Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board - View Single Post - MMOs as an outlet for [future] child predators?

Zhakran · 09-09-2007, 08:59 PM

As a complete aside, I often find it funny that people say stuff like "children are not mature enough to be able to give consent and understand the consequences of their actions!!'

That is a completely true statement, but it is also so, so true of millions of stupid, inebriated 18 year olds who make the same decisions and everyone shrugs their shoulders. It's just not consistent. Very few fucking people who engage in sex for the first time do so in a mature and "good decision making" manner.

Some people do, but "maturity" is such an ethereal concept. A lot of it has to do with "smart" and "stupid" as well. Stupid 18 year olds are a lot less likely to make a good decision than a smart 15 year old. Personally I dont think, in general, you *really* grow up until sometime in your mid 20's. Should we have the age of consent be something like 23? 24? Should we have a test you have to take before you can engage in sexual activity legally, which will supposedly proves your maturity? Sounds pretty dumb, I know, but it's more logical than our current "let's pick an age we say it's okay at" system. And it's different for different people. Some folks are a lot more grown up at 14 than others. Some people are 30 and still act like kids. Those arguments are all just so situational and arbitrary.

ON TOPIC:
I don't care what Blizzard does. They should and almost certainly will ban the offenders in this case because of their public advertising, which is just fucked up.

Legally, I would think that unless there are minors involved nothing is going to happen. If minors are involved, than there should be people being prosecuted just like they would be if it happened on any other online medium, WoW is no exception.

I do agree this is just a big publicity stunt mainly, and they did their job well. Look how much we're discussing it!

09-09-2007, 08:59 PM	#158 (permalink)
Zhakran Fires of Heaven Combine Server Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: TN Posts: 377 +5 Internets	As a complete aside, I often find it funny that people say stuff like "children are not mature enough to be able to give consent and understand the consequences of their actions!!' That is a completely true statement, but it is also so, so true of millions of stupid, inebriated 18 year olds who make the same decisions and everyone shrugs their shoulders. It's just not consistent. Very few fucking people who engage in sex for the first time do so in a mature and "good decision making" manner. Some people do, but "maturity" is such an ethereal concept. A lot of it has to do with "smart" and "stupid" as well. Stupid 18 year olds are a lot less likely to make a good decision than a smart 15 year old. Personally I dont think, in general, you really grow up until sometime in your mid 20's. Should we have the age of consent be something like 23? 24? Should we have a test you have to take before you can engage in sexual activity legally, which will supposedly proves your maturity? Sounds pretty dumb, I know, but it's more logical than our current "let's pick an age we say it's okay at" system. And it's different for different people. Some folks are a lot more grown up at 14 than others. Some people are 30 and still act like kids. Those arguments are all just so situational and arbitrary. ON TOPIC: I don't care what Blizzard does. They should and almost certainly will ban the offenders in this case because of their public advertising, which is just fucked up. Legally, I would think that unless there are minors involved nothing is going to happen. If minors are involved, than there should be people being prosecuted just like they would be if it happened on any other online medium, WoW is no exception. I do agree this is just a big publicity stunt mainly, and they did their job well. Look how much we're discussing it! __________________ Zhakran (retired) Last edited by Zhakran; 09-09-2007 at 09:03 PM..