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Debunking Anti-Game Propaganda

by Dick Ward July 29th 2008 11:30 AM CDT1 Comments

Recently a news station, Local 6 out of Orlando, posted a story on their website that they claimed linked games and pedophilia. In fact, it claims that there are games in which children earn points through sending naked pictures of themselves to adults. The article has been written without evidence or actual fact, merely strung together quotes to prove a point, and is clearly without merit. Regardless, I'm going to go ahead, take it and break down piece by piece.

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"Child predators who are apparently offering "game points" in exchange for nude images through Internet-connected video games have prompted a warning for parents from a cybercrime detective."

The story starts out pretty bad, with a few things that anyone with experience in gaming would find pretty ridiculous. To start with, what game even uses points anymore? And for that matter, what game allows players to give points to other people? My best guess is that they mean something akin to gold in WoW or some other MMO. I’m not familiar with any console games with this sort of feature, but since no specifics are mentioned, the article makes it appear that they’re speaking about all games.

Kids are playing games, and they are being asked to take photos of themselves naked in order to get game points," Florida Attorney General Cybercrime Detective Lt. David Maurer said. "There is not only the chatting version of the games but also a webcam involved.

Maurer re-emphasizes the point, and brings up a new one about ‘chatting versions’ and webcams. It’s again pretty unclear what exactly is meant but we can only assume that he knows about a game where players can see each other on webcams and exchange points while playing. Maybe with an instant messaging program you could pull this off, or by playing a game in a window, but these are still programs separate from the games.

Maurer is warning parents to take precautions when it comes to gaming because most are hooked to the Internet and anyone can be chatting with children during game play.

I don’t think anyone will say differently. A parent’s responsibility is to their child. Keeping their child safe and educating the child are both top priorities, and there are real possible threats online. This is something that’s taken far too lightly by many parents.

"My theory on it is that predators are going to go where kids are, and kids are playing video games so it's a perfect place for them to be," Maurer said.
This isn’t really a theory. Theories are testable and repeatable. This is a hypothesis, and a poorly formed one at that. Still, it’s a legitimate concern, isn’t it? Kids and pedophiles should not be playing Halo together. At any time, there can be up to 300,000 people online playing the most popular Internet-connected games, Local 6's Donald Forbes reported.

It’s a big number, but I’m not sure where it came from. Additionally, it’d deceptive. Anyone not familiar with games will think that three hundred thousand people are playing at the same time together, which just isn’t the case. In even the most heavily populated World of Warcraft servers I’ve never seen more than a few hundred in any one zone, and on the console side, didn’t Sony just make a big 256 simultaneous player announcement? Besides, if you’re in an 8 man group in Halo 3 and one of those people is a pedophile trying to pick up a kid; it’s going to be fairly obvious. What are the chances that 6 other people will just stand by while it happens?

"You think they're just watching a game, and I didn't really know they could actually get through the games and play a lot of people," parent Alida Magana said.

Alida, you should be educated about your son or daughter’s after school activities. Do you just let them go play with anyone they want without knowing who they are? Can they just go join any club or sport they want without you finding out more about it? Irresponsible parenting like yours is part of the reason these pedophile creeps are able to do what they do.

Some of the most popular games are "Halo 3," "Call Of Duty," "Final Fantasy" and "Grand Theft Auto," Forbes reported.

3 of those are rated M. Kids shouldn’t be playing M rated games, that’s why they’re rated M. There’s also a helpful little thing that says 17+ on the box, just in case you can’t figure it out. In other news, Final Fantasy (unless we’re talking about XI) isn’t an online experience. The only fear there is children developing a desire to wear too many belts.

"(We are) worried, scared and more cautious," parent Carol Montalvan said when asked about her sons' gaming. "One of the rules is that he cannot use that unless I am physically home with him; otherwise he cannot use the headset and basically chat either." The Montalvan family has set up the gaming in the living room where everyone can view what is taking place on the screen and parental controls.

No need to worry Carol, you sound like a pretty responsible parent. Keeping your kid off of the headset is a good call, and staying in the room and hearing what he says is a good way to get a feel for what he’s picking up. Plus, allowing him to play offline when you’re not around means that you understand a bit about the difference between online and offline play. Good job staying educated. Making it a family activity is a smart idea too, nicely done.

For more information on safe gaming, visit Netsmartz.org or the The Florida Computer Crime Center.

Netsmartz is the parental education page about internet based stuff like Facebook and AIM. The Florida Computer Crime Center talks mainly about emails, but does have a link to the laws on child pornography. Nice job sending concerned parents to two useless sites. For those actually interested in educating themselves, check out ESRB.org or even better, WhatTheyPlay.com

The fact that articles like this get put up on what is supposed to be a legitimate news source makes me nauseous. Needless to say I’ve contacted the channel and recommend everyone do the same. Not only is this simply a poorly written string of quotes, but it’s glaringly inaccurate and paints a horrible picture of our favored hobby to those who still find it strange and frightening.