Consoles are "playground" for predators

By Robert Purchese Published 3 February, 2010

Newspaper warns of the potential dangers.

South Florida news outlet SunSentinel believes online gaming on PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 has become "a sexual predator's playground".

The website blamed "interactive games" that allow "kids" to talk to people from around the world.

The problem is that adults often pretend to be kids! And they are "luring children through headsets and private messages" like evil magicians!

SunSentinel heard from Erica McWhorter, a woman (of unspecified age) who was sent private messages by one "Romantic Devil" on Xbox Live.

"It was very scary. He said, 'Are you [a] girl? How old are you? Do you have a web cam?'" He then asked if she wanted to see his "private parts".

She must have said no because she quickly reported him to Microsoft and contact between the pair was blocked. "But it made McWhorter realize [sic] just how dangerous XBOX could be for a child," the SunSentinel added. pair.

Jefferson County investigator Mike Harris knows what's going on. "Sex offenders will go anywhere kids go," he reasoned.

"Children don't always tell their parents because their afraid they will take the game away instead of trying to solve the problem."

The SunSentinel encouraged parents to report any "suspicious" conduct to local law enforcement. "That's because there are ways to track down criminals through cyberspace," the report ended.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (102) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • patch #1 2 years ago

    They have the Daily Mail in other countries?

  • BabyJesus #2 2 years ago

    I can't be the only one that expected it to be a daily fail story.

    Also NONCESENSE

  • BritishBlue1 #3 2 years ago

    Oh god, not this again.

  • jonsaan #4 2 years ago

    This is what party chat was invented for. Even though I think this article is a load of reactionary tosh.

  • stephenb #5 2 years ago

    South Florida wha? Slow news day?

  • RandolphScott #6 2 years ago

    This is high quality journalism. SunSentinel can't even spell "they're"

  • abelardie #7 2 years ago

    Does my keyboard smell like........hammers?

  • DoctorZoidberg #8 2 years ago

    Dammit, now I'm going to have to find somewhere else to do my grooming...

    Seriously though, what a ridiculous thing, you can't even see or know anything about people except their voice...

  • Mkwone #9 2 years ago

    It's a legitimate concern but as the article says there's dodgy people everywhere from facebook and chat rooms to people who hang around schools.

  • insin #10 2 years ago

    Those boosters you thought you saw in MW2? They were really roboplegic wrongcocks performing a pipe to pipe bushman while touching children through the screen.

  • kinky_mong #11 2 years ago

    Paedophiles have more in common with giant enemy crabs than people.


    ...just make sure your child knows where to attack for massive damage and they'll be safe from the funny eyed guy.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 10:17

  • DrDamn #12 2 years ago

    They'd be doing well to manage this on the Wii. I have trouble enough chatting/communicating with people I want to let along people I don't. Didn't some other article claim predators were roaming the motorways trying to PicChat to your kids on NDS's a while back too?

  • andywilkie35 #13 2 years ago

    Apparently these sexual predators have a method whereby they release these fumes that come through your xbox and out of your pad, which makes you more suggestible. When I was playing last night I was definitely more suggestible!

    Also they're planning on using Natal. Apparently Pee-Dough Studios are developing a game whereby you're encouraged to press your face up against the telly, and they wear special gloves so they can grope your face.

  • MyPointIs #14 2 years ago

    I am a 14 year old girl. I'm looking for new friends. Would any of you please help me?

  • TeaFiend #15 2 years ago

    I saw a documentary a while back. Something about one of them dressing up as a school? Scary world.

  • Stompy #16 2 years ago

    The real problem here is LANGUAGE.
    Deaf, mute, blind children would not be groomable.

    And to stop them being touched, genetically improving them with electric eel abilities would be a great leap forward.

  • optimusprym8 #17 2 years ago

    yes and according to The Metro today, internet addiction is like a drug in that it calms and soothes users. I guess the study never stumbled into a forum fanboy flame war

  • Bealsy #18 2 years ago

    NOT THE EVIL MAGICIANS!!!

    Fucking tabloid wanky fuckfest "GAMES KILLED MY DISABLED DOG!!" bullshit.

  • spidermanalf #19 2 years ago

    Thats a lot of hassle, I prefer to just snatch kids off the street!

  • IneptPercy #20 2 years ago

    Yes they are out there etc, but I am more worried about the social deprivation all this 'protecting' the children is doing. Due to the media trying to scare parents kids aren't allowed to do anything these days.

  • Bealsy #21 2 years ago

    ^ ^ ^ ^

    Spiderman loves kids, and is called Alf. I learn so much from this website.

  • gaselite #22 2 years ago

    The problem is that adults often pretend to be kids! And they are "luring children through headsets and private messages" like evil magicians!

    this is disappointingly flippant treatment of a potentially very serious issue.

    poor reportage (from the likes of SunSentinel and sites like this one) don't really help matters. they make the scepticism on display here slightly understandable

    but until it can proven one way or another that these things don't happen, then it should be treated with the utmost seriousness, and maybe people will think twice about the hyper-defensive bullshit in comments sections like this one (trust me, the biggest threats to the medium come from within the industry rather than sensationalist nonsense that you read about).

  • asharkman #23 2 years ago

    Yea the jokes are funny but seriously if the parents spent even half an hour with their kids while they played games this sorta stuff would be stamped out.
    instead they just treat the xbox or whatever as a free babysitter.

  • Retro_ #24 2 years ago

    Whatever next....I know ...... Playgrounds are "Playground" for predators
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 10:49

  • Paulie_P #25 2 years ago

    22 comments in and 2 comments from MKwone and Gaslite are the only people to make a sensible comment on this article.

  • Zomoniac #26 2 years ago

    but until it can proven one way or another that these things don't happen, then it should be treated with the utmost seriousness, and maybe people will think twice about the hyper-defensive bullshit in comments sections like this one

    There are over 20 million people on Xbox Live, and because we have one reported incident of a weirdo you think we should start panicking? You probably have more chance of being put in danger of sexual abuse by a teacher. So let's not send kids to school anymore! The flippant remarks are quite reasonable.

  • anathema #27 2 years ago

    Playing BC2 the other day I thought I saw a paeodphile trying to perform an overhead perversion in the helicopter but then he crashed, screaming like a pig in a war. Noob.

  • Freek #28 2 years ago

    It's something that is already treated seriously by all online enabled console developers. Perhaps most seriously by the most kid friendly company: Nintendo. Going so far to cripple their entire online service (friend codes).
    It doesn't in any way exuse journalism this offensively bad.

  • Dylbot #29 2 years ago

    In a related story, food is fuel for sexual predators!

  • GamesConnoisseur #30 2 years ago

    How would those predators know who is a groomable kids behind the gamertag and not a policeman off duty?!

    Would think console online gaming not to be as attractive as social websites which attracts a lot of young people and in any events those people need to be locked up for the good of the society.

  • Golgo #31 2 years ago

    I was playing LBP the other night and some sackgirls asked me how old I was, my name and sex. They were 10 and 8.
    Me: 37 yr old male. Got out of there quick smart. Didn't want them grooming me up for their nefarious schemes, the filthy pair.

  • UltimateDave_80 #32 2 years ago

    I can see why XboxLive would be an attractive playground for perverts.... particularly if your perversion is having homophobic and racist insults hurled at you by 12 year olds.

    People won't even let you discuss tactics with your friend without screaming abuse at you so I doubt you'd get very far trying to groom anyone!

  • Bealsy #33 2 years ago

    @ Paulie_p

    Maybe the comments are because the article is a worthless piece of throwaway journalistic shit? Anything that involves kids can be seen as a "playground for predators".

    How many kids games actually have online connectivity and chat?

    And if these "kids" are playing adult games (and you can guarantee nearly every COD:MW2 game will have a kid under 15 screaming obscenities down his headset) well that's the parents fault.

    Nobody on here is opposed to stopping these perverted cunts, but it's a stupid article damaging the credibility of the serious undertones.

  • Gecks #34 2 years ago

    aliens vs sexual predators

  • Fab4 #35 2 years ago

    Probably in more danger attending a Roman Catholic church.

  • Murton #36 2 years ago

    I'd have thought that with all the Secret Agents reportedly using Xbox LIVE in order to locate potential recruits paedophiles would have a hell of a problem attempting anything like this. /joke

    This really is typical media scaremongering at its finest. This is the first reported encounter of this kind that many of us have heard of and while it's certainly a bad thing, it's not as if paedophiles have organised themselves to actively use LIVE to groom potential victims as the report seems to suggest.

  • patch #37 2 years ago

    The link in the story goes to a news site where the top story is Cops: 2-year-old taken by nun reunited with parents. On the basis they've extrapolated a single case to mean that XBOX live, Play Station 3 and even Wii have become a sexual predator's playground surely we should ban all nuns worldwide in case they abduct all our 2 year olds!

  • Zidargh #38 2 years ago

    So THEYRE the ones who are always 'AFK' in online games. Too busy trying to type and edit messages with the D-Pad.

  • telboy007 #39 2 years ago

    Fab4's comment should be +100000000000000 by now. Well said, well said.

  • Beek4257 #40 2 years ago

    Alien vs. sexual Predator.

    I'd buy that for a dollar!

  • Paulie_P #41 2 years ago

    @Bealsy

    Yeah the initial article might've been bad journalism but it might have a point despite it's poor execution.

    Some of the comments on this page are very poor fanboy reactions jumping to defend their hobby. To me, those comments are just as bad if not worse than the article.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 11:42

  • StooMonster #42 2 years ago

    As BabyJesus reminds us, they are simply "talking Nonce Sense".

    Chris Morris: genius.

    Back to my cake.

  • Bealsy #43 2 years ago

    "Their" not "they're".

  • seanthejackal #44 2 years ago

    @MyPointIs Yeah baby i'll help you :D.........HELP YOU DIE!!!!!

  • Emmit_Assassin #45 2 years ago

    @gaselite

    ""The problem is that adults often pretend to be kids! And they are "luring children through headsets and private messages" like evil magicians!

    this is disappointingly flippant treatment of a potentially very serious issue.

    poor reportage (from the likes of SunSentinel and sites like this one) don't really help matters. they make the scepticism on display here slightly understandable

    but until it can proven one way or another that these things don't happen, then it should be treated with the utmost seriousness, and maybe people will think twice about the hyper-defensive bullshit in comments sections like this one (trust me, the biggest threats to the medium come from within the industry rather than sensationalist nonsense that you read about).""

    Its people like you that give gaming a bad name.
    The reason everyone is so flippant is because stories like this are bullshit. It is a problem, but one that is so easily remedied one if you realise that there are 101 ways in which NOT to be pulled in by these idiot online predators.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 11:31

  • laharl80 #46 2 years ago

    I think statistics would prove that children are at greater risk from members of their family than people they meet while playing online.

  • Waffleaber #47 2 years ago

    "Probably in more danger attending a Roman Catholic church."

    Don't think this is as unrelated as it may seem. It's a trust issue on both parts.

    Parents leave their kids with strangers trusting the companies responsible for the service to keep them away from trouble. A few horror stories for both institutions from an incredibly small minority breaks this trust. Of course a bit more responsibility from parents explaining the dangers to their children and this is avoided.

  • President_Weasel #48 2 years ago

    the Xbox 360 has a robust suite of parental controls.
    If only this story and others like it, together with the "oh noes, 18-rated games have 18-rated content!!!111eleven" stories, make parents pay attention to what their kids are doing and learn how to use rating systems.
    Sadly they won't

  • StooMonster #49 2 years ago

    Emmit_Assassin: but until it can proven one way or another that these things don't happen

    The burden of proof does not lie on the sceptic, e.g. see Russell's Celestial Teapot, they have to prove these things happen.

    Similarly it's like the focus on 'Stranger Danger', whereas almost all child abuse / murders happens in the home and stranger abduction/murder is extremely rare -- IIRC been about 11 per year in the UK since 1950s and figure has not grown, but media fuelled paedogeddon has grown exponentially. It's a serious subject, but media bollocks like this help no-one and fuels the "Who will think of the Children!" mob.

  • lordofthedunce #50 2 years ago

    Hi kids

  • RedSparrows #51 2 years ago

    '@Bealsy

    Yeah the initial article might've been bad journalism but it might have a point despite it's poor execution.

    Some of the comments on this page are very poor fanboy reactions jumping to defend their hobby. To me, those comments are just as bad if not worse than the article.'

    No, most reactions are from people who KNOW this might be an issue and don't think it's a good thing, and KNOW that, like most things in life, reporting on them in stupid ways is neither helpful nor informative.

  • kwarive #52 2 years ago

    My sister and every parent she knows don't let their kids play on the street anymore because of the supposed gangs of paedophiles driving up and down in vans ready to snatch the kids away like the childcatcher in 'chitty chitty bang bang.'

    My god - 'chitty chitty bang bang' what sick paedophile thought that suggestive name up? Someone call in the air force. Nuke the suburbs from orbit, its the only way to be sure.

  • aldo_14 #53 2 years ago

    Is it just me, or is the term 'cyberspace' normally a dead giveaway that it's written by an idiot?

  • TeaFiend #54 2 years ago

    The problem is getting so bad we should rename the British Isles the Paedo-Isles.

  • metalmike25 #55 2 years ago

    XBox Live put me off kids

  • PoundHound #56 2 years ago

    Erica McWhorter! A name destined for future use in the next Austin Powers film, surely. Or, they could make her the lead character for that game Punch De Conte.

  • el_pollo_diablo #57 2 years ago

    I like the AvP ad on this page!

  • MrE26 #58 2 years ago

    So when i get a barrage of 'go fuck your mother/self/dog' etc. messages, i'm actually being groomed?! Oh noes!

    Ban this sick filth!

  • onezeonx #59 2 years ago

    I was groomed online....sadly I asked for it :(

    :p

  • Sunyavadin #60 2 years ago

    HOECS games strike again!
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 12:47

  • TheNinkyNonk #61 2 years ago

    In other news it has been widely reported that a 2000 year old book is being used to indoctrinate children from birth to believe in someone that may or may not exist and that no-one has actually seen. Many of these children have gone on to travel thousands of miles to murder complete strangers.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 12:50

  • bratmandu #62 2 years ago

    Playgrounds are "playgrounds" for predators.

    People can't touch you over the net, and if you don't like someone contacting you: mute em, block em, report em. Rather than dismissing game consoles outright, maybe we could educate kids (or parents) in how to use the console's built in options to block contact with weirdos?

  • gjgjg #63 2 years ago

    wont someones PLEASE think of the damn childern

  • bratmandu #64 2 years ago

    Some games make your child smell like hammers.

  • SBfistfun #65 2 years ago

    This is one of the funniest comments threads ive read in ages.

  • laharl80 #66 2 years ago

    I doubt a real child molester would say "do you want to see my private parts".
    A friend of mine was playing burnout online on PS3 a while ago and one of those rage cam things popped up and it was a naked man shaking his fist.Maybe it was the same man.

  • Cadence #67 2 years ago

    BAN THIS SICK FILTH!

  • telboy007 #68 2 years ago

    It's a shame we never hear of that American lawyer / idiot / ban games / what was his name again? He made me laugh so much...

  • laharl80 #69 2 years ago

    @telboy007
    He's too busy showing people on xbox live his private parts.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 13:14

  • vyseofhr #70 2 years ago

    Paedophiles drive cars! Ban them!
    Paedophiles drink in pubs! Ban them!
    Paeodophiles watch football! Ban it!
    Paedophiles have workplaces! Ban them!

    MY GOD YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT JUST BY BEING ALIVE

  • ckyman2 #71 2 years ago

    I don't have much to say about this "look at the screen for an hour then taker a break, cause you will go blind" or "playing violent video games will turn you in to an axe murderer" article. But wouldn't age validation systems on games make this problem faze out, as for one I am sick of playing MW2 with primary school children. With the constant shouting, singing and fart jokes, if only there was a mute all button. Anyway, my point is get most of children off the games there NOT meant to be playing for a start. We don't come on for a game of Mario Kart and start complaining about the weather or how were gonna pay the gas bill, errr actually just ban kids from games all together, it would just get rid of lots of problems it seems as well as the sickos, THE END :S

  • teabagger #72 2 years ago

    Sensationalism aside, the underlying point is actually a fair one and worth discussion, though as pointed out isn't unique to games. To discount the issue in its entirety isn't really a sensible response. If it leads to greater awareness among children of the dangers of giving out personal information though any communication medium then that has to be a positive thing.

    ...reading some more comment, I don't think anyone other than a few serious crackpots are calling for a ban on anything. Some of the reactions on here are as bad as, or worse than, the article itself. Seriously guys, someone pointing out the potential dangers of handing out personal info over the net isn't a personal attack on your (gaming) lifestyle.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 13:27

  • Mooglepies #73 2 years ago

    The investigators, as usual are being sensible. The media and the politicians will continue to play their games and make the issue worse.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #74 2 years ago

    Help, we are surrounded by the predators. More scaremongering.

    Any communcation service has this problem. Live and 360 has parental settings to use, voice chat can be switched off and people reported if they get out of hand, the latter without which this newspaper would not have a story.

    Notice there's also no word from MS on this added to the piece. You'd think they would have run it by MS, but this news obviously sounds more tragic without their input.

    Move along, no dangly bits to see here.

  • Vlad27145 #75 2 years ago

    "XBox Live put me off kids"

    FTW!

  • Artemus #76 2 years ago

    Sounds like the average chat on PS Home.

  • Zidargh #77 2 years ago

    There is one positive to pull out of this - there is every chance a paedophile will be unknowingly grooming another paedophile.

    XD

  • FogHeart #78 2 years ago

    ^^hehe.

    "Come and play with us paedophile. Come and play with us...for ever..."

    (!)

    "...and ever...."

    (!!)

    "and ever......."

    (aaaaaaaaahhhh!!)

    Idea: fingerprint reader peripheral. When you buy it you register the members of your family and specify their age. After that, a game will only start if the peripheral scans a family member of appropriate age.

    Is fingerprint reader tech still expensive? They've been on laptops for years now.

    Edit: I suppose Natal could do this with face recognition?
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 14:16

  • asharkman #79 2 years ago

    There is one positive to pull out of this - there is every chance a paedophile will be unknowingly grooming another paedophile.

    That's bril,
    "show you mine if you show me yours"
    "ah good jesus! what sort of an 8year old are you!"

  • mcwildcard #80 2 years ago

    Rumours that there will be a downloadable Gary Gitter skin for AvP are as yet unconfirmed...

  • dacicus #81 2 years ago

    Wasn't this, initially, on Kotaku? And it was a TV report?

    hxxp://kotaku.com/5462202/attack-of-the-sex box-and-it-came-from-your-console

    It was and it's yesterday's news. Lovely.I take it that the paper got the article after watching the news report.And that's journalism for you.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 14:41

  • afghan_jones #82 2 years ago

    if you were gonna try and peado some kids up, why would you go after the nerdy probably overweight videogame crowd? Surely youd want the sexy fit kids off the football or netball teams or summat

  • actionfitz #83 2 years ago

    ""It was very scary. He said, 'Are you [a] girl? How old are you? Do you have a web cam?'" He then asked if she wanted to see his "private parts"."

    Oh shit! I've been Rumbled!
    ah well. there's always Hello Kitty online...
    (joking).

  • Shrike #84 2 years ago

    If anyone hasn't seen the video:

    [link url=http://www.kdvr.com/vid eobeta/watch/?watch=8dd7f487-7d6e-457b-82db-a95e5673e301&src =front
    ]http://ww w.kdvr.com/videobeta/watch/?wat...[/link]

    It's absolutely full of win. Poor choice of words award 2010 goes to Investigator Mike Harris for "I am seeing a rash of males having to show their... genitalia ...to kids online."

  • alcides #85 2 years ago

    I had no idea people still said "cyberspace".

    So 90s.

  • FogHeart #86 2 years ago

    What's cyberspace? I'm still on the Information Superhighway here.

  • organica #87 2 years ago

    +1 to everyone making a Brass Eye reference.

    +10 if you actually change your X-Box Gamertag to Buntyman1 or DuskyBlondeLulu.

  • anathema #88 2 years ago

    @organica its just another form of racism!

    In all seriousness, there are perfectly good parental controls to stop this hypothetical situation occurring. My mate's kid has a child account, with limited gaming time allowed and the chat set so that he can only talk to people on his (approved) Friends list. Bit difficult to groom anyone if parents took the time to actually use the in-built protection.

  • RobTheBuilder #89 2 years ago

    Good idea, lets hunt down the consoles and publishers and ignore the fact that our society has disgusting people like this.

    Easy target. Very Daily Fail.

  • MrE26 #90 2 years ago

    I'm amazed pedo's could manage to groom anyone over the sound of loud American teenagers questioning their parentage.

  • 8bitMofo #91 2 years ago

    I remember the good old days of a bloke in a car with a bag of sweets.

    Now they tempt us with MSP.

  • ongjg #92 2 years ago

    I let my kid on Halo 3 online and now he wont stop teabagging the family dog!
    AVERT YOUR EYES KIDS!

  • Stiggy #93 2 years ago

    "There is one positive to pull out of this - there is every chance a paedophile will be unknowingly grooming another paedophile".

    Is that like crossing the streams? Christ, the dirty buggers could kill us all.

  • smelly #94 2 years ago

    Newspaper in unresearched pile of crap newstory shocker!

    The fact they even mention the wii, which is so severly crippled in it's online play to STOP stuff like this happening is an eye opener to how unresearched this crap is.

  • Pablo2k5 #95 2 years ago

    @TeaFiend, you said... "I saw a documentary a while back. Something about one of them dressing up as a school? Scary world."

    Erm, that was BrassEye... which a satirical spoof of a documentary! The controversial episode in question was called "Paedogeddon".

  • Restart #96 2 years ago

    I agree with this article wholeheartedly.

    Only yesterday I shot my load straight into the face of a 12 year old.






    Did I mention this was on M.A.G?

  • AOFanboi #97 2 years ago

    I thought mobile phones were the predator playground? Or was that last year?

  • Gammerz #98 2 years ago

    Modern Warfare 2 is a playground for predators. I'm constantly being harassed by enemy streakers.

    Seriously, this kind of abuse is bound to increase because the digital age, so far, provides anonimity.
    Edited by 3 at 04/02/10 @ 00:16

  • Bravestinsane #99 2 years ago

    Wtf, are people stupid

    It's easy to tell if someone is an adult or a child, just listen to the fucking sqeaks you get enough of the bloody things lol.

  • Nephirion #100 2 years ago

    Kids shouldn't be on Xbox Live, Kids shouldn't be given access to a headset ....

  • RobotRocker #101 2 years ago

    Hurf, durf, Moral Panic on a slow newsday.

    Go watch last weeks Newswipe again. Then come back and realise how much of a non-story this is.

  • seanthejackal #102 2 years ago

    isn't the xbox live a pedo playground i mean a guy was actually raped by another guy because of xbox live not so long ago on it lol i dont see that happening on PS3... our 12 year olds are smarter and more attractive ;) LOL