Gaming | January 01, 2010 | 28 comments

Teen found after meeting his 42-year-old World of Warcraft 'soulmate'

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TravG73
On Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Andrew Kane nonchalantly asked his mother and father if they would drive him from their Barrie, Ont., home to a hotel in nearby Midland, where he planned to meet a 42-year-old woman with whom he had been having a secret relationship over the Internet.

His stunned parents refused and the teen calmly returned to the computer, telling them he would let the woman know he wasn't coming. At 2 a.m., Marlene Kane heard her front door open, and found her son gone, leaving behind a troubling trail of web chats that led to Houston, Tex., and the World of Warcraft.

The Grade 11 student was found Thursday afternoon, after his parents spent two days desperately appealing for his safe return. On Wednesday, police had released pictures of Lauri Price, a Texas mother of four who had allegedly flown to Toronto and driven a rental car to collect the teen after striking up a relationship with him while playing the popular online game.

“All they had to do was read the chat logs and they were immediately concerned,” Ms. Kane said of her son's relationship with the woman. “He said she was his soulmate.”

Sergeant Robert Allan of the Barrie police said the couple was found Thursday afternoon at a Future Shop in Orillia after a tip from the public. The teenager had told Ms. Price he was 20 – the age of consent in Canada is 16 – and police said she will not face criminal charges.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/teen-found-after-meeting-his-42-yea...
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28 comments // Teen found after meeting his 42-year-old World of Warcraft 'soulmate'

  • kelli_DOA
  • Giganticus
  • Caine
    • 0
      Caine  
    • I've lost so many friends to that game. I'm glad this boy was found before it was too late. I'm looking forward to the book.

    • 2 years ago
  • danitassin
  • Michael_Signorelli
  • jac1992
    • 0
      jac1992  
    • Right. New clothes $75. Travel costs $50. Look on the parents faces when they finally realise their son might not die a virgin. Priceless

    • 2 years ago
  • Agent_Alpha
  • Coolie20
  • SamuraiDave
  • fernweher
  • sraevoz
    • 0
      sraevoz  
    • Oh man! As if WarCrack doesn't already have a bad wrap. They both look like allies to me, I'm guessing she was a sexy nelf and he was a hair-lipped human. Woo! Anyway stay away from strangers kids, or this might be you with the 42 yr old... unless that's what you're in to.

    • 2 years ago
  • gbboone
  • lancelot873
    • 0
      lancelot873  
    • this is sad, but with a happy ending...kind of. it's sad because games such as World of Warcraft and all the likes are having such a huge (negative in a way) impact on society. i hear about divorces, murders, breakups..because of games like this. happy ending because they found the boy. i don't want to know the details of how things went down when everyone was standing there admitting to the fact that they actually felt that way.

      what happened to the good old days of meeting up with people through friends, down the street, in a bus stop, in a coffee shop, in a mall? the list is endless! people must get out more!

    • 2 years ago
  • SamuraiDave
  • Agent_Alpha
  • resolute
    • 0
      resolute  
    • um, one has red hair and the other has brown hair...one wears glasses, the other does not...one is a woman, the other is a man....have you ever played the board game "Guess Who?"

    • 2 years ago
  • Silverhawk
    • 0
      Silverhawk  
    • How do you find your soulmate playing a game? Is it something about that game specifically, or is it just me that has a problem connecting to someone in an intimate way over the internet? How common is it really for people to "fall in love" via the internet?

    • 2 years ago
  • SamuraiDave
  • randallr01
    • 0
      randallr01  
    • Silverhawk:

      As an avid warcraft player, I can say that some pretty strong friendships are made on that game. It's more than just playing nintendo; there's a reason it's called "world of."

      Aside from private chats, semi-public chats, and open chats, players often communicate with push-to-talk microphones to one another on the game. Love infatuations are very sustainable with voice and text... and the feeling that you are actually in the other person's presence when your characters are hanging out together.

      And then there's trading cell phone numbers and facebooks... Ah, teh internets!!

    • 2 years ago
  • Mark701
    • 0
      Mark701  
    • Silverhawk:

      Personally I think it's lame. However, for some people an MMO IS their life and substitutes for meeting people face to face. I've played MMOs ever since they existed and never felt the need to go further than a casual acquaintance with anyone I "met".

    • 2 years ago
  • randallr01
  • eskimoe
    • 0
      eskimoe  
    • The woman did nothing wrong. She thought he was twenty. That just makes her a big cougar. I'm sure he didn't tell her anything about parents. He just wanted to get some probably. I'm confused with the picture above. They look like the same person! Are they?!

    • 2 years ago
  • capetan_omalley
  • tomofnorthcal
  • fernweher
  • mel2
    • 0
      mel2  
    • The guy is fucking 16, let him do what he wants. Judging by how smothering his parents acted, no wonder he's so nerdy

    • 2 years ago
  • mojojuju
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