Comments on Bannable Offenses: There Are No Words

"TAKE IT THE F&%@ AWAY!" doesnt seem...

2009-08-29T12:49:56.876-07:00

"TAKE IT THE F&%@ AWAY!" doesnt seem like a good solution, yeah sure, it will fix the problem, but the addiction will stay, if he cant, in this case, use internet in his house, he will find an alternative.

The parent was wrong, but would you SERIOUSLY expect someone to die in a freaking summer camp?

Oh please, that was in China. Anything goes.

2009-08-23T05:21:14.493-07:00

Oh please, that was in China. Anything goes.

Upon reading this blog post, I thought to myself &...

2009-08-14T05:28:55.626-07:00

Upon reading this blog post, I thought to myself "this is sick". I mean, I just couldn't fathom what the hell those people were thinking.

And then I read the article and I shifted from disgust to fright. Wow, that's just terrible. They sent him to solitary confinement, handcuffed him, and then beat him until he could barely breathe, then died in the hospital. AND THEN THE CAMP DENIED THAT THEY DID ANYTHING OF THE SORT. That's just sick. What the bloody hell?

That disgusts me. I didnt know about that til you ...

2009-08-13T18:51:58.207-07:00

That disgusts me. I didnt know about that til you wrote this. Im tired of parents not being... parents! Im a teenager and yeah, my parents were tough. They didnt beat me or anything but I know the meaning of NO. This reminds me of the kid a few years back that buried his friend in the sand and it got into his lungs and he got all screwed up. You know what the parents did? They tried to sue Naruto cause that's where he got the idea. Where were you when this kid was burying his best friend?! Gah. I should stop xD before I cant.

@macros: Good on you. That sounds like intelligent...

2009-08-08T19:10:53.200-07:00

@macros: Good on you. That sounds like intelligent parenting, understanding the technology and making sure it's used in a positive way. If more people had your attitude we'd have a lot less misunderstanding and failures with kids growing up in the 'oughts.

@Jason "Young people have been killed in the...

2009-08-08T10:30:00.650-07:00

@Jason

"Young people have been killed in the US during physical training. There's more than one story of the different branches of the US military running people until they die of heat stroke or their heart fails."

That's completely beside the point though. He didn't die of natural causes or causes brought on by stress. He was beaten within an inch of his life and then not taken to the hospital for at least 3 hours, during which time that last inch dwindled to nothing...

Well Dave I've been reading your blog for awhi...

2009-08-07T11:16:11.123-07:00

Well Dave I've been reading your blog for awhile now (years comes to mind). I felt the need to comment today. I'm a parent and just recently a grandparent. I've been playing FFXI since NA release. I remember sitting down with my 2 boys and playing super mario (failing badly) with my sons and all of us laughing like crazy cause dad sucked at jumping.We played alot of games together I was just as excited as they were the christmas they got their first play station. When we got a pc and then finally the net my boys had to share the pc and I made sure I knew what games they were playing. We also found out that dad's not so good at FPS games. They were given a time limit.I even had the audacity to pull up the internet history to see what sites they were going through (being teenage boys and all). It was my oldest son who got me interested in ffxi and said I'd really enjoy it (i just quit the game in june). I'm not saying I'm a perfect parent, far from it, but I was always concerned about what my boys were doing whether it was in games or in life itself.I always tried to make time to find out what they were up to (feeling very sorry for the parents of the girls they were dating). Parenting does not come with a manual, you try to do the best you can and hope you don't screw it up too bad. For me it was about letting them try and find their own way with a gentle nudge here and there to keep them from falling off the cliff. I have empathy for the parents the child who was killed. They'll have to live with the knowledge that by giving their problem to some else they've lost their son.

Im with you Dave, if nothing else, the time is rip...

2009-08-07T11:00:56.876-07:00

Im with you Dave, if nothing else, the time is ripe for you to take over the world, starting with china.

Its china, why does any of this surprise people an...

2009-08-07T07:50:15.266-07:00

Its china, why does any of this surprise people anymore?

Socially China is still stuck in the barbaric dark ages ffs. (I tried to tell hat to someone about the middle east and he responded with "SO thats why they have some really advanced tech"...some people are just plain stupid)

But yeah, chinese socialiatly =/= educated well rounded individuals

China has more people than they can feed/house/sup...

2009-08-06T20:19:33.329-07:00

China has more people than they can feed/house/support. So, human life is valued differtly by the government and society. We're talking about a country where parents murder their daughters just so they can have another chance at having a male child.

Young people have been killed in the US during physical training. There's more than one story of the different branches of the US military running people until they die of heat stroke or their heart fails. No one goes to jail for that.

But I do agreed with Dave. There seems to be a lot of self-centered parents out there who want to turn their kids into drugged-out zombies (Don't get me started on the whole "War on Drugs" fiasco). Funny how you have to be put under a microscope to adopt a child, but any crackhead-redneck-hateful-jerkoff can drop a crotchfruit.

Hylian, Perhaps the camp specifically mentioned ...

2009-08-06T09:38:43.152-07:00

Hylian,

Perhaps the camp specifically mentioned it because other camps of similar natures do openly involve that sort of "retraining." They were trying to differentiate themselves from other camps who beat children.

Of course, if that is the case, they failed miserably in that.

Horrible, just horrible. And, I wanted to point o...

2009-08-06T06:28:39.018-07:00

Horrible, just horrible. And, I wanted to point out...does anyone else find it ironic that they found information about the "internet addiction camp" ON THE INTERNET? Just sayin....

i find it interesting that the camp reassured them...

2009-08-06T06:12:47.122-07:00

i find it interesting that the camp reassured them that they "do not use torturous or physically abusive methods" just before they left. why did they feel the need to defend something like that when i don't believe the parents even brought it up? that's like talking to a police officer in a store and then randomly saying "i TOTALLY don't have a meth lab in my basement." -- red flag, morons!

as for parenting... i keep hearing about "busy parents" not being able to spend time with their children... and i say that's horse sh*t. my mother was a single parent, and she was able to raise me just fine. she was the one who introduced gaming to me from a very young age. games like zelda, final fantasy, lolo... other games like this that introduce puzzles and logic. sure, i was at a daycare all during the day, but when i came home, there was mom, and we always did something together... or if not, i was in the living room playing nintendo right where she could watch me.

you wanna know how to punish your children? send em to their room, and then go to the circuit box and flip the circuit to their room. the only thing they can possibly do is read a book... and since when is reading a bad thing? they sure as hell can't go to the internet with it, or watch tv, or anything.

and as far as video games making children into "murder machines"... well, it isn't the GAME that does that too 'em... it's the lack of parental involvement to understand "gee, my kid is mentally insane, and i better lock him up for his own good and for the good of society... otherwise, we get another VA tech shooting!" interesting fact: the columbine shootings didn't happen until they took those kids games away. the games were a way of escaping whatever it was and outletting their rage. and then they took it away. are you nuts? everyone is capable of doing something terrible, but we sane people find ways to outlet these horrible feelings in a constructive way so that we DON'T hurt anyone. i know a few people who had severe road rage problems until they picked up grand theft auto.

although, what if society did a 180 and blamed the parents for everything about the kid... "your kid has a lisp! bad parent, BAD!"

meh, i'd say that's better than ignorance.

Michael, that's a damn good point. (Not that i...

2009-08-05T19:07:58.976-07:00

Michael, that's a damn good point. (Not that it would be any less tragic otherwise.) How could you let your one chance at parenthood be lost so irresponsibly? Did they really think that place was what was best for him? And they didn't even investigate? That is worse than all the boarding school stories you hear (which I didn't think possible).

This sucks, but seriously... China. The only pla...

2009-08-05T17:47:40.259-07:00

This sucks, but seriously...

China.

The only place in the world where you can only have one child, yet still parenting is too hard for some people.

I don't have anything witty to add, here... B...

2009-08-05T13:56:29.612-07:00

I don't have anything witty to add, here... But I feel I have to say that this news saddens, sickens and horrifies me.

It seems a young man in China was sent to a "...

2009-08-05T13:29:44.537-07:00

It seems a young man in China was sent to a "camp" for people suffering from Internet Addiction. His parents wanted to cure him of his quote unquote addiction.

I don't want to make light of this story, but I did want to point out that... there is absolutely no point in typing "quote unquote." Instead, simply put real quotes around addiction. "addiction."

The whole article in the Global Times is based on ...

2009-08-05T09:36:45.021-07:00

The whole article in the Global Times is based on idiots that don't want to take responsibility. First, the parents that didn't want to take the time to be parents, the doctor that told them the kid had internet addiction because he was too stupid, and then the camp itself.
He was sent to the hospital because of a fever? And then died of the fever? With BLOOD all over him!? Are you freaking retarded!?

I hate people...

And I agree with tyranastrasz. That's my mum o...

2009-08-05T09:22:30.484-07:00

And I agree with tyranastrasz. That's my mum operation mode. If she thinks we're playing too much, she'll just unplug the fucking cable and lock it up until she feels like we deserve an hour or two of gaming.
And before we even think of sitting down in the computer we must clean our rooms, wash the dishes, clean up the house in general.
And we also have to be fed (breakfast/lunch/anything) but you can't sit down in the computer without haven't eaten, cleaned your room and (if you can) showered.
There's also a curfew for gaming hours. Unless there's a special event or something.
But most of the time by 10 (11 the latest) we're done with the computers for the day.
I think parenting has somewhat to do with my mum's plan.

I just can't believe it...

2009-08-05T09:20:32.191-07:00

I just can't believe it...

I'm with you Dave. The world we live in now is...

2009-08-05T09:15:01.686-07:00

I'm with you Dave. The world we live in now is damn sick.
People need to start being parents and stop being whiny bitches. And in any case the kid did need professional help, those fuckers didn't have the right to beat him. In any way.
There are better ways to deal with.
Violence is never the answer.

I knew these camps were a bad idea... >.> Da...

2009-08-05T08:48:42.223-07:00

I knew these camps were a bad idea... >.> Damnit China gaming addiction isn't your problem lack of social support is your problem..

Never seen GM Dave so pissed before...wow

2009-08-05T06:51:56.382-07:00

Never seen GM Dave so pissed before...wow

Amen, man. It took my mother until I was about 21...

2009-08-05T06:49:57.736-07:00

Amen, man.

It took my mother until I was about 21 to finally realize that this video game stuff I do is not an "addiction", I do not "seclude" myself in a room in order to drown out the world, and it isn't inherently unhealthy.

On the other hand, if kids really are going too far, it's definitely up to the parent to pay attention and, you know, stop him/her from doing it.

The problem is that parents today aren't interested in tough love. They want to be their kid's best friend. They want everything to be peaches and cream and (most importantly) never to be subjected to temper tantrums. Hence TV being introduced as a nice cheap babysitter.

This is obviously an extreme example; I don't think the parents expected their kid to be beaten to death in this place. But they do need to get a grip on what this whole "raising a child" thing means.

People are losing all Knowledge of how to care for...

2009-08-05T05:29:19.986-07:00

People are losing all Knowledge of how to care for others nowadays, I agree...The amount of familys where i live that are fucked up as hell is unreal and its just saddening to look at because The parents are the ones to blame and dont do fuck all sept take Drugs and drink. Personally i wanna round em all up and put all the degenerate and Waster people in a camp like that ><.