"Xbox-addicted" runaway found dead

If you haven't been following this tragic story, here's a little background: An Ontario teenager named Brandon Crisp loved nothing more than his Xbox, particularly playing Call of Duty 4. Three weeks ago, his parents, shrewdly noting that he was spending far too much time playing the game, took it away from him one day, saying it was interfering with his school performance.

Crisp threatened to run away, and dad called his bluff, helping him pack his backpack and letting him leave on his bike.

Crisp never returned home. And now his body has been found in the woods near the family's house.

It's a tragedy of immense proportions that will likely generate a lot of finger-pointing where none is genuinely justified.

Sadly I can understand the actions from almost every side of the story: As a die-hard gamer, I know how easy it is for games to consume your life, even when you should be working. As a father of two technology-addled children, I know firsthand that limits have to be set when it comes to kids and games: Mine would play with their Leapsters all day long if they were allowed to. And as brother to a boy who had similar runaway tendencies as a child, I know how frequently the "I'm running away" threat is just a hollow cry for attention. I can't count how many times I was sent out to go find my kid brother after he'd snuck out of the house to "run away," carrying with him nothing but his baseball card collection.

Of course, in retrospect, Crisp's dad shouldn't have let him leave the house, and I'm sure he now regrets taking away the Xbox at all. But the decisions weren't wrong on their own. It's just a random and tragic event, a sequence of events that could never have been predicted before the fact.

Police don't suspect foul play in Crisp's death, but no cause of his demise has yet been announced. An autopsy was planned for yesterday. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.