MMOs as an outlet for [future] child predators?

[tad10]

You know I'm probably one of the 5 most conservative guys who post on this board -- and while I think the pervs in this guild are pretty disgusting there is nothing illegal about two adults playacting nazi child ass rape or whatever. This is not Canada or wherever with fucked up hate speech laws & etc.

Blizzard is probably better off not trying to monitor the chat that goes in its games -- beyond say gold spamming. I don't pretend to be an FA or privacy lawyer but say they voluntarily turn over the names of everyone in this guild to the FBI it is a good bet that they could end up getting sued for violating some random privacy law.

[Mist]

Originally Posted by AndersJ

Oh I can separate real life from fantasy.

Night Elves, Orcs, Taurens... all fantasy. Running people over in GTA... fantasy. Shooting Nazi's in Medal of Honor... fantasy.

Lilith the Night Elf Rogue wanting to sexually seduce someone who claims to be 18 who is playing a 6 year old is beyond make believe. That's where the line is drawn. There were already statements of sub-18 people who were in that guild with stuff going on.

Then it's the responsibility of their adult guardian that allowed them to play the game in the first place to monitor their activities. And exactly what line is drawn there? Your line maybe, but no legal line is drawn there, at least not in the US. Only once REAL sex with a REAL child is solicited is it a crime.

[Malakriss]

Blizzard is probably better off not trying to monitor the chat that goes in its games -- beyond say gold spamming. I don't pretend to be an FA or privacy lawyer but say they voluntarily turn over the names of everyone in this guild to the FBI it is a good bet that they could end up getting sued for violating some random privacy law.

There is no expectation of privacy on a subscription gaming service. By the nature of the game everything is visible to someone else and not personal. Thus it is public, not private and not protected. Any actions that are not only a violation of ToS or EULA but something criminal as well will expedite matters.

[Twobit Whore]

Just because it is visible to Blizzard doesn't make it public.

[Malakriss]

Tells/whispers are visible to the reciever.
Say, emote, combat are visible to anyone in the area.
Zone/Local channels and chat channels are sent to everyone applicable.
Sending Mail or using the auction house leaves your character graphically visible.
There is no /anon or /role feature in WoW, anyone can know if you're online, and where you are at all times.

[Quineloe]

Originally Posted by Malakriss

There is no expectation of privacy on a subscription gaming service. By the nature of the game everything is visible to someone else and not personal. Thus it is public, not private and not protected. Any actions that are not only a violation of ToS or EULA but something criminal as well will expedite matters.

dear god you're completly ignorant.

[Mist]

Originally Posted by Malakriss

There is no expectation of privacy on a subscription gaming service. By the nature of the game everything is visible to someone else and not personal. Thus it is public, not private and not protected. Any actions that are not only a violation of ToS or EULA but something criminal as well will expedite matters.

You could make the same argument for the telephone company. Just because they have the phsyical ability to monitor, does not give them the right to monitor unless law enforcement authorizes it. Reporting personal information and non-crimes to the FBI definitely would be a violation of privacy.

[Rythonn]

Having sex with a child virtual or not is never ok, even southpark knows this. Blizzard needs to disband the guild, there are far too many kids playing this game to let that shit go on.

[AndersJ]

Well this topic is on the WoW General Forum. Someone from Ravenholdt stated they had caught one of the guild members trying to push this form of cyber on another person but Blizzard deleted the thread.

Either way, this screenshot got posted:



I don't even know what to think.

[Twobit Whore]

So roleplay fantasies aren't okay? If your wife/gf/bf/husband wants to pretend to be a child during sex.. are you breaking a law?

[Rythonn]

Honestly letting something like this continue the game should be an M rating. Mist trying to defend the laws is ridiculous. Look to movies if you need an example, specially not in an rated Teen game. This just freaks me out because my kids play this game.

[Rythonn]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

So roleplay fantasies aren't okay? If your wife/gf/bf/husband wants to pretend to be a child during sex.. are you breaking a law?

Illegal? No. Extremely disturbing? Yes. You also aren't allowed to talk about it to some kids the next day.

[Drajakur]

Originally Posted by Rythonn

Illegal? No. Extremely disturbing? Yes. You also aren't allowed to talk about it to some kids the next day.

Word. It makes me sick how people (*cough* Mist *cough*) try and finagle around the issue by making it a question of law when law is totally irrelevant. The point is morality. And it is immoral, and wrong in that sense, to pretend to have sex with a fucking kid if you are doing it in cyberspace, real-space, your own space, or another consenting adult's.

Maybe there is nothing illegal going on here, maybe not. But who gives a shit. What counts is that these people are scum and should be treated as such.

Blizzard is totally within their rights to permit and not permit actions they deem as unsavory within the confines of their game, and I hope they do something about it.

[The Ancient]

Mist is dead on though, the legality of it is what a number of people have chosen to make the issue. The fact of the matter is, it's Blizzard's job to regulate this stuff not the laws. If children were being threatened that's another story but right now all we are looking at is some people with some odd sexual fetishes expressing them. Let's say the guild exercises all due diligences to make sure that no actual children are involved, are their activities still what you would consider criminal?

Edit: Wait I noticed Mist seems to be saying Blizzard has no right to monitor this stuff which is definately incorrect. It's their game they can do whatever the fuck they want, the telephone company is a public utility, not at all the same thing.

[Mist]

Originally Posted by Drajakur

Word. It makes me sick how people (*cough* Mist *cough*) try and finagle around the issue by making it a question of law when law is totally irrelevant. The point is morality. And it is immoral, and wrong in that sense, to pretend to have sex with a fucking kid if you are doing it in cyberspace, real-space, your own space, or another consenting adult's.

Maybe there is nothing illegal going on here, maybe not. But who gives a shit. What counts is that these people are scum and should be treated as such.

Blizzard is totally within their rights to permit and not permit actions they deem as unsavory within the confines of their game, and I hope they do something about it.

Killing people, particularly killing people because of their race, is also immoral. Should all guilds be considered Virtual Murder Clubs? (Would be a good guildname btw.)