FTC: Hey, There's Adult Content In Virtual Worlds!
The FTC just now figured out there's explicit content in online, virtual worlds... even in kid-oriented realms.
Looks as though the Federal Trade Commission just figured out the obvious: online, virtual worlds--loved by millions of gamers and chatty web surfers--contain adult material. The FTC made its discovery known in a congressionally mandated report (pdf) unleashed yesterday, and claims that minors are exposed to violent and sexually explicit content within the virtual worlds.
While the first question to come to mind is why kids are jumping into virtual worlds designed for older gamers, the FTC said that adult-oriented content is appearing in virtual sites designed just for kids. The FTC also discovered that many virtual worlds built for teens and adults actually encourage--and even allow--kids to bypass the world's minimum requirements.
"It is far too easy for children and young teens to access explicit content in some of these virtual worlds," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "The time is ripe for these companies to grow up and implement better practices to protect kids."
The FTC said that it focused on 27 online worlds including the infamous Second Life, Gaia Online, Kaneva, Bots, Zwinktopia, and more. CNET adds that the FTC found 19 of the 27 virtual worlds providing at least one instance of sexually explicit or violent content. Five sites were found to be heavily loaded down with explicit content, four provided a modest amount, and ten had a low amount of explicit content.
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this is what our tax money is going to? these people are 10 years too late
True, but it's not like kids are to stupid to "bypass" whatever minuscule security measures parents implement to block porn on the family pc, that's if they even bother. Maybe they will discover that in another few years somehow using even more tax money to do so
Don't most virtual worlds require a credit card? I'm unfamiliar with most of the 100,000 free cookie cutter mmo's from Korea.
If I ever have kids, I sure hope congress does a better job of raising them.
I'd like to know the 5 that are heavily loaded please.
If you read the report, they spent 45 per world searching for adult material. How much adult material can you find with Google in 45 min? Lets face it, the internet is full of it.
And no, most virtual worlds are free to try, though you can spend money in them later if you want.
Glad my MMO (Eve Online) is outside the US. Fortunately most kids don't have the attention span to play it for longer than the trial period anyway.
I'd love to see how the FTC went about determining the "information" they accrued.
FTC_newb: "Is there any explicit content in this game"?
WoW_kiddie_1138: "f*** you, a******!, duel me now or you're a c*********"!
FTC_newb: "I see".
Get real, folks, there's a reason most if not all MMO's have printed on the box, "online content is not rated".
Yeah, FTC, please save us from ourselves again.
V-chip, anyone?
what no mention of utherverse.com or redlightcenter.com?
Talk about slow on the up-take. And ignoring the reality around what audiance the games are geared for.
Lame
I think they should crack down on television instead of internet...plenty of shows on between 6-9pm that features coarse language, sexual themes and other things.
After PTV (family guy), here comes P-Internet...
And sure as death FTC will be on it's tracks.
Lets keep protecting children from the real world for as long as we can. That way the will have little or no help in dealing with the world when they are let out of the womb of censorship. It baffles me how people have not associated the current state of affairs with this type of thinking (cause & effect are lost on many people).
breaking news, after using $20 mill in research, the FTC find out that PARENTS are buying the games for the kids! they have released a 100 page pdf on it.
There's a virtual world they missed, and it's FULL of adult-oriented material. Ok, it's more real than virtual, it's called Earth.
The FTC needs to do something to keep kids away from it.
If I have kids they will be banned from all this virtual life crap, whether it's explicit or not. Children need to be interacting in real life social situations with real people to avoid growing up socially inadequate.
Ok im sorry but what is it they need to protect your kids from? is this another one of those we need to shield our kids from life things? i mean it is a game and all but swearing violance and sex.. well when they come out of thier hole and discover this shit for the first time and mommy and daddy arent there to close thier eyes wtf are they going to do? i honestly feel sorry for kids with parents that shield them from things instead of educating them of life.
Yes, after 20 million dollars and a 3 years of study, The FTC has released a report about sex, drugs, violence in Virtual Worlds. They then shook each others hand, adjourned to the local tavern, had a few drinks, stepped outside and had a cigarette, and then a few of them met up later at the Best Western just outside the City Limits for a quickie, then ran home to their spouses.
There is more truth in that paragraph than fiction.
I thought the internet was a free marketplace, what business does the FTC have doing in there? I mean, if there are federal violations, surely the FBI and CIA are on top of it. Not to mention the FTC and FCC were not even put into place by the legislative branch, like they should have been, rather the executive branch simply created them, without any voter approval or representation by the public as the necessity for these entities to govern our freedom. God save America
I think they should crack down on television instead of internet...plenty of shows on between 6-9pm that features coarse language, sexual themes and other things.
They should keep their noses out period.
Please take your kids' computer away. I am tired of them spewing "adult" content all over my MMO.
Hey, it's like I said in a previous article... the FTC is a perfect example of another bloated government agency that no longer serves a useful purpose. Instead of protecting consumers from deceptive advertising, and unscrupulous companies manufacturing sub-standard products, they are doing crap like this and harassing the music and movie industries for their content. Since when did the mandate of the FTC become the regulation of morality for the nation's children?
I think the FTC and numerous other government agencies should be defunded and dissolved. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz would have to go on unemployment... he sure as hell couldn't get a real job.
"The time is ripe for these companies to grow up and implement better practices to protect kids."
Why the fuck do companies need to protect these kids. These companies are offering a service that may appeal to many adults. It's the job of the parents to keep their kids protected, not other companies.
As an adult that likes adult material may I please have the list of "EVIL" virtual worlds. Im getting tired of pretending to be 12 in goldshire.
My kids have been using some of the sites shown on this list: http://www.thecoolwebsites.com/coo [...] ites.html. They all look fairly safe to me, I am hoping.