Virtual games, real addiction - Globe and Mail

[I Heart Gambling Online]

Angelika Crisp would wake in the middle of the night to hear her son, Brandon, speaking into his headset as he feverishly played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a popular online video game.

She and her husband, Steve, are sure Brandon had become addicted to the game and link its appeal to the 15-year-old's disappearance from their Barrie, Ont., home on Oct. 13. "He is obsessed with Call of Duty - it has been a constant battle for the last two years," she told The Globe and Mail this week. Last night, investigators ramped up their national search for the youth and considered the possibility he is trying to survive in the wilderness.

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