Teen girl runs away to be with felon she met while playing WoW
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 30th 2007 at 10:15AM
There's a WoW-related story out of New Hampshire this week. A 15-year-old girl ran away from her home in Windham, NH to meet a 27-year-old Florida man she knew through WoW. The man also happened to be a convicted felon. Luckily, South Carolina police recovered the teenager, along with an adult male accomplice that had been instructed to bring her to Florida.
This has sparked a pretty interesting debate on the forums about sexual predators and WoW, and who's responsible for keeping kids safe online. No one's about to stick up for the creepy adult guy who hits on teen girls, but there's some argument about the relative fault of the girl ("15 is old enough to know better") and the parents ("who lets their teenage daughter spend hours alone on the computer?") Shockingly enough, no one mentions suing Blizzard ... at least not yet.
I don't know enough about this case to make any sweeping generalizations, but I will note that it makes me wonder if having young teenagers in guilds is a good idea. If, heaven forbid, anything happened to one of my guild's younger members, it's going to be really tough explaining our occasionally R-rated guild chat to the police. Then again, we also have a tank whose grade school-age children are guilded with us, and he seems to watch out for them.
What do you think about this story? How should we protect children in WoW?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jorane Mar 30th 2007 10:26AM
Why sue Blizzard? It's not their fault that the girl's parents weren't doing their jobs of *parenting*. Unless the girl had a job (which she must not have, given that the article said her only contacts outside of the home were online), her parents basically set her up for something like this: they bought the computer, bought a copy of WOW, paid recurring monthly charges for access, and allowed her enough time to get to know this guy (including planning the details of getting from New Hampshire to Florida).
Yes, the predator obviously needs to be punished, but IMHO, it was the parents who failed spectacularly here.
Sarah Mar 30th 2007 10:32AM
This is going to come up again and again on anything to do with the internet, people should start looking at it as a real place, would her parents have let her go to the mall by herself in a questionable neighborhood? Of course not (well, I hope not).
People are so quick to blame others when really the fault lies with them, there is nothing wrong with spnding time with your kid, even if they are the annoying teenage type.
The computer should be in a family place so that all activity can be monitored if needed. I don't say thy have to constantly look over her shoulder but if it were in a public room she would probably be reluctant to talk to strangers if mom was wandering by every few minutes. Take some personal responsibility, people!
mity Mar 30th 2007 10:35AM
u simply cant protect kids against themselves in an international/xstate virtual enviroment.
ofcourse, if Blizzard was sued, it might lead to segregated servers, based on age. 0-12 server, 12-15 server, and 15+.
but i wouldnt like to see it, as i doubt sexual predators would find wow a good "hunting ground" for their perversions.
any chatroom or meetingplace forum site having to do with dating or some such has alot more direct and in most cases, graphic descriptions that very young kids often try flirting with in an effort to push boundaries or create alternate identites.
our guild has mostly adults (+18) but we have a few mascots ofcourse, in the 14-15 bracket. we look out for them, and they are safe in our guildchat/enviroment, and any sleezy behavior would be met with a furious raid of its own. but ofcourse, the guildchat is R rated, very often...then again, when i was 14-15 yrs old, i was no lill angel, and profanities, or sexual statements amused me then too.
there is a huge gap between humorous commentary and sexual inuendo ( excuse spelling, not my native language)
Sarah Mar 30th 2007 10:40AM
Of course maybe the real question is how he convinced this 15 year old (albeit very stupid 15 year old) to visit a stranger half a country away...I bet he played a blood elf named legolas....
Seper Mar 30th 2007 10:57AM
The parents should roll toons with them if they are that young. I have made friends with LOTS of parents over my years of gaming. The parents are on to game with them and make sure the people they chat with are suitable. It also brings a nice parent child bond.
But since most parents think gaming is the devil (mine included). They stay away from it.
On the other hand.. the child needs some help if she thinks running away to some guy on WoW is a good thing to do. She is obviously having issues at home and that should be addressed.
Vereor Mar 30th 2007 10:55AM
This absolutly amazes me. Why has no one mentioned the obvious, that this girl is an IDIOT! If it wasn't someone she met on warcraft, it would have been the "oh so dreamy" guy she met at the mall who has the cool windowless van. What right-minded person is going to go through half a continent to hook up with someone they met on WOW? Especially a 15 year old girl? How can anyone who is capable of breathing on their own, not look at this situation and say, hmmm, this may be a bad idea... He wants me to not tell anyone where I am going, and drive to Florida. I bet he's going to give me CANDY!!!
Of course there are the parents, who have apparently sheltered her enough that she has no clue that there are bad people in the world. Bravo to them.
While i have nothing but contempt for the scumbags who prey on children, once you reach a certain level of stupid, I cease to feel bad for you, and start to feel contempt.
Karalyn Mar 30th 2007 11:30AM
We have a pretty much adult only, family friendly guild. But we do have one member who is 13 years old. That person's parents are also in the guild, and they play together a lot.
Maedhras Mar 30th 2007 10:56AM
Sarah: That was awesome.
Hooper Mar 30th 2007 11:00AM
As a soon to be father and a Guild leader, its all about parental controls. Same thing goes with MySpace: 15 year old prostitot puts up profile pics in bikinis and posts bulletins about sex and flirts with older guys.
There are plenty of smart 15 year old girls out there, I'm not talking about them. And yes the older guy is a bit of a perv, but it isn't even his main fault in this. Its parental controls.
Moral of the story: don't raise a whore. Never let your 15 year old daughter leave the house in something that looks like a stripper outfit. If your daughter shows these behaviors, monitor computer and phone use.
-Hooper
Hooper Mar 30th 2007 11:08AM
Actually, after reading the forum one poster can sum up my opinion:
"Nerf teenage girls IMO."
God bless you avatar of the horde.
-Hooper
Todd Mar 30th 2007 11:08AM
Fault should not be placed upon the parents. There's nothing wrong with letting anyone spend hours on a computer. The problem is the predator using mind games and psyche tricks to induce a level of safety and compulsion. The 15 year old girl obviously needs to some therapy if she can be swayed that easily.
Sylythn Mar 30th 2007 11:36AM
Having younger people in guilds is actually the best place for them - I'm surprised you'd think this was a source of issue. Even the worst of guilds form a comraderie, and the best of them form something akin to extended families. Guildies are going to watch out for each other...I certainly know if I caught wind of one of our young guildies going this route, I'd be either talking to them, our GM or their parents about the issue before it got to this point.
digitaldiva Mar 30th 2007 11:17AM
This is truly an issue of parenting as well. My husband and I both play WoW, along with our children and needless to say, there are ALOT of ignorant younger generation in the game, but where does the ignorance start? Obviously we KNOW that if you were face to face in real life with someone, you won't say some things that would be said in-game. So why do the children act this way in game and not in real life? Parental involvement! Most parents my age (I'm a young 33) that I, as a mother, talk with, do not know the slighest bit about what their children do in games like MMORPGs. In fact, alot of THEIR children, relate more to my husband and I rather than their own parents. While I don't mind being a good influence on the neighbors gaming children, I do find it irresponsible for a parent to not know what a child is doing in a game they have purchased for them (or allowed them to purchase). In most cases, parents usually don't comprehend that MMORPGs deal with REAL LIVE PEOPLE on the other end of the computer, they usually assume it is a GAME, and therefore there is no need to be "polite" either ... That's where the rudeness is inclined to escolate. When my husband and I game with our children, we tell them straight out "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all! And that includes TYPING it!" And since we are INVOLVED with our children's activities, we KNOW how to handle certain situations and how to respond to our children's questions. I'm not saying this girl's parents are BAD parents, I'm simply stating that if parents get involved more and LEARN about the game even if they don't participate, they can at least TALK to them about the advantages and disadvantages rather than saying "I'm not interested because I have NO idea!"
Superbeef Mar 30th 2007 11:22AM
@Todd
A predator isn't a Jedi.
Have you ever met a 15 year old girl? They run away on a daily basis. The internet has just given them new people to run to.
I think you should really reserve judgment on this guy, her parents and the girl until more facts come out. Remember, the story says the guy is a convicted felon, it DOES NOT specify what for. He could have been in for robbing a bank to give the money to orphans. You don't know.
Threecubed Mar 30th 2007 12:40PM
I'm personally not sure that more parental *control* would be better in this situation.
It's said her only contacts were online, she had either broke or was denied contact with local friends. It's natural to hastily grasp for an escape route when you feel you've been suffocated, and perhaps that's what the girl saw and lunged for.
There are many parents who are too controlling and don't befriend their children, whether it be just having small talk or spending time with them at all (parents rolling toons with their kids is a good way to be involved).
I grew up homeschooled, and in that setting you either love your parents and become best friends with them or start hating them for smothering you. Mayhaps a bit of both.
I think the parents forgot that their daughter was a person with feelings and desires and made her feel trapped. So, she had to escape.
She was the perfect target for a man such as Lenz.
Genius Jones Mar 30th 2007 5:08PM
We shouldn't have to be protecting children in WoW, PARENTS should be protecting their children in WoW. My god this is aggrivating.
Aurendar Mar 30th 2007 11:24AM
To Todd - "Fault should not be placed upon the parents. There's nothing wrong with letting anyone spend hours on a computer. The problem is the predator using mind games and psyche tricks to induce a level of safety and compulsion. The 15 year old girl obviously needs to some therapy if she can be swayed that easily."
AMEN! Yea, parents need to do a better job at monitoring what their children are exposed to on the Net but c'mon, everybody seems to want to lay the blame on the parents and not on the scum sucking dirtbag pedophile stalking her in the first place.
~~Aurendar
Karl Mar 30th 2007 11:34AM
@10 Todd,
Actually, yes, fault does lie with the parents. There is something wrong with allowing a 15-year old to play hours upon hours of WoW without knowing who he/she is talking to. The Internet offers the same capability to communicate with others as in any physical social environment. I can equate this to parents standing next to their kids in a mall and not knowing that they are talking to a 27 year old man who is sexually hitting on them...
I do feel that an average 15-year old should have the common sense to see through this, but I don't think that we are talking about an "average" 15-year old. It isn't my place to guess whether this girl was emotionally damaged by someone and is not a functional member of society, but I can venture to guess that perhaps she did not have that inviting of a home life and (like many teenagers) had a sense of insecurity that is easily manipulated. The parent's job in life is to protect their children and to assist them through the rough spots. Parents should prepare their kids by supporting them and helping them understand their environment as well as the people around them.
So, don't just summarily dismiss the parental upbringing as not being a part of why this girl did this. And, since parents are responsible ENTIRELY for children under their supervision, the fault does lie with them.
Karl Mar 30th 2007 11:47AM
I agreee with Sylythn about guilds being a good place for young adults to be. We monitor vent and although there is the occasional conversation between adults that can sometimes be considered Rated-R, it is never done in a Vent room with yonger members, nor is it allowed to get to the point where someone feels uncomfortable...and other members will speak up if that begins to happen.
I can't speak for all guilds, but I can say that ours is a safe place for kids and adults alike to play a game and not worry about some creepy 40-year old hitting on the teenager. As a parent, I would certainly make sure that if my child was playing WoW, they would be part of a guild that I monitored the chat conversations and Vent talk to the point I knew it was safe for them.
Ryan Carter Mar 30th 2007 11:49AM
The parents are to blame here. Also, I find kids in the game one of the sources of trade channel spam and much trouble in instances. The 13 year olds generally think they rule the world and try to tell superior lvld characters what to do, as if I haven't run the deadmines 1000 times and don't know anything. I wish blizz had an age limit that was a bit higher.