Call of Duty: Black Ops has the power to bring young people together in a state of mad puppy love. Before you shake that off as B.S., consider the case of Beth Robinson, a 13-year-old girl in Cypress, Texas, near Houston.
She met her 12-year-old boyfriend through the first-person shooter game on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console. She stole her mother’s ATM card and her brother’s car to meet the boy and got as far as Nashville, Tenn. On Thursday morning, Beth’s parents discovered she was gone. Beth was missing for more than 24 hours, and she was discovered hundreds of miles from home.
Word surfaced for authorities when Beth stopped in Hope, Ark., to gas up. She used her card, but it was declined six times. The attempts alerted authorities to where she was and put them on her tail. Finally, an alert state trooper, Dwayne Stanford, pulled her over. She explained that she was trying to find her boyfriend, Dylan. They met while chatting on Xbox Live and carried on a long-distance romance while they played Call of Duty: Black Ops on multiplayer. They communicated with each other through messages and voice-headset. When Beth’s father discovered the messages, he put an end to it. And that evidently prompted Beth’s runaway attempt. Her parents said they were worried sick during the episode.
The Robinsons decided to allow Beth to meet Dylan, and they went to Hodgenville, Ky. But they never found Dylan’s home. Beth won’t face charges.
[Image credit: KHOU]