TV News Report Warns of "Cyber-Bullying" on Xbox Live

[rayen020]

THIS JUST IN! The sky is blue. Also unconfirmed reports saying there are pictures on a TV. How is this news? haven't like a few people committed suicide because of cyber-bullying via COD/BF/TF2/UT/MoH/WoW/Halo or something...

And as some have said they hear/see worse at school. Where do you think they get it from?

 

[blackrave]

Sometimes I wish that people would stop using cyber as prefix to anything that is related to something with processor.

Real attempt of Cyber-Bullying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyLnWm1iCs

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Recently I saw interesting scene in store, some kid (11-12 years old) went to his mom with the box of COD:MW3. Mother said "No". I was pleasantly surprised- finally someone adequately evaluates content of the game... and then she said her reason: "I already bought you GTA last week".
Something died in me that moment and I decided that when I'll become rich enough I will make a game with only purpose to punish parents who don't pay attention to ratings.
I'll call it "Rainbow parrot tea party" and cover of it will be happy, jolly and utterly innocent.
But it will be AO/R rated rapegorefest with elements of pedonecrozoophilia and infused with satanic rituals.
If everything goes as planned 10% of developers will go insane during development process, at least one will commit suicide after game is released and remaining developers will have nightmares for the rest of their lives.
Hopefully after playing this game kids will kill their braindead parents in their sleep.
Maybe after that parents will realize that rating is not only a decoration of the box, but actually means something.
(Yes, I'm that evil)

P.S. Hopefully by the time I have means of creating such game, parents will become smarter.

I would... I would not buy that game.
But I would support it.
In spirit.
The peadonecrozoophilia requires a bit of clarification:
is it a game featuring all three, or is it a game about fucking dead baby animals?

 

[Strazdas]

A father of several boys, Matthew Kinney, said it's important to listen to what you're kids are hearing from other players. "Don't let your kid go upstairs and close his bedroom door, and sit there and play all night," he said. "That's crazy. You have no idea what's going on, who's saying what."

dear father, please die. What is crazy is thnking you can control your childrens private gaming life. you have NO RIGHT to hear what kids are playing. it is THEIR CHOICE.

When your kid is locked in their room all night, playing multiplayer games intended for people twice their age, you're just being a terrible parent. "Their choice" or not, it's pants-on-head retarded.

Most people are pants-on-head retarded. Instead of "you evil person you wont get to eat tonight" treatment parents should instead have time to actually communicate with their children and by doing so children will not make the choice in the first place. Things are not always what they are intended for. Some games like Postal 2 was intended as a satirical portrayal of the times culture and ended up as one of the rolemodels of "evil games".

It's their choice? How are they supposed to make these choices? Children are by definition mentally incompetent. Not only are they almost completely ignorant, their bodies are still growing their decisionmaking apparatus until they're around sixteen (the process actually ends around 22-24, but it's mostly complete at 16). That's why in the absence of parents to make childrens' decisions for them, legal guardians are appointed to do the same.

Re "private gaming life" .... please look up the word "compartmentalizing", and then, for your own sake, stop doing it. It's not a good thing.

Anyone thinking that chindren are mentally incompetent should have their head examined. Children lack exeprience and comparison, however their logical apparatus works just fine. a decision as simple as it takes to pick up a videogame is certainly not something we should be developing till 24. i mean that would imply we should still be in our first grade by around 18.

 

[Lord Honk]

Alright, I can live with people taking offense to, well, offensive language, and I'm all for parents checking what their kids do online. What I don't understand is the double standard of "government regulating public healthcare = socialism" and "oh plz vidja gaems need be ban'd". I don't swing either way, but as an external observer this seems schizophrenic to me.

I'm not even gonna go deeply into obscenity in CoD or Halo multiplayer (or whatever the kids play these days), but exposing a child to harmful material online can be most easily AND most effectively be prevented by observant parents.
It's not always easy to do so, especially for people with little knowledge of technology (like the parental control in consoles), but here's a short tutorial: Your kid is playing on his console and you hear profanity -> unplug the damn thing. It's not hard. My parents managed to jank a plug out of a socket when it was bedtime. Different reason, same outcome: Control of media in your own house. Gotta deal with a screaming kid then, but hey, occupational hazard when you decide to become a parent.

 

[esperandote]

10 years late but at least is a step foward

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Thing is there is a lot of bullshit spewed by kids online that is uncalled for. We wouldnt accept this in person so why accept it online. It comes under bullying, some of the stuff ive heard is unbelievable, racial comments and sexual comments and insults about your mum. Just temp ban anyone using this type of insults. There is a huge different between a person swearing cos they just died and calling the person that shot you racial and homophobic insults. I wouldnt allow my kids to talk to others in this way, nor should we allow other kids the freedom to do this either. Some of it is parenting and although these games could be 18 cert, that still doesnt mean anyone who buys this game is allowed to bully or insult others. An most of the insulting is done by kids, not by those who are over 18.

So i say, temp ban anyone who crosses the line of what is reasonable with a threat that next time they would be banned permanently.

 

[irishda]

Don't lump PSN in with the rest of these guys. Hell, on PSN you're lucky if three people have a mic. And it is the most wonderful thing ever.

 

[Realitycrash]

Seeing as how the WORST players I've met online sound like 8 year old...

Maybe parents should parent their kids before bitching about others'.

This is pretty much the truth.

Also...isn't CoD (and other multiplayer games where people would have mics) rated M? I mean...why would you have your 8 year old kids playing that in the first place?

Not saying that because a game is rated M, that gives people free reign to spew verbal abuse on whoever draws their ire, but it's kind of...yeah.

This.
Why the hell is your 8-year old playing Call of Duty?.
You think he is mature enough for violent games and realistically protrayed violence, but not to hear crude remarks?

All the above, seconded. Interesting that no mention of this is made in the news piece.

That said, online voice chat really IS a cesspool. The vileness of people online is why my Xbox Live account was dead after one month. I don't want to spend my free time with people like that.

Same.
One of the top reasons I stopped playing Halo 2 online.

 

[blackrave]

I would... I would not buy that game.
But I would support it.
In spirit.
The peadonecrozoophilia requires a bit of clarification:
is it a game featuring all three, or is it a game about fucking dead baby animals?

Yes.
(all three in every possible combination- if it is possible to imagine it will be in that game)
Even better, this game will have means of pacifist walkthrough (similar to Postal2)


Ok, just kidding. I will not waste my time on making game for morons.
The idea itself is soothing, but if I ever will initiate game creation, it will have learning value. Something like Colobot (game about programming robots)- that game is crude, but interesting

 

[Aprilgold]

"You don't say!"

Do any parents even read the ratings for games these days? It's really just plain sad. I mean, what are they thinking letting their kids play CoD or other games like that? I know, I know, gaming doesn't incite violence, etc., but do they still need to experience that at such a young age? What happened to the parents that said, "What's it rated? R? I'm afraid you'll have to wait 'till your older to go see that movie." When it comes to games, suddenly it seems like parents began thinking, "Oh, video games? Well, 'game' is in the title, so it must not have any objectionable content."

Frankly, I'm glad that my parents made me wait. <3

If the parent thinks the child in question can take and handle the violence in question, then yes. A M-Rating doesn't mean that its only people who are 18 and older are the only people playing, its just advising you to only let people that age play.

Umm....Correct me if I'm wrong, but those games are rated M, right?

Why are parents letting their 8-10 year olds play it?

Because its just advice that they should be 18 or older to play, but you would think the little summary on the back that basically says "INCLUDES SCENES OF SEX, VIOLENCE AND MURDER" would tip them off that they should be weary of what they play.

--------------------

Now in days, parents are way, way to overprotective. Your little kiddie wink hearing Crap will most certainly not turn them into a serial rapist dressed like Jason Vorhees who fucks cats.

Also, people. ESRB is not like a porn club where you have to be about twenty one to have the fun, its open to everybody despite what you may think, its just a warning not a outlaw on anything younger. Should a kid be watching porn once they get their first few stiffies, well not really, but they probably will find a way because it feels good.

 

[Shinigami214]

GUYS - Pause the rage for just one second - and read this below before we keep raging at parents who let their kids play COD online.

snipzorz

If the writer who penned this news piece based his information on the news report included in the OP, the article is misleading.

The news report never mentions Call of Duty or any other game specifically, but simply referred to online games in general (i.e. "experts warn ... if you let your child play online games through xbox, playstation, or the computer")

Meaning that the focus on COD that everyone is raging about in the thread is not only unwarranted, but unfounded. It might have been the game he was complaining about, but we don't know for sure.

If unintentional, the slip is indicative of shoddy journalism, imho. If intentional, its unethical sensationalism to drive up traffic to the website.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Look at Escapist, their rules keep comments insult free and those that bad mouth others are banned temporary and if they continue are banned permanently. Live and PSN need the same rules, gaming is meant to be fun and not make some kids face racial or sexual insults that have no relevance for the game they are playing. The internet just gives people free rein to act like arseholes as there is zero consequences to them from the person they are insulting. In real life these people are pathetic losers who would insult no one.

There has been a lot of issues in schools when kids are bullied and not much is done about it, i dont see why we shouldnt have this dealt with Live or PSN. I cant walk into a bar and call a random person a **** without consequence, so why should it be ok to do so on an M rated online game?

 

[xPixelatedx]

Some parents just figured out that online gaming platforms like Xbox Live and the Sony Entertainment Network are a hive of villainy and bad words.

Oh man, do you know what I just figured out? This sound 'Moo' that I have heard before comes from cows, they're the ones who have been making it all this time. Cows go moo... I cannot count the number of Fu**s my brain is full of right now!

 

[lRookiel]

WOW! IT took them THIS LONG?!

And I thought helicopter parents would have figured this out and bitched to the press LONG AGO!

 

[ShindoL Shill]

I would... I would not buy that game.
But I would support it.
In spirit.
The peadonecrozoophilia requires a bit of clarification:
is it a game featuring all three, or is it a game about fucking dead baby animals?

Yes.
(all three in every possible combination- if it is possible to imagine it will be in that game)
Even better, this game will have means of pacifist walkthrough (similar to Postal2)


Ok, just kidding. I will not waste my time on making game for morons.
The idea itself is soothing, but if I ever will initiate game creation, it will have learning value. Something like Colobot (game about programming robots)- that game is crude, but interesting

I assumed you were kidding.
Making that game would probably break ALL the laws.

 

[Shinigami214]

Seeing as how the WORST players I've met online sound like 8 year old...

Maybe parents should parent their kids before bitching about others'.

This is pretty much the truth.

Also...isn't CoD (and other multiplayer games where people would have mics) rated M? I mean...why would you have your 8 year old kids playing that in the first place?

Not saying that because a game is rated M, that gives people free reign to spew verbal abuse on whoever draws their ire, but it's kind of...yeah.

This.
Why the hell is your 8-year old playing Call of Duty?.
You think he is mature enough for violent games and realistically protrayed violence, but not to hear crude remarks?

All the above, seconded. Interesting that no mention of this is made in the news piece.

That said, online voice chat really IS a cesspool. The vileness of people online is why my Xbox Live account was dead after one month. I don't want to spend my free time with people like that.

Same.
One of the top reasons I stopped playing Halo 2 online.

The original news report doesn't mention COD specifically - for some reason the escapist writer did.

 

[blackrave]

GUYS - Pause the rage for just one second - and read this below before we keep raging at parents who let their kids play COD online.

snipzorz

If the writer who penned this news piece based his information on the news report included in the OP, the article is misleading.

The news report never mentions Call of Duty or any other game specifically, but simply referred to online games in general (i.e. "experts warn ... if you let your child play online games through xbox, playstation, or the computer")

Meaning that the focus on COD that everyone is raging about in the thread is not only unwarranted, but unfounded. It might have been the game he was complaining about, but we don't know for sure.

If unintentional, the slip is indicative of shoddy journalism, imho. If intentional, its unethical sensationalism to drive up traffic to the website.

Well, you can hear in the background that they are playing some shooter (CoD or Halo, if I have to guess), most of the shooters are not children appropriate.
I wouldn't allow my nephew play DeusEx games until he is at least 15y old, despite the fact that I consider DeusEx games a must-have for every gamer (yes even Invisible War)

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Another case of parents dropping the ball and proceeding to blame everyone else.

There are warnings and there are safety procedures all over the place, if the parent has ignored them, it's their fault. For example, you can make your kids account a junior account, barring them from online chat, and from games with M,T and R ratings.

Some people need to start taking responsibility.

 

[Shinigami214]

GUYS - Pause the rage for just one second - and read this below before we keep raging at parents who let their kids play COD online.

snipzorz

If the writer who penned this news piece based his information on the news report included in the OP, the article is misleading.

The news report never mentions Call of Duty or any other game specifically, but simply referred to online games in general (i.e. "experts warn ... if you let your child play online games through xbox, playstation, or the computer")

Meaning that the focus on COD that everyone is raging about in the thread is not only unwarranted, but unfounded. It might have been the game he was complaining about, but we don't know for sure.

If unintentional, the slip is indicative of shoddy journalism, imho. If intentional, its unethical sensationalism to drive up traffic to the website.

Well, you can hear in the background that they are playing some shooter (CoD or Halo, if I have to guess), most of the shooters are not children appropriate.
I wouldn't allow my nephew play DeusEx games until he is at least 15y old, despite the fact that I consider DeusEx games a must-have for every gamer (yes even Invisible War)

That's an assumption.

Assumptions are not facts, but speculation, and speculation has no place in news unless its clearly presented as speculation.