Online Games = Teh Sex Predatorz!
Smell that? Yup, I thought so: the air is carrying the unmistakable odor of a slow news day, which means that we're overdue for one of those "video games endanger your children" stories on lame-ass affiliate stations.
This time around, the press is "examining" (read: condemning without any real evidence) the world of online gaming via services like Xbox Live and various MMOs. However, it seems like some slightly responsible journalism is going on due to the fact that the story points a) out how gaming communities are doing their best to prevent problems like sexual harassment and b) that services such as Xbox Live have parental controls:
Aaron Greenberg, the group product manager of Xbox Live, says players are able to file complaints online. Thousands are investigated everyday to keep children safe."Every single complaint we follow up with," Greenberg said. "In cases where we find them saying inappropriate things we will ban them from the service. We've banned tens of thousands."
The game console also comes with a parental control feature that allows parents to decide what games they play, who they play with, who they talk to, and who views their gamer profile.
Adam's mother Karen Epstein admits she did not know about that feature. When she opened Adam's on-line account, she handed over the setup to him.
At least no one's claiming a Nintendo DS can be used by pedophiles to start stalking kids this time around.
Online gaming world a forum for sex predators [KOMO-TV]
[via Joystiq]
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Miscellany on 22 February 2007
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: mmo, online gaming, responsible parenting, sexual predator, xbox live
GET TO ZA CHOPPAH! SO I CAN MOLEST YOO!
Sexual harassment? Try plain ordinary harrassment, bullying and stalking which does seem to happen on online games and things like Myspace and IM. Many malicious people try to HURT people online.
Doesn't this seem more than a little bit alarmist? Parents realize they might have to actually talk to their children about serious issues and do some PARENTING! Oh No!
Parents shouldn't be afraid of their children seeing violence on TV, Sex in movies or Dancing in "footloose"... Just talk to them and tell them the straight dope. I would be more afraid of my child becoming a sugary-cereal-Pokemon-commercial-Zombie...
You can teach your child to be smart and respect their own bodies but once they get into the clutches of high-efficiency advertising they're lost.