U.K. Retailers Drop Habbo Cards

[The Random One]

So let get this straight, to those users who are annoyed with Channel 4, do they want to be harass by the pedos at the expense of playing it? However in saying so if they choice to shut it down the pedos will simple go elsewhere.

There is a chance that Channel 4 made up the controversy from whole cloth, or to some degree manipulated events so that their undercover reporter had something juicy to report, and that this false representation has angered users who were deprived of something they enjoy for something that never happened to them and they believe has never happened with any regularity deserving attention.

There is also, however, a chance that users are just acting like gamers and being unreasonable towards people who made a honest criticism of something they enjoy because they refuse to act like anything other than children who had their candy taken away.

The truth, as usual, is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[MammothBlade]

More evidence that children under 14 shouldn't have webcams; if they have to use a computer with a webcam, the cam should be password-protected. It would make it just that bit harder for children to expose themselves at the request of a paedophile.

 

[PinkiePyro]

man that game is OLD no wonder is now a pedo cess pit

I bet someone could find some kind of science equasion on time + online game = cess pit

 

[gyroscopeboy]

Im fairly certain everyone on that site is over 25

 

[Evil Smurf]

is club penguin just as bad?

 

[xyrafhoan]

Once upon a time in high school, I was encouraged by a friend to play Habbo Hotel. I'm absolutely not surprised by Channel 4's findings. Anyone with half a brain knows that place is a scummy hive of horny, socially-awkward teens (or pedos) soliciting potential socially-awkward girls to show their goods on a webcam. And let's not forget the infamous 4chan raid... Pool's Closed.

 

[Kodlak]

And so the demise of Habbo begins.... About time!

 

[EeveeElectro]

Habbo has always been a breeding ground for pedo's and weirdos. Anywhere where a lot of kids congregate online will be full of them.
I suppose it's only use now is to catch predators. The people who are butthurt need to grow up and join a community that isn't full of lonely old freaks.
There's better ways to meet people online than dodging a creep every 5 minutes.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

To be fair, those people that were asking for webcam shows most likely aren't pedophiles, they're just sex-starved 13-year-old boys with no social skills.

Though yeah, there are lots of pedophiles around. Which really isn't all that surprising, really.

 

[Harkonnen64]

Once upon a time in high school, I was encouraged by a friend to play Habbo Hotel. I'm absolutely not surprised by Channel 4's findings. Anyone with half a brain knows that place is a scummy hive of horny, socially-awkward teens (or pedos) soliciting potential socially-awkward girls to show their goods on a webcam. And let's not forget the infamous 4chan raid... Pool's Closed.

Yeah, the 4-chan raids and pedophilia have been notorious parts of Habbo Hotel for YEARS. Frankly I think it's good that it's finally being brought to the attention of the general public.

 

[maninahat]

To be fair, those people that were asking for webcam shows most likely aren't pedophiles, they're just sex-starved 13-year-old boys with no social skills.

Though yeah, there are lots of pedophiles around. Which really isn't all that surprising, really.

Well if you think about it, that's the flaw in the researcher's findings - she is, I assume, not a child, so someone asking her for cybersex isn't paedophilia. And how old was the person asking her to strip? Can a 13 year old be called a paedophile? I don't doubt there is a lot of "grooming" going on, but they picked a lousy way to examine it.

It reminds me of IMVU, which largely consists of horny teenage men with female avatars, having lesbian cybersex with other horny teenage men with female avatars. I doubt children even get a chance to use that site.

 

[Monsterfurby]

The only real way to solve this problem and EVER establish a MMOG aimed at minors is to have reliable age verification for them, for example though schools or other government agencies (parents' social security, etc). Not that that wouldn't sound shifty in a million different ways either, but it would be better than the alternative.

Well, besides not making a MMOG aimed at that demographic at all.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I'll be honest, myself and a friend immediately created an account after watching the report (we're in the UK). Posing as a 12 year old girl, we were chatted up within 10 minutes by a guy claiming to be 27.

...who - let's face it - was probably actually a 12 year old boy!

With regards to the report, saying that you got asked to strip on a site populated by teenagers is really not surprising. When given the safety of the internet (where the scary girls can't laugh at them directly), a lot of teenage boys will see how far they can get!

More generally, social websites will always have a few dubious characters on them. But trying to eliminate those dubious characters (and provide a "safe environment" for kids) is looking at the problem the wrong way around. My parents never worried about the sites I was on because they invested time stamping a few golden rules into my head:

1. Never tell anyone your real name, address or phone number.
2. Never send photos of yourself to anyone.
3. Webcams are only to be used with schoolfriends.
4. If anything anyone says makes you uncomfortable, tell us immediately.

Which is all really just an extension of the "never get into a stranger's car" talk. I'm not sure why parents now seem to be more worried about what might happen to their children online (where they can just leave the chat room) than about what might happen to them walking to school (where they can be bundled into a car and driven off to god-knows-where).

 

[MetalMagpie]

The only real way to solve this problem and EVER establish a MMOG aimed at minors is to have reliable age verification for them, for example though schools or other government agencies (parents' social security, etc). Not that that wouldn't sound shifty in a million different ways either, but it would be better than the alternative.

Well, besides not making a MMOG aimed at that demographic at all.

Or just give kids some safety rules.

Dubious characters online need the child's cooperation in order to hurt them (unlike dubious characters in real life, who can just bundle the child into a car). As a kid I was told to never ever:
1. Tell anyone my real name, address or phone number.
2. Send anyone a photo of myself.
3. Use a webcam with anyone without my parents' permission.
And I was told again and again to inform one of them immediately if anyone online was saying things that seemed odd or that made me uncomfortable.

We trust children to walk to school on their own by telling them never to get a lift with a stranger (or accept sweets from them - remember those days?). I think with a bit of common sense, we can trust them to use MMOGs aimed at children.

It occurs to me now that the three most important facts my parents drummed into my head as a child were:
1. There are some adults who hurt children. (Why? Because they're nasty people.)
2. Some adults are very good liars. They can seem like your friend when they're not.
3. Based on the above, the only adults you can trust are ones we (my parents) specifically say you can.

All this really needs is:
4. Assume that anyone you meet online might be an adult, no matter what age they say they are.

 

[Esotera]

Habbo is pretty bad, I went on there with my housemates to troll (it was a drunken decision), but the only people in there were asking for skype/fb chat. That said, I didn't think anybody actually played it anymore, so not many people should be at risk.

 

[Therumancer]

That said, not selling the cards doesn't seem like it's going to accomplish much. Personally if things have gotten as blatent as described, it might be time for an Interpol sting of sorts, and hopefully the establishment of some precedents as a result.

No, see, those places stopped selling the cards because they don't want to be associated with that company, not because they're actually directly concerned about the situation.

I get that, but when businesses become concerned enough to drop products they have been carrying this long, I think groups other than the businesses should start to take notice of why the association is being dropped.

Also given the lack of actual authority of businesses, I do consider not wanting to be associated with a company due to something like this as being "directly concerned". It's just that businesses like store chains can't really do much more about it. It's not like people who are paying attention aren't aware of what the problems are.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

A child is statistically more likely to be molested by a family member or a catholic priest than a stranger online.

But hey, let's all fear the big bad internet boogeyman some more.

 

[Monsterfurby]

Or just give kids some safety rules.

But that requires parents to do - !gasp! - actual parenting!

Nah, you can't ask that of people.








Apparently.