http://kotaku.com/5856496/californi...-video-game-cheat-codes-for-child-pornography There are a lot of things wrong with this, obviously the actions of the man are the main blatent issue here, but there are several more underlying issues. Apart from highlighting that you shouldn't just outright trust people over xboxlive or psn it also highlights that not all active paedophiles are 40+ men stalking playgrounds. It also highlights a huge problem for me. The kid was 10. MW2 is rated as an 18+. What parent in their right mind would allow their 10 year old child an 18 rated game? I think perhaps the parents should of faced some form of sanction too from all of this for putting their child in the situation in the first place, the child's account should be banned from xbl for definate too.
That's pretty messed up. :/ Parents really need to watch what their children do online if they aren't old enough. I wasn't allowed to play rated M games until I was around fifteen years old, and even then, I wasn't allowed to talk to strangers online (Granted, I couldn't play online games because I had none to play, but still). They also need to explain to their children that taking pictures of their nether-regions isn't a good thing.
Maybe the big companies should implement a way to keep really young kids off of games like CoD, not only do they risk things like this, but they usually cheat and cause trouble and grief for legitimate players
Ultimately it's up to the parents to decide what they want their kids playing. I've seen 12 and 13 year olds playing games online that are more mature than 18 and 20 year olds. That said, this guy is sick and the kid's parents needed to be keeping a closer eye on what their son was doing. I'd personally never let a 10-year-old play online, and even later on when he got older I'd keep a close eye on him until I thought he had developed enough judgment to know right from wrong. It's sad that this poor kid was manipulated like this though. :/
Especially sad when it happened over xbl. Video gaming is one of the few mediums you would think of as safe from sexual predators but obviously that's a hopeful misconception.
Shame that it's a few bad apples that spoil the whole bunch. Things like this are only going to reinforce Nintendo's friend codes BS even if it didn't happen on their console @_@
I don't think the fact that it was Call of Duty really matters here. This type of thing could have happened over any game with online functionality, even something targeted at young kids like Neopets or something rated E. Additionally I don't think it's fair to completely blame the parents here either. Sure they should be monitoring what their kids are doing, but that's how they found out about this anyway, by checking the numbers he had been texting. It's not fair to expect parents to check over everything their kids are doing every time they're online, especially considering how many ways there are to interact with people online. The only thing I think they could have done better was maybe educate their kid a bit more on the dangers of internet usage, but beyond that there isn't much else they could do in this situation. I do feel bad for the kid and it sucks it had to happen, but ultimately the blame should be placed on the guy who took advantage of him, not his parents.
But neopets is a game/site aimed at young children, with moderatords who keep an eye out for predators. MW2 was rated 18+, two warnings that you have to confirm come up when you first start the game and it made international news over the brutal airport level, it can't be played on family settings on xbl and it's definately not aimed for kids. There is absolutely no reason that sound minded parents would buy their child a game like MW2. If they had family settings on xbl the kid could of never been in that situation. Only confirmed friends could message him, he wouldn't be able to play MW2 online and his parents could keep a sterner eye on what he was up to. It's outright lax parenting and bone idleness
