Canadian gamer calls cops on Texan kid over Xbox Live discussion (school shooting)

[skaar]

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/gamer+alerts+police+prevent+high+school+shooting/2562018/story.html

I like the fact they used an original Xbox pic for the article, but still a neat story.

Edit: Modified topic for subject clarity.

[megasdkirby]

Damn.

Imagine if the kid really had intention to do what he said he would. All because he was failing academically? I don't know, maybe he should have studied harder?

Still, there is always a chance that the kid would not do what he was claiming he would do. But it's best to be safe than sorry, and perhaps the BC man saved some innocent people in the process.

[exit]

Here I was expecting it being over something silly, like him being called a "pwned little asshat" or whatever silly slang these kids use these days, but it's something that was actually logical.

[Baloo]

Here I was expecting it being over something silly, like him being called a "pwned little asshat" or whatever silly slang these kids use these days, but it's something that was actually logical.

I was also expecting something dumb like that as well, but this shows good thinking on the Canadian guy's part.

Goes to show, anything said or done or shown on the internet can be viewed by anyone, and that just because it's only visible to what you may consider a friend or someone trustworthy, doesn't mean it won't be used against you. This is why I don't like putting pictures of myself, info about where I live, etc. etc. on places like Facebook and MySpace. Your name is one thing, what you say and look like are something totally different.

Props to the Canadian guy.

[Streetball 21]

Wow, this is in the same city where I live. I hope this teaches kids that you can't say things like this on Xbox live. You can only hide so much behind a microphone.

[jcalder8]

Wow, this is in the same city where I live. I hope this teaches kids that you can't say things like this on Xbox live. You can only hide so much behind a microphone.
I hope that the kid from the story gets the help that he needs.

[Fuyukaze]

There's no telling if the kid was just talking crap or had actual intent to commit the act but I cant be the only one who sees the irony in this. Some kid talking about shooting someone in the head while playing modern warfare 2 where you go around shooting people? Think failing sucks? Try living with a terrorist record! Kids got a hell of a fun life ahead of him now. Sucks hard to be his best friend now. Sure that's grounds to part ways.

[BetaWolf47]

Anonymity of the internet, hah!

[Icarus Moonsight]

Isn't this a bit too much like Minority Report? Pre-crime Units Scramble... Someone is talking shit on the internets!!! What I think about here is; Why is Dubya still a free man? He talked a bunch of shit and THEN followed through...

If a society can't even punish actual evil well, then tackling rumored evil just looks silly.

[Leo_A]

Isn't this a bit too much like Minority Report? Pre-crime Units Scramble... Someone is talking shit on the internets!!! What I think about here is; Why is Dubya still a free man? He talked a bunch of shit and THEN followed through...

If a society can't even punish actual evil well, then tackling rumored evil just looks silly.

I was wondering who would be the first one to say something negative about this.

Better to possibly have dead schoolkids and staff than use some common sense and play it safe.

And your comparison to former President George W. Bush is pitiful and not even relevant to the topic at hand.

The real evil is suggesting that someone should be quiet in that situation rather than do what they can to prevent such a tragedy from possibly occurring.

[Icarus Moonsight]

And when did I say any of that?

I don't know how/when they picked him up, if they found weapons or plans... It's just that words from one person springs all this action and when a figurehead says kill... Not so much. I'm always for preserving life. I see the contradiction coming in from the other way around.

[skaar]

I saw nothing wrong with the cops knocking on the kid's door based on what he'd said... that's how crime prevention works. The whole thing with the kid getting kicked out of school for making his school into a Counterstrike map... that was fucked up. Hell I did that in Action Quake 2.

[garagesaleking!!]

There is much trash talk that goes on everyday, If people started reporting every incident it could get crazy. In this instance though it seems like a legitimate case. I tell people im gonna rape them and stuff, but never go into depth about something like a school shooting, thats just creepy.

[boatofcar]

I saw nothing wrong with the cops knocking on the kid's door based on what he'd said... that's how crime prevention works.

Exactly. We don't know if the kid is actually going to get any marks on his criminal record, and a few more of these lessons need to be taught, in my opinion.

[SegaAges]

What I don't get is why you would tell another person this over xbl. My educated guess is that he was trying to: a.) talk trash/be a vile punk kid or b.) was trying to get a cry for help.

I wonder how many others give cries for help on xbl.

Don't get me wrong, the Canadian dude did the right thing, but I highly doubt anything would have happened with it. I have heard kids on xbl say retarded vile things just to try and get a rise out of people, and if they don't get a rise, they will go deeper and deeper into it.

Oh well, that punk kid won't be doing that much more, lol

[Icarus Moonsight]

That's pretty much how I see it as well. I know that if I decided to make a bloodbath of a specific location, and was serious about doing it, no one would know until I started firing. Logically, when someone tells others there are three possibilities (listed least likely to most);

1) They are serious, and completely insane/detached from reality or just stone evil.
2) Manipulative, Aggro-Emo "Help Me" signal. Using the psychological residue of Columbine to draw focus on themselves. Even if only for external validation of their existence. Not completely mental, but tettering on the edge.
3) Anonymity + Internet = Douchebaggery -- Just an ass, being an ass. For it's own sake.

[Gameguy]

1) They are serious, and completely insane/detached from reality or just stone evil.
2) Manipulative, Aggro-Emo "Help Me" signal. Using the psychological residue of Columbine to draw focus on themselves. Even if only for external validation of their existence. Not completely mental, but tettering on the edge.
3) Anonymity + Internet = Douchebaggery -- Just an ass, being an ass. For it's own sake.
There's nothing wrong with calling the cops for any of those reasons. Even if he's just an ass, the worst that would happen is he has to deal with talking to the police. Maybe he won't be so much of an ass after that.

This thread reminded me of Penny Arcade.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4201/217507391pjejml2.jpg