I wonder how parents get in this situation if they're supposed to monitor what games they're buying their children. Would lead to less hassle if they actually get the games that's age appropriate for their children

Parents should definitely keep an eye on their kids, and properly teach them at least basic street smarts.

Also keep in mind, no opinion is wrong! =p

There are plenty of people falsely marked as sex offenders, and even to those that are it doesnt seem fair to just ban them, isnt that against their rights or something?

yeah fundamental problem with a black and white system :V.

I kinda understand parents worries.... but really? They try to ban them from so much, especially entertainment and such. If a sexual offender who has served their time (be it that they've learned their lesson or not) is taken away things that they too enjoy (gaming, concerts, movies, themeparks, etc) it doesn't deter them from relapsing- but often quite the opposite. It's like someone quitting a habit, if they don't keep their minds occupied on other things and happy with the way their lives are - they're less likely to let their minds wonder back.

if they keep their minds*

they aren't trying to keep the predators from predatoring but keep the children safe. but yeah I don't think this is the way to go about it. maybe required to have monitoring.

Uhm...sexual predation relapse has nothing to do with access to other outlets. While we may think that giving them other distractions might deter them from a relapse, sexual/power impulses like that aren't deterred by hobby denial. Infact, putting them in a situation where they have easier access to children/women or their information makes the impulses harder to resist. Why do you think so many child sex offenders are banned from living so close to schools?

It certainly has something to do with it. I just didn't say it was the cause of relapse.

So, if you had a deep, driving impulse (that you've already satisfied, being on a list and all) to do something, would 'distractions' stop you from ever doing it again or just increase your frustration levels or make you miss it more?

You may also want to consider most games focus on objectification of women and glorification of violence. Not all, of course, but many. How does a distraction that involves fantasy, violence and women in skimpy outfits and being able to chat with kids/women/etc effectively distract from violent, sexual impulses? Most predators act OUT their fantasies, thus getting them in trouble with the rest of society.

I'm really not going to have this argument/discussion with you. Sorry.

FYI: Sexual offenders are not all predators.

Personal responsibility? Whats that? Everybody knows the government needs to be responsible FOR you!!!!

Common Sense is so last generation.

... wha tha faaa?! That's ... totally fucking irresponsible. Completely fucking pushing it! Wow!

I don't even care that parents are suppose to be responsible for their children, that's a complete violation of due process.

especially for the grey area and technical cases :V

Especially for sex offenders not related to rape and/or minors.

I could definitely see banning sex offenders who committed those crimes online through these services. But just banning them for being a sex offender? I'm almost certain that's going to find it's way back in court. It's probably violating someone's ToS agreement or something.

I'm not standing up for sex offenders or anything, don't get me wrong here.

But god damn, what? With DRM working the way it does these days I can't see this lasting long. Someone's going to get outraged over not being able to play a 60 dollar game because they can't register it or something. And ultimately, what are Sony or Microsoft going to say in court?
"He's a sex offender, so we banned him."
"Okay, and what rule did he break while using your service?"
"Uhhhhhhh...."

It sounds like some really sloppy PR on the behalf of both Sony and Microsoft. Someone definitely wanted to catch this shit as quick as possible before the media had another video game cyber crime flip-out about some stupid asshole who harassed a kid online.


And I wholeheartedly agree about the parental portion of this. At what point do parents start acting like parents? If you take your kid to a park and then walk away and completely ignore them for 3 hours, then come back to find they're missing, you need to shoulder some of that fucking weight. Yes it's a tragedy, and yes majority blame on whoever took them (obviously), but it's something that could have been avoided if you were acting like a god damn responsible adult with your children. It's like we live in a society where we don't even bother teaching these people to think critically, and it cripples them mentally in the long run, and it cripples society as a result. We no longer expect parents to be parents, we expect corporations and products to be the parents. Fuck.

Sorry for ranting in your comments, man.

It's sorta stupid, parents want to protect kids from sex offenders
yet they dont protect them from extreme violence and such.

The sheer hypocrisy of it all, it's just bull.
The fact that they end up talking to these people is the parents fault.

parents do have to take some responsibilty, especially for the games that their kids play. that is completely under their control, or at least it is to make sure that their kids have age appropriate games.

Parents aren't an entity that can watch their children 24/7. They aren't immortal or all-seeing, if people want to hide things they will - kids especially. Yes, parents bear responsibility for the moral and ethical building blocks they teach their children. Yes, it is their responsibility, to a reasonable degree, to 'watch' their children. Children, and teens, and adults alike will do what they want. You're forgetting they have free will too. You're also forgetting sex offenders more often than not end up with that label because they EARNED it. I know we want to believe that there may be innocent souls on there, but to make an across-the-board judgement hinging on a 'maybe' or a small percentage is dangerous in this case.

Parents are VERY busy these days. Many parents are working 2 jobs, because the economy sucks balls and many businesses don't pay a living wage. Ie they have to work more to even support their child. Let's not even make that all their fault of 'breeding' or whatever judgmental attitude we could sling at them for things beyond their control. Parents also have to know a TON just to keep up with safety and control on what their child plays with, even if they try to talk to their child about stranger-danger (a method which is really outdated considering how the internet works!). Oh yeah and parents are people too. They make mistakes, being human and all like the rest of us. That is not to excuse responsibility, but to be realistic about this situation.

Sexual predators are just that - predators. They're not stupid, they don't just stumble upon someone stupid enough to talk to them. They don't send out psychic warning signs - many, many are not caught the first time or even second time they harm someone. They are often intelligent people who calculate and plan, so they can do what they 'need' to without getting caught. Many are not insane enough to be wild, blaring warning signs. Many practice how to groom victims, many using luring tactics that even the smartest of people don't catch the first few sentences of. To act like kids or Parents should know better says you know nothing of how sexual predation works (I mean really, just look up John Wayne Gacy - parents DROPPED THEIR KIDS OFF at his place thinking he was a real stand-up guy. Kids believed it too, till they were raped.).
You may think "oh well but if you let them do normal people things, they'll be more normal, right? Wrong....giving them easier access and more anonymity is asking for more trouble. Like the trouble that caused this to begin with. People come to conclusions like banning all sexual offenders for a reason - let's stop with the persecution complex.

Sexual predators are the hardest to 'cure'. Jail time often does NOTHING but the chance of building contacts. It often aggravates their impulses to satisfy themselves again. It's a condition, often enough, a mental imbalance. If you really wanted to reduce the extremely high turn-around (ie went back to jail for it again) rate of this type of crime, then push for more psychiatric help for inmates and rehabilitation plans that work on the underlying problem. Many times jail time once just teaches them how to hide what they do better.

Kids, teens, even adults - we're smart to a point. We hate to admit we're human and flawed and capable of making mistakes but that happens. Teens/tweens are hormonal, that's what they are. Kids can be rebellious. Sometimes they won't listen to "Don't talk to that person!" because it's away to test boundaries. Psychologically speaking, it's not horrible, but it can lead to bad situations. Like any decision.

At the end of the day, would you rather risk more folks being exposed to a higher risk of sexual abuse, or allowing everyone labelled as a sexual offender to play with the hope that a few were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for parents taking responsibility, why do you think this is an issue in the first place? A parent saw the danger and called in, that's why.

speaking of wich, could I add you to send you unapropiate material over a kid's game? if you use swapnote, 3136-6743-8030 is my code