Your parents went easy on your brother. Theft is not to be taken lightly.

Damn... my high school never allowed technology during school hours, even cell phones.

I'm getting too old

you seem like a nice sister though

yey another flip gamer here!!!!

Wow your lucky your bro isn't worse! Mine can play that the stupid game from the time he gets home from school till 3 am. Its very very bad...

Blame PewdiePie and Tobuscus. They are the reason the game got out of hand! =P

Not even necessarily a gaming problem actually.  I think you can switch it to any products that are current and hip with kids or something alot of them are really into.  That's just how kids are.  Well some kids anyway.

I suppose it probably gets worse with phone games and handheld games now.  The phones themselves go in and out and the games go in and out.  Minecraft is sticking around for awhile though.  It always reminds me of Hello Kitty.  it's blank, vapid expresion and blandness becomes as much as you put into it.

It's not a fad? Ok, so it will be around forever? In my lifetime I have seen countless fads like this. Minecraft is nothing exceptional in comparison. Millions of players? Ok, but those numbers are not forever. Just like COD, or even Mario, it will be looked back on someday as a fad. As a matter of fact, your understanding of minecraft fits into the definition of Fad exactly. What is up for interpretation is the deifnition of "short-lived". In tghe gaming world, it might seem like it's a long time, but in reality, it is short lived in the grand scheme of entertainment.

Generalization? You are literally implying that minecraft is evil and has a horrible effect on "children". All children. You are behaving like as if it is just minecraft and nothing else in the world is this addictive. It's not like he is taking drugs. It is normal for a little kid to take things thast are not theirs at some point. He is a normal kid with a fascination for something. Big woop. You are the victim, but blaming minecraft is illogical. Miecraft also has good properties and influences. It's just a large scale virtual lego game. It might remain in existence for years, but it will not remain this popular, thus it's a fad. Learn to see more than blind rage when your toys are damaged. It clouds judgement.

Minecraft will some day be on a list like this one. (or maybe it won't even make it as there is a whole world out there outside of video games)

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/01/16/37-fads-that-swept-the-nation/

Aren't ipads like $400-$500. I can't imagine letting children bring something so expensive to school. If this is true, people are going to stop abducting kids from school and just go for their electronics. Would be easier and more profitable.

minecraft isnt an awesome game. that being said everyone should own a copy because it fills in game droughts when youre bored!

Bolded: Incorrect.

If children are not being exposed to other interactive entertainment, it is not because Minecraft is 'the most overplayed game of all time'. (a claim that needs qualifying at any rate.) If you want to blame something for children not being exposed to other interactive entertainment, you need look no further than those who are guilty of not exposing them to those other forms of interactive entertainment. You can't blame the children, and you definitely can't blame Minecraft.

Minecraft may be huge, but so is Pokemon. So is football. So is card trading. And yes, Minecraft is a fad. It is insanely popular at the moment, but it will settle down, and will probably be popular with kids in some form or other for generations to come. Just like Mario. Just like Lego. Just like MLP.

Your story is just a typical schoolkid story that happens in playgrounds the world over. It's kids learning social situations, and this is a common one many kids learn the hard way. Sad, but true. It just happens that Minecraft was at the centre of this variation, and it was your Vita that suffered as a result.

But to state that the 'effect Minecraft has on children' is responsible for the problem with your Vita is, I'm afraid, a generalisation, and, I have to agree with the other poster, ridiculous.

If you are prepared to blame Minecraft for your kid brother stealing your Vita, you're basically saying it's not his fault he stole something, and you are sending him the wrong message. Stealing is wrong, no matter what the reason. Not only that, by stealing your Vita and taking it into school, your brother left himself wide open and gave that bully something to punish him with. I hope he has learned that lesson the hard way.

As for the bully, it's great that he confessed, but his parents and the school teachers should have been told. You've probably let that one go too cold, now. You might have got compensation, and the bully might have got whatever punishment he deserved.