Online games shut out US sex offenders

[semaphore]

That sucks. In the UK for instance it's usually only violent offenders with substantial sentences that gets ordered to sign the register for life, for less serious crimes/cautions its usually only a few years before it ends.

[Reeve]

Back by popular demand.

Woot! Thanks RICH.

[Whidbey]

I personally see this is an ineffective, waste of resources to handle something that doesn't need handled. Want your kid to be safe online? Simple, be a god damned parent.
That's what parental controls are for. That's what monitoring your kids online is for. That's called being a parent. People always say, "But how do I stop creeps online away from my pursuing my kids? " Don't let your child under 16 have facebook, myspace, and chat program accounts and spread personal information. Control how they are being exposed. Set chat settings in their games, some games like Wizard 101 and toontown do not allow minors to chat without a parents permission. Just get off your lazy a** and take responsibility for your kids, and stop relying on idiot lawmakers and game companies to solve it all for you.

Seriously this is like parents who complain about their kid getting kicked out of school multiple times for fighting and blaming the teachers for doing so. They aren't baby sitters and your kids should have been taught better by you. Neither are the cops or game companies responsible to make sure your kids are safe. That is for you to do.

[yetgdhfgh]

Back by popular demand.

Nice to see the old MOD logo back rich

[semaphore]

So because of momentary idiocy, those people should have to suffer the consequences the rest of their lives?

There really ought to be more restrictions on who gets put on the register, and less serious offenders ought not to be forced into lifelong registration in my opinion.

[Rukentuts]

So because of momentary idiocy, those people should have to suffer the consequences the rest of their lives? They already did their time, why is this so much worse than armed robbery that they should be restricted so heavily and identified as practically sub-human for the rest of their lives while the armed robber just serves his time and gets out?

Sex crimes pretty much file them in the category of "sub-human" to me.

[LilSaihah]

Can we get a subcategory of General Off-Topic called 'Bureaucracy Gone Mad!'? Makes up for half the posts in here, I swear.

[jbhasban]

It's not a breach of contract, as Blizzard owns the account and can do w/e the f they want with it.

Eh, you are right on the one hand. On the other hand, you could potentially win a suit against Blizzard for theft by false pretenses. It would be a hard suit to win and the damages would be the cost of the game ($15 now?) so no one would ever bring suit.

[Auloria]

There are definitely still some kinks to work out in the sex offender system. I feel a bit sad that people can't play online games, which is probably one of their only outlets, but for offenders who are going to specifically target and groom children, that makes sense.

So let me get this straight: they deleted the accounts of people who were obeying the law by informing the state of their online aliases? So these people, who have already been punished according to the law, now had accounts deleted simply because they reported they had accounts for games where children might interact with them.

I would support this if they found the offenders breaking parole or the terms of being registered by lying or not reporting that they have these accounts, but punishing them for doing the correct thing? This is a horrible idea.

I think private companies should have the right to decide whether they allow sex offenders or not, just like any private business can make a decision who to serve. Since the companies are agreeing enthusiastically with the program, that's fine. If the attorney general is bullying the companies, or if there is a specific law, that is wrong.

Probably a better approach is to have a "sex offender" marker on their alias. That more follows the spirit of the registry. :-D

[Reeve]

There really ought to be more restrictions on who gets put on the register, and less serious offenders ought not to be forced into lifelong registration in my opinion.

Right. I'm not against having a registrar and even having protective measures in place for some felons, but I don't think we should be throwing such a broad range of offenders into one bucket and them putting such harsh permanent restrictions on their lives regardless of the severity of their crimes.

[semaphore]

On the other hand, you could potentially win a suit against Blizzard for theft by false pretenses.

I don't see how you'd have any legal standing for that.

[dontcare]

Don't worry guys, the internet is safe. Now if we could extend the witch hunt to everywhere a child could possibly be taken advantage of! Luckily children don't go to movies, the grocery store, mcdonalds, or anywhere else. Wait, or omg, what about bring your son/daughter into work day? We should ban all convicted sex offenders from any work place or place that work could take you, that'll dull my pitchfork.

[Reeve]

Sex crimes pretty much file them in the category of "sub-human" to me.

Going to a bush to piss when drunk and realizing when the police arrest you that the bush was on a school campus doesn't say "sub-human" to me. It says, that person made a dumb mistake.

Having a crazy ex-girlfriend claim you raped her and getting convicted falsely doesn't say "sub-human" to me. It says miscarriage of justice. Bad enough that guy had to go to prison for it, but now he's screwed the rest of his life too?

[Rukentuts]

Going to a bush to piss when drunk and realizing when the police arrest you that the bush was on a school campus doesn't say "sub-human" to me. It says, that person made a dumb mistake.

Then to each his own.

[Doylez]

But that creepy old guy who thinks im a 13 year old girl is one of our best raiders

Thats a shame he will be missed LOL

The more interesting question here would be why do you pretend to be a 13y old girl :>

[Deleted]

There is already an MMO for sex offenders, it's called second life.

[traen]

So its against the law to play online computer games for you if you are suspected as sexual offender by us government?

But its not so bad. They can still play computer games ranked 18+! (Sex, Violence, Nudity, etc). That's basically the only games they can play now. Makes perfect sense

[Rukentuts]

So its against the law to play online computer games for you if you as suspected as sexual offender by us government?

Suspected != Convicted.

[Deleted]

Sex offenders should be on any list for a few years only, if you're one time offender that should be it. Even if it's a serious crime, if you don't repeat the anti-social behaviour you should be able to continue your life and play wow all day long if you so please.

[semaphore]

Going to a bush to piss when drunk and realizing when the police arrest you that the bush was on a school campus doesn't say "sub-human" to me. It says, that person made a dumb mistake.

Honestly even calling that a sex crime is ridiculous. There's no mens rea (and if no children even sees it, what's the harm?). It's just drunken stupidity.