Anyone keeping tabs on platforms like Roblox should really take a good, hard look at MMOs—Final Fantasy XIV in particular. The modding and pseudo-Second Life scene in that game is basically an open invitation for creeps.
A couple of years ago, when I was playing FFXIV more regularly with my girlfriend and our guild, I "worked" as a bouncer at one of those in-game nightclubs. Why? 650k for any night I worked and my job consisted of me telling people to put up their minions. Easiest gil I ever made while working on my D&D campaign with that game windowed.
One of the regulars, a former employee no less, was exposed as a groomer. This guy, almost 30, was grooming a 15-year-old girl—gaslighting, manipulating, the whole works. Management’s big solution? A meeting. About 20 people crammed into a voice chat to "review evidence," which mostly consisted of Discord screenshots and in-game chat logs.
Turns out, the guy providing the evidence was just as bad. His messages to the girl were dripping with "nice guy" creep vibes: telling her how he would treat her better if he were her boyfriend and how the other guy was so wrong for what he did. Totally not predatory at all, right?
When I called out how disgusting all of this was, they basically acted like I was the weird one for caring. These people were more interested in hand-wringing over their friend, the groomer, and soaking in the drama than doing anything useful, like, I don’t know, reporting it to Discord or Square Enix (which I recommended). A few of them even left to join the groomer’s new social circle. Honest to god, it kind of surprised me how blasé everyone was about the whole thing.
After that night, I noped out of that cesspit entirely. That whole part of the FFXIV community is rotten to the core—just the same pack of faces bouncing between "clubs" and "events," enabling each other’s creepy behavior while pretending it’s all just fun and games.
Honestly, MMOs deserve way more scrutiny, but FFXIV’s social scene? Burn it to the ground. Those weebs are gross.
You might think pedophila / grooming was the worst part of what people use Roblox for, but you would be wrong.
The expanded story gets even worse as the child also received instruction on how to kill their step parents.
Florida woman used Roblox to instruct 10-year-old to kill infant by dropping him on floor, officials say.
A 2-month-old by was seriously injured when a 10-year-old girl dropped the baby on a tile floor, authorities in Florida said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who they allege instructed the child via the online video game Roblox on how to kill the infant.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Anyone keeping tabs on platforms like Roblox should really take a good, hard look at MMOs—Final Fantasy XIV in particular. The modding and pseudo-Second Life scene in that game is basically an open invitation for creeps. [ . . . ]
God, as the present resident FFXIV columnist, don't get me started. Especially with the recent narrowing of RP and the rise of modding...
I mean, shitty, annoying people have been around in MMOs as long as I can recall, but anyone with an excuse to make themself feel powerful and/or attractive will leverage it.
The reality is as parent you have to monitor everything your kids do online as it so easy to connect to others online either via typing in game, voice chat, discords.....people are deluding themselves if they think anything online is safe without supervision.
My 15 year old still think I'm being an old paranoid fuddy duddy as he still has to ask me and get my approval before even installing a game on his PC.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
You might think pedophila / grooming was the worst part of what people use Roblox for, but you would be wrong.
The expanded story gets even worse as the child also received instruction on how to kill their step parents.
Florida woman used Roblox to instruct 10-year-old to kill infant by dropping him on floor, officials say.
A 2-month-old by was seriously injured when a 10-year-old girl dropped the baby on a tile floor, authorities in Florida said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who they allege instructed the child via the online video game Roblox on how to kill the infant.
The reality is as parent you have to monitor everything your kids do online as it so easy to connect to others online either via typing in game, voice chat, discords.....people are deluding themselves if they think anything online is safe without supervision.
My 15 year old still think I'm being an old paranoid fuddy duddy as he still has to ask me and get my approval before even installing a game on his PC.
Agreed. I have a 15 and 13 year old and we have all of their devices locked down tight with restrictions and we manually surprise audit browser history and such. No social media accounts. Sounds draconian but in this world it's necessary. Anything they install or uninstall i get a real time notification.
You might think pedophila / grooming was the worst part of what people use Roblox for, but you would be wrong.
The expanded story gets even worse as the child also received instruction on how to kill their step parents.
Florida woman used Roblox to instruct 10-year-old to kill infant by dropping him on floor, officials say.
A 2-month-old by was seriously injured when a 10-year-old girl dropped the baby on a tile floor, authorities in Florida said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who they allege instructed the child via the online video game Roblox on how to kill the infant.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Anyone keeping tabs on platforms like Roblox should really take a good, hard look at MMOs—Final Fantasy XIV in particular. The modding and pseudo-Second Life scene in that game is basically an open invitation for creeps.
A couple of years ago, when I was playing FFXIV more regularly with my girlfriend and our guild, I "worked" as a bouncer at one of those in-game nightclubs. Why? 650k for any night I worked and my job consisted of me telling people to put up their minions. Easiest gil I ever made while working on my D&D campaign with that game windowed.
One of the regulars, a former employee no less, was exposed as a groomer. This guy, almost 30, was grooming a 15-year-old girl—gaslighting, manipulating, the whole works. Management’s big solution? A meeting. About 20 people crammed into a voice chat to "review evidence," which mostly consisted of Discord screenshots and in-game chat logs.
Turns out, the guy providing the evidence was just as bad. His messages to the girl were dripping with "nice guy" creep vibes: telling her how he would treat her better if he were her boyfriend and how the other guy was so wrong for what he did. Totally not predatory at all, right?
When I called out how disgusting all of this was, they basically acted like I was the weird one for caring. These people were more interested in hand-wringing over their friend, the groomer, and soaking in the drama than doing anything useful, like, I don’t know, reporting it to Discord or Square Enix (which I recommended). A few of them even left to join the groomer’s new social circle. Honest to god, it kind of surprised me how blasé everyone was about the whole thing.
After that night, I noped out of that cesspit entirely. That whole part of the FFXIV community is rotten to the core—just the same pack of faces bouncing between "clubs" and "events," enabling each other’s creepy behavior while pretending it’s all just fun and games.
Honestly, MMOs deserve way more scrutiny, but FFXIV’s social scene? Burn it to the ground. Those weebs are gross.
after 3 comments in , i'm convinced some of you might be trying to use these comments as an alibi or like yea "i never inhaled type defense" even though ALL Y'ALL were at the party
Comments
A couple of years ago, when I was playing FFXIV more regularly with my girlfriend and our guild, I "worked" as a bouncer at one of those in-game nightclubs. Why? 650k for any night I worked and my job consisted of me telling people to put up their minions. Easiest gil I ever made while working on my D&D campaign with that game windowed.
One of the regulars, a former employee no less, was exposed as a groomer. This guy, almost 30, was grooming a 15-year-old girl—gaslighting, manipulating, the whole works. Management’s big solution? A meeting. About 20 people crammed into a voice chat to "review evidence," which mostly consisted of Discord screenshots and in-game chat logs.
Turns out, the guy providing the evidence was just as bad. His messages to the girl were dripping with "nice guy" creep vibes: telling her how he would treat her better if he were her boyfriend and how the other guy was so wrong for what he did. Totally not predatory at all, right?
When I called out how disgusting all of this was, they basically acted like I was the weird one for caring. These people were more interested in hand-wringing over their friend, the groomer, and soaking in the drama than doing anything useful, like, I don’t know, reporting it to Discord or Square Enix (which I recommended). A few of them even left to join the groomer’s new social circle. Honest to god, it kind of surprised me how blasé everyone was about the whole thing.
After that night, I noped out of that cesspit entirely. That whole part of the FFXIV community is rotten to the core—just the same pack of faces bouncing between "clubs" and "events," enabling each other’s creepy behavior while pretending it’s all just fun and games.
Honestly, MMOs deserve way more scrutiny, but FFXIV’s social scene? Burn it to the ground. Those weebs are gross.
The expanded story gets even worse as the child also received instruction on how to kill their step parents.
Florida woman used Roblox to instruct 10-year-old to kill infant by dropping him on floor, officials say.
A 2-month-old by was seriously injured when a 10-year-old girl dropped the baby on a tile floor, authorities in Florida said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who they allege instructed the child via the online video game Roblox on how to kill the infant.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-woman-used-roblox-instruct-10-year-old-kill-infant-dropping-fl-rcna176615
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
God, as the present resident FFXIV columnist, don't get me started. Especially with the recent narrowing of RP and the rise of modding...
I mean, shitty, annoying people have been around in MMOs as long as I can recall, but anyone with an excuse to make themself feel powerful and/or attractive will leverage it.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Even if they communicated through Roblox, I don't think that is a situation where Roblox should be blamed.
Agreed. I have a 15 and 13 year old and we have all of their devices locked down tight with restrictions and we manually surprise audit browser history and such. No social media accounts. Sounds draconian but in this world it's necessary. Anything they install or uninstall i get a real time notification.
Wasn't discovered until years later, after her father had also killed himself 1.5 yrs later without never knowing why his daughter did it.
He was recently sentenced to prison, I would have recommended something a bit harsher.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Nice story, now go outside.