February 2nd, 2011 
Alan Parker Don’t get me wrong, I feel for the kid here. Just watch the video and feel my wrath after the jump.
I felt bad for the kid upon watching that video. Obviously the kid cared and was proud of his achievements online and seeing that Microsoft removed his achievements and labeled him a Cheater without any formidable motive does raise questions about Microsoft in General. But wait, there’s another video about this boy and his mother.
Are you effing serious? This woman should get her rights as a mother revoked! So the kid wanted Recon Armor but decided to have his friend do it for him. Obviously this kid has friends to play with. She shouldn’t be exploiting her son’s life to gain media attention. That’s all kinds of wrong.
She left out the fact that her son had someone help him cheat to unlock an armor setup just for kicks. What else has she left out in this story? That she left her credit card information on the account and that the kid who helped her son cheat is racking up a huge bill right now?
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I missed this earlier in the week… but got to it now.
It's a shame the way the story was presented. It devalues and renders the significance of video games as a form of media. Even though the top games draw more money than Hollywood, and yet I saw a live Justin Bieber press conference as a break away on TWO all-news channels from what was going on in Egypt this week. He was announcing an appearance in an upcoming film. Weak, dumb, and misguided are words I use to describe this.
Clearly this is a fluff piece. Yeah, I feel for the kid… but not for the Mom. The kid might not have realized that he cheated and has to deal with the consequences of being a no-good cheater. I don't care that all he wanted was his armor. You can call me callous, but I have no sympathy.
While I do not care about achievements that much myself, and am well aware that some people do… that's not the point. The point is that I am sick of paying good money to be able to sit down and play a game after a long day of working one or two jobs to have to deal with scum-bag HAXOR's and whatnot. My tag is listed as "recreational" for that exact reason.
I won't lose sleep over this kid's plight. While he may have not understood the consequences of his actions, I blame the parent. Even more so, if his autism is part of the issue, his mother's lack of awareness about the realities of online gameplay and communication via headset, forums, etc., is completely her fault. Call me an asshole. This is the parent's fault. If you don't know what your children are doing, it's your responsibility to become aware. If you are ignorant of the accessibility of the mediums your children use, go get an education and don't waste our time with badly presented FOX News media outlets.
This story could have turned out far worse… considering the actual really scary aspect of online gaming related to sexual predators. Parents need to grab a clue and understand that they are essentially leaving their kids alone in a room of strangers unmonitored. That's why I'm offended by this story. I'm glad Microsoft banned the kid's new account too. I hope the Mom chose not to renew this kid's account to keep him safe.
Good post Parker. I needed to get that out of my system.