The article, at http://abcnews.go.com/...">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7009977&page=1]http://abcnews...., says that prosecutors:
Quote:... allege that the man, Anthony Scott Oshea of Somerset, Ky., persuaded an 11-year-old girl in Houston to e-mail nude pictures of herself from her PlayStation to his.
As for the PlayStation:
Quote:"People don't realize how the PlayStation is like a regular computer," said Eric Devlin, the Harris County, Texas, prosecutor who has been leading the case. The suspect, Devlin said, "threw his old computer out because he didn't need it."
Devlin said this is the first time his office has pursued a sex crime case involving a gaming console. ...
Regarding sexual predators and on-line games:
Quote:... As young people play more and more online games, predators join in -- and some are very good at using kids' lingo in gaming messages to sound friendly.
Regarding the extent of being "on-line" now:
Quote:The Texas case, said technologists, is an illustration of just how broadly the term "online" needs to be defined. People are now reachable by computer, cell phone, personal digital assistant, game console -- and the list goes on.
"We have long been concerned that game systems are increasingly connected to the Web and could be used to attack children," said Rob Enderle, a well-known technology analyst, in an e-mail to ABC News. "Many are chat-enabled and controls over what is said may be inadequate."
"This does highlight that parents need to monitor what their children do on these systems as they should any personal computer, because, increasingly they (and phones) are becoming personal computers," Enderle wrote.
This article is not directly related to excessive or compulsive gaming. However, I believe that kids spending a large amount of time on-line, especially without any parental overview, increases the chances of something like this happening because it often takes a lot of time and effort for these predators to win the confidence of the children and the predators are more likely to try that with those who are more active on-line.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)
However, I think it does indeed relate, quite relevantly. Thanks John for bringing this to our attention. More and more we will begin to see cell-based games become abused and over-used & quite probably mis-used, by both the victim and predetor alike. So many times I am witnessing scads of people utilizing their cell phones for activities not directly relating to a cell phonecall. I admit I have a game on my cell phone but it is out-dated and slow and cumbersome to manipulate. The most recent cell phones i have seen are 3 gig in power which is approaching the memory space to play a MMO. I would not hesitate to say that a MMO could be played on a cell platform in less than a year, if technology continues at its rampant rate of innovation & complexity.
"There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative." --W. Clement Stone
I heard that there already is an SL app for the I-Phone. God help us all!
Addicted to SL