Are Sex Offenders Playing Games With Your Kids?

Imagine your teen is playing the latest action-packed videogame and checking his messages when inappropriate comments suddenly pop onto the screen. You don’t know who those other players are or where they live because anyone with Internet access yes, anyone can play, using made-up names, called “gamer tags” or “handles.” Worried your child could be the target of a sex offender?

[TheEternalGamer]

no one cares. parents need to learn how to parent. its not the kids fault or my fault or the video games fault that they get sex offended. its the parents fault. be more accountable for your faults. Stop blaming video games.

[pandehz]

I disagree.

Parents cant control and check everything.

If you give some necessary freedom to your kids and they happen upon crap its not the parents to blame.

The parent can try to make the children understand better but sometimes the content is to blame or the method.

Not saying video games, sex, guns etc etc are bad just that sometimes some things cross the line.

There are some banned games for eg. Though 99.9% of the rest are harmless. I would let my kid play games no problem. The point is the fault lies where it lies, its not fixed.

[ChickeyCantor]

"Parents cant control and check everything. "

Doesn't mean everyone else should take care of your kids. It's the parents responsibility to keep things in check.

"some things cross the line. "

No it's the parents not supervising the content of whatever they are giving to their children. A simple google search will do that for them.

"The point is the fault lies where it lies, its not fixed."

Doesn't change the fact it's your child and it's YOUR responsibility for his/her upbringing.

[S2Killinit]

that is what the rating system is there for. they take these things into consideration. If parents did their job right, their child would not be exposed. Parents can't expect the world to stop for them because they don't want to manage things. At the same time, parents can't monitor everything their child does, which is understandable. However, I think the responsibility should be shared, not just placed on the industry.

[DuneBuggy]

I dont buy my kid mature titles. Her computer isnt in her room. She doesnt play any console games online and the pc games she does, I screen to make sure it has limited chat function or none at all. I have no issue with Eternals opinion .

[mav805]

Of course the parents can't control everything. What they can control is their child's access to potentially harmful activities. Parents need to use some common sense, which is not at all common.

Before they allow a child to play online a parent needs to ask, what is the content like? Who is likely to be playing? How old is their child? What's their maturity level? Do they know how to recognize inappropriate behavior and how to deal with it? Etc etc.

Answering these questions can help determine when a child is mature enough to play a game online, and it's the parents responsibility to find these answers, not the developers, or the publishers, or your local congress representative.

Games aren't a substitute for parenting, I get the impression that many people use them as babysitters.

[pandehz]

@ChickeyCantor

You have taken it out of context.

Its not possible to filter out everything unless you want the child to be at home and in fear and ignorance of everything. In the online situation yes upto a certain age.

A good parent will help the child avoid danger and face danger equally. A good parent will teach the child to choose the battles.
A good parent will instill the ideas of judgement so the kids can decide for themselves.

Now of course upto a certain age the child is taken care of completely but over time the child wants certain freedoms and the parent has to let go. A good parent wont let child go without armor and preparation.

Sometimes the child can get overwhelmed and unable to handle situations. They either get help or depending on their nature they may keep quiet about it and suffer internally. Parents will eventually figure out and may be able to sort things out but the damage is partly done.

If certain things were controlled in society then we feel safe. Why dont we allow murder and rape. Wheres the line for that?
What about sex in public? Good or bad? The parents and children are walking in the park and bam orgy in the park. Is the parent to blame all the time?
Is that ok?

I repeat again, taking good parents in mind we are still human. Of course the parents are responsible but parents can still make some mistakes and thus we depend on other humans and the concept of humanity many many times. It is not math.

In a safe environment bringing up feels safe and freedom is fun. Thus some rules exist to better protect people. Sex offenders are listed and mapped, some privacy maybe lost in the process in some areas. Many cities have cameras everywhere, softwares that can bypass incognito etc etc. Sometimes regardless of all the protection the children still do get affected. For eg I was never assaulted as a kid but I know people who were and their parents were fantastic. The child was just quiet and scared. Sometimes its really just bad luck unfortunately. Some people are bad and some are truly unfortunate victims.

[ChickeyCantor]

"home and in fear and ignorance of everything. "
I said no such thing or insinuated any of that.

"I repeat again, taking good parents in mind we are still human, parents can still make some mistakes and thus we depend on other humans many many times. It is not math.
"

Just because parenting is hard and kids will do whatever they can to slip out and discover things on their own, there is absolute no reason to blame the people who create the content.

There is a reason why there are guidelines ( age restriction and such) created for parents.

No one is saying you should monitor them 24/7. But neither should you pretend it's not your responsibility to shape your kids and make sure you talk with them about the world itself.

[Ripsta7th]

I agree with you. This can be avoided by ignoring such messages, but if the other person wont stop you can report them. I doubt is sex offenders though, its most likely butthurt gamers you just beat in a game. A sex offender might try to go the friendly way instead

[SuperBlur]

What are you on about , nobody in the article is blaming video games for these sex offenders. They give you a really good tip on how to find out if your kids play with these kind of people, read the darn article

[Omnisonne]

You can't always take full responsibility as a parent, especially if your kid is growing up, you can't keep him/her shielded from the world.

As this world is a place with many harmful or offensive things/individuals, even more so on the internet.
The best thing you can do is to inform your kids properly on what to do (assuming you dont let 6 year olds play online games)instead of monitoring them 24/7

As I said, its the world we live in. Idont think its fair to just blame parents for whatever happens to their children, the only one to blame is the jackass on the other side of the screen

[badboyz09]

You risk your life stepping out the front door.

[rextraordinaire]

Hey, even staying inside. ;)

[WeAreLegion]

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

[S2Killinit]

best comment of the month.

[BX81]

What is that from?

[GuruMeditation]

@BX81 the bible /s

[memots]

BX81 + 58m ago
What is that from?

Yikes !!

[cfc78]

Can't imagine Jimmy Savile playing COD to get his kicks before he got his just deserts and became brown bread but these days you just never know the internet is a powerful weapon for predators you just have to be careful in these situations.

[scark92]

Simple Fix. Do not give your kids Mics... please.. pretty please..

[Qrphe]

I don't have kids so no

[PinkEye]

You're better off not having them if you can help it.

[WeAreLegion]

Yes, we are.

[Elda]

There are plenty of sex offenders on Playstation Live.I have seen some disgusting sexual comments whenever there are grown women,girls & boys that are minors just trying to have civil conversations about games & other subjects.I don't understand why they allow this behavior.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

They aren't going to monitor every single room that's going on. Playstation live is connected with twitch, and ustream so ultimately it is up to them to moderate the chat feeds.

[Elda]

It's being done by people using the PS4 device so Playstion Live,Twitch & Ustream look bad for not banning people who do this.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

@elda I agree it does make them look bad, and I'm sure they do ban people if you report them but the danger will always be there once you're on a social platform, no matter which it is. If kids are livestreaming videos, parents should look into what it actually is before allowing kids to do it, they must know that they are being watched and are also involved in chatrooms. Chatrooms have been this way for ages, the manpower to moderate so many will always be a issue so ultimately it's up to the parents if they want their kids to play safely on the web they must teach them.

[PaleMoonDeath]

... O_O

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

Answer: Yes most likely your kids are playing with sex offenders, may not be friends with one but may encounter one in matchmaking statistically speaking. Does it matter? Well real question at hand did you teach your child how to take care of the matter?

[KonsoruMasuta]

I remember when UNO on Xbox360 was a big thing.

The things people would do on camera....*Shivers*

[Duke19]

Now that's a title

[Ch1d0r1]

Most likely they are playing with the unemployed.

[Spotie]

And they will walk past them in real life. Oh no!

Seriously, this stuff can and will happen. There are all sorts of criminals out there, and many of them play games. They're typically not thinking about your kids.

And, hopefully, you've done a good enough job as a parent that your child knows better than to do anything risky.

In the end, life will happen: all you can do is prepare your kids the best you can.

[prodg52]

Best comment.