Report Labels Habbo a "Pedophile Haven"

[loc978]

Haha, Pool's Closed!

Hey, Blackup, man!
Let's not be hasty about this.

Unfortunately due to your waffling, not everyone in the pool could be saved.

OT: This is why it's up to individuals to raise their own damn kids. There are pervs and even occasional predators on the internet. We've known this for a very, very long time. Don't want your kids to encounter them? Restrict their access.

 

[WaysideMaze]

My brother spent a rediculous amount of time on there about 10 years ago. And money, he was constantly buying the stupid currency for stupid furniture items.

I took a look one day and got our IP banned for 14 years. I think I did him a favour.

 

[Davey Woo]

I don't get what the problem is.
ASL was totally legit.

Seriously though, I never ran into any of that kinda stuff when I played it, except that one time someone left a note in my 'room' saying that they loved me, but I would never find out who they were.

 

[Antari]

At first I was concerned, but then I saw Channel 4 ... Which isn't that far a shot off Fox News. There may be a problem there, but I highly doubt its as bad as they've blown it up to be.

 

[Jamash]

At first I was concerned, but then I saw Channel 4 ... Which isn't that far a shot off Fox News. There may be a problem there, but I highly doubt its as bad as they've blown it up to be.

Can you even get Channel 4 in North America, or are you thinking of a different Channel 4?

Channel 4 in the UK, who reported this, isn't anything like Fox News at all.

I'd even go as far to say that even the most un-Fox-like news program in North America is still more like Fox News than Channel 4 is.

 

[evilneko]

At first I was concerned, but then I saw Channel 4 ... Which isn't that far a shot off Fox News. There may be a problem there, but I highly doubt its as bad as they've blown it up to be.

Can you even get Channel 4 in North America, or are you thinking of a different Channel 4?

Channel 4 in the UK, who reported this, isn't anything like Fox News at all.

I'd even go as far to say that even the most un-Fox-like news program in North America is still more like Fox News than Channel 4 is.

In my area, the Fox affiliate station is on channel 4!

:O

'course many years ago it used to be the CBS affiliate, then they moved to 11...

Yes, TV works a bit differently over here apparently.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

Rovio with their mad birds and now Habbo. It's Finnish days in the Escapist newsroom it seems.

I remember when it began getting national recognition around 2000. Nine million now, huh? Crazy.

You wouldn't see it if you played it. With the rise of F2P MMORPGS (especially with MapleStory) their active population actually took a huuuge nosedive. I remember when there was enough players for there to be a Canadian version that was actually very busy and players made and hosted their own radio stations that got significant traffic.

But the Canada Habbo got too slow so they merged it with the US version, and it's no where near as populous as it used to be. I'm sure the vast majority of the 9-million new users per month play it once or twice before never touching it again. Probably left when they realized it wasn't a game at all and just a glorified chatroom.

EDIT: Out of curiosity I made a new account on Habbo. Turns out the entire thing is muted for all players due to this news segment and there's an investigation going on.

 

[BX3]

These predators who keep rubbing their fetish in everyone's faces (including children) are giving us ordinary pedophiles a bad reputation.

I can't be the only one that finds this comment extremely disturbing? So you are a good pedophile? wtf?!

What is jokes?
----------------------------------------------

Hold on guys... What if the pedophiles on habbo are actually hitting... on other pedophiles?

Spoiler

Or it could just be the target demo. Hard to really say on the internet. You find all kinds of weirdos, trolls and crazies out there, and as much as we'd like to believe otherwise, some of them aren't balding 40 year olds with pencil mustaches.

 

[Charli]

Christ on a pogostick, that old thing? Habbo Hotel was uncool even in my entire school, even the nerdiest of the nerds were like: 'Pft that's lame.'

Not surprised, 'games' that give you little else to do but make your own little virtual simulation of a real life are going to eventually degenerate into 'zomg sex pls'. It's inevitable.

Lame then, still lame now, and I honestly cannot believe that many people go within a foot of it, makes me feel unclean just hearing the name.

 

[Kodlak]

Was under the impression that it has always been like that, nice to see that they are finally losing their support though and that someone is listening.

 

[Gatx]

Wait wait wait, how do they know there are pedophiles using this? Habbo's demographic is teenagers right? TEENAGERS? The same ones that are into sexting and send naked cellphone pictures of themselves to the opposite sex? I wouldn't surprised if it was a 13 year old rather than a pedophile that was typing those things.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

As a pervert, I'm getting extremely tired of being lumped in with pedophiles, just because I roam the internet for sexual thrills.

I think the rationale was this.

Some Pedophiles own computers - therefore anything on the internet is a haven for pedos.

To be honest, if pedos are getting off talking to people who are pretending to be kids, then great, I consider that some kinda methadone. If both sides are getting their kicks and no actual children are actually being assaulted, then that's not really a problem.

As above, too, the moment puberty kicks in, teenagers are going to start talking and thinking about sex... a lot. Either talk to them, or let them learn about how sex works from one of the many err... educational sites online.

I foresee a future - 2020 - couple goes to the doctor, unable to get pregnant.

Doctor: 'And you're having sex regularly?'
Guy: 'Sure, the normal way, she blows me, I cram it up her ass then jerk off over her tits, and we just can't seem to conceive.'

 

[renegade7]

Wait, wait, wait.

So the reporter heard explicit things said on game targeted at 'young teenagers'?

Ummm...well I'm not saying that there aren't unsavoury people on the internet, but I've heard some pretty grown up words from decidedly not grown up people in my time on Xbox Live. I don't think we should immediately assume paedophiles given the propensity of pre-teens to say 'fuck' a lot.

 

[Legion]

As people pointed out: Who is to say that the people posting explicit/sexual chat were not teens/kids themselves?

I remember when I was younger I saw my older brother on an internet chat room, he was around 14/15 at the time and the conversations were constantly sexual.

 

[Li Mu]

Who ya gonna call? CHRIS HANSEN!

 

[darkstarangel]

I cant imagine how anyone can successfully have cyber sex on that thing. I played habbo a couple of times just for the novelty of chatting to random people like I used to on some internet forums only in a videogame format. Heaps of young foreign girls kept approaching me & ditched me the moment I told them my age (Im not on it for suspicious reasons so I dont need to lie about it).
One girl didn't care & took me back to her habbo apartment & tried cybering only I didn't know it because it had to be done in code or you get warnings if you say certain words. It took me a while to figure out exactly what was going on because I couldn't figure out what the hell she was saying. By the time I realsied she was actually cybering she must have let a word slip & got banned on the spot.

So honestly, I dont know how it could be breached any more than that.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Did the reporter pretend to be a child? If not, then it seems they have only outlined examples of lechery, not paedophilia. A girl getting hit on when she is 17 is hardly an example of paedophilia and the age of consent in UK (and most US States) is 16 years old.

"Rachel Seifert spent two months playing this seemingly innocent game posing as a young girl."

Hmm, suspiciously vague. And I don't think these games even advertise the user's age. And this is a game mainly for teenagers mainly.

Channel 4 article [//www.channel4.com/news/striptease-and-cyber-sex-my-stay-at-habbo-hotel]: "Rachel Seifert writes for Channel 4 News about her shocking and sometimes sexually-explicit experiences playing the popular online game Habbo Hotel while posing as an 11-year old girl".

There it is, posing as an underage player, cut and dried. Take all that as you will, I guess.

 

[dementis]

I am surprised as everyone else that it's being said adults are the ones who say these things. You only have to play almost any online game these days to be met with a huge wave of homophobia, racism and every other form of insult and creepy request under the sun.

I can honestly say I never remember doing that whilst playing sonic the hedgehog on my megadrive. Some people just shouldn't be allowed near the internet, they seem to leave any form of acceptable behaviour at the door when they have the mighty shield of no one knowing who they are.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I wish people would pay more attention to the places children are actually being harmed -- their homes. We spend so much time afraid of the boogeyman on the internet and in the streets that most of us seem to forget that the vast, vast majority of children that are abused, are abused in their own home by a family member.

Yeah, stranger danger is bad. But odds are a kid is more likely to be molested by their parents than a stranger on the street. Let's drop the scare tactics and focus on the forest fire, not the matchstick.