16 year-old girl stalked from WoW to her high school
by Amanda Miller 
Oct 24th 2007 at 6:10PM
In today's online world of MySpace and Facebook, the trend seems to be against what the media has been warning the public of for years. Don't mention your name, your school, your town; wait, I meant, please join the "School X" and "Town Y" social groups! No one wants to feel anxious about their online identity these days. We all want to connect, to play, to share information, to put ourselves on Youtube videos, post photos, and it has even become uncool to be antsy about meeting people you met online.
Unfortunately, regardless of what we'd like to believe, stalking still happens. A high school girl was recently approached at school by a man who crossed borders and travelled hours to find her.
For one 16 year-old girl, her long-time WoW guildmate began to stalk her. The female college student she had been hanging around with in a virtual world for months, chatting about fashion and parties, turned out to be a 20 year-old Canadian male.
She met him face-to-face when he showed up at her high school, claiming to be her guildmate's best friend. Armed with odd gifts like a set of his car keys and a The OC DVD box set, he showed her some photos of her guildie that she'd recognize, and asked her to lunch.
It became apparent very quickly that something was very wrong. His behavior was strange; he not only offered her a new laptop computer, but he also hung around the school parking lot for hours, claiming he didn't know how he would get back home.
Luckily, the girl and her friends had the presence of mind to inform school officials. The local deputy uncovered that although the man knew the woman, Vera, whose identity he had virtually assumed, she did not know that he had been posing as her, even using her photos, on both MySpace and WoW. In his car the police found several bottles of hard liquor.
Although I have read similar stories, this one has a bizarre ring to it, as if the man is perhaps more unstable and obsessed than downright predatory. One thing that really struck me was that he was only twenty years old, a detail I must have missed during my first read, and one that genuinely surprised me. That is an age where, if he had been struck by a drunk driver, or diagnosed with cancer, people would be referring to him as practically a kid.
For parents especially, this sort of thing is most definitely frightening. Although there are many precautionary steps that we can take online, there is only so much a parent can do to protect their children while giving them room to evolve, learn, make choices, and have independence. 24/7 monitoring simply isn't realistic.
On a side note, the author's portrayal of World of Warcraft is one of the most skewed I have come across in awhile. He claims that players, working in guild groups, are on a "never-ending quest to gather power" which struck an odd chord with me. I move my character through content, and try to upgrade my gear, master my skillset, and the like, but I have never viewed my progress in-game as an attempt to acquire power over others.
He also claims that "players can be fanatical in their pursuit of Warcraft gold", linking it to how we gain power. Personally, I feel that anyone who is fanatical about WoW gold is likely fanatical about stalking 16 year-old girls too. Of course, the real tip-off that the author has never even seen a WoW player or a copy of the game is that, according to him, news reports have shown that some players spend real money for WoW gold on eBay.
Feel free to comment on your reactions. I read it about four times and came out of it feeling a bit like someone had me in a fear + stun lock.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
anonymoose Oct 24th 2007 6:50PM
I don't want to be rude--but the above described situation is frightening, and the best you can close with is complaints that a journalist who isn't nerdy enough to play an online game didn't describe WoW correctly? Who cares if they got it wrong? Insisting that someone be an expert in WoW before they can be qualified to write about it for some local newspaper seems preposterous in the face of someone willing to travel to another country to continue a deception.
You've essentially trivialized any worthwhile topic you might have had about the need to protect ones personal identity, especially the identity of minors online. GG
monak Oct 24th 2007 6:49PM
wow, not to be rude, but this is a world of warcraft Blog, not an Online Privacy blog. Obviously this is more about the game than the situation itself. If you wish to express your views there, here is a link to one.
http://www.theprivacyblog.com/
vak Oct 24th 2007 6:52PM
further proof common sense parenting, isn't.
Ian Oct 24th 2007 6:54PM
that's pretty scary...seriously, i have friends on wow that yeah, i would like to meet some of the friends i have made on WoW/Guild Wars, all the while that people can take photos and family photos of people they know and pose as them, but its kind of hard to mask your voice like them too...then again if you dont know their family how can you know that either?
I made one realy good friend from western canada, im on the east coast, sure i'd like to meet him but im not willing to drive cross-country just to chill with someone i dont truely know,
ive seen stories like this before, and before you exchange myspace addresses or facebook, get them on vent, ts or skype first, make sure theyre voice sounds like their age (or in this case their sex), that can help, but when it comes to hometowns, true age and highschool, make sure to change them. with facebook just give them a limited profile, theres no reason why they should see your friends, your family and every drop of detail imagineable.
Justo Oct 24th 2007 6:54PM
wow, i think you 2 are just butt hurt because he didnt post uber l337 news about the 2.3 patch. it was a good read, although not shocking or suprising to me in the slightest. people are so out of touch with reality i dont see how anything can shock anyone.
Liu Oct 24th 2007 7:15PM
The above described situation IS frightening, but it's almost as if the journalist reporting was vilifying WoW and the people who play it. It's honestly never even crossed my mind that anyone who plays this game would ever engage in anything like stalking. It's good that they've brought this risk to light, but it's by no means typical of the average wow player in my opinion.
Crazy people follow all walks of life, that one played wow isn't surprising, but that he played wow and that he was nutty are mutually exclusive
Defoe Oct 24th 2007 6:59PM
I actually thought it was a reasonable article, with the exception of the sentence that included the phrase "the warcraft stalker". Aside from that it seemed factual and not terribly sensationalist as many of articles of this type are.
By far the most interesting thing is the guys age. Guys that young should not be doing stuff like that, and unfortunately I lack the experise in the psychology field to put into words why.
Epiny Oct 24th 2007 7:04PM
First off the portions of this article that relate to WoW are pretty accurate. MMO's by trade are never ending. I think the lust for gold is embeleshed a bit, but you can buy gold online.
Second, young girls need to be extra careful, typically target number 1.
My guild goes by first names while online, and we often hang IRL. Wont change what I do.
Liu Oct 24th 2007 7:16PM
The above described situation IS frightening, but it's almost as if the journalist reporting was vilifying WoW and the people who play it. It's honestly never even crossed my mind that anyone who plays this game would ever engage in anything like stalking. It's good that they've brought this risk to light, but it's by no means typical of the average wow player in my opinion.
Crazy people follow all walks of life, that one played wow isn't surprising, but that he played wow and that he was nutty are mutually exclusive
zygote Oct 24th 2007 7:17PM
What is with everyone and their dog complaining about what articles are on Wowinsider lately? I swear, almost every post I've read has comments about how this article wasn't appropriate, the author is stupid or why do they come to this site anymore.
As for whether a reporter should be criticized for getting details of the game wrong? It's not about being nerdy, it's about being credible. If we don't know we ask questions. It's what reporters are supposed to do.
He probably hit up a Web site and went from there. It's just a bit of lazy journalism — and a kind that's becoming a habit among the recent J-school grads — although he did a decent job on the narrative side.
And yes, it's a scary prospect, and a scary story. Scarier than the WoW side of the equation is the fact that there was this whole third-party girl who had her identity co-opted by this guy.
Lancedulac Oct 24th 2007 7:56PM
Unfortunately I have a female friend who plays WoW with my guild. She had this same problem and had to file a police report on someone. The person she filed the report on continued to make alts and stalk her further, she has since filed another report and discontinued playing WoW, even though she didn't want to. She had to for her own safety. The really sad part is that the person who did all this has his "guild mates" and online "friends" convinced that he did nothing wrong, and when I stood up for her, not only did they demean her and myself, but he has started sending alts after me. I find it pathetic and sad that someone has to do this. I am an adult male with a loving girlfriend and I think it's just wrong that people will not seperate reality from fiction. I truly feel sorry for those that buy his story and continue to let him do this. One day they too will have to face reality, I just hope it's not anything dangerous because they place their trust in a deranged person.
Green Oct 24th 2007 7:58PM
Yes, "I don't want to be rude, but watch me go!"
If you find a post inappropriate, there's the exit. Right at the upper right corner of your window.
outforprophets Oct 24th 2007 9:27PM
Here come all the internet badasses, telling people to close the window if people don't like reading the same thing they are. You guys can skip over comments you don't want to read just the same so go stroke your epeen elsewhere.
Anyway, the article was good. The creepiest part was that the man was the whole assuming an identity bit. The fact that he is 20 years old is a little odd - I think we're all expecting (IF we're even expecting this sort of thing to begin with) some weird middle aged guy. Maybe he thought it was okay since he was just 4 years older than the girl?
Wowdude Oct 24th 2007 10:04PM
If you think that "progressing through content" in WoW is NOT a "never-ending quest to gather power", then you are seriously kidding yourself.
I'm sure there are always exceptions, but I'd bet hard cash that if all the "phat purplez" were taken out of PvE content the vast majority of players would stop playing the PvE game.
You can call it "progressing" through content, or making your charaacter "better" but in the end it's all about the e-peen. And if you truly think otherwise, you are seriously disillusioned about the MMO you play, lol
jay Oct 24th 2007 10:14PM
Sick bastards like the one described in this article make my skin crawl.
Never mind getting all "elitest" on the journalists description of WoW, thats not the point.
The point is that there really are sick, perverted people out there that use and abuse a form of entertainment meant to be fun and social, to carry out questionable acts of harassment/stalking or what ever and in this case preying on a minor.
I see this as a good reminder to be mindful of the dangers that come with online activity, its easy to forget that while you may feel you have the experience to 'spot' this kind of behaviour, there are plenty of others out there that are new to the internet and what it has to offer and are unaware of the dangers, weather it be malicious identity theft or predatory.
I applaude wow insider for posting this article, its about time a dedicated wow website did so as it is connected to warcraft weather we like it or not, what I do suggest for next time though, is that a little more tact is used in the closing comments.
Deathlike Oct 24th 2007 10:33PM
Am I the only person who's heart goes out to the GUY? Alright, sure, this happens all the time with EVERYTHING; but disregard the fact that it was stalking over WoW. The guy is 20, the girl is 16. I'm 18, and I'm sure I know of relationships with more of a gap than that (hell, my grandfather was twenty or thirty years older than my grandmother, how'd we get away from that being normal?)
Also consider that they were talking to each other for NINE MONTHS before this occured.
He also gave her a lot of things; it kinda seemed like a "there's candy in my van" type-thing, but it's obvious that they were things she was interested in. And I mean, the alcohol? I'm a straight-edge and I still know that when they were talking about "partying in college" the 16-year-old was really just interested in all the booze.
So the REALLY creepy thing is that he'd never told her he was a guy. That was his big mistake. If it weren't for that and he'd actually explained who he was, though, think:
Could this have been another one of those "d'awwh" moments where people hook up over the internet and we're PROUD of the things that WoW's done?
Yeah, yeah, it's a double-edged sword, and one side's hella sharp. Flame me all you want. I'm a torch. Just some things that might make you stop and think before you grab your handy pitchfork to follow the mob outside.
jay Oct 24th 2007 11:36PM
@16
You start off by saying your heart goes out to the guy, who when you actually take a closer look, isn't really all that stable - he traveled across the Canadian border for 700 miles
Then you mentioned something about age gaps, thats not even an issue, he could have been, like you said 18 and done the same thing and its still strange.
Did you read the article about it besides this one posted on WoW Insider?, it mentions the gifts being described as 'strange', the fact the guy had large amounts of alcohol points towards possible intentions that I'm sure we can all imagine he had.
This guy was posing as female, and came up with a bullshit story about being sent there to drop off gifts.
I'm not posting this to have a dig at you mate, I'm just posting again because you seem to be torn between multiple scenario's with no clear conclusion.
outforprophets Oct 24th 2007 11:48PM
Actually Deathlike, the creepy thing is that pretended to be another person to her for 9 months, and when they actually met he lied again about his identity. I guess you missed this important fact:
"The local deputy uncovered that although the man knew the woman, Vera, whose identity he had virtually assumed, she did not know that he had been posing as her, even using her photos, on both MySpace and WoW."
About the gifts - though you may be right that she would be interested in it, and to use your example of "candy in the van," isn't that the point? I mean, kids presumably are interested in candy so that's the reason predators trick them with the lure of it. You know, because they are interested in it?
Plus, you start off by saying "but disregard the fact that it was stalking over WoW." That's exactly what we shouldn't be disregarding. It would be like disregarding the fact that you are allergic to peanuts when I offer you a peanut better jelly sandwich.
Stop trying so hard to not "follow the mob outside." It's great you want to be different and are thinking outside of the box, but you've got this situation ass backwards, torch boy.
Adefice Nov 2nd 2007 4:00PM
Well about the getting facts wrong crap...its junk like this that demonizes games. If anything bad in the world happens and a game's name is somehow attached, then you better believe the gamers are gonna want a *fair* representation.
Yes I feel the issue is the stalking and sure you can mention it happened in WoW, but at the very least the original reporter could have gotten her facts straight before depicting the game as a corrupting influence. This can only create paranoia in parents and this is what people like Jack Thompson thrives on.
plixer Oct 25th 2007 4:09AM
owned! :D
in all seriousness, this was pretty fucked up, yo.