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ooooh no... ¬_¬ *holds up sarcasm sign*
14 years ago
General
okay, let me just throw this out there... one of my best and oldest friends i've ever had, he has autism, aspergers, depression, anxiety disorder, ADHD and i don't see him spending every free hour of the day in front of a computer screen.
honestly there's more to life than video games
1) Microsoft explained that they label someone as "cheater" and remove the offender's achievements when the player uses external means to gain achievements without relying on gameplay. There was nothing presented in this news story to either prove this claim OR to refute it. No one said, "That's wrong--he didn't use external means," meaning it's possible that he could've done just that AND they know about it.
2) Autistic people can and do carry on social lives. You can't just hide behind an illness and claim "he can't make friends," because he can still try and be encouraged to try. I know, because I work with the autistic and see challenges like this every day. It could be FAR worse for him, as I've worked with autistic individuals who are so low-functioning that they can't speak or toilet themselves, and are essentially vegetables. Autism, as most if not all mental illnesses, works on a gradient based on the severity and number of symptoms. It's not just a binary setting where you either have it or you don't. You could have a very mild case of it, or even just a couple of symptoms on such a light level that it's not considered to be an illness at all. I've known of autistic/Aspberger's individuals who are so HIGH-functioning that they earn doctoral degrees, excel in their careers, and lead what one might consider "normal" (for lack of a better term) lives. The mother is very much in the wrong here for encouraging (either actively or passively) her son to continue to engage in video games and never make the attempt to socialize. She herself seems like a quitter, and that's no fit attitude with which to raise ANY child, illness or not.
3) The mother's explanation of dealing with XBox Live customer service is hardly surprising if you have any understanding of how phone-based customer service works. Most corporations outsource to call centers, and not just ones outside the USA--I know, because I used to work in one in Colorado. These customer service reps are very blind, being a third party, and only have very limited knowledge provided by the corporation they represent on a need-to-know basis. Essentially, it was a worthless bit of info meant to make Microsoft look to be some incompetent, cold, cruel, faceless corporation, which seems to be the overall slant to this story in the first place.
2) i have aspberger's myself, a very mild case and it has taken my whole life to get to where i am now socially and am still working on bettering myself, so i can understand the struggles this condition brings. However, i've always tried making friends and never saw video games as my only outlet in life. i feel sorry for the kid that his mom doesn't try and push him to make friends
3) hehe, well what would you expect from dumb "fux" news?