• the217
• Blogs
• Another Castle
• Beware of internet predators bearing “points”

• RSS

Beware of internet predators bearing “points”

posted by nikki at 10:21 am.

• Bookmark & Share
• Comments (2)

So yesterday I happened across a story on local6.com (which I later saw was also linked on one of my favorite gaming blogs, Kotaku) that made me cringe. Not because of the allegations made by the story, but because of what an utterly craptastic piece of “journalism” is was. What made it even worse was the follow-up, also posted by Kotaku.

Let’s look at this, shall we?

The headline of the piece: “Predators Could Target Children During Online Games, Cybercrime Officer Warns”

The sub-headline: “Maurer: Kids Being Asked To Take Photos Of Themselves Naked”

The first freaking sentance: 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 second freaking sentence, which is actually a quote from the guy upon whom this “article” is based: “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.”

What aggravates me about this is not so much the implication that there are sexual predators loose in online games (there are… and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves), but rather the overall vagueness and inaccuracies in the article itself.

First of all, I would very much like to know what games the guy has been playing to come to this conclusion. I haven’t played a game that uses a points-based system in years… and to my knowledge, there isn’t a game out there that lets you give away experience points. In-game cash, yes… Items, yes… but not points of any kind. All this statement proves to me is that Florida Attorney General Cybercrime Detective Lt. David Maurer doesn’t have the faintest idea what the hell he’s on about.

I also have an issue with his list of “the most popular games”, which includes Halo 3, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, and Grand Theft Auto. Halo 3, while certainly popular, and still widely played, is hardly the most current of games. The rest are not so much games as they are franchises… unless of course, he was actually implying that 1987’s Final Fantasy is one of today’s most popular online games… with the exception for FF11, the Final Fantasy series doesn’t even offer online play. Nor does any Grand Theft Auto title prior to IV, and none of the games he mentions use these “points” that predators are supposedly offering. And seriously… no WoW?

I would also point out that two of his four most popular games are M-rated (three if “Call of Duty” refers to CoD4) and targeted specifically at older gamers… not kids. But that’s another rant altogether.

To make matters worse, according to Kotaku, the “journalist”, when contacted, responded with “I believe he was referring to some of the fantasy games where players go on quests to be awarded points and different levels. I personally am not a “gamer” so I have not encountered such a problem. But feel free to call the cybercrimes unit of the state attorney’s office in Tallahassee and I’m sure they could fill you in.”

Apparently the news media is no longer required to do research or even know what they’re talking about before resorting to scare-mongering (but then, that’s been the case for years…). Half the danger of children being online is due to parents being so woefully uninformed (primarily because they listen to crap stories like this).

Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.