I should point out that where WoW is concerned, friends who play tell me that they have meetings, in real life, in bars and public places sometimes. One of my friends is part of a group of players who meet twice yearly. It is pretty clear therefore that playing that game, can lead to real world personal contact. For most folks, this is no different than going to a convention, but if one happened to be a predator, I can see how it would be a rich hunting ground.

Personally speaking, I think this is a good idea. The only thing about it that needs to be altered is the likelihood of a person who is not actually a child molestor or serial pervert actually ending up on the register. It happens, but it shouldnt. Its a shame, but the idea of keeping the perverts off the servers is a damned good one. Heck, I would ban them from the entire web if it was up to me, but it isnt.

Good!

That's considered light compared to what happens to these people in certain countries.

I personally know a teenage girl who met a pedophile online playing World Of Warcraft. This guy traveled across state lines to have sex with her - MULTIPLE TIMES. This guy is in his 40's, she was 14 when this started. This is an ongoing case, and that's all I'll say about it. The girl in question was careless, and left many clues in her wake which pointed to the fact that she was up to no good. I actually helped her mother catch the guy and get him arrested. Needless to say, this was a multi-state case, and this guy is going to prison for a long time.

To be fair, the girl was complicit, but she is still a juvenile, and is still a victim in spite of the fact that she acted consensually. ( and no, I'm not going to argue about what constitutes a "victim" within this context. Many children that are abused comply at the time of the abuse ).
What if this had been YOUR daughter? How would you feel about this?

The companies are correct to ban convicted sex offenders. I wouldn't want pedophiles as customers if I owned a business. Would you?

Yes, many people are wrongly convicted and thrown into the judicial system under the premise of being a "sex offender" when this is not really an appropriate charge, I agree. The laws should be examined and overhauled.
Older cases with inappropriate convictions should be examined and overturned if appropriate.

Yes, there is adult content on some these games. It is the job of THE PARENTS to ensure that their children do not access this type of adult entertainment. This is not anyone else's responsibility. "Protecting Children" is not a legitimate excuse for censorship. We live in an adult world, and parents need to do their jobs, not censor the rest of us in order to make their jobs easier.

I'm sorry if this is an unpopular stance, but if anyone here thinks that the "Right" to participate in online gaming outweighs the safety of children, even if the laws and rules have to to err on the side of caution, then they're crazy and they need to check their moral compass.

I think sex offender lists may be doing more damage than good, because it is an obstacle for rehabilitation. And these lists are discriminatory towards sex offenders (because sex is icky), if there is a list then it should contain all violent offenders. My opinion is that when you have paid your debt to society, thats it and there shouldnt be any strings left attached. It is not acceptable to ban people from internet by law, but if individucal companies choose to do it, then that is also their right.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
I should point out that where WoW is concerned, friends who play tell me that they have meetings, in real life, in bars and public places sometimes. One of my friends is part of a group of players who meet twice yearly. It is pretty clear therefore that playing that game, can lead to real world personal contact. For most folks, this is no different than going to a convention, but if one happened to be a predator, I can see how it would be a rich hunting ground.

Personally speaking, I think this is a good idea. The only thing about it that needs to be altered is the likelihood of a person who is not actually a child molestor or serial pervert actually ending up on the register. It happens, but it shouldnt. Its a shame, but the idea of keeping the perverts off the servers is a damned good one. Heck, I would ban them from the entire web if it was up to me, but it isnt.

I would agree with you if everyone on such a list was deserving of being there, but we both know that isn't the case. I would fully support a list that kept pedophiles away, one that keeps people convicted of rape out of the games. This list, also contains people that pee on trees, and people who have had the misfortune of having relations with someone less than 5 years younger that were consentual and misleading as to thier age.

I'm sorry but such as it is currently I think it is a bad idea. If they were to include only the predators I would fully support it. I do agree that in online situations people do sometimes meet in real life, actually make plans to do so. It's actually pretty cool that you know people that meet for real, I know I have played for 7 years (on break from the game now) and have friends I would love to meet in real life that I have been friends with for years.

@ moon I agree with you in your case that is someone that needs to have the gaming license revoked....

Pretty obvious if he knew she was 14 and he was that old.

I am only on the fence when it comes to say a 19-20 yr old and someone that was 17 as an example. These kind of people are on the list also. That hardly seems fair assuming that there was consent or duplicity involved. I don't consider someone peeing on a tree, or mooning someone as grounds for being blacklisted. If you are going to go that far why not toss breastfeeding mothers on there also.

Originally posted by moonzoo7
I'm sorry if this is an unpopular stance, but if anyone here thinks that the "Right" to participate in online gaming outweighs the safety of children, even if the laws and rules have to to err on the side of caution, then they're crazy and they need to check their moral compass.

I don't disagree with you on this point of view, but in the real world it's all but un-enforcable. The only realist control would be for PO's to check hardrives for games (a list which grows constantly, with older unheard of titles still supported for years and years in some cases).

And that tactic is useless as well. There are 10 ways I can think of for someone to conceal or gain access to a game that your average PO wouldn't be able to check.

It's like saying a convicted speeder can't speed. You could take away his car, but he can borrow or steal another. In the end it comes down to the other drivers on the road staying aware to avoid an accident.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
It's already happening. People who get cited for pissing behind a bush can end up lumped in the same category as serial rapists if they're unlucky enough to get a monster prosecutor and a hateful judge.

A friend I had back in high school is now a registered sex offender for getting drunk and peeing in his front yard. There's nothing he could do about it either, his new title was set in stone.

Sex, the thing everyone loves and hates at the same time. I have an idea, instead of creating a society of repressed and disenfranchised people who go these routes, why not figure out our collective psychology and base our society on that, it already happens in small pockets of reality, lets find a solution rather than ignorant hate and bigotry. Im not defending sex offenders activities, im saying lets clean up the mess created by media, internet, government mind control programs, and porn industry creates. Its everyones problem in my view.

Originally posted by Maslo
I think sex offender lists may be doing more damage than good, because it is an obstacle for rehabilitation. And these lists are discriminatory towards sex offenders (because sex is icky), if there is a list then it should contain all violent offenders. My opinion is that when you have paid your debt to society, thats it and there shouldnt be any strings left attached. It is not acceptable to ban people from internet by law, but if individucal companies choose to do it, then that is also their right.

edit on 23/2/13 by Maslo because: (no reason given)

Many know what they did was wrong. It was no mistake. They should live with that decision for the rest of their lives. Many don't belong in society. Cause there is a good chance they will repeat that behavior.

There is a server on World of Warcraft, called "Moonguard."
On the "alliance side." That server is nothing but a sex chat. Mostly a teenage sex chat, but a person would be stupid not to think there aren't adults there trying to take advantage.

It's a rule not to talk about that server. Blizzard goes through great length to hide that behavior. Rather it's deleting complaints on the forums or hanging up on customer on the phone.
It's one of the most populated servers.(aka a successful server for blizzard..safety be damned.)

Google "Wow Moonguard". or "warcraft moonguard." etc.
There are youtube videos, blogs, etc dedicated to it. So it's hard to believe that Blizzard doesn't know about it.

Had a neice who got into the game and a guy was trying to get her to send photos.

Here's what I find strange about this.

I am a heterosexual. I've played some online games. I NEVER play them for sex. I NEVER play them to hurt someone else. My sexual preferences have never come into the picture.

EVEN IF I was a pedophile (which I am not), why would I necessarily want to use an online game to hunt for children? Myself, I have no girlfriend. I relieve my sexual urges privately. Sometimes I have wet dreams. Bottom line, I don't go online to find people to rape. So why would a pedophile? Why assume that pedophiles are mindless rapists? I can imagine that many of them don't go online to hunt for children to rape. Instead they go online for many of hte same reasons the rest of us do. To google, to play games, to look for jobs, to browse the news, and so on. To me, this ban crams everybody together and labels them. Because people are hateful of sex offenders, they ignore it. Sex offenders do not deserve rights or freedoms? I somewhat agree, but where do you draw the line? If you remove too many rights and freedoms, that to me is cruel and unusual punishment.

This is prejudice, in my view. It's the government getting away with crime. What creeps me out more is some people out there will think that I must secretly be a sex offender because I am siding with them. Will government make it a crime to side with the rights of sex offenders?

I'll admit straight off that SOME sex offenders are bad people and would use the online games to hunt other children. But why ban everybody because a small portion of them are dangerous? This smells just like the recent gun grab. Because a small portion of people abuse guns, EVERYBODY suffers.

This is precisely why our freedoms are being killed off. A small portion of humans abuse freedoms, so the rest of us lose them or suffer. This will continue ad infinitum into the future.

What if we can't eliminate crime or abuse? If we can't then they'll be removing our freedoms with no beneficial result! It does no good if the bad elements can't be removed. It just imprisons everyone. And when you imprison everyone to get the few bad apples, you make life not worth living. Maybe this is why civilization collapses. People no longer accept imprisonment and reject society.

I do not reject society, yet. Nor am I a violent person. I support changing things through legal means. I am probably too lazy to change anything, but others out there won't be so lazy. I guess government will continue to reign like a king, but this joyride won't go on forever. Eventually it'll hit a wall. There're limits to everything. People, overall, desire freedom and a good life. Take that away, and things wear thin. Since everything interacts with everything else, it eventually emerges. It may not emerge now or tomorrow or in the near future. Things in this world sometimes go on for hundreds or thousands of years. But what goes around comes around, in time. Nothing is impervious.

Originally posted by Blahable
There is a server on World of Warcraft, called "Moonguard."
On the "alliance side." That server is nothing but a sex chat. Mostly a teenage sex chat, but a person would be stupid not to think there aren't adults there trying to take advantage.

It's a rule not to talk about that server. Blizzard goes through great length to hide that behavior. Rather it's deleting complaints on the forums or hanging up on customer on the phone.
It's one of the most populated servers.(aka a successful server for blizzard..safety be damned.)

Google "Wow Moonguard". or "warcraft moonguard." etc.
There are youtube videos, blogs, etc dedicated to it. So it's hard to believe that Blizzard doesn't know about it.

Had a neice who got into the game and a guy was trying to get her to send photos.

This I know about, I have played WoW for quite some time. It actually is a running joke for anyone that has played for any length of time. A friend of mine, she made a character on that realm a female gnome named SaggyMcteets or something like that. Her and her friend, both well over 18 like 30ish had someone offering to trade them gold if they would allow him to 'roleplay' him raping them in a barn outside Goldshire. They are out there that is for sure, parents have to watch what their children are up to, especially online. Don't let 'em give you any "you are invading thier privacy" BS.

@TrueBrit It appears we are in agreement then. It is the definition that is unfeasible