ONLINE GAMING DANGERS: In moderation and with parents’ permission, online gaming can be a fun way for kids to remotely connect with friends and learn new skills. But as online gaming, particularly Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) or Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs), continue to increase in popularity, parents need to be aware of the changing landscape and threats children can be exposed to while gaming. Many of these threats are nearly impossible for parents to monitor without knowledge of the gaming environment and online gaming communities.
MMORPGs and MMOs, such as World of Warcraft and Minecraft, can expose children to inappropriate language and sexualized content while also putting children at a heightened risk of being targeted by vile predators who seek to exploit them. These multiplayer games are designed to connect players with other participating players from across the globe, with few safeguards in place. This kind of environment enables predators to engage in real-time interactions with kids near and far. These predators work to gain a child’s trust by gaming with them, and then try to get the child to share more personal information via chat, including age, sex, birth date, and location. The most popular games for kids, such as Minecraft, Roblox, World of Warcraft, and Fortnite, can be exploited by predators in exactly this way.
Image Credit: Kids spending too much time gaming
GAMING HORROR STORIES: The stories of children being preyed upon while playing MMORPGs are those of any parent’s worst nightmare. On Roblox, a gaming platform predominantly used by pre-teens, predators have been able to groom and exploit young players with alarming ease. An explosive Bloomberg investigation revealed that despite Roblox’s supposed safety features, predators continue to infiltrate the platform to prey on innocent children. In one disturbing case, an 8-year-old girl was manipulated by a predator who sought her phone number and then demanded inappropriate videos. Minecraft, another beloved game, has been used by several prominent YouTubers to groom kids. On Fortnite, predators have used its chat features to lure children into performing sexual acts. These horror stories should serve as a wake-up call for parents. Monitoring what online games your children are playing and taking proactive steps to protect them from the dangers that lurk within are crucial ways parents can protect their children online.
TIPS FOR PARENTS
OTHER NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW
COLORADO SCHOOL DISTRICT REPEATEDLY ASSIGNS TRANSGENDER CHILDREN TO BUNK WITH KIDS OF THE OPPOSITE BIOLOGICAL SEX: Jefferson County School District in Colorado required children to bunk with other students according to their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex on overnight trips and did not alert parents about the policy, according to recent reporting from the Daily Wire. Read more here.
MARYLAND TEACHER CHARGED FOR USING ROBLOX TO TARGET AND SEXUALLY ABUSE A 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL: A male teacher at Cooper Lane Elementary School has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor, nine counts of possession of child pornography and child pornography promoting- distribution with intent to possess. The teacher first contacted his former student via Roblox and then began texting her explicit messages. Read more here.
HHS PUSHES CHILD GENDER TRANSITIONS WITH THREATS OF SUICIDE: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is using “Suicide Prevention Awareness Month” this September to push the dubious claim that transgender medical interventions may stop children from committing suicide. Read more here.
CALIFORNIA MOTHER SHARES STORY ABOUT TEMPORARILY LOSING HER DAUGHTER FOR NOT SUPPORTING GENDER CHANGE: A California mother shares the tragic story about temporarily losing custody of her daughter in 2016 after she did not support her daughter’s desire to change her gender. Since then, California’s parental rights policies have gotten even worse, after Governor Newsom signed a bill in July barring schools from requiring parents to be notified if their child is identifying as transgender. Read more here.
Thanks for reading the latest edition of the American Parents Coalition’s The Lookout. If you have a troubling story to share about a school, doctor, company, or other institution working to usurp parents’ rights, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
