbox console itself). While "Top Gun" is a rather biased documentary heavily against violent games, it does get the point across that those parents who don't yet understand games, the technology that comes with them, or their ratings system, need to learn more.

"Shock" journalism at its finest. Every step from the playbook.
1. Find a tragedy.
2. Pick a scapegoat.
3. Manufacture outrage about how the scapegoat is at fault, and isn't doing enough to prevent the tragedy.
4. Conveniently ignore everything they *are* doing.
5. Refuse to apportion any responsibility to anyone else involved.

I expect better from the CBC. I'm sorry, but he was playing 6-8 hours a day, and his parents did nothing. He skipped school to play, and they took his XBox 360 away. They found out he got it back, and took it away permanently, and he threatens to run away, and they don't take that threat seriously.

His death was tragic, but I only see a continual failure on behalf of the parents to actually do something resembling parenting. They take away the one thing he apparently cares about, then dismiss his being upset. It's a tough way to learn a lesson, but I hope that other parents learn from this to take some time and talk with your kids.

I find this whole report completely frustrating to watch.
The spin they put on everything is so incredibly ridiculous that I'm surprised none of you feel ashamed for trying to generate fear about a subject you obviously did no research about.

I will admit I am a "gamer" however the time spent on my console is casual. With that said, there are a lot of inaccuracies with this report.

For instance, Microsoft does not refuse to cancel anyone's subscription. They will ask you if anyone else you know can use it (in order to keep your subscription) and after you tell them no, they'll continue. Some operators are more brave than others and will badger you but I've only heard that from a few people.

I hope parents who watch this are smarter than an average person and will seek information from more sources than CBC about video gaming or Video Game Addiction.

This show was one sided and completely lacking in any real critical analysis of the issue, and I find it insulting to think that this is the education that people who do not know about video games will be getting.

Somehow parallels between the video game industry's rating system and film rating systems were absent from this program. An 18A movie rating works in exactly the same way as any Mature rating for a video game in that someone who is underage needs the consent of a parent or adult to experience the media. Any games sold to minors (and I would add that minors get into 18A movies alone as well) are sold illegally by the retailer and it is at the feet of the retailer that the blame in this situation lies. Blaming the video game industry for allowing kids to play underage is the same as blaming Steven Spilberg because a minor saw "Saving Private Ryan" and not pointing out the theaters involvement.

I was particularly fond of the host's discussion of the video game rating system, indicating that there was no information about the reasons for Mature rating of a game included on the box. In fact, all content descriptors are clearly stated on the back cover of any video game case, just the same as the rating is included on the back cover of any movie. In fact, movies often don't include content descriptors that explain why the film has a specific rating. Despite the fact that a simple 18A sticker suffices for movies, a twice stated and justified rating for a video game is somehow negligent. Video games need a "big banner" warning on the front but a movie like "Hostel" or "Saw" doesn't? Sounds like a double standard to me.

When I saw the advertisement for this documentry, I knew I had to watch it. But I was disappointed with this episode: I found it very biased. There are warnings on the box, and one could assume what is in a game based on a title. We need to stop blaming the industry, they just make the game. A kid should be able to play any game if they posess a healthy moral system and know not to re-enact it in real-life.

just shows how immature he was. "please mommy don't take away my xbox. ok fine i'll just run away". give me a break. Parents, let your kids play video games, all you need to do is pay attention to them (kids) and set rules around playing like do your homework and eat dinner first then you can play something along those lines. I've been playing video games my whole life and never had any problems. I still constanly played sports, hung out with my friends, went out on dates and attended family functions. This kid obviously had no life. Maybe if he had a girlfriend this wouldn't have happend. Just your typical spoiled, loner, immature kid.

It's a recurrent theme these days. This issue is all about overprotection and prolonging childhood...and the dire results.

When I was around Brandon Crisp's age 20-odd years ago, and lying around watching trashy television or moaning in boredom, my father would tell me something like, “Bob, it's Friday night. For Christ's sakes, go out and get drunk with your friends or try and find a girl or somethin'!”

How times have changed.

Brandon Crisp said he wanted to develop his game-playing skills to a level that might afford him the opportunity of turning pro. Well, newsflash: that's pretty much all a young lad has left to do these days. Children and (especially) teens are truly the last of the disenfranchised minorities—a very large, angst-ridden, non-voting segment of the population. And the disenfranchisement seems to be growing exponentially in the North American context, particularly amongst secondary-school pupils. Apparently, young people aren't allowed to grow up and become fully-functioning humans any longer. Want them to go out for the evening and socialise with other young men and women? Of course you don't! The government and all the obsessive-compulsive, tunnel-visioned lobby groups and activists might label you a bad parent. According to the Harper Tories and their cloven-hoofed supporters, teen dating and romance ultimately lead to prostitution and child pornography; concerts, movies and school dances are breeding grounds for chainsmoking, drug and alcohol abuse, and maybe even satanism; games arcades, youth centres and other ‘hangouts’ contribute to obesity, gambling and gang warfare (and besides, virtually all these teen-oriented establishments have long closed down due to inflation, smoking bans and municipal curfews); etc., etc. Want them to go outdoors and get some fresh air and exercise? Fat chance! They can't shoot targets with air rifles any longer (restricted); they can't play lawn darts (banned); they can't bounce on trampolines (soon to be banned); they can't bicycle or skateboard (overregulated); they can't play team sports (the fancy shoes and mandatory safety gear are unaffordable); they can't hunt or fish (it's ‘cruel’ and ‘evil’); they can't camp out overnight “in the field over by the old mill” (might get abducted); etc., etc. ad nauseum.

Frankly, I think if Brandon's parents had not been compelled to buy into the prevailing school of (illogical) thought, and had allowed him to join a motocross club or scuba diving class, and throw the occasional party with beer and rock 'n' roll on the weekends, then the young man might still be alive today. A cute and frisky young girlfriend with a nickname like ‘Bumpy’ might not have hurt either.

Then there are the video games themselves—increasingly realistic, decreasingly humane. Considering the tormentingly repetitive dreams I would have after playing games as seemingly innocuous as Super Breakout and Kangaroo on my old Atari 2600, I can just imagine the hideous, bloodcurdling nocturnal visions that must plague the sleep of the pathetic little bastards today (if and when they do sleep). And to think that the parents of yesteryear thought E.C. comic books, G.I. Joe, Alice Cooper, and Dungeons & Dragons were hazardous to their youngsters' mental health! Ha!

One other thing: If the lobbyists are successful in adding video and computer games to the ever-growing list of banned or restricted youth activities, then please beware: the parents, teachers and disaffected peers will no doubt become the next targets the young people will be taking aim at—with real guns. But that's starting to become somewhat commonplace already, isn't it?

We reap what we sow. Try and have a nice day....

Good lord maybe you shouldn't have home schooled your children. Look at the grammatical nightmare that is that wall of text.

Shocking program. Shocking that Brandon's parents would be so ignorant of the structure and purpose of game ratings, and that they put forth such feeble efforts to understand something that was very important in their son's life, and to regulate it so that he had a healthier balance in his interests. The fact that Brandon's mother realized that Call of Duty 4 is rated M, and that she mislabeled it as having a historical setting (which it doesn't, it's a modern-day fiction), reveals that she did not understand what she was buying for her son, and that she is an enabler in his obsession. I wonder if she knew that the Xbox 360 (as well as original Xbox, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo GameCube, and all generations of Sony Playstation) have parental controls built in at the hardware level that are designed to let parents block out games and of a certain rating level, unless a password is given. That Brandon's mother would egg her son on to leave home is shameful. "Calling his bluff" indeed.
The report from Ms. Findlay is especially disappointing in that she too does not appear to understand game ratings. If she had read any video game box during the creation of this program, she should have noticed that all of the ratings printed on the box contain content descriptors that are intended to inform parents on what levels of violence, sex, or other questionable content are presented by the game. Many times it came up that parents need to take more responsibility and get involved in what their kids are interested in, and unfortunately Ms. Findlay wasted every opportunity to emphasize this point and instead made another attempt to demonize the video games publishing industry or the CEO of MLG.
This was very poorly researched and I hope that the CBC will hold themselves to a higher standard in the future.

Gaming shouldnt be blamed as most kids will later realize that they will probably not become pro. They should get their parents support to play but also their encouragement to keep up their grades and continue extracurricular activities to "balance" it out. There should be rules involved to limit gaming and "rewards" for academic achievement or sports.

This is pathetic. I feel for the family, but there is an element of responsibility on their part that they are not claiming at all. Why did this boy have the game, he couldn't have purchased it without them. Why did they let his playing go so far? Why was he so prone to running in the first place, if you believe that this was his only reason to leave then you are being misled. The CBC has published some biased things in their time, but this is insane. There is a difference between feeling pity for a family and sympathizing with them, and finding a scapegoat to pin everything on. CBC, I am shocked that you would publish such a work of lies. Everything from the portrayal of gamers as murderers, to the dark and terrible tone given to these youth is disgusting. We are all sorry for the loss of this child, but to lie to us all about the circumstances of not only his death, but this entire pastime, is simply pathetic. You have lost a viewer and a great deal of respect.

I enjoyed the program however I do feel that it was rather one sided. Why didn't you explore how Brandon came into owning a copy of an M rated game. How about asking whether Mr. Crisp also wishes he never bought a game that was clearly meant to be sold to persons who are 17 or older?

What about the parental controls that come with every Xbox 360 that limit usage of games on the system according to the ESRB rating that is given to said games? Why weren't they used? Alright, so maybe Mr. and Mrs. Crisp didn't know about that but I'm pretty sure they would have had they decided to get involved with their child's life instead of let the TV in his room do the parenting.

You know, this reminds me of other parents that didn't get involved with their children's lives. They had absolutely no idea that they had created a small arsenal, built pipe bombs, and planned to execute a massacre at their school. The next day Columbine happened.

Next time, try and assume a little journalistic responsibility and investigate all factors that can come into play. In this case, not only would the gaming industry have some explaining to do but also the parents. The mechanisms are there for a parent to enforce their rules regarding video games. Be it, strictly following ESRB ratings or imposing restrictions on the type of games to be played on a console. The most obvious one should be just being there for your child because after everything is said and done the parent is the closest force of guidance and care to any child. Not some faceless corporation or a gaming industry.

Finally, I am simply shocked that I would even have to submit this to your comments section because I honestly would have expected the Fifth Estate to be saying it for me.

This report is treating Video Games like the 1980's treated Metal Music, and like how the 1970's treated 'Dungeons & Dragons'.
This 'report' was non-informative and did nothing but attack a hobby many know and love. Favorite Part: I quote: "I dont see any big banner on the front saying this is inappropiate for children under the age of 17." As the lady points out, it IS there. However, the response is: "But its not a warning that says Warning parents, this is rated M and its because theres gratuitous Violence, theres allthese kinds of things you dont want children exposed to."
Hmmm....I guess your reporter never actually looked at a game box (And therefore, researched as much as I expected) because there IS a warning on the back that specifies the content. (Partial Nudity, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, etc.)
And do I have to point out (again & again, obviously) that Brandon Crisp was NOT age appropiate to be playing 'Call of Duty 4'? Parents dont need to be more informed, they just need to pay a little attention. (And yes, I AM telling you how to raise kids!)

This might be one of the worst, and most uninformed and misleading reports I have ever come across. CBC, and more specifically, Gillian Findlay, should be ashamed of themselves for stooping to a level that is usually associated with Fox News.

The episode is full of contradictions with points made earlier in the show, contains countless incorrect statements, and shows Gillian make several attempts to egg on various folks with "tough questions", which in fact are incorrect statements used as jabs rather than questions.

The issue with Brandon Crisp had nothing to do with the game he was playing, and EVERYTHING to do with his parenting and environment. The parents state several times in the episode that they had to stop him from playing... but where was he playing? In his room. Any decent parent would know that if you want to control how much of a specific media their child is absorbing, put it in a public space, such as a living room, kitchen, den, rec room, etc. He was playing a game that he should never have had at his age. And as Gillian aptly shows her ignorance by stating that the box should say what it is that makes the game a "Mature" rated title, I am reading the box right now and here is what it says:

"
Mature 17+
Blood and Gore
Intense Violence
Strong Language
"

This is all included on the back of the box, the same place the gamer looks to find all of the features of the game, and where a parent should look as well to see why the game is rated the way it is on the FRONT of the box, available for all to see on the store shelve.

The problem started with the parents succumbing to requests from the child to purchase a game that the child should not have had in the first place. Would the parents go buy the child porn if he asked long or loudly enough? Not likely. Why would they do it here? "Because all his friends had it"? That means the parents fell trap to peer pressure and the need to please their child at the expense of their best interests.

If the child had shown that they were mature enough to handle a game of that sort, then maybe the parents allow the game into their house, but the first thing a good parent should do is start the game themselves and gauge if it's right for their child. Games and systems can be rented before bought, so there is no excuse for this mistake. Even if the child is deemed responsible and mature enough to handle the game, it should be in a public space where the parents can monitor what is going on. This is where the parents would have caught signs that the child was getting addicted. Hind sight is 20/20, but these are all things that should have been done prior to the purchase of the system and the game.

One of the points towards the end of the episode that bothered me, and was a complete contradiction to the information given from the parents earlier was that Brandon found the game, and then gave up on hockey. The parents state earlier on that Brandon was losing interest in hockey because he was no longer the star goalie, he was on the bench more than he liked due to his size. The father then pulled him from the sport. Shortly after, Brandon gets the Xbox 360 gaming console and gets a copy of Call of Duty 4, purchased by his parents, and starts playing on an increasing basis, alone in his room. The game was not the reason he shut himself in, it was the replacement for something he was now missing because his parents pulled him out. Instead of finding a new team for him to play on and enjoy, his parents pulled him out at the first sign of adversity, great message to send to your children. If it gets tough or you don't like it, don't try to improve yourself, just quit.

The father mentions that the tournament sites need to stop letting players under the age of 18 sign up for these sites... DAD! WAKE UP!!! YOU let your son play a game that he shouldn't have been playing in the first place! If he didn't have the game, he wouldn't be on the site! You are asking someone to fix the symptom of your initial mistake. That to me sounds like a parent who is unwilling to take and accept responsibility for their actions or lack thereof.

If competition was the issue here, as the parents and Gillian try to suggest, why did Brandon not run away when he was no longer the top performer in hockey? Why did he not run away when he was pulled out of hockey by his parents, the same people who took away his Xbox?

There are thousands upon thousands of gamers on those sites, why is it that the world acts like this is a growing concern when 1 person has this reaction? Sure, the argument of "1 is too many" could be made, life is absolutely precious. But isn't it a bit sensationalist to have a report state that this issue is occurring all over the world, and yet, this was an incredibly isolated event?

Last, but not least, and I will stop after this point because I am still disgusted with the absolutely awful "reporting" in this broadcast, the parents took no part in Brandon's activities with the gaming.
After getting him the console, why not put the gaming system somewhere where Brandon and the parents can play together? Learn the games he loves and share the experience. The mother makes a comment at the end that baffles me every time I hear it. She mentions that she bets most parents are not aware that world (competitive gaming leagues) exist. It doesn't matter if you bet that is the case! That is not a justification for what happened, and it never should be. That just means that there are a lot of parents out there that are using game consoles as babysitters and not taking interest in what their children are doing. Does it make it ok that this occurred because several other parents are doing it too? Absolutely not. And while I see the mother may have been trying to say it as a warning to other parents to start paying attention, but that it comes off as an excuse to avoid more "you're just bad parents" comments, that honestly are deserved. Now the media is trying to run another story about something they spent all of 45 minutes looking up on google, rather than bringing the facts to the table to let others attempt to start educating themselves and making informed decisions. Congrats Gillian and CBC... fear mongering at its best.

These parents blame the video games for their son running away. I know for a fact that a kid would not run away if he had good parents.

To make a valid argument, you need to know what you are talking about. Kind of like how politicians are saying that we are losing the war in Iraq, yet the general (the one who has been there and knows whawt has been going on) says we are winning. It is no different from video games. To say kids are addicted is stupid because they could be playing to lay off stress from school, work, etc. or they could be playing just to talk to their friends from real life. If fifth estate is saying that kids are obsessed to video games, then don't even know what playing a video game is like, is just practical.

It all comes down to clueless parents completely ignoring the very prominent rating labels and built in parental controls.

David Walsh is a quack.

I think that the media should be halted as of today. Not only do they sensationalise things, but they also always give a bias, and un-substantiated argument on every topic ever made.

For Example, the economy wouldnt be in the situation it is in now, if the media hadn't said "we are in trouble, don't trust banks" and as people as a whole are stupid and sheep like, they all went "Really? Well i better take all my money out of the bank then" thus destroying our whole economy and turning us into a state which doesn't even have the money to keep good, hard working industries afloat.

Another example is when Fox News did a piece on Mass Effect, saying that there was Full Frontal Nudity in the game, when there is no nudity, not even a nipple or flash of anything sexual. The whole scene last ten seconds, if that, and is more artistic if anything. Even when told by Geoff Keiley that they were wrong, and asked them if they had even seen the game let alone played it and they answered no, they still were adamant that it had full frontal nudity and was affecting the whole society making it immoral.

Games are not the reason that Brandon ran away, games are not the reason why society is immoral. You can only blame the parents when it comes to how their kids act and what they do, and the media blows everything out of proportion making irrational claims, all in all society is like the way it is, because of stupid people and the media who turns them stupid.

This is a disgusting, generalized, ignorant report. I love how the media capitalizes on a family tragedy for TV ratings. Have fun burning in hell pigs.

For all of you who think kids get addicted to video games:

Being good at a video game is not just for recognition of some people you just met over the console. In most schools around the world, kids play video games. If you are good at it, your friends in school would want to play with you more often. I am highly recognized in my school for my football career, but I am also very good at Halo. Most people in my school look up to me in that respect. It is, to me, more of a social environment that is also a lot of fun.

I love hanging out on xbox live with my friends, I don't even really need a cell phone because so many of the people at my school play xbox live.

As tragic the events were of the Crisp family were they are underlining a largely ignored problem in society. The belief that Video games are beyond the understanding of parents and therefore no attempt should be made to question or even understand the inner workings of either a game or it's player; even if it seems the child is becoming addicted. Surely something most be done to lessen the gap between parents and that of the video game industry. We need to apply pressure not only to the industry but also the parents of gamers to be better educated in the field of video game addiction and treatment options

Since when should video games be blamed for poor parenting?

How pathetic! I work as a teacher in Montreal, Canada, in EB Games a few hours a week, and I have a formation in cinema. I simply cannot believe this! This reminds me that here in North America, most people are too coward to take the blame or to face the consequences of their actions.

As a video game specialist and teacher, parents need to know what they're buying. When buying an XBOX 360 or a PS3, you are spending more or less 300$. Personally, when I spend that amount of money, I tend to try and gather as much information as I can on the product. Video game consoles have changed: they not only host tons of virtual worlds, but they are also a social, meeting platform. These worlds are sometimes not made for kids, such as the one represented in Call of Duty. This is WAR people, something that traumatized thousands of people, real human beings over the years! The same way that you wouldn't show "Generation X" to a 10 year old, you don't let a kid play a game as realistic as Call of Duty if you don't plan on offering support to your child! Parents: THINK! FOR ONCE! The video games are not to blame here, video games are a product: and YOU are responsible for controlling which products your child plays/uses/buys!

this is so stupid, the interview with the ESRB lady makes me angry. why should videogames have a giant warning on the front saying WARNING VIOLENT, DONT LET KIDS PLAY! videogame covers are no different then dvd covers. dvds have even SMALLER warnings on them about their content, yet nobody complains about that. guess what, kids can get access to r rated movies with gore and sex too, a lot of movies are WORSE then the WORST videogames because they are filmed in live action.

Simply put, this is a completely biased and laughable view on videogames and their effects. Had you even considered the mental state of the child, the strangely emotionless responses of his parents, or the effect society may have had on him then you may have actually made this convincing. I've been following Brendan Crisps story since it was first known to the world and could not find that the source of all this could be just videogames. Videogames may have been a factor but only a small factor.

The blame is on the parents. This report is ludicrous and amateur.

Shame on everyone involved in this report.

I play hockey, football and soccer. I'm also a hardcore gamer.

This kids death was tragic, and maybe next time his dad should stop his kid instead of telling him to wear bring a coat.

Hope the parents live with this until the end. It's their fault.

PS: Call of Duty 4...Rated M for MATURE. Not for kids.

"I didn't think it would lead to anything but pure enjoyment."

No, you didn't think lady.

Everyone has heard the saying "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch."

This is that point.
One IDIOTIC CHILD makes the entire gaming community look bad and evil.

Overall, the gaming community is full of people who are nice and help each other out.

This runaway shouldn't get the spotlight because he is overpassionate about games.
This is just like when some kid's car gets taken away; they go do something stupid afterwards.

CBC clearly had nothing interesting to report.

This is the most biased piece of reporting i have ever seen. There was hardly any research done, and only one person to defend the industry (whom hardly had a chance to speak).

Get your facts right before blaming the death on the gaming industry.

This is quite possibly the most biased news piece Ive ever seen regarding videogames. Please actually do some real research into the industry and realise that a majority of serious gamers are aged 25+. Not to mention the rating system for videogames. The ESRB is more than clear in the nature of everygame published, its not the industry whos to blame for anything. If there is to be any blame, place it on those who are too ignorant to pay any attention to ratings, and actually watch their childrens gaming habits. Honestly, stop being so biased.

This has nothing to do with video games, but bad parenting. If that child gets a hold of a game that is rated M for MATURE and plays that, that is the parents fault for not monitoring their child enough. If you take away a kid's XBox360 and he runs away, that's not video games doing that, that is your kid not being disciplined enough to understand that he is being punished for something that he did wrong. Case Closed.

Wow, isnt it amazing how quick we are to blame poor parenting on the things that our children enjoy as a hobby in their youth. I think Im pretty well informed too, seeing as how I loved comic books, which in the 50's were corrupting the youth and making them dumber. I loved Dungeons and Dragons, which in the 80's was corrupting the youth, making them want to kill each other in sewers etc. I love 80's heavy metal, which turns young children into suicidal Satanic killers. And, most importantly still own well over 1000 video games dating back to 1979, having never sold anything from my collection from a hobby I so love! Now that I am in my mid-thirties, I still havent had my brain melted, killed anyone, sacrificed anyone, ran away from home, shot up a school or any of the other things blamed on these hobbies. I must be the rare exception? Im married, have a $100K a year job, own my own home, and have children who play video games. They also know the difference between REAL and ENTERTAINMENT as well as who IS the law. I AM! When I say its time to stop its time to stop. If its taken away, its taken away for a good reason! There is no crying no whining, its done. I KNOW what my kids are doing, listening to, watching, reading and playing. Because I take pride in being a part of their lives, taking intrest in THEIR hobbies, and intrests, and trying to involving myself in their lives even if I dont care for what it is they like. They KNOW that no matter what, I care and will always be there even if I have to do things, take away things, etc. that may make them upset. Quit blaming your poor parenting skills on your kids vices and instead take a good looooooooooooong look in the mirror.

Honestly, I am sadden that the CBC has aired such nonsense. Just another example of poor sensationalist piece reporting acting gaming.

The show i watched is purly wrong of course the boys death is a tragety but this is not the video game industry fault i soley blame this on the parents for there lack of understanding what thier kids do. It was the parents that pulled brendon out of hockey for some reason it was the parents that bought him a game without knowing what it contained. some would say it the industry fault they did not know what was in the game but the parents could have reaserched the game esrb rating or asked the clerk what it had. Maybe kids under 18 could play this game it all depends on their maturity and most people know that games are not real. Blaming the industry and tournament sponsers for a stupid kid that got addicted on something is not the industry or tournament sponsers problem. Each console has a password that prevents them from playing games they should nt be. the lady doing all the questions in the show finland what ever name is should get her facts straight before blaming a industry that had nothing to do a with a game addict. the parents should have took him to therapy if he was that mesed up

Dennis from Toronto's comment has crystallized the most important point from the majority of those made on this thread - this documentary had the opportunity to empower parents with important information about ESRB ratings and parental controls, yet chose not to.

In the interest of balanced, quality journalism, perhaps a future episode of this program could include a short update/amendment to this episode, in which these important tools can be shared with the public.

Over the years I've watched numerous documentaries and news programming however I have never had the misfortune to watch such a biased piece of investigative journalism as Fifth Estate's Top Gun episode.

To hold the video gaming industry solely responsible for the unfortunate death of Brandon Crisp was disgraceful. And to try and get the spokesperson to apologize for his death was in my opinion outrageous.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Fifth Estate's point was. Was it because they feel that the games are too violent? Which they spent a considerable amount of time discussing, even though I didn't see the connection of violent gaming and Brandon's death. Or are we to blame the games and the industry for the games being addictive? And the solution to that would be what? Banning video games? Maybe we should then ban songs by the Beatles. Charles Manson believed he could relate to their song Helter Skelter.

Obviously we all would be much happier if this whole incident had never occurred, but it did. We should not whoever be so quick to point to those we consider responsible. Especially with such a weak case that Fifth Estate presented.

I applaud your attempts to demonstrate the negative affects of violent video games marketed towards our children; however, it was merely stepping onto the tip of an iceberg of a problem that plagues our society as a whole.

There is thorough and unwavering research using MRI images of the brain to support that excessive use of video games renders some parts of the brain inert. It is important to know that the brain is divided into a left and right hemisphere. The right side of the brain is responsible for creativity and the left side is responsible for logic, reasoning, and rationale. Images showed that there was little to no activity during left side brain exercises conducted on youths that regularly used violent video games compared to regular active left side brain activity found in youths that do not play video games regularly.

We live in a society where the entertainment industry has oversaturated a generation of youth with violence. We have become desensitized to violence, being raised and taught (and now teaching our children) not to take killing seriously and that violence does not hold any consequences. Playing these games, children are now learning at a very early and vulnerable age to associate horrific violence with pleasure and excitement.

Not one of us would ever want to place our children in a real life circumstance that is depicted in these movies or video games. Why we permit our children to immerse themselves in this type of violent imagery while their brains are still developing the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality is simply mind boggling. There is no other time in the history of the world that has witnessed headlines of young gang members executing each other with complete disregard for others or juvenile killers going on rampages.

One would be naïve to believe that this problem is black and white; however, research couldn’t make it any more clear the deadly link between this kind of graphic imagery and the escalating incidence of youth violence around the world.

I challenge anyone that disagrees with this comment to read a book by Lt Col Dave Grossman called “Stop Teaching our Kids to Kill”.

I hope that the Fifth Estate conducts a follow up segment to this show by interviewing Lt Col Dave Grossman to facilitate a better understanding of a grave situation. In his seminars, Grossman repeatedly reminds us that “we reap what we sow” and I do not look forward to what our crops will yield.

I personally think the story about video game violence is incredibly bias and I think it's a sad excuse when parents, doctors, or anyone can blame a video game for violent acts by kids, adults, etc. If anyone, you should blame the parents for letting their kids get "addicted" in the first place. Any good parent would realize when their child is taking the game too seriously and put a stop to it before any real harm can occur. If the MLG professionals who get paid around $50,000-$100,000 to win these games don't crack under the pressure of playing them all the time under national spotlight, there's no reason why anyone should use video games as an excuse for violence, I think it's ultimately comes down to bad parenting.

Its hard to put into words just how angry this report made me. I have never seen such a irresponsible display of information to the public. This episode only serves to "scare" parents away from video games and makes no attempt to help parents intelligently deal with the problems that might arise. Children have always ran away from home for lots of different reasons. The report even said it was a short ways from home, this is as much the grounds fault for making him fall as it is video games. The only thing I learned from this show was how CBC is just as bad as the industries they accuse of being irresponsible.

CBC is no way wants to help, they make a biased report because they just want their money much like the video game industry and the people sponsoring it.

I agree that the parents should be more on top of this but for that CEO to claim he has no way of restricting access, come on are you serious!!! Those websites that subtley and not so subtely demand that you play non stop to "climb the ladder" then claim that the kids should have balance in their lives you sir are no better than the local "crack" dealer.
Think of that poor kid and how he was consumed with playing those games on Thanksgiving weekend then to have it all taken from him. He ran way and hid in that tree because he knew that the only world he knew would shun him or not playing that weekend.
Parents talk to your kids and if they are in their room for hours on end it is not a good thing.

I love how this "journalist" tries to get the industry to claim responsibility for Brandon's death, even when they have the highest rate of ratings enforcement in the US, but simply takes any words out of David Walsh's mouth as fact. The fact that there needs to be parental consent for any tournaments should be good enough for everyone. As a 16 year old who plays on Gamebattles, I can easily say that 90% of people who play these games don't even know they're played competitively. There is nothing that the game retailers or manufacturers do to promote Gamebattles or the MLG (unless they do their own tournament, which 16 year-olds and under cannot play.)

I don't know what this person was trying to prove. The gaming industry is out to corrupt our kids? By trying to empower the parents to make good decisions?

In the end, Brandon fell out of a tree and died. If the reason had been his parents wouldn't allow him to watch CBC, I doubt that this would have made national attention.

As an adult gamer I have been witness to many parents who have agreed to purchase "Mature" games after being explicitly warned by the staff about the purchase. I believe this is an unfortunate side effect to our modern lives that many parents don't seem to find the time to monitor all of their children's media habits. However the tools are available and the industry does a very good job of providing ways to moderate the habits of children and teenagers. If parents would ensure that they spend time doing their homework and making sure that there is a dialogue about which games are appropriate, and how much time is to be spent playing then many problems could be avoided. I do understand that there are those with the personality to become addicted to games and believe that additional steps may be required in those rare instances. As modern society grows ever more busy and complex so must we be ever more diligent in finding balance for us and our children.

Wow, the Fifth Estate may, in the future, want to get journalists or reporters who actually know what they are talking about before spouting off such asinine assumptions and baseless rhetoric.

After watching last night, I was deeply offended, and disgusted.

This pathetically biased (and just plain wrong, might I add) rhetoric displayed by the CBC in their reporting of videogaming in today's society is nothing less than horrifying.

Let's clear a few things up, shall we.

First off, ESRB (the gaming-rating board) enforces their rules to the tee. I have worked in electronic stores in the past, and I can assure you, these rating systems are prominently displayed all around the gaming displays (not just on every single video game box), where anybody who isn't legally blind can EASILY find out everything they needed to know about the system. We were reminded, almost on a semi-weekly basis, that if we didn't have these ESRB rating posters/other info in place, we would be subject to a steep fine. I am positive this system is in place in every single store in Canada where there exists violent video games. To claim the gaming industry hasn't gone far enough to deter young kids from buying these games is absolutely foolish. The blame begins and ends with the parents. PERIOD.

Secondly, what you had failed to mention last night, is that in order to have an active XBOX-Live account (which is needed to play games online), one must have a valid credit card, and therefore, one must be eighteen.

Obviously, the late Brandon wasn't eighteen, yet he still had access to his XBOX-Live account... how could this have been the case? Why, because obviously his parents bought it for him. And the claim near the beginning of the show, that they contacted Microsoft asking to cancel the account, which they allegedly refused? This is another bogus outright lie!! There is no way Microsoft would ever refuse to cancel an account. What happened here is Brandon's parents thought they could GET THEIR MONEY BACK after having paid for a subscription. This is the only thing Microsoft wouldn't allow. But to claim they wouldn't cancel the account, simply because it was paid for... I don't think so.

Lastly, as someone who has played video games for decades, Brandon's case is indeed one from a small, minute minority.

You mentioned he was a 10th level prestige, level 55 in Call of Duty (4)? Do you people have any idea of how much time and effort a person must put in to reach this tier??

Brandon was in a fraction of a minuscule minority of the total number of people who play videogames. With his play style, he probably falls into a category of less than 1 percent of the total gaming population.

To claim otherwise is not only insulting to the vast, overwhelming majority of gamers who don't even come close to approaching that level of dedication (or addiction), but it is indeed an insult to Brandon himself.

The very apparent sociological problems displayed by Brandon had nothing to do with the videogames, and everything to do with his environment, and possibly even more so, his upbringing. The fact that his parents want to deflect their guilt onto the wider gaming population, and/or industry, is nothing less than shameful.

The fact CBC was so willing to help them out in their attempts to do so, perhaps even more shameful.

Honestly, some of the most biased tripe I've ever witnessed on Canadian television.

There is a simple word to use when your child wants to do something that you as a parent don't approve of: No.

Don't put a television in his room, don't buy a $500 X-box, don't buy videos games. The kid doesn't have the hundreds of dollars required to buy all of this. Problem solved.

On the other hand, I see how video/on screen games can take the place of other social interactions when there are no parks, outdoor rinks or free sport centres nearby, and videos become the easiest way to babysit or entertain a child with no siblings.

For those who proudly declared themselves video games addicts, I would say that it is typical for an addict to justify his addiction by listing all of its 'benefits'. Crack addicts say that the drug makes them feel powerful. It doesn't make it anymore healthy. Addiction develops in stages too: the first stage is enjoyed by the addict. In stage II, the addiction is slowly taking over the addict's life. Finally, at Stage III, the addiction has control of the addict: what was his escape is now his prison. If you are young and enjoying the games, this only means you are at Stage I.

Finally, the monetary issue. It's not because you make money at something that it makes that thing right. For example, some people makes lots of money selling kiddie porn. The amount of money one makes at one thing doesn't make it anymore right.

My son naturally likes playing games on the computer. The computer is in the kitchen, where I can see what he's playing. When friends are over, which is often, I forbid 'screens'. I want them to play together, for real. If they complain that they are bored (read they want me to say yes to screen time) I give them 10 minutes to find themselves something to do or I'll give them chores.

I am not there to be popular, to be liked, to be a friend. I am a parent. We talk about addictions to activities and substances; we talk about citizenship; we talk about what is really important - poverty & global warming anyone?

In the end, what do video games contribute?

I also wanted to make one other quick point.

Is playing a video game professionally a sport?

I guess it depends on your definition but:

If you consider trap shooting, target shooting, fishing, or poker a sport, then yes.. Video Gaming is very much a sport.

This is a mental and hand-eye coordination driven activity.

At the most extreme definition you would at least have to concede DDR (Dance-Dance Revolution) a sport because you phsyically move around and break a sweat and it requires all manners of coordination to be successful at the highest levels.

Again... the "real sport" comment spoken from someone who doesn't get it. Or certainly hasn't thought long enough about it... or at worst, just wanted to be snarky, negative and feed a growing fear stereotype in our society.

But hey... people thought Kiss were the anti-christ(s). People burned Beatles albums.

Pros from this episode: Identifying the emotions when playing a game (i.e. the emotions expressed in ANY competitive environment).

Cons: Just about everything else.

- Trying to get that industry spokesperson to accept some form of responsibility was grandstanding and irresponsible.

There's only 2 people responsible here and this is the parents. I feel for their loss, it is tragic to be sure. But the buck stops at the parents when it comes to responsibility for their children.

- Same goes for trying to goat the CEO of the gaming tournament company to accept responsibility to limit the age of competitors. Again, they require parental consent.. parent signs the paper, it's the parents responsibility.

This is no different for the school you send them to, to the food you feed them or let them eat, to their level of physical activity... Fact is the kids that are at risk for this behaviour (over their heads) can not, in any way, buy these video game consoles or the games to play on them by themselves. So the parents are the enablers here. I understand it would have also been considered sensational to have stood there and berated the Crisps (especially prior to the resolution of his disappearance) about their parenting, but not doing so to some other kids parents with a living kid is very biased journalism.

- A person who works at a gaming/video store a few posts in mentions the situation of parents and kids and how they react to being restricted in anyway to following the ESRB. This is the reality. Parents are lazy and society along with them provide children with an instant gratification lifestyle. I don't know anyone, child or adult, who wouldn't balk at having something just up and taken away from them.

I think the end point to all of this, frankly, is the XBOX 360 provides PARENTS with Access Restrictions in terms of the amount of time the unit can be played (I also believe the time of day it can be played) and to a more finer point the ratings of games that can be played on the system (to say protect a kid from borrowing an M game and playing it at home).

If people would use these features,these restrictions (mainly the time limitaiton) it's possible to limit the risk of any level of addiction or at least ween a kid off the existing addiction.

I'm personally a person that's for regulation and government intervention on a lot of matters because I don't have a lot of faith in people in general to properly police themselves, but I also believe the video game industry (as opposed to say, the food industry) is full of masssively intelligent people and their ability to self regulate via the ESRB is commendable. They've done "their part" in providing parents with the tools to regulate children's level of involvement with gaming in general.

And please, lets remember, this really has nothing to do with VIOLENT games. CoD4 is a very well designed game with impressive multiplayer gameplay, whether the blood spurted out of the back of a head and a character swore or not would not have impacted it's success or adoption with gamers. This is simply a competitive environment in the home so access to play is virtually unlimited. Tell someone they can't do something they enjoy doing anymore and they're going to be pissed off.

Also, while 60% of the pro competition games may very well be M rated games, that means just under half aren't. Also where's the finer point that Rock Band was the biggest selling game in Canada last year?

Or the point that the main consumer demographic for video games is actually me. Men in their early to mid 30's. We buy the most games and game systems.

I'm sorry.. there could have been a proper beneficial and educating story here for the unwashed. You COULD have told parents their video game consoles provide built in restrictions should parents turn them on. You could have shown them how easy it is to do. You could have shown how easy it is to mute voice chat and players in CoD4 so you and I don't have to listen to little squeaky 8 year olds shout obsenities and racial slurs (they do it for the same reasion 8 year olds do anything annoying.. for attention).

I'm sorry but this was just so lopsided. Further proof there's a generation out there (only a few years outside mine) who do not "get it". Ironically, these are the parents of the very kids showcased on the show.

Be more involved in your childrens life... or don't have the bloody kid in the first place. Jails are full enough as it is.

FYI, at 32, I've held a career (not video game related) at a senior level for the last decade, but I'm also an avid gamer. Expert level in music games. Prestige level in CoD4. 100 hours into Oblivion. 70 hours into Fallout 3, etc...etc...etc... I play more than my neighbours 16 year old kid. Seriously.

Lets get some contrast for the next piece eh? Stop perpetuating the stereotype. Think outside the box. Why do a piece that goes with the flow anyhow? That's not journalism at it's essence is it?

I'm certainly not proud my tax dollars subsidized the production of this episode. Please try harder next time.

I never allowed x-box or play stations into our home and TV was even limited but after a year of badgering I bought my 12 year old an NBA basketball game for the computer, and the floodgates were opened. By 15 he was playing Call of Duty (and yes I purchased it after a very creative argument from him as a way to learn about WWII - and take full responsibility) The computer was never in his room but being homeschooled gave him plenty of time to play. The battles over his playing were epic. By 16 he was on teams, online, and it was clearly taking over his life. Realizing that he could not give it up and frightened at his response when we took away his ability to play (threats to leave home, kill himself) we decided to make a concentrated effort to give him a balance. First we showed him how obsessed/addicted he was - losing track of time (I've been playing 1 hour when it was 3-4 hours), anger over having the internet cut off, always hitting the button to play again. Second, we started asking questions about the game, sat and watched him play, discussed the politics in the community, finding out that at one point he was ranked a top player in his community, got him comfortable telling us what was going on in this other world and gaining insight and some respect for the gaming community I might add. Then we insisted he still play sports year round, we made family and social functions mandatory but would make sure he was home for important matches if necessary, we had him decide the limits on his playing time and a timer was put beside the computer, and we constantly came up with things to get him away from the computer - games of 21 with his Dad, groceries to unload, dirt to move, outings to movies, driving range, even holidays where there was no computer for a week, we even signed him up for high school in Grade 11 as a way to control it. The ages 14-16 seemed the most difficult to get through and it took constant vigilance to keep that balance. Our son had always had an obsessive type personality and I have to wonder if it was not gaming would it have been alcohol or drugs? and was gaming the lesser of the evils? I used to say to other parents during those years "at least we know where he is". Our story has a happy ending - at 19 he still plays video games but there is no longer the obsession to HAVE to play - he has an active social life, great friends, is heading to college in the fall and is truly a wonderful person.

Ah yes, another wonderful video placing the blame solely on games, not the parents and their lack of interest in their son's life.
This boils down to one thing: the parents. Responsibility for children lies with their parents or legal guardians. It's that way in almost every society in the WORLD. Why did they say he couldn't play hockey, anyway? Look at Muggsy Bogues from the Charlotte Hornets! He was short and small and STILL managed to play with the greats. The parents made poor decision after poor decision, and then, when Brandon acted the way any kid would after being twice denied an activity he enjoyed (hockey and video gaming), it was blamed on the games? I didn't realize that video games perpetuated gravity.
Poor reporting, poor research, and basically lies all around. It's like watching a Michael Moore film.

I am very sorry for the crisp family and I send prares to the family.

Brandon's death was truly tragic. What's even more tragic is that it could have been prevented had the Crisp's sought professional help for their son and his addiction. My heart goes out to the Crisp family for the loss of their son. Parents - WAKE UP. If your child is addicted to drugs or alcohol or sex or food or gambling, you would seek the help they need. Gaming is no different. When it turns from FUN to OBSESSION, watch out for the repercussions. The Gaming community needs to take some responsibility too for encouraging children to participate in these gaming tournaments but greed is a powerful force. Our government as well needs to step up to the plate and regulate the gaming industry better to protect our future generation. We all need to take responsibility (PARENTS, GAMING INDUSTRY and GOVERNMENT)to keep our children out of harms way. Tragic that everyone let Brandon down!

The sheer amateurism of this report shocks me...

Firstly .. there ARE RATINGS ON EVERY GAME. They are CLEARER than movie ratings, and go into specific detail about just what exactly happens in each game to earn that rating.

Even googling 'video Game awareness'.. the FIRST SITE on there has links to the video game rating system....
Wow.. well done doing research team. Stand up job your doing there with your ''well, there's no warning label on the box telling me that there is content in the game I don't want my children to see" comments. Well researched. Very professional.

As for the extremely strange link that is made between gaming and kids being almost duped by the charm of money and prizes, fame and fortune, im am equally baffled. You do realise that 99.9999 % of gamers are not part of any cash prize tournament scheme, have little desire to be, or are even fully aware that these tournaments exist...

Kids play games... for fun. Simple as that. There isnt always some deep dark reason. This article is a witchhunt. What happened to brandon crisp was that he fell out of a tree. A tragic ACCIDENT. had his parents taken away his favourite, book, movie, toy whatever it had been, the same thing would have happend. Sounds like Brandon's upset at not being able to play hockey was the main driving factor into the intesity in which he looked for other things to occupy his time. Gaming is also very social, and build confidence social skils and team work.. much like hockey. Anyone see the link there?.

As for the 'We found him at 2 am playing games ' garbage.. all i can say is this.

Problem solved - Dont let kids have a games console in their bedrooms. Even keep it in the parents room overnight if your that worried. Wow.. that was a difficult solution.

As for kids playing violent games... umm.. why didnt the parents say y'know.. 'NO'. its called being a good parent. You dont like a mature rated game.. (y'know a game that says ON THE BOX IT IS MATURE RATED -age 17+ advisory in BIG LETTERS). You can find out the content of a game in 5 seconds. As for the reporter, even if sh were right, and ratings didnt exist.. why cant a parent play/watch a kid play a new game and decide if its suitable.. REALLY NOT DIFFICULT.

Finally if anyone googled video game awareness / suitability, they would also know FROM THE FIRST LINK ON GOOGLE.. that ALL MODERN CONSOLES HAVE PARENTAL CONTROLS. you can literally go onto the games console, and setup a password that only you know, and tell the console not to play any games that are over a certain rating (e.g. ages 10+). So even if a kid DOES somehow get a game, and DOES somehow manage to try to play it without you knowing(they shouldnt if its kept in a public space), the console wont allow them to.

Wow.. that took me one google search (about 12 seconds of typing and a mouse click) to solve the problems of being a good parent and taking active steps to help monitor what my kid plays.

First of all, I am very, very sorry for the family's loss and I will pray for them.
I am 18 years old, part time student at MCC(Macomb community college), I am also on the MCC baseball team too so try not to sterotype ALL the gamers out there. I work a part time job(anywhere from 12-32 hours a week) so i usually have a pretty full schedule every week.
I play halo 3 competitivly, I belong to the MLG website, and I am going to my first MLG event later this year (MLG Columbus in June). I am not as hardcore as N49(the Pepsi sponsered team), because they are playing this as there job. I know for a fact that almost all of the MLG pros go to College and only a handfull of them try and make a living off of gaming because it is unrealistic for most.
I first was lured in to FPS video games when halo 1 first was realeased back in 2001. I was 11 at the time and my old brother was 15. There was no Xbox Live back then so whenever we played we would call over some friends and play with 4 people. My mom understood that this was not a game for an 11 year old to play alot so she would only let me play a few games with my brother a day, which was good parenting.
I personally think that this should NOT be blamed on the videogame Developers (Bungie) or MLG, but the parents. Now here me out, parents need to get more involved with there children, a few games a day, maybe an hour or two isnt so bad when your that young. Most importanly, its the parents job to realize when you let your child play on XboxLive, it is unrated. Just like the Internet is. When your letting your child play online, there is no way to regulate how old a person is, or what people can say to them. It is the parents job to relize that this is inappropriate for anyone under age or one who cannot physologicaly handle it.
I am not saying they are bad parents, just when your teenager gets involved with ANYTHING for more than 2 or 3 hours a day, They should look into it. Just like how when Brandon was younger, his dad was involved with his hockey and went to his games and such. His dad should have went into his room and watched a few Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 games to see if they were appropriate for his son and, in my opinion, they could have prevented this.
Like I said before I am VERY sorry for there loss of their child. I just think it is unfair to put the blame on MLG or the game developers. Thank you to the people who read and respone to this.

There's no blame here, only a tragedy. Most of the time when a kid says he'll run away, a parent rarely takes it seriously because the kid is being taken care of by the parents and the average child wouldn't be able to make it on their own. I pulled the whole "I'll run away" shtick before as a kid, but then I realized who could make me dinner and where would I sleep. My guess is that the kid was using the tree as shelter, fell and died. This was a complete accident.

I can't believe one could honestly believe that taking away the Xbox and blaming video games was the sole reason behind a death. Hey parents, don't take away your kids things (bikes, cell phones, toys, etc...) or else they'll run outside and die! Bad parent, BAD!

Gillian Findlay did parents a disservice by providing misinformation regarding the ESRB ratings found on all videogames. Rather than suggesting (incorrectly) that there is little information for parents, the story could have spent a few moments to inform parents of the tools that are available to them to make suitable buying decisions.

The ESRB rating system is the most comprehensive rating system I've seen for any media and is far superior to those used for film and television.

Contrary to what Ms. Findlay said in the program, the ESRB ratings do indeed include content descriptors on the back of videogame packaging. For the record, the rating for Call of Duty 4 is Mature 17+: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language.

While I do not own Call of Duty 4, the above information was easily obtained by visiting www.esrb.org
It was disappointing that this URL was not provided in the story and also that the parental lock controls found on videogame systems were not discussed.

"Top Gun" shows a lack of understanding of and clear bias against video games in general, especially first person shooters. The Fifth Estate ignores the core problem, they mention that the games are not legally allowed to be sold to people under the age of 17 and yet they fail to thoroughly pursue the question of why violent games are in the hands of minors. Games are clearly labeled depending on their content, on the front of the box there is a letter T, M, E, etc. and that content is listen on the back of the box in a similar fashion. The game box itself also contains both pictures and descriptions that make obvious the content of the game, and since that is the case, why are parents buying games for their children like 'gears of war', where you can literally chainsaw monsters in half, or 'call of duty 4' where you massacre your way through seemingly endless waves of enemies.

It's not that parents are stupid, and there are many parents that identify whether or not games are appropriate for their children, but often it is the parents who fail to recognize the content of the video game. It is more often than not these parents, who bought the game anyways, who blame the government or the game companies when it is they who are not reading the warnings on the box, or researching the game on the internet. I have never once seen a child being allowed to buy an M rated game in a store, and have often seen teenagers asked for their IDs and in some cases turned away, and in most cases they'll shortly bring with them a parent who'll buy the game for them without even looking at the box. Another major point overlooked by "Top Gun" is that the Xbox 360 has a built in parental lock system that can be engaged to limit time allotted for playing games, limit what rating level can be played unless a code is entered, etc.

All of the tools exist for parents to prevent games from being a bad influence on their children, so what are these parents doing? While Brandon made up his mind to run away, his dad did help him pack and simply let him leave. It was his parents who had bought the console, not digitally limited the time he could play, bought the M rated game, and had bought him the subscription for xbox live (which is clearly stated by microsoft that online play is not recommended for minors on both subscription cards bought in stores and when signing up on the xbox console itself). While "Top Gun" is a rather biased documentary heavily against violent games, it does get the point across that those parents who don't yet understand games, the technology that comes with them, or their ratings system, need to learn more.

STOP blaming video games and start blaming the parents. TWO ADULTS couldn't handle ONE clearly troubled teenager. That's a tragedy.

In response to Geo Rutkay.

Companies do not deliberately create addictive games, however it can be addictive just like how individuals find watching TV and surfing the internet addictive. It is pattern that is developed and in this case parents should monitor children so an addiction does not occur or is minimized.

The parents should be held responsible for this tragedy, they can blame anything and everything they want such as music, movies, internet, video games and tv shows. They may maintain the roof over the heads but it is their obligation to take care of these kids and give them their attention. Parents, the media, and society always find a way to blame something else. In this case its blaming and creating a bias towards the entertainment industry and not just the the video game industry. This was done with Marilyn Manson's bad influence, Sex on the internet and TV, Violence in movies and TV, the list goes on....

The entertainment industry has taken steps to warn consumers about the sexual, violent, and language content in video games, movies, TV shows, and music has. Now its the parents and society's turn to acknowledge these warnings do exist.

The death of Brandon is tradgic, however the fact that the parents are unable to take any responsiblity is the truely tradgic.

They were the ones that pulled him out of hockey; they were the ones that bought him the console and game; and they were the ones who desided it would be a good idea to set it up in an area where it could not be supervised.

The fact that the mother stated that she bought Call Of Duty 4 because Brandon showed an interest in history shows that she knew nothing about what she was getting her son. Call Of Duty 4 is a story based around a fictional war in late 200X.

I have watched 6 year olds walk into video game stores bringing up a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to the counter with their parent(s); the sales associate informs the parent of the content of the game and lists examples to the parent(s) (such as picking up street workers to recover health), to which I personally heard the parents reply "Ain't nothing he hasn't seen before."

Put the people giving the games to their kids on trial, not the people giving the games to adults.

Further more, the section involving the Amp Pro Team had nothing to do with the situation. You simply grabbed 3 gamers that live a balanced life and attacked them with questions not even relating to the subject at hand. You seemed more focused on how much they made than their take on what had happened.

If you would like to attack them for calling it a sport then I suggest you go after Curlers next episode.

To improve the show, try talking about PROS and cons, not just the cons.

Ive been a gammer for over 20 yrs im 30 now Thats a long time, I have just about every console ever released. am i an addict?, No. i play for mere entertainment even as a child i knew my limits i never went over board if i did My father would cutt me lose to the outside world where i would hang out with friends, My father . what it comes down too is parenting, Enforcing the law. Systems have parental controls, Most games have parental blocks for certain content. if parents are worried Do something about it Dont sit and watch your child play a game while writing a comment on the horrors of the "videogame". Do something.
I see no difference in what i play on my tv then what hollywood dishs out every summer on the big screens. basically what im trying to say is if your worried... research, figure this stuff out. learning to set timers on your childs system isnt hard, 3 clicks of the "a" button and your set.

Thank you for such an informative program and thanks also to the Crisp family and the friends of Brandon for sharing their views openly at such a heart-wrenching time. Kudos to them for being so strong and for the support they are providing in their community. I pray for them and for Brandon often and think clearly that that one tiny fracture in communication can so easily happen to any loving parent who wants the best for their children.
This program re-enforced the importance of communication in my mind. Not just between parents and their children but also between parents and parents. Also between parent groups and the gaming industry.
I agree with the young person who said we need to be aware of both the positive and negative aspects of the gaming industry. Yes gaming can be addictive. So can caffinated drinks, candy, and junk food if not moderated. Unlike candy, caffine and junk food, gaming in moderation can actually develop co-ordination skills, communication skills, abilities to multi-task and confidence. Gaming can help with strategy and team building.
Communication is key. Many parents need more information on the ranking systems of games and what content is within them. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Communication needs to start long before the X-box or the World of Warcraft game gets started with 'floor time' over Sesame street or Spongebob or The Simpsons. Parents who have never played on the X-box are going to have a hard time even deciding what they are limiting.
We also need to remember that all the love and care a parent has cannot account for a glitch in communication, and I don't believe the gaming industry is the culprit so much as the vehicle for one fatal glitch that left us all in tears.

After watching the show and reading the comments on this site, I have the following comments:

1) The game portrayed in the program, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, is an outstanding game. It is intense, riveting, and at times emotional. It combines the best aspects of what makes movies enjoyable and adds the interactive element that takes it over the top. It is no wonder the video gaming industry outpaces the movie and music industry.

2) Parents are not the only defence but rather they are the last line of defence for their kids. There are simply no excuses.

3) Parents need to take an interest in their kids’ activities. Simply buying them games because they like them does not qualify. Pickup a controller and play with them. You will be able to monitor, interact with them and just might enjoy it.

4) Regardless of the rating of the game, parents and kids have to assume that when you take the game online, exposure to R and X-rated content will be possible and sometimes common. Swear words and verbal abuse is common in many sports and video gaming is no different. The ability to customize is built into almost every game and while it was designed to enhance the experience, it can easily be used for the opposite effect.

5) In the context of this particular program, it is easy to make a big corporation or industry look like they are preying on innocent families with their dangerous products. The fact is, corporations and industries are out there to make money and it should not come as a surprise to anyone. The big bad wolf was hungry and little red riding hood's parents weren't around.

6) Some of the young people commenting appear to display the signs of excessive gaming already. Their grammar and spelling is atrocious for their apparent age. Please take up reading as soon as possible.

7) Some people also appear to be swayed quite easily by the tone of the program, so far as to hold an industry criminally responsible. I would like to caution these people that even though the program is packaged as a "news" program, it is merely an editorial designed to bring out ones emotions in favour of the piece. A minivan can just as easily run over a family as take yours on an enjoyable trip, but is it reasonable to hold the manufacturer or industry criminally responsible for the latter?

The deciding factor is and has always been ourselves.

I taught so, my first comment didn't pass the moderator.
At least I know you read my comment and that's just fine for me.

Some people have criticized Brandon's parents, or parents in general, in their comments. However, I would like those people to keep in mind that the parents were not perfect but they did what they thought was best at the time. I got the impression that they were very loving and caring parents who went through a major catastrophe. If they could turn back the clock, they would have done some things differently. I cannot imagine how they must feel with people blaming them for what Brandon did.

It seems very likely that Brandon was obsessed, if not actually addicted, to video games and he left due to them being taken away from him. I, myself, have a problem with obsessive and compulsive playing as well, but just regular video games (e.g., 3-D Pinball and Minesweeper). I am recovering now due to things like getting counseling and joining several on-line support groups (i.e., OLGA and DailyStrength's group).

As for the show itself, I found it interesting and educational. However, an hour long show does not provide anywhere near enough time to discuss all of the various issues associated with playing video games. This industry is growing quickly and so many people, including adults, are spending so much time and effort playing these games. As such, I hope that the Fifth Estate, or other CBC shows, will create more episodes that explore this topic in more detail.

I found this to be a very interesting report, and have a few comments. I am sixteen and have a varied field of interests. I do well in school, do improv acting, creative writing, music, listen to radio plays and yes, I play the occasional video game. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore gamer, and I don't own or play any First Person Shooters, but I have plenty of friends who, in my opinion, probably play a little too much.

To put it into perspective, people have been blaming the media for juvenile delinquency and numerous other problems for years. Back in the 1950's, comic books were brought to trial (especially EC's Tales From The Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear series) for being to violent and having no redeeming values to society. And yet, it was often the evil that was punished in the end.

Fast forward to the 80's, where heavy metal gets blamed, Marilyn Manson blamed for Columbine in the '90's. Now it's video games. the truth is, some people have difficulty separating fantasy from reality, no matter what media it is. This is the real problem, and the one that needs to be focused on. None of my friends has ever seriously wanted to shoot somebody or take off because they can't play. It's up to individuals to make their own decisions, and for parents to explain to their children why something is inappropriate in their household. That's what my parents did with me.

Like many of the comments below, I feel disappointed at the blatant negativity and clear bias displayed in this documentary. Certainly, gaming addiction in youth is a serious issue, but it should be addressed first within the home - not by game developers. Regulation within the home (such as those suggested in the post by M Parrott below) should be the first step.

If, as is claimed below, game developers are guilty of creating addictive games that "capture and harness young minds", then the CBC and the producers of the Fifth Estate are equally guilty of using the tragedy of one poor boy's death to increase ratings and to promote their own prejudice towards gaming.

What a horribly uninformed program this was.
Mrs. Findlay is only allowing one side of the discussion, saying that games do not have proper warning labels and then ignoring the point made that they do have ratings and content descriptors on the box.
She never mentions that Brandon's parents allowed him to keep his Xbox in his room rather than in a common area of the house where they could monitor him and interact with him.
She mentions the foul language and racism online but doesn't mention that voice chat can be turned off or turned to friends only mode from the parental controls built into the console, which is also where you can block your child from playing games or watching movies that are not appropriate for them.
She makes it sound like MLG is there only to "addict" kids to gaming, when my opinion is that it was probably created to help change peoples perception of gamers as dangerous and antisocial people.
Gaming is not antisocial when you can connect to your friends anytime and chat and enjoy a game together even across continents.
Brandon's parents almost certainly bought COD4 for him, as I have never seen a minor successfully buy an M rated game without a parent present.
His parents should have showed an interest in what he was doing with his free time instead of allowing him to lock himself in his room for hours.
Brandon is dead because he fell out of a tree. No scapegoat needed thanks.

I believe that the way the video game industry was portrayed was extremely unfair. It is almost as if there is a double standard. My personal view is that there is no reason the video game industry should be treated differently than the movie industry. The implication that video game boxes should have giant warning stickers on them, whilst movie posters + DVD boxes don't seems highly hypocritical.
Additionally, I don't know when parental responsibility was removed from the equation. There wasn't nearly enough emphasis on this aspect of the problem, instead with much of the time being devoted to what the industry supposedly should and shouldn't be doing.
Lastly, the statement that the video game industry is actively promoting to a much younger audience than should be allowed is, I believe, quite false. Being a teenager myself, I honestly cannot find ONE example where a video game has been inappropriately marketed in ANY way. The publications, TV shows, etc. that I've seen video game ads appear in were all proper and justified. The last Clifford show I've seen DIDN'T have an ad for Gears of War in it...

My comment might not pass the CBC moderator but I try it anyway.
Gaming in my opinion is only the first step in to reality and the line between the two is not clear.
How many young people, because of being completely absorbed by killing in games, take the next step to join the army, get training,funded by taxpayers money, go to war and kill as many as possible?
If as a member of the armed forces is not lucrative, there is always the opportunity as a Top Gun to join Black-water.
PS. It would be interesting to find out if the gaming industry receives some funding from the government or the armed forces.

I enjoyed your show regarding the supposed violence, suicide, and anti-social behavior stemming from video games. I must adamantly disagree with this premise. This kind of rhetoric has been going on forever. Uneducated people have a need to blame the things they don’t understand on the simplest solution they can find for the ills of society. Back in the 1950’s it was Elvis Presley and the influence of African American rhythm music to blame for our societal problems. In the 1960’s and 70’s it was the “hard rock hippie” music that was to blame, then it was violent films, and the hip hop and rap music of the 1980’s and 90’s to blame. I am 51 years old and have been hearing this kind of talk for some time. It is my conclusion that that the problems of violence and prejudice that we suffer as a society can only manifest from poor parental skills, racism, bad government, and the ignorance of parents who will not allow their children to make their own decisions. My son (who is now 18 years old) and has been playing video games since he was about 10, understands perfectly (as do all his friends) that the violence in these games is simulated and is not in any way connected with real life. With that said, lets look at the game of hockey. This ridiculous form of entertainment is performed live (as well as on television, and streaming over the internet), and contains real violence, which includes fist fights, real blood, severe injuries, and yes even permanent disability and death just so they can put a rubber disc in the other teams net and claim victory. We need to point our children in the direction of the truth by allowing them to participate on the world stage unfettered without invoking the ridiculous paranoid mistakes of their parents.

Bruce Funk
Sidney B.C.

Who is in control?
After watching your "Top Gun" episode, I am compelled to ask that question.
Is it the children or the parents?
Kids today have too much junk! It is almost as if it is illegal to say no, or that the parents want to be cool, or want their kids to be cool, or something.
Well, this is the by-product.
The kids have the control, and until the parents want to act in a parental manner instead of a friendly one it will continue.
Get involved in what your kids are doing. Be nosy!
Use the technology that is likely already in your home to control the hours on the internet.
Alot of routers will allow the parents to set times when the XBOX, or whatever, can connect to the internet, and when that time is exceeded it cuts off the connection! Call a tech!
If it doesn't allow you to do this, get one that does!
The D-Link DIR655 is one that will.
Perhaps the bottom line here is that kids are pulling ahead with regard to the technology, and maybe somebody needs to do a story on what can be done to help parents catch up in this regard and take back control.

I enjoyed the show but was slightly annoyed by the negative slant of the episode. Would this have been as big a deal with Brandon saw Tiger Woods and wanted to be like him and was at the driving range for 10 hours a day? Or if they read Faust all day long and locked themselves in their room until they could write something equivalent.

I feel that the crux of Brandon's issue was too focused on gaming, and not just addiction in general. Of course video game addiction makes for a more entertaining story, but this episode fails to acknowledge that an extremely large portion of the community enjoys a healthy affection for games.

Of course if news media covered the norm it wouldn't be interesting.

What I did get out of the program is that many people are quite ignorant about gaming, and that I think something should be done about it. Parents need to know that not all games are about killing. I say this because if you ask any older person (older meaning 45+) what they think of video games, they will say they are too violent (of course that's anecdotal). Many are puzzle and/or story orientated and are a great way for the brain to problem solve.

I am a Secondary School teacher and parent. My school was holding a games club every week where young boys were playing war(killing)games in our computer lab. Their behaviour while playing, was disturbing. I observed that these games do affect behaviour in that they de-sensitize kids to violence making it seem "cool".
I asked other teachers and administrators to close the club because I felt that this was not a positive use of school facilities. I was criticized and for speaking up. But I feel that people do need to speak up about this problem which primarily affects young males in our society. It is everyone's responsibility including teachers, parents, the Government for regulating it and of course parents. But it isn't just the parent's responsibility as many of the previous e-mails have said. We cannot just ignore it or blame someone else.

I found that this was absolutely ridiculous! Honestly the Crisps are still blaming the X box and not looking at themselves. Brandon loved gaming and in memory of his death they set up a fund for kids to play sports... or as the reporter says "real sports".

The Crisps should have set guidelines before it came to this point. They shouldn't blame the video game companies, the MLG, the sponsors or anyone but themselves!

Next, these kids are playing these video games and they could potentially make alot of money. Not only by playing them but by designing them, writing about them and creating video's about them. If your son or daughter was obsessed with hockey and started training non stop. Would you say NO! Being a professional in hockey will only get you a sports career, money and security.

This was really disturbing to watch. I felt that the show was full of biased facts and video games ARE NOT TO BLAME FOR CHILDREN ACTING IN THIS WAY. PARENTS NEED TO STEP UP AND ACTUALLY CONTROL THEIR CHILDREN IF THEY FEEL VIDEO GAMES ARE CONTROLLING THEM. My condolences go out to the Crisp family, but seriously, we can't go out and blame video games causing anger and violence. There are a ton of things that influence a teenager growing up, and video games are not even a big part of it unless the parents don't do anything. The video game industry may be "evil" in some eyes, but this is a million dollar industry we're talking about here. People need to lighten up and be better parents rather than blame it on video games.

I’m watching the Fifth Estate episode “Top Gun” dealing with children and Gaming.
What occurred to me repeatedly while watching was how the producers don’t seem interesting in going into the area of parental responsibility. This, I believe, is where the audience might learn to understand more of what this excellent documentary touches on so lightly. Your portrayal of gaming as a substitute for normal life is just wrong. It’s technologically advanced and it puts a person in a high-pressure, high demand, visual/social environment for the purpose of ‘winning’ in a competition (either with the machine’s intelligence or with players from across the globe). It does not substitute for reality with anyone no matter how you phrased the questions or edit the footage. Gamers know what is going on. That they like it seems to offend someone. That someone would like to shoot or ‘kill’ in a game seems to be hard for people to understand. There are plenty of tame and puzzled-based games available for those who are passionate about solving puzzles or exploring cartoon worlds.
My son is a successful competitive video game player who travels to attend tournaments. I support him by being involved. He pays for all the trips himself. Through tournament play my son has learned how to deal with people, learned to travel, learned to understand endurance, diet control, balance, tactics, strategy, cooperation, problem solving, and fair play.
Through tournament play my son has met some of the finest young people you would ever want to meet and I’ve met the parents of a lot of fine teenagers. We’ve billeted these players in our house and we’ve helped our son host his own local tournament. We’ve been welcomed into other people’s homes in other Canadian cities and we’ve even travelled to a world tournament in the U.S. together. I seem to be a hockey dad without the hockey.
MLG is not the problem either - in fact they are an appropriate outlet. Professional is a category in all sports. Professional gaming IS e-sport. “Real sports…” being better for kids – as the documentary suggested in contrast to the rock-and-roll world of major league gaming – is just insulting. Asking, as the host/interviewer did, MLG (or the industry as a whole) to created a control system, or to play a role in the development of teenagers, is like is like asking the NHL to take responsibility for my son’s failure to learn to skate. Teens will move to whomever will provide them with a venue or audience for competitive play and prize money.
It’s up to me to decide what’s best for my son. I don’t expect the industry, the tournament organizers, or game creators and retailers to take responsibility for my teen. I have taken the responsibility of understanding why my son plays and why he feels he can be successful in competition. What my son has learned about life from all those people he’s met and played with (and against) is the same as what he would learn about teamwork in a field sport or about discipline and dedication in a martial arts sport or about self-control and being responsible for your behaviour in any other kind of tournament play. I’ve chosen to look at the opportunities which presented themselves in his pursuit of excellence in the same games your program explored. I have chosen to work with my teen to explore those opportunities so he may grow from them.
I’ve seen the same fear in parents (and grandparents) of ‘strangers’ on the internet and all the ‘bad people’ who populate the news. I’ve also dealt with the frustration my son may feel when he’s letting down his tournament team. But that I recognize what is going on is simply a testament to how involved I have been in the development of his interest and skill. I can’t hold a candle to his ability and dedication (I have a mortgage to pay) but I have played first-person games and felt the thrills and sweat of the high-pressure game construction. I’ve been taught by others how to improve my game and I’ve enjoyed the heart-racing action. The gamers the program talked to all showed positive personal qualities as well as a deep understanding of the media effects these games represent. Just as we couldn’t blame TV or radio or comics for the actions of teens in the past we cannot today simply point our controllers at the screen. We have to see ourselves reflected in the game and understand the role all of us play. Sherry Turkle explored a world like this with her “The Second Self” and I would suggest this would be instructive for the producers (or any parent) to read.
If Brandon’s parents had known more about what he was going through at the time (instead of afterward) they might have been able to show him ways to balance his ambitions with the demands of real life (they seemed like responsible parents from what I could see). When any relationship (at work, at home, or at play) turns adversarial one has to look deeper. All teens will challenge and push the limits. As Brandon’s parents said in the documentary; ‘now they understand why he would…’ and, like so many parents who have had a tragic loss, they now see what they might have done differently. It truly is a teachable moment for all of us to look at this tragedy and see the family issues and not the games.

Sorry, in my previous rant I said that FUD was fear uncertainty and lies, that should read fear uncertainty and doubt.

Just finished watching The Fifth Estate in Calgary. I must admit I am surprised at how objective it was. I was half-expecting to watch sensationalist hack journalism, instead I was treated to a milder form of concerned criticism. Here's what I have to say:

Ever since the Columbine school shooting, violent video games have been getting a lot of negative media attention and publicity. None of it is warranted. Video games, no matter what the rating, are forms of entertainment. They are not going to brainwash the player into becoming the next tragic rampaging shooter.

I was quite put off at the beginning of the show with the remark about putting sniper rifles into the hands of teenagers. Most -- if not all -- first person shooter games are geared to a mature audience; an audience that -- like me -- have grown up playing video games, and do not wish to stop the habit/hobby/addiction once we come of age. Once we reach a certain age we're no longer content playing something as silly as the latest Super Mario Bros. game or Pokemon. We want to play something more realistic, more heroic, something that can simulate the experience of being a champion. The industry has listened, and provided us with games along these lines, while continuing to produce games for younger audiences.

I had a feeling when Brandon Crisp's story became publicized across Canada that Call of Duty 4 was going to get more attention that it deserved. At the time, I wasn't aware of why Brandon was so obsessed with the game. When I learned that he was participating on ranked matches and competing on gamebattles.com, his reaction to his fathers disciplinary attempts became even more understandable. I believe Brandon was justified in his anger. Imagine what would have happened to Sidney Crosby if one day his father decided he was practicing hockey too much, and took his skates and stick away. Not to say that Brandon's parents did anything wrong. Quite the opposite, in fact. I think they did exactly what they should have done in their efforts to try and curb his gaming. We must never forget that Brandon was 15 years old, in the midst of puberty. His body was producing testosterone at shocking levels and it will have affected his behaviour. That he chose to run away from home is no surprise to me whatsoever. Brandon's mother mentioned that she tried to call his bluff, but when he didn't come home 'realized that he wasn't bluffing.' I disagree. I believe Brandon was bluffing all the way, and that he was looking for a way to reflect within himself and calm himself down, take a timeout. It was probably a freak accident that he fell from that tree, and succumbed to his injuries.

It has always been difficult for parents and journalists alike to fathom the fascination with video games unless they themselves actively participate and fully immerse themselves in the experience. What better way to illustrate this than in the segment where Gillian attempts to play Halo for herself. She incorrectly refers to the enemies of Halo to be robots. In truth, the true enemies of Halo are an alien race called The Covenant. The "Robots" she was referring to are actually genetically engineered superhuman soldiers wearing a full suit of tactical power armour. Her inability to truly immerse herself in the game -- though it is not her fault -- leaves her at a disadvantage wherein she is incapable of seeing what we gamers see. Many parents and journalists alike fall into this trap, and it leaves them making inaccurate judgments about some games. Those that play the games are left struggling to try and explain them in a more layman manner. The three Amp'd gamers describing the thrill they get from killing an enemy in the game are fully aware that what they are doing isn't real. It is allowing them to simulate the experience of real conventional warfare without having to suffer the consequences of it.

Garry Darrenfeld (sp?) mentioned parents often came to him in anguish because they didn't know how to properly deal with a child that was/is a compulsive gamer. If they don't know how to deal with their child, then they simply should not be a parent. Brandon's parents did exactly what they should have done. My parents did the same thing when I played for too long. Tough love is necessary sometimes.

David Walsh and Danielle both mentioned the efforts the industry has undertaken to educate parents about the video games on the store shelves. To quote Morpheus, "I can only show you the door. YOU must walk through it." It should be noted here that according to GamePolitics.com, the only Canadian province that has it legally set in stone that M rated games cannot be sold to minors is Ontario. No other province has such a law or by-law. And yet teenagers in Ontario still play these M rated games. That means they must be getting them from somewhere. And I'll bet Dollars to Doughnuts they are getting them from their parents.

The segment with the online competitor swearing at the player is a common one found in online play. The behaviour of individual gamers is impossible for the video game industry to control or to even moderate, due to the sheer number of people playing games at any given time. I myself have encountered it. I make good use of the mute feature found in Xbox Live to silence more annoying players.

And now that gaming has become a professional activity, where people can compete for cash prizes, it should come as no surprise that professional gamers will dedicate insane amounts of time to it. But really, how is this different from athletes in a professional sport? They too dedicate themselves to their profession far more than most can even conceive, so one should not be surprised to see so many of the gamers faces looking so dedicated and focused as they played their games.

I am fully aware of the couch potato stereotype. To some degree I resemble the stereotype; I play video games with nearly every free minute of spare time I have. Despite this, I have a great career, own my own apartment, live debt free, am a healthy young man of 26 years, and I have a wonderful girlfriend. I saved money since I was 20 years old for a down payment on my apartment, and I worked very hard to get where I am. I do not fit the label most gamers are stuck with, but I am painted with the same brush, and that angers me.

And now to address some of the other comments made here. I can only find one to address at this time:

Greg is absolutely, completely wrong when he says that the industry is intentionally creating violent games with the intent on hooking younger players into them, luring them with the content and the vulgarity. I cannot state enough how wrong he is. The industry creates these games because gamers like myself are no longer interested in playing the kiddy games like Pokemon.

I'm a 26 year old Calgarian. I have been playing video games since I was 5. I am an Apprentice Communication Technician with TELUS. I own my own apartment, and aside from my mortgage I have no other debts. I own an XBox 360, and 26 games (with an additional 40 retro games tacked into one disc). Of all of these games, 7 are NOT rated M. In addition to playing video games, I am also a Calgary Flames season ticket holder. I reject the notion that video games are something only children play, and that every single game is intended to be played by a child. I also reject the notion that video games bring no benefit other than entertainment. Video games teach problem solving skills, encourage teamwork, and can be educational depending on the game being played. My gamertag is Goth Skunk.

This episode has absolutly 0 objectivity.Ms Finnley has anyone that is saying that videogames are not the problem get half the time, as well as being cut so that they say what they want them to say. Instead of asking why the video games are "addictive" or violent, they should be asking why the parents let their 14 year old buy a game rated M, 17 or older, like it says on the back of the box. It actually says on the back why its rated the way it is; language, violence, content, etc. the only reason this is an issue is because the parents dont want to admit that its their fault for not keeping an eye on what their kids are doing. its this close minded attitude thats lets idiots like Jack Thompson be taken seriously.

Seeing my new-born son grow up, pretty much everyday I think about the effects of "modern recreations" (internet, video games) and what direction they might take in the future. Being an IT professional in my early 30s, I see myself having an "idea" of what is going on out there in this field, so I am not so worried about us (my Wife an myself) letting it go out of hand at home.

I do, however, worry about my kid's social environment at school, to which he will be exposed to, in not so near future for most of the day. I worry about, other parents that do not have as much awareness about what are the dangers that are lurking on their kids, in the technological world. I am afraid they will not be so successful with paying enough attention to this problem, and as a result their kids might suffer from overexposure to video games, internet etc.

As I said before, I am in my early 30s, so gaming is not such a far fetched idea for me, as it is for older parents, that are only 5-10 years older than me. I was an avid gamer and computer enthusiast since my early teen years, and as I grew up these activities were phased out with more mature ones. So I do not believe the game industry has a worse impact on kids or young adults, than say mainstream music, reality shows, movie industry, extreme sports and commercials.

It makes me happy that this important topic is being discussed in the media, however, I believe, the focus of this report should have been more on raising awareness amongst our society, not simply on *bashing* the game industry. I am not defending them, I am simply trying not jump to conclusions too soon, and not to generalize.

It's easy to find a black sheep to pick on, or make a *shocking* program about unfortunate cases. We do see that all around media every day. So, was it too hard to find and make a program about families that successfully managed to overcome these issues? Neighborhoods that got kids involved with alternative activities? To show to the (for lack of better word) lost parents, some possibilities that are out there? To lead by example, instead of pointing out mistakes and painting black scenarios?

I wish this program was more educational than entertaining.

Video Gaming... as way of life or just entertainment?

Being a avid video gamer myself I found many enjoyments in virtual reality and believe you the people pointing the finger at the industries are no more right then I am. See growing up I was part the the Nintendo, Genesis and Play Station era with a love for games. Now unlike parents these days mine only let me play for a couple hours on a school day and perhaps five on a weekend, but parents these days have more tools to help them with a child's game selection. Now some parents use these places to protest games and abuse what the labels say, claiming it should be ripped off the shelves. I am personally disgusted in them and if it's rated M-17 it means your child shouldn't be playing it, or perhaps take part in your child's interests and start playing with them.

That way your bonding with your child and no that's not a statement meaning you become buddies, but parents start now with your kids when they are young and get them to try all kinds of games. Now for video gaming becoming a sport... that man needs a life more then I do, video games are suppose to be stimulating for your eyes and is in no way a sport! I have done the all night thing playing a video game and yet it wasn't killing, it was Spider-Man 2 and you know how enjoyable free roam was when you could just swing around on a web. This was a way of releasing stress and it didn't involve blowing some ones head of, but I also have those gory games and I am twenty four years of age.

I know the difference and so should your child learn it, but that means parents have to be educated and willing to pay attention to what the child plays. In short Parent's don't pay attention till something like this happens and then they take it too far, but a few parents monitor what a child plays at home and they are doing a good job! Parents should get children into games that aren't about blowing some enemies head off and onto something like Guitar Hero, racing games, sports, or games with a positive message! Try team games of your child's favorite show and mind the rating on it, I have siblings which I play games with the odd time and we have a blast... it's not real life, if they can't tell the difference they don't need to play them!

My condolences to the Crisp family.

Regardig the report by Gillian Findaly: Is this not ultimately a story of a stubborn kid who ran away from home and then fell from a tree and died?

I am wondering what that had to do with violent videogames. I am wondering what that had to do with videogames of ANY subject matter (sports, puzzles, etc). There could potentially be any numbers of events that could make a kid have the will to 'run away' like Brandon did. Brandon happened to be obsesssed with video games but it could have been an obsession about any number of things.

Gillian Findlay should do her follow up story on the real culprit... treeclimbing.

I am very disappointed in the Fox News-like documentary that you have published. I have not even watched it in its entirety yet and I feel compelled to voice how this sensationalist piece is the reason that the luddite members of our society loathe and fear technology so.

Children have been running away since the dawn of time, and there have always been cases of runaways due to things that us as adults have thought of as benign, phone privileges, television, radio, music just to name a few. People need to realize that these are resultant of hormonal shifts and a biological imperative to become more independent.

Also interviewing "experts" without credentials and siting studies without sources is anecdotal, in fact this whole thing is one gigantic anecdote from what I see.

"Facts" without proof are anecdotes, "news" that is all anecdotes is sensationalism. It is what the corporate media in the US uses: FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Lies). This is how they have kept their population scared of terrorists hiding in the bushes of every front lawn in the US. Good job boosting your ratings, I guess you already did work against radios, cell phones, and probably Elvis in his day. Things that are new scare those that do not understand it, and this is no different.

If you feel you should stunt the growth of your children by sheltering them from gaming in general you are stunting the growth of your child and in my opinion that is a form of abuse, on the other hand look at the bloody covers and age warnings, they are there for a reason.

Please do your research with credible sources and not heap blame on what looks like a handy scape goat.

I also just saw the section on the warning systems that are in place, and a rating of "M" for example is no different than a rating of "R" on a movie, and they put that warning on the back! Have you done anything on the movie industry lately? Don't want to eat your own eh?

I can go on, this "piece" in not even half done, I don't think I will be watching the rest.

Oh, and pay attention to your damn kids. I work with youth in crisis and children of abuse, and the gaming can sometimes relieve stress and aggression so they don't take guns and knives to school. It does not have to be violent though.

My first comment on this story is what a load of condescending BS. Yet again the media props up the belief that we are not responsible for the choices we make for ourselves AND our children. Do I feel for the family, of course I do, but I am a 35 year old married man who plays COD4 on occasion, and I knew when I bought it it wasn't for children. That being said, I am a child of the Commodore 64 and early PC era, and when I spent too much time on the computer, my parents MADE me go outside. I would describe what MADE ME means, but I am afraid I would offend the majority of the CBC audience, not to mention the holier than now on air staff, and subject my parents to CBC scrutiny. While I was furious during most of this "documentary," I was glad for the comic relief at the end when the parents mentioned they were raising money for children to play "real sports." Of course, our National Sport is the way to go for all children! It isn't competitive at all, and the sport will ensure your child stays away from violence and child predators of every kind. (I am being sarcastic.....) I loved how the reporter made repeated comments on how the Gaming Industry was luring these "children" into the gaming world with large cash prizes. What, the promise of making MILLIONS in the NHL doesn't do the same?
It is difficult to say, but the parents are to blame for their child’s death and that is it. Does that make it any less sad, of course not, but that is the fact of the matter and no melodramatic Fifth Estate story will change that.

This story was a complete disappointment, if your reporter is going to be completely biased then maybe she should look for another job. It was completely one sided and nothing of what I expected of CBC. People like her are the reason we have wars, I only hope that someone judges her in the same way some day.

I found this documentary trying to vilifying video games as an evil gremlin influencing the minds of our impressionable youth as foolhardy tabloid journalism. This was the same nonsense that was used to attack heavy metal music in the 80’s and then violent movies in the 90’s. What happened to the gamer having any accountability for there actions and the parents to step in and do something. As tragic as the Crisp story is, if you substituted video gaming for sports or some other hobby this story would not have reached such notoriety. The root problems are the ones that have already been there peer pressure, low self-esteem, and conformity. It’s easier to scapegoat the medium rather then deal with the social issues effecting children and adolescents. Another thing I’d like to point out is that video game ratings do include the types of violence or objectionable content (ie gore, intense violence, etc). There are millions of gamers are out that are normal people who have lives outside of video games. This documentary didn’t touch on the lighter side of gaming like Rock Band or Wii Sports, it just addressed very specific group of competitive FPS players. I am sick of the way video gaming is being portrayed by shock documentaries like this one.

I truly am sorry that such a young lad died.
But DO NOT put Video Games in a Bad Light. Cause my son is NOW making a career in the industry. And I'll i did was support my son in all aspects of his life even after school. Taught him everything about electronics so if he had issues with systems such as the 360 and PS3 he could fix himself. He has fixed PS2 numerous systems and has made money in doing so. He also has his own clans in the gaming industry, with call of duty3, he even learned to speak Russian so he could talk to his new members. So in all of this, its hard for me as a parent to see this young lad's death as a result of video games.
I'm sorry for your loss. But do NOT blame video games for his death. There is always an underlying reason for what happened. I apologize for saying this. But maybe you were just just too hard on the young fellow. You should have supported him and helped him.
Thank you.
James

I am a video game addict. I will admit that before anything I say here. I am 21 years old and I have played video games since I was 5. I play probably close to 40 hours of video games a week.
I tuned into this episode in the hope that we had finally moved past the 'blame everybody else' attitude that plagues our culture. I was instead treated to more of the same blame the faceless corporation nonsense. People need to stand up and say "I am responsible." The idea that you can point a camera at a representative of a corporation, like MLG or Microsoft, and attempt to blame them for one child's tragic story is laughable.
"First it was motion pictures, then television, then Detective Comics' lurid, possibly homoerotic costumed crimefighters and Elvis Presley's hip-gyrating, pregnancy-inducing rock 'n' roll music" (Steve Tilley). This is a beautiful quote from a journalist, Steve Tilley, about tonight's episode. There will always be something that people can blame for their own problems. But here's an idea folks, when your kid gets out of line, punish them. When I was growing up I got out of line, I threatened to run away when my parents took my video games away. And you know what happened when I did? I got smacked. And guess what. I stopped threatening, I stopped talking back.
The biggest problem with this episode was Gillian Findlay's obvious lack of knowledge on the topic of the ESRB rating system. Every game has an ESRB rating on it and it says explicitly on every game "Mature 17+" or "Teen 13+" AND IT EXPLAINS WHY RIGHT ON THE COVER! Every game comes with flat out and obvious label stating exactly why it is unsuitable for children. Including Call of Duty 4, the game Brandon Crisp was addicted to. There are laws in place that enforce retailers to follow these ESRB ratings when selling the product. It is not the game developers fault if some minimum wage Wal-Mart employee does not follow protocol. It is not their fault if the parents of a 12 year old kid by him a M rated game for his birthday.
I had really hoped this episode would be an appropriate well thought out discussion of all aspects influencing addiction. Unfortunately it was a poorly researched, disgustingly bias, failed attempt at true journalism.

funny hahaha it wasnt the fault of video games or the companys it was the obviously horrible parenting !!!

It's obvious that the video game companies are at fault here. With so many violent video games for these addicted teens to choose from it leaves parents powerless over their children! One thing that they forgot to mention about Call of Duty 4 is that it sometimes forces the player to play as a terrorist. Thousands of children around the world right now at this very second are playing on the terrorist team, and what do you think will happen to them when they grow up? you're right...they will turn into addicted video game playing terrorists. If we don't act now to ban COD 4 and all violent video games then the terrorists win. With all the tricks these video game companies pull making their games so addicting I wouldn't be surprised if the video games companies were funding al qaeda with game sales.

This was NOT the fault of video games hahaha that is funny. The obviously bad parenting was the problem and now they want to blame someone or an industry because they screwed up there kid hahahahaha ya just like rock and roll will screw your kids up! come on ppl pull your heads out your A** !!!

This is a completely false segment.I am a very avid gamer and I disagree with this completely. The child getting lost is completely the parents fault, you just can't go off and blame video games because you can't watch your own kids. Why are you suddenly blaming videos games when there are movies out there with the same things in them? and did they really have to go out and find the most psycho gamer to prove their point? Gamers aren't like that.

I feel terrible about what happened to Brandon - I truly do. I am a parent of kids that play this game and I don't share many of the sentiments of the Crisps. We as parents make mistakes, and as hard as it may be, we need to take responsibility for those mistakes. Brandon should have had intervention a long, long time ago and that is the mistake that his parents made and one that they have to live with. And don't get me wrong, I can appreciate that is a pretty big pill to swallow. However, it is not the gaming industry's responsiblity to watch over children - that is our responsibility as parents. They knowingly bought a game that wasn't meant for their child to play and then allowed him way too much time to get out of control. Adults with addictions is different than children. We, as parents, have the obligation to supply guidance for them and if we have a lapse in judgement and neglect our obligation than we must take responsibility for that - as difficult as it is. I am disheartened to see that the Crisps are still attempting to blame others for mistakes that they own.

I'm completely disgusted by your misinformed, redundant, and entirely one-sided discussion on the world of gaming. I am a 26-year-old gamer and I find it funny, (to some extent anyway), that people who are totally mis-informed, and to a large extent, either unwilling or unable to produce the pertinent facts for both sides of a story are the ones who get to produce and air shows.

Why wasn't it brought up that the ESRB rating system is, by far, the most complete and informing rating system for any type of media? Not only are the age limits represented alphabetically on the front of the games, they are also represented numerically. If that is not enough of a warning, what about the fact that, unlike music, movies, television shows and any other type of media, the back of the game box contains great detail in the EXACT type of offensive content that may be in the game?

I just now picked a game randomly out of my collection, as it turns out, it is one of the titles shown quite often in this show, Gears of War 2. On the back of the case it says, and i quote "blood and gore, intense violence, strong language". When was the last time you saw that much description on the back of a movie box, or just as absurdly, have you ever read the parental advisory sticker on the front of a music CD that contained the description of the type of possibly offensive subject mater covered by the artist lyrically? never?

Why wasn't it mentioned that unlike the movie and music industry (which had to be legally forced to create a ratings system for there products) the ESRB was created voluntarily by the gaming industry to help educate parents? Why weren't the tools that parents can use to regulate their children's gaming consoles explained?

For instance, the xbox 360 that was heavily featured in the show has a parental lock system, which is a password protected set of standards that parents can set up. This stops the system form playing games that have mature ratings, it stops downloads, it has a feature that only lets the console be turned on at scheduled times of the day and only for certain amounts of time.

What about the fact that the online portion of the game is only playable if you subscribe to the xbox live service, which is only obtainable with a credit card? (and I highly doubt it was the child's visa paying for the subscription)! For the parents to say that they couldn't cancel their xbox live subscription because it was prepaid, shows they didn't try very hard. Mircosoft is very good with customer relations.

I think that the real issue that should have been discussed in this show is the fact that parents are not doing their jobs. It's not the industry's fault that older parents are scared or put off by new technology. If you're a parent in the 21st century, and your child games, it's your responsibility to monitor that activity. Should parents monitor their child's internet activity?, would they let them download snuff-movies, or porn? Would they let their childern play paint ball? (what's that if not a even more realistic murder fantasy?)

Shows like this one do nothing to help, all they do is point fingers in wrong directions. I enjoy games that have violence in them, I'm not sadistic, both my spouse and I are upstanding members of our community. Here's a question: if you watch an action movie with explosions or deaths, do you feel bad about yourself? I bet you don't! I enjoy my gaming in the same way an older person enjoys an action movie.

To finish I want to restate, firstly, that this show was one-sided, secondly, that it was not helpful in any way to the dicussion and debate. It was negative and biased rhetoric, that's all. It was rhetoric that added fuel to the fire for older people who are scared there's something big out there that they don't understand; for older people that can't be bothered to even try to understand.

As hurtful as it may be, as rude as it sound coming form me, the truth is, the death of Brandon Crisp is the parent's fault. As parents, they were in a position to understand their child, to monitor his activities, and, ultimately, to make decisions in his best interests until he reached the age of 18. Their failure to connect with their child should not be blamed on the gaming industry. Would you blame a car company if the child died from not buckling his seatbelt while the parents were driving?

The gaming industry doesn't need to be over-regulated, the games don't need tobacco-esque types of warning labels, and mature gamers should not be stigmatized by these stereotypes. Shame on you Fifth Estate for squandering a wonderful opportunity to shed light on a misunderstood social issue.

CBC, you are behind the times. This whole moral panic over video games is old. Game addiction shouldn't even be a term. Game "addiction" is actually an obsession. It's a symptom of a much grander problem that both the media and Crisp's parents failed to recognize.

There is no dark-side to gaming.

I'm 26 years old and am not a gamer. I play the odd computer game, but rarely online against others. To try to place any responsibility on the gaming industry in a case like this is ridiculous. The games are rated and the systems are so incredibly expensive that I don't think that anyone under the age of majority would be able to buy games, systems, and online subscriptions without help from their parents. Also, there are going to be parents out there who don't mind their kids playing these games, so what right does the industry have to restrict those kids from playing? If the industry is too lax, it's criminal...if the industry is too strict, it's discriminating against young people. Parents need to decide what they want for their kids at an early age and things won't get out of hand like they did for this family. A suggestion from me would be to let your kids game only with friends...there will be no subscription required and they'll have to hook their systems together to do it, so they won't be able to do it 24/7. With game ratings and timers there are many ways to keep game addictions under control.

Well presented program on an evolving issue that will make an impact to present and future players of all ages. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Crisp Family and all others touched by gaming and the addictive attributes of this form of entertainment.

Where we live there is a lot of gaming and many have a library of games but also they have two or more gaming systems. Many have extra controllers and big screen TVs to include others in the gaming experience.

We must look for balance in games, in life, in all of our ways. We have to work harder to keep children involved in every aspect of life.

My son, age 7, adds "you should throw out all the T for teen games and M for mature games, keep them away from kids.

Thank you to the Crisps for seeking an understanding and once found pursue change. In such a personal family tragedy they are committed to bringing to light the underground world of gaming that our kids and youth are involved in. I do not however agree with the underlying blame pointing to the gaming industry in the reporting on your show, no I am not related to anyone in the business of the gaming industry. It is a profitable industry because people continue to feed it. You clearly reported (repeatedly) that the underage usage is overwhelming even though... persons must be 18 years of age to purchase it (I have witnessed children and youth be turned away at local retailers, only to return 2 minutes later with a parent to buy it!!!) , waivers must be signed to allow underage users to compete or even play the displays at the competitions. The gaming industry does not dispute that these games are not appropriate for persons under the age of 18 in fact they support it over and over again. I can say that I see it no differently and have never bought a pack of cigarettes for someone under 18, alcohol for someone under 19, music cd's rated M for under 18 and have never bought an M rated video game for someone under 18, Finally more importantly ... have never allowed one in my home ( in fact I have cracked in half a couple of music cd's over the years that clearly were untalented music writers, all they sang were vile and insulting words that no one was ever allowed to use at home anyway so singing along was impossible, or dancing in the family room. I truly hope that people will listen mostly to the final bits of the interview with Mr Crisp where he states that they were just doing what everyone seems to be doing regarding gaming and teens, and that his position to allow this game in the first place would never happen now. This is where we all need to band together... your child is not cool because you are willing to buy him / or her a product that they are not able to purchase themselves. PS... I am not a drill Sargent or a best friend for my children, I am a parent who believes in rules and uses the laws made in our country as paths, not as things to manipulate for convenience or popularity. Our home has been (and is still) the one that everyone likes to hang out at and I have had many come and live here at various times so believe it or not .... kids really do prefer boundaries and the many opportunities that are available within them.

Hello, I found this show physically difficult to watch, mostly because of its negativity, it seemed like every word was negative, I understand that the show was about video games and the supposed dangers associated with them. I have rewritten this comment over and over, and have not figured out exactly how I can say everything I want to. What I can say is that I wish to challenge CBC to shock the world and be one of the few news stations to actually talk about the positive aspects of video games, the creativity, innovation and sheer determination required to make them. I would like to see the CBC talk about the benefits of playing games and of all the absolutely amazing games that have been developed in Canada, by Canadians, or outside of Canada by Canadians. My other qualm with CBC is the harshness with which MLG was treated, as a teenager I might be too inexperienced to have the "sensible" views, that are apparently arbitrarily dictated by adults, however I feel that there are much, much worse companies out there, that certainly could not possibly, under any circumstances have the moral upper-hand over MLG

Apparently the fifth estate has abandoned journalism in favour of tabloid sensationalism. This episode resorted to fear mongering, half truths, and outright lies to contribute to the moral panic surrounding video games.

Brandon Crisp did not die because of video games, he died because he fell out of a tree. He was not lured into an insidious web of money and violence as was suggested by this report, he played a game competitively. If he had not fallen out of a tree he most likely would have returned home that evening, or gone to stay with a friend.

The Gillian Findlay lied about game ratings on boxes. Even a cursory glance would show that game boxes not only have the suggested age, but also the reasons for the rating explained. Also, the interview with Brandon's friend contained clear edits to take statements out of context.

The open contempt that Findlay displayed when interviewing anyone who was not critical of video games only serves to prove that this "report" was nothing more than sensationalist propaganda in the same vein as the moral panic surrounding comic books in the 1950s.

Gillian Findlay should be ashamed to call herself a journalist.

Being a parent my self of three grown children and a 14 year old my heart goes out to Brandons mother.
But there is a whole other side.
Children cannot buy these games and game system with out their parents help.
I work part time in a well know video store.
Each day I shake my head at the parents of young children that let them rent these games.
This is how it goes
Me to the parent..You do understand that this is a
M rated game.Then I go on to explain what a M rated game is
Parent to me
Who are you the police , you can't tell me what my kid can play or watch
This goes on all the time
We do not rent games or movies rated M to any one under 18.Last week I refused 2- 12 year old boys a rated M game and the movie Saw
One boy called me a name I won't repeat.
20 mintues later a very irate parent came storming in the store.Because she had to leave her house and come to the vidio store to get the items for her kid that I would not let him rent. she was mad at me for dragging her out of the house.
Come hang out at a vidio rental store or the local Walmart and see who is buying and renting these games
for the little ( and I have seen some as young as 5)
kids.

Your episode tonight was very disturbing but so true!!! I have a 4 year old that has started to play learning games on the computer. Those games are for his age and we are the ones bying them for him! We refuse to let him play on the internet anymore. The so called "kids learning sites" often have links to other disapproving games (and beleive me, my son found them). We, his parents, have a serious agreement to NEVER accept any types of video games come into our house; we warned families and friends to not buy them any of these types of games. We can already see a serious obsession with our 4 year old; when we refuse to let him play on the computer he tries to win by crying, even tries to make deals with us...we are very happy with the decision we have made, however I am sure the battle is not over since he will probably have lots of friends that will have these video games on hands. Just a couple of weeks ago, my 4 year old went to a sleepover to one of our friend's. Well he was thrilled since their kids have the DS, Wii & Playstation. Following that weekend, the first question out of his mouth everyday after school was "are we going to visit ____ (our friend's house)?" (I was very disgusted and disturbed to see what those games do to those little minds). After 1 week 1/2 of hearing the same question every day, I finally sat down with him and plainly explained to him the unrealistic side of these games and the damage it can do to friendships and people. The only thing we can do is be persistent and keep family outings a priority. These people that organizes those competitions should make it mandatory that all participants are 18 yrs and over; because sometimes parents don't approve but grampa or gramma still can sign (like in your episode).
Thanks
Nathalie

What is a horrible tragedy for this family and I wish them the best. At the end of the interview the parents themselves out some of the blame here on their own shoulders, that's gotta be tough and I commend them for it. They were clearly loving, caring parents but in today's digital age we all need to keep a close eye on our children.

I am in my thirties and have been using xbox live and been involved with many online communities for years. These are no places for children to spend time in, anything goes online including all forms of racism, hate and intimidation. I couldn't ever imagine letting a 10 year old connect to an online halo match or go online in forums for hours by themselves, not in a million years.

I am not saying videogames or the internet should be more regulated or banned in anyway and I am also not saying these were bad parents, I really don't know the answer here. I can't imagine raising a child in the world we live in today, that scares the you know what out of me.

To me the bottom line is that parents are responsible for their kid's habits until they reach at least 16, even according to the law. Beyond that people are responsible for themselves. All of this vilification of video games is a projection of some parents irresponsibility when it comes to keeping their kid's priorities in check.

For example, my parents would NEVER have let me have a gaming console and a TV in my room. They let me spend plenty of time on the (primitive) gaming systems and computer we had back in the day, but bed time was strictly enforced. Staying up all night playing in my room? Skipping school? NOT A CHANCE.

The story is tragic, but it seems like his parents let it get completely out of control before suddenly pulling the plug. Not a healthy way to end what is being called an 'addiction'. Combine this triggering his runaway with a freak accident and you have this sad story. I resent the fact that this tragedy is being used to demonize the gaming industry and a pastime that many enjoy without deleterious effects.

The only flaw that can really be pinned on video games is that they are too entertaining and satisfying. A victim of their own success I guess that they will be blamed for people's lack of control over themselves and their kids.

Video games didn't take Brandon Crisp's life, bad parenting (starting with ignoring the ratings which ARE clearly marked and culminating in letting him spend WAY too much time playing) and poor choices on his part did. I guess it is much easier to point the blame at nebulous companies and the industry than grieving parents and the 'victim' himself.

Thanks for a very insightful story. A very sad one and I think I now better understand Brandon's reaction
to having his game being taken away. Like many young people he did not know how to deal with the frustration
and probably did not understand that he had an addiction. I am glad that his friend you interviewed had the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions that some people had about Brandon - in many ways an average teen. Seemed like a great kid and his parents ultimately were only looking after his best interests-my heart goes out to them. I have donated to the endownment fund and will continue to do so.

My name is Justin im 14 I find what happen to Brandon was the game not the matches but the people that play the matches. I play gamebattles and during matches people use stratagy of trash talking which is all about calling people bad or terrible or should quit the game so i find it's more cyberbulling then actully how you play the game and who you play with make take a game so serious that they get so mad at you that they will take it out on the people playing with, also gamebattles is for competition another step to make gaming more interesting.

I just watched "Top gun" and feel very bad for E-game becasue I am one of these parents who are suffering from their teens'E-Game. I thinking whether or not CBC can get leading role to ask the government why not have laws to control industries. Industries can not do these any more becasue E-Games are damaging the people and the future of this country too.

I also appreciate "the fifth states" to help people wake up to get rid of all E-Games.

Lucie

While I feel for the Crisps, and believe that tournaments for M rated games shouldn't be open to players that can't legally buy them, I think that there are some important points left to address regarding parental responsibility. You'd be hard pressed to find a child safety advocate who recommends allowing underage teens and children to use computers with internet access completely unsupervised, nevermind keep them in their rooms, yet parents seem to forget that Xboxes, Playstations and even kid-friendly Wiis are just PCs with fancy boxes. Like any PC with an internet connection, they have the ability to reach out to millions of strangers, and in turn, let millions of strangers reach in to your child. Further to that, these consoles have parental control functions that enable them to lock out content that is inappropriate, allowing Mommy and Daddy to duke it out in Halo at night, but not letting Junior play anything but Viva Pinata. The fact that many parents are loathe to "be the bad guy" and set strict limits on play time, place and content is not the purview of the videogame industry.

Great show, I am 15 and am in love with my video games, i like most of the things said on the show. I must admit I love to play whenever possible, i have an Xbox 360, and 4 older systems. I find that yes, games are addicting, but i did a persusive speech on this in class and i found out that most youth are relitively uneffected by these games if their parents are suportive and are able to talk about what thier child is playing. I myself have no probleme helping out neighbours around were i live, and i love sports and my unicycles, Even though I play about 2-5 hours a day.

I myself am an avid gamer playing games for up to 10 hours a day, and i must say that although i agree with this program it seems to only give a small picture of the overall industry. This article while only covering first person shooters (FPS), generalizes and puts the competitive gaming industry in a bad light. This article completely neglects the other part of the MLG tournaments which are real time strategy games (RTS),and sports games. Games like these (particularly StarCraft[SC]) are also played competitively and can actually stimulate the mind and help to provide future jobs for gamers in the financial sector or in the military (mentioned in this documentary [url]http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/gamerrevolution.html[/url] ). I guess what I am trying to say is, not all competitive games are bad, I play in SC tournaments all the time and although i get a thrill I also learn strategic thinking and become more logical. I would like to say if the Fifth Estate covers another article on video games they discuss, or at lest mention, the overall picture in gaming and not JUST a particular type of game.

My son is 6 years old. My husband and I don't agree with gaming - I wish it could stay out of the home and he sees some merits to playing. We have decided to impose strict limits on playing time, even with the 'beginner' games he is playing. Having said all this, I feel disheartened after watching 'Top Gun'. The appeal is too great to play these games, and how can real life compete with the adrenaline rush they provide?

My heart goes out to the Crisp family and I'm so sorry for their loss. The Endowment Fund is a positive way to honour Brandon.

As I write this I have a 15 year old on the computer playing Team Fortress. The biggest struggle I find right now is the struggle to control and limit the time he spends on video gaming. It's my struggle and I take complete responsibiilty. As I listen to the parents of Brandon, I hear a few things that I can offer as suggestions for parents to help control the addiction.
1) computers should be in public spaces - having them in kids rooms only contributes to their ability to play the games
2)limit the time they spend playing - I am constantly listeing to "just a minute' I'm in the middle of a battle". I use dinner to break the gaming and after dinner, that's it video gaming is off limits.

Parental controls are easy to use and supplied free by most internet providers or in your operating system. Pay a 3rd party to build them into your pc if you're not computer savy - it's a minimal investment. Block the sites.

Respect the rating system - M games are not for mature 13 year olds. Don't let your kids try to snow you saying they're not REALLY mature.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not if I could go back I'd do things differently, but I have found ways to limit the time. I still believe my son's gaming is too excessive and my controls are evolving.

Yes it's a struggle and sometimes its easier to give in, but these kids are our future adults. How will all this exposure to violence play out 20 years from now when they are adult members of our society?

Not once did you mention in the program of the family settings that are in place within the video game console. And why parents are not using those settings if they themselves can not discipline nor control their own child. These family settings are put there for this very reason.
You did mention the ratings....who ultimately buys the game for the underage child?...or who gives them the money for them to buy it?...There is no law that prohibits kids from playing mature rated games...they can't buy it but they can play it.
It is illegal to sell cigarettes to underage children therefore illegal for them to purchase cigarettes.
But is it illegal for them to smoke a cigarette?
So kids can't buy cigarettes but they can smoke them?

Sure games look more realistic nowadays but we gamers know its a video game. Now if your kid can't tell the difference....its time for some parenting.

It is completely and solely the parents responsibility. It should not fall on the devs, publishers, retailers, or tournament organizers. They are running a business and they have capitalized on a market. To ask them to to not allow teens to play would take away the biggest market for them.
If parents do not know enough to find out about what their children are doing, then they can in no way blame gaming companies.

And in response to ratings mentioned on the show. Very clearly on the front it says. E for Everyone, E 10+ for ages 10 and up, T for Teen 13+, M for Mature 17+, or A for Adult 18+.
It then on the back restates this rating and says what is in the game that is of significance, such as violence, blood, language, etc.

Kids must also have much deeper issues if they run away because of video games. Maybe this was this kids release, or way to get away. It gave him a sense of power that he could not feel in real life. These need to be investigated.

These companies contour and deliberately create addictive games - these are not accidental. These products are created to capture and harness young minds and wallets.

Parents have enough of a struggle just to maintain a roof over their heads and a warm meal for the kids and these kinds of games which encourage war-like hyper emotions are useless rubbish.

I think these companies ought to be held criminally liable for the effects their products produce.

I'd like to know the name and author of the study that suggested that one in twelve video game players are clinically assessed as addicted.

Here is a novel idea, maybe the parents of children should start paying more attention to their children. There is a large rating on the front of every single game. Its easy to let your child sit in front of a video game for 12 hours a day and then blame the game manufacturer when adverse affects occur. What a cop out. This is no better than people that sue Mcdonalds because they are obese.