Some schoolteachers waffle on about childrens' "rights" and so forth, and one country (was it the UK?) declared internet access a human right. It's quite possible that this sort of nonsense gave him the idea that they might not have the right to take his precious toy from him; plus 911 is for emergencies, and what could be more of an emergency than not being able to play Modern Warfare 2 tonight? ;)
Psh, Bobby Kotick is not content with a measly $100 a year (plus $10 DLC maps, naturally), it looks like he is now considering a Call of Duty MMO. For reals. Also note that the totalitarian nature of MW2's IWnet matchmaking system means that Activision could pull the plug at any time, disabling multiplayer altogether, thus forcibly funnelling players towards whatever the latest CoD is at the time. EA has already been doing this sort of thing with their sports titles; with a new game every year Call of Duty has become sort of the Madden of FPSes, so why not learn from the best, er, worst?
It should be noted that, while each Guild War "chapter" has an initial outlay cost, all content after that is free with some insignificant extras available at a premium, whereas DDO has no entry fee but has a large amount of premium content (not just equipment but also whole world areas and quest lines and such); some DDO premium content can be earned by grinding "favor points", but most has to be paid for with cash. Your play style will determine which game ends up being cheaper to play, but Guild Wars certainly dangles no carrots.
Spanking just plain works. Depriving dinner, giving "time out", taking away rewards and all other "hands off" disciplinary methods are dependent on that child's particular personality; for some children these will do more harm than good as the child will harbour resentment or simply not learn the lesson that these methods are meant to be teaching. Whether you feel spanking works due to fear of pain or out of genuine remorse and respect for the parents as authority figures is another matter altogether.

WoW does add a lot of new content with each patch, despite your claim that they only add content during the expansions. CoDMW2 adds nothing. Ever. Except some patch fixes. Oh, and some DLC, which you have to pay for.

/wanted to quote myself but edited this post instead... Damnit/

In reality, they can just turn around and tell the kid what to do. Dont do what the parent says? You take away things they "need". Phone, computer, console, tv ect ect. You could actually turn around one year and give them a lump of coal for christmas.
But in my opinion if a child can become so insainly addicted as to it effects there day to day life and cause problems with family ect the child has some huge problems and people need to think of ways to make them a productive part of society. Else whys they should be delt with.
I really dont have any compasion for children who act in such a way as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFbGIXd1eg&feature=player_embedded
Delt with swiftly and harshly.

You almost sound as if you thought it WAS a way of solving the problem. Then again - you've perfectly showed why it's wrong. The parent can explain why he thinks certain things are right... or the dumb SoaB may simply resort to all kinds of punishment, just because it's easier.
Newsflash: our environment affects our day-to-day life. Not everyone wants to be an Amish (and certainly no one wants to be forced to act like one). Sure - you can say you are "addicted" to your car, cellphone, indoor plumbing, hot bath or coffee. Then again - why the hell would you want to live without those things ? To prove people wrong ?
The problem always lies elsewhere. If parents can't be arsed to have a healthy, close, friendly relationship with their children, it causes a LOT of troubles. Sure - you can act like a taskmaster/slave overseer but this can only get you so far.
A parent can have a REALLY easy life if the kid rather LIKES than fears/respects him/her.
Or are you suggesting family machiavellism ;) ?
Damn, that sounds communist as hell. "A productive part of the society"... as in "a mindless, obedient, hard-working drone".
I'd rather be a "righteous", "intelligent" or simply "happy" person than a "productive" one.
I have no compassion for parents that are quick to resort to violence.
KILL THEM WITH FIRE 8O !

1. Sure we like to think that talking about stuff and reasoning with the child would be the best thing. It might be. But again the child is a child, they dont get a say in anything. It really is that simple, children dont get a say and must do what there parents say.
2. Are you implying that a 360 or pc are needed or it is normal to need these things? Please, if someone needs these things to get thru there day to day life they need to check themselfs (Of course im excluding work or schooling things like that. Im basicly refuring to gaming). Also, you obviously havnt seen a proper case of computer addiction lol. Take my BROTHER for instance, whilst he isnt as addicted as certain people he is showing warning signs. If he is "dragged" away from his computer he gets erritable, obusive and generally un-friendly. This is not my parents faults and dont even suggest that they start playing pc games with him or something like that.
3. Are you saying that to be a productive part of society means you cant be "righteous, intelligent or happy"? Again, if you need a computer or console to be happy then a self check is requred. Of course getting happines and fun out of gaming is fine, i game, you game, i dare say every member of this forum games. Moderation is required though.
I dont want people the likes of the kid in that video i posted breathing our air and eating our food/drinking our water just so he can continue being a little shit.
4. No, me neither. When they get to the stage of refusing to do anything else but play WoW or some other game the chances are there have been light to severe problems building up since then. Slowly ruining releationships ect.
Ok, sorry about any mistakes or flaws in my points. Its late here in the land of Australia and im so very over heated and sleepy.
Also a game forum might not be the best place for computer addiction disscusins = P

You must be new. I don't engage in shit-slinging contests on the internet. Perhaps try someone else?
Sarcasm, the last resort of the unarmed.

Ummm... Dude ? You got those numbers mixed up a bit. It's "XXI century" not "XIX century" ;).
Also - Hume's guillotine - you can NEVER infer normative statements out of descriptive ones.
While I'm not saying they're NATURAL in the strict sense, they may very well be "normal".
If you think otherwise, you're obviously hypocritical.
OK, dude. Go ahead - tell me what a normal, SANE person DOES need to get through a normal day in their life. An alarm clock and a shovel ? Eggs and bacon ?
There is a difference between "can't lie without" in the strict sense, in which you can't live without oxygen and the loose sense in which you "can't live without" a person you love, football, a PC or coffee.
Also - I find it alarming that you suggest that anything beyond bare necessities can't be an integral part of a life.
OF COURSE you are excluding such things. After all - HARD WORK is the only natural and just human need/activity, right ? Karl Marx would be proud of you.
People generally don't like to be interrupted, especially when they are enjoying life.
To give a VERY rough example: if you were interrupted in the middle of having sex, wouldn't you be... irritable and unfriendly ? Well - why the hell men - are you an ADDICT or something ?
Another hidden premise: "IF interrupting you during X makes you agitated, X is an addiction" - bs.
I suggest people let other people live their lives as they please, as long as no one gets each other in the way. That is - let him play the damn games.
I'm saying that "being a productive part of society" is a VERY collectivist notion. I prefer to think of myself as an individual, not necessarily a PART of some bigger whole. I'm not a Confucianist.
I'm not a cog in a great machine.
OK, wiseguy - if you want to get down to the dirty ad personam - what do YOU need in your life and why is it any better than what other people need ?
You consider yourself a beacon of normality, the perfectly average ? Newsflash, dude: being average is not something *I* would brag about.
And while I'm sure a lot of psychologists might consider "average" people as the holy grail of sanity, I doubt they would consider having fun a mental illness.
You need to face the pluralist reality in which different people like different things and that does NOT make them freaks.
BTW - yeah, maybe I'm rude saying all of the above, but you don't simply walk into a church and say "You're all a bunch of freaks ! You need help !"... and you ARE on a gaming forum after all. Even more so - on a forum where people rediscover games from their youth.
In other words - you're SO asking for it...
Not any more than in any other activity, dude.
I give YOU a right to live... then again - I'm quite a charitable guy ;)...
At a certain point it might become worrying, yes. Then again - such a point is rarely (if at all) reached. And while I personally don't like people who skip their lectures, it's in their right... and I'm certainly NOT mad because of what they do instead. I'm mad at the fact that they skip them... Get it ?
This shows another important issue - it's FUTILE to force someone to "do X less". You should encourage the person to "do Y more".
Then again - I strongly suggest you don't think of life in terms of the one and only right way to live it. While some people may find sex or coffee necessary, it doesn't mean that others have to too.
Get some sleep, think this through. I think I know what you're trying to express, but your points are either VERY controversial or outright wrong.
It's as tactful as s***ing on someone's doormat, yes...
Why sure, dude. Just found out about GOG yesterday. How can you tell ?
While I have... a certain way of expressing my thoughts (that some may find annoying), I always hope to get the point across. Seeing how you quoted me - I don't always succeed.
Read it again - you'll find out that I DO have a point. And if I'm really wrong - I'll gladly hear why.
Too bad you can't be bothered, though.

If the kid were early elementary school aged, I might agree that it was social confusion that brought him to this, but he was 15 years old! My kid is going to be 12 next week and when he read the story, his first words were "What a moron". Even if this 15 year old was, by some miracle, so confused by what he has seen in the media and learned in school that he didn't understand that his parents had every right to take away his toy, that is still a failure on the part of the parents (IMO). It was their job to establish the basic ideas of what is a right and what is a privilege with this kid, which they obviously didn't do.
What's more of an emergency than not being able to play MW2? Not being able to find my car keys qualifies for me, but I still wouldn't call 911 for help with that. That's what makes me wonder if there was some detail left out of this story, like perhaps the kid is mentally challenged in some way. Its one thing to be confused about whether or not your parents have the right to take away a toy, but to call 911 about it? That's a whole 'nother level of confusion, one that really makes you question the competence of this kid.

I don't really have a whole lot to contribute to this discussion, in fact, the only thing I wanted to say was that I wanted to give some serious props to Vestin for saying pretty much everything I was thinking as I read this thread.
I will never resort to physical punishment over something insigniciant and trivial (unlike a fair number of other parents I have known over the years). Why, all my aunt had to do in the few occurances that her son began throwing a fit (and this was less than 8, mind you), was give him a light swat on the butt or the back of the thigh, just enough to get his attention. The sadness he felt from making his mother upset was usually enough to bring him out of almost any tantrum.
He's also 15 in a few days, loves games like GTA, Empire Earth, and Call of Duty. He's also well behaved, intelligent, and loves doing his school work... once we prise him away from video/computer games or a show he's watching. Sure wish more kids were intelligent and well behaved. Oh wait, that's right, we didn't rely on video games and TV to raise him. When he watched shows (even violent or bloody ones, because he does enjoy horror movies), or played video games (from Pokemon, which got him interested in reading, to Resident Evil), we were around. Talking about the stuff he was doing in an interested way.
I don't know.. maybe if more kids had siblings or cousins or parents who were genuinely INTERESTED in the games, shows, and such that they were playing/watching, we'd have less problems like this poor kid who clearly had a problem distinguishing between real emergencies and silly ones. Although in his defence, I'm quite certain that in his mind, it was an absolute emergency.
...guess I added more than I thought. :p

That's exactly my point - people should spend time with their children, try to understand their point of view and talk with them about all kinds of different things...
And yet - it's a lot easier to leave kids to themselves and later blame the video games, the movies and the society while resorting to violence as the only solution to all and any problems.
While the quote I've made from GTA3 is satirical in nature, it really brings up some important questions - aren't those "strict" parents vastly similar to people, who would rather solve all conflicts by wars rather than mutual understanding and diplomacy ?
I think the future generations can rest easy, as more and more soon-to-be-parents are (at least casual) gamers ^^'.
Well, the kid hung up, which leads me to believe that he simply felt it was uncalled for and wanted SOME way to prove that he was right.
Then again - we'll never, I guess...

LOL, years ago my brother managed to pull this off.
Sometimes, in the car, my brother and I would get so obstreperous that, as punishment, my mother would sometimes leave us on the side of the road and leave us to walk home (don't worry, considering the neighborhood and distances involved, she wasn't being irresponsible, imo. We were like 9 to 13).
But one time she pulled it on my older brother, and after she left he flagged down a patrol car. He fabricated some sob story about his "abusive" mother "abandoning" him. So he got a free ride home. When they arrived the officers faces were grim but my brother had a smug grin on his face. LOL.
The officers eventually realized what was going on, but it was still annoying for her. My brother was always brilliant, when it came to giving mom a hard time. But this was all a long time ago.
EDIT: Oh, and she never did it to him again. She did to me though, because she knew I didn't have the balls to try it. No one ****s with my brother, because he'll always find some way to wreck you.

Your mother should have said something like "sorry, I don't know this kid, he's not my son". :)

As clever as it was to use the police like that, I'd be worried about the implications of my own brother having the tenacity to pull off such a stunt.
Back at Vestin for a second here, though: I too agree that with more and more parents this generation having been gamers of some sort growing up, that they will likely bond with their children more over such things than the parents did of my generation. I am, however, lucky that my aunt and mother both have been interested in video games to one extent or the other, which helped the matter. The Commodore and Atari I recieved as a small boy was the one my mother and aunt used to use, as well. My mother was always interested in my games, either from the simple gameplay of the NES days, or to the complex stories of games to come. My aunt and mother are both Doom and Resident Evil fans, too. Not bad considering my mom is 55 and my aunt is in her 40's.

Heh they sound cool.
Also a picture i drew of Doom Guy. I figured this thread could use some Doom Guy.