FOX News offers up a heaping helping of anecdotal evidence to remind us all why we should be afraid of our friends while playing games online.

Massively multiplayer online games — or MMOGs, as they're called — can foster more vulnerability than there might be on other virtual meeting spaces such as dating and social networking sites, where participants are inclined to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior from the start.

"When you're in a social situation like that — playing a game, having fun — you're comfortable with the people you're playing with," said cyber-stalking victim Jayne Hitchcock, president of Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA). "People are just not very careful. They lose all sense of reality and themselves."

Such conditions can lead participants to be more trusting of each other and less cautious. Players tend to be focused not on meeting each other, finding a love connection or promoting themselves, but on getting through the game, working as a team and concocting strategies to win. The pressure to make a good impression and project a certain persona is off.

Read more here.

There are mentally unstable people who play MMOs??

More anti-MMO FUD from the FOX "news" network. Don't they ever get tired of making their viewers paranoid?

Concidering the millions of ways to have these kind of events occur, its interesting that they focus on 4 events that involve online games.  I think if we as a comunity could get the road toll down to 4 in 10 years people would be dancing on the street.  Because it involves computer games its news worthy - and if its news worthy you know its a random, rare and interesting event...(unlike the amount of people who die on the road each year)

Next they will be warning about pixilated pornography while allowing the web/news agents etc to be stocking endless supplies...

Fox is such a good news site ....

Mylin

I take your comments more as a biased editorial against Fox News than an accurate dipection of the article.

I read the same article and did not read any alarmist warning of doom. I saw a reminder to be cautious with strangers that you meet online.

The article calls for people to be smart and use good judgement, not to "be afraid, be very afraid".

Fox "News" is always great for a good laugh.

"We Report. You Decide"

I think what was really missing, was a good distinction between roleplayers, and casual players. Maybe I missed it, but one person said "They force you to pick an alter ego." I don't think there is any "forcing" involved

Video games are evil! Blame Columbine on Doom!

It's the same crap people have been saying for ages.

"Oh my, something terrible has happened."
"We need a scapegoat. Find something obscure."
"Look! He played Doom a lot! That HAS to be the reason he killed all those people!"
"Call the press! Call the press!"

We'd rather make up excuses and find scapegoats rather then deal with the unpleasant truths. There are bad people in the world, always have been, always will be. Sorry, it's true. The old saying "life's a b!tch and then you die"? Well, there is some truth to that. Anyone who looks outside their own little bubble once in a while can see that.

To try and stop these bad people, do you punish the rest of the people who haven't done anything wrong?

Blaming WoW or other online games for this kind of stuff is stupid. It's like blaming the telephone after a phone argument. "Stupid phone! Why did you let me say that?" Dumb.

They are blaming the medium instead of the cause. Cause = F'd up people Medium = MMOGs so the guilty party must be.... the MMOG? I mean, if the MMOG wasn't there the F'd up people would have never been able to stalk so and so etc. etc.

That's just stupid reasoning.

Truth is, watching FOX news is much more of a social danger then any MMOG could ever be.

Originally posted by murphys123

There are mentally unstable people who play MMOs??

Yes, there are. They're all around us, in every day life. 

<insert creepy music here>

---

Originally posted by Keogh


I take your comments more as a biased editorial against Fox News than an accurate dipection of the article.
I read the same article and did not read any alarmist warning of doom. I saw a reminder to be cautious with strangers that you meet online.
The article calls for people to be smart and use good judgement, not to "be afraid, be very afraid".

---

I might agree with you if this were the first report from them. However, it's not, and they are well known for making up or significantly altering stories to support their own political agenda. Stories regarding online gaming are no exception. Seems like every few weeks they come up with some new reason why the Internet should be locked down and monitored.

Fox can't be trusted.

Though FOX is a bit suspect as far as a news source, being "smart" when it comes to meeting people online is not.

Especially if you are a parent. One would think that this is common sense but the reality is that there are just a lot of dense parents out there. And, even if the parenting is good, that doesn't mean that the children are going to pay heed to their advice.

It is not stupid to be aware. It can be stupid to watch FOX news without an adult or someone to explain all the yellow journalism.

Originally posted by heerobya

Video games are evil! Blame Columbine on Doom!

It's the same crap people have been saying for ages.

"Oh my, something terrible has happened."
"We need a scapegoat. Find something obscure."
"Look! He played Doom a lot! That HAS to be the reason he killed all those people!"
"Call the press! Call the press!"

We'd rather make up excuses and find scapegoats rather then deal with the unpleasant truths. There are bad people in the world, always have been, always will be. Sorry, it's true. The old saying "life's a b!tch and then you die"? Well, there is some truth to that. Anyone who looks outside their own little bubble once in a while can see that.

To try and stop these bad people, do you punish the rest of the people who haven't done anything wrong?

Blaming WoW or other online games for this kind of stuff is stupid. It's like blaming the telephone after a phone argument. "Stupid phone! Why did you let me say that?" Dumb.

They are blaming the medium instead of the cause. Cause = F'd up people Medium = MMOGs so the guilty party must be.... the MMOG? I mean, if the MMOG wasn't there the F'd up people would have never been able to stalk so and so etc. etc.

That's just stupid reasoning.

Truth is, watching FOX news is much more of a social danger then any MMOG could ever be.

Immediantly after one of the school shootings, they were talking about how violent video games was the likely cause of the shooters problem. They were stating it like it had been a fact the day after, even though they had zero idea, or any reason to support this argument, and had no idea if he even played games at all.

I also recall during the boston adult swim bomb scare, they were trying to describe what Aqua Teen Hunger Force was, and at one point he guy in mid sentece gave up, and decided to simply call it a "A show for stoners" It was fantastic XD

Try actually reading the article for yourselves.

They don't BLAME MMOs or lump all online gammers in the criminal catagory.

The article points out that law enforcement sees MMOs no diffrent than any other internet meeting place that involves a crime.

Calm down people.

Ranting and acting paraniod only shows MMO gammers are all nuts.

Originally posted by Aethios

 

---

Originally posted by Keogh


I take your comments more as a biased editorial against Fox News than an accurate dipection of the article.
I read the same article and did not read any alarmist warning of doom. I saw a reminder to be cautious with strangers that you meet online.
The article calls for people to be smart and use good judgement, not to "be afraid, be very afraid".

---

 

I might agree with you if this were the first report from them. However, it's not, and they are well known for making up or significantly altering stories to support their own political agenda. Stories regarding online gaming are no exception. Seems like every few weeks they come up with some new reason why the Internet should be locked down and monitored.

Fox can't be trusted.

or another way to say this is, "OMG maybe there really is a wolf this time!  But probably not."  FOX's credibility is so bad at his point that even if they did suddenly engage in honest journalism it would be ignored by thinking people.

"Truth is, watching FOX news is much more of a social danger then any MMOG could ever be."

Agreed.

Originally posted by Keogh

 

Try actually reading the article for yourselves.

They don't BLAME MMOs or lump all online gammers in the criminal catagory.

The article points out that law enforcement sees MMOs no diffrent than any other internet meeting place that involves a crime.

Calm down people.

Ranting and acting paraniod only shows MMO gammers are all nuts.

 

I did read the article. I wouldn't have posted if I didn't. 

Fox News has always added their spin to everything they've ever reported. Take for instance when John Stewart was on the O'Reily Factor. He kept calling "The Daily Show" audience a bunch of stoned slackers, yet it was proven that the average Daily Show viewer was a college graduate, not a stoned slacker teen.

Or when the Fox news opinionist said that he didn't like Obama for president because his name sounds too much like Osama. 

Just blind, blatant political spin being added to everything that they do.

I'm sure the Christian Coalition was upset about something having to do with MMOGs, so they phoned President Bush and Fox News and told them to run a story about the dangers of MMOGs so that they could "preach" in their Zealotry Colliseums that MMOGs are evil and dangerous...

Again, it's shifting the blame from the guilty party to the medium they used. It's like blaming the car for a drunk driving accident instead of the drunk. "The car made me drive into that tree!"

Originally posted by heerobya

Video games are evil! Blame Columbine on Doom!

It's the same crap people have been saying for ages.

"Oh my, something terrible has happened."
"We need a scapegoat. Find something obscure."
"Look! He played Doom a lot! That HAS to be the reason he killed all those people!"
"Call the press! Call the press!"

We'd rather make up excuses and find scapegoats rather then deal with the unpleasant truths. There are bad people in the world, always have been, always will be. Sorry, it's true. The old saying "life's a b!tch and then you die"? Well, there is some truth to that. Anyone who looks outside their own little bubble once in a while can see that.

To try and stop these bad people, do you punish the rest of the people who haven't done anything wrong?

Blaming WoW or other online games for this kind of stuff is stupid. It's like blaming the telephone after a phone argument. "Stupid phone! Why did you let me say that?" Dumb.

They are blaming the medium instead of the cause. Cause = F'd up people Medium = MMOGs so the guilty party must be.... the MMOG? I mean, if the MMOG wasn't there the F'd up people would have never been able to stalk so and so etc. etc.

That's just stupid reasoning.

Truth is, watching FOX news is much more of a social danger then any MMOG could ever be.

It is naive to think violent video games do not have an impact on the people who play them to varying degrees. Do I think we shouldban violent video games?? No way they are fun...But, the argument alot of people make against a person's environment not having any influence in a person's life is disingeneous and foolish.

Originally posted by heerobya
 

Truth is, watching FOX news is much more of a social danger then any MMOG could ever be.

Quoted for truth.

dont give fox any attention.  their staff is incompotent, they dont know what they are talking about on any topic, including the time of day.

the best way to handle fox, is to stop paying attention.  when we do that, their advertisers, stop paying...

Reason #635374 to vote for Ron Paul

Originally posted by murphys123

It is naive to think violent video games have an impact on the people who play them to varying degrees. Do I think we shouldban violent video games?? No way they are fun...But, the argument alot of people make against a person's environment not having any influence in a person's life is disingeneous and foolish.

That is were a little thing called "attentive parenting" comes into play.

If your child cannot handle or distiguish the difference between a game and real life, then the parents need to step in and do something.

I mean, look at the recent tragedy at the mall in Colorado. The kids parent (maybe adopted parent) admitted to the kid showing her the gun the night before the shooting happened. She said "as soon as I saw the reports on TV I just knew so-and-so-cowardly-kid was involved."

COME ON. She had the power to stop it.

Bad parenting = 99% of all "problem children" who either do something stupid/terrible at a young age or grow up to be pedifiles and perverts, stalking kids over MMOGs...

It's nature and nurture. It's also cause and effect.

Originally posted by Szark

FOX News offers up a heaping helping of anecdotal evidence to remind us all why we should be afraid of our friends while playing games online.

Massively multiplayer online games — or MMOGs, as they're called — can foster more vulnerability than there might be on other virtual meeting spaces such as dating and social networking sites, where participants are inclined to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior from the start.

"When you're in a social situation like that — playing a game, having fun — you're comfortable with the people you're playing with," said cyber-stalking victim Jayne Hitchcock, president of Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA). "People are just not very careful. They lose all sense of reality and themselves."

Such conditions can lead participants to be more trusting of each other and less cautious. Players tend to be focused not on meeting each other, finding a love connection or promoting themselves, but on getting through the game, working as a team and concocting strategies to win. The pressure to make a good impression and project a certain persona is off.

Read more here.

i laughed when i read this. and just how many people at fox do you think play MMO's

edit: lol and they are targeting WoW... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no more explanation needed, yeah anyone who plays WoW is probably mentally instable. good find Fox

Originally posted by heerobya

 

Originally posted by murphys123

It is naive to think violent video games have an impact on the people who play them to varying degrees. Do I think we shouldban violent video games?? No way they are fun...But, the argument alot of people make against a person's environment not having any influence in a person's life is disingeneous and foolish.

 

That is were a little thing called "attentive parenting" comes into play.

If your child cannot handle or distiguish the difference between a game and real life, then the parents need to step in and do something.

I mean, look at the recent tragedy at the mall in Colorado. The kids parent (maybe adopted parent) admitted to the kid showing her the gun the night before the shooting happened. She said "as soon as I saw the reports on TV I just knew so-and-so-cowardly-kid was involved."

COME ON. She had the power to stop it.

Bad parenting = 99% of all "problem children" who either do something stupid/terrible at a young age or grow up to be pedifiles and perverts, stalking kids over MMOGs...

It's nature and nurture. It's also cause and effect.

I agree completley..which is why I think articles such as these are helpful to parents who may be otherwise oblivious to the un-policed world of MMOs...where people of any age interact in game and on voice chat. The fact is, there are 40 year old men mixed with 14 yeard old girls chatting it up etc.. Most parents are clueless to the potential (whoever obscure) risk.

What I find most shocking is that the article actually has quotes, reasons, statistics, etc. about the fact that gamers are smart, cautious, and unlikely to fall for this stuff.

Unfortunately they still spend most of the time talking about 8 cases that have happened in the last 5 years. I agree with a previous poster that if these types of statistics were related to just about anything else involving humans, there would be people estatic about how safe their lives and hobbies are.

Interesting read. For the number of subscribers that WoW has and that is the number of such instances that was able to be found makes it look like a possiblity of happening but not a great one. Seems like a little common sense and remembering that the other players are people would prevent some and people who are not the best suited to be with each other can't be stopped. People make bad decisions and the number of people playing games to the number of crimes listed here doesn't make it seem common.

I gotta say, it doesn't matter where these people go or what they do junk like this is bound to happen.

Someone who stabs someone over a virtual sword is just as likely to kill someone over repoing their car, or taking their promotion at work. 

Blaming mental disorders on a video game could just as easily be blamed on any other thing. I don't remember in WoW there being a part where you can beat and toss a baby around the room.

Although there are alot of sick people out there, thats primarily a parenting thing, but also a behavioral thing bound to them by society and their ability to make friends.  Friends help shape people about as much as the parents do.