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Roblox[*] blames 'gang rape' on hacker adding code to game
A popular children's video game has blamed a virtual "gang rape" on a hack of its systems. Amber Petersen's seven-year-old daughter was playing Roblox, when [her online avatar] was attacked by two male characters staging violent sexual acts.
The firm said the incident was caused by an attack on one of its computer servers that has been dealt with. But experts have cautioned parents not to let young children play online without supervision. They warn it is unlikely this will be the last time such a hack occurs.
After Ms Petersen witnessed the attack on her family iPad, she posted screenshots and an account of the event on her Facebook page, detailing the experience. Ms Petersen said that when her daughter had asked what was happening on the screen, she had viewed a "horrific" scene of her child's avatar being sexually assaulted by two male characters. Towards the end of the incident, she said, a third, female character interfered by jumping on the victim's body.
The BBC understands that the hacker responsible managed to subvert the California-based company's cyber-protection systems, allowing them to upload code that changed the game's rules and made customised animations appear. Roblox previously confirmed that it had identified the account responsible and blocked it from its platform.
[*] From the company web site, Roblox:
Roblox is the best place to Imagine with Friends. With the largest user-generated online gaming platform, and over 15 million games created by users, Roblox is the #1 gaming site for kids and teens (comScore). Every day, virtual explorers come to Roblox to create adventures, play games, role play, and learn with their friends in a family-friendly, immersive, 3D environment.
A victim of dank memes? Or the powerful scripting system?
Original Facebook post. Also at TechCrunch and The Washington Post.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday July 20 2018, @05:12PM (6 children)
But experts have cautioned parents not to let young children play online without supervision.
Quite. It's not hard. The TV/Computer/Whatever is not a nanny. Do your fscking job and be a parent
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @07:49PM
As a parent, stuff is hard, it'd be nice to get a break once in a while.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by vux984 on Friday July 20 2018, @08:04PM
What the fuck does that smug bullshit even mean? "be a parent" ?
As a parent, my kids were allowed to play games, and lego, and cars/trucks, blocks, and read. And of course they were supervised while they were younger. But so what? Supervised means i know what's going on, i know what they are up to, supervised means I don't rely the game to raise them for me.
"Being a parent" means I'm around, and checking in regularly; and making sure i know where they are an what they are up to; even while giving them age appropriate amounts of time and space to explore on their own too.
It certainly doesn't mean I'm sitting there holding their hand the entire time, with my finger on the power switch ready to kill the power the second something happens.
So if they were in 2nd grade for example (age 7 as in the example), that's old enough that they can ask for permission to play 'club penguin' (i think it was at the time) and they can sit at the laptop at the kitchen table and do their thing while I'm doing mine; and if the game is hacked and suddenly the screens fills up with profanity, vulgarity, violence, and porn... my kids still going to see it at least for several seconds perhaps even a minute or two (expecially if there's no audio); until i either notice it or they call me and ask about it.
I'm not sure what difference you think "being a parent" would have made here; or why you think the parents in this situation "failed" at it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by qzm on Friday July 20 2018, @08:44PM (1 child)
Says the person who is obviously not a parent.
Supervision is not being a helicopter parent monitoring their every second of interaction.
We teach our children to be sensible, respectful, and think.
We give them examples of what is ok and what is not, and ask their thoughts on situations, to guide them.
We make sure they know we care about them and support them.
We punish them suitably when they need to learn a lesson.
We reward good behaviour.
We let them make mistakes, and they learn from them.
That is being a parent.
Not micro management
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @10:20PM
Would you let your kids play in a playground in a public park in a seedy part of town after dark? The fixtures all have "kid-safe" labels, sound good?
It's always night on the internet, just saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Score: 2) by splodus on Friday July 20 2018, @10:04PM (1 child)
I'm interested if you have view on this?
Would you say 'no internet' without supervision?
Would you like a filtered internet for children?
I've got small children - right now I don't supervise everything they do - and frankly, I'm a bit worried...
Eldest likes to do coding and stuff before bedtime - I don't check he's not actually on social media! He might be? Or if not now, maybe one day...
It's difficult to know what is the best thing to do. You want your kids to have freedom, but you have to protect them too, of course!
Honestly - I don't know what to do?
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:48AM
I would say - teach them that there are monsters online that will try to hurt their feelings if they can, and that they should (1) not take it to seriously so long as it's just online, (2) always feel free to talk to you about anything that shocks or confuses them (the corollary being you need to actually TALK with them about such things, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Actually, *especially* if so. If it makes *you* uncomfortable, then a child exposed to it will need your guidance more than ever. And (3) never meet anyone from online in real life, unless you say it's okay and go with them, because some monsters are really good at pretending to be your friend in order to get the chance to hurt you for real. There've always been wolves in the woods, and children have always had to learned basic self defense at a young age. That the woods are electronic, and the wolves walk on two legs.
As for the occasional nudity, profanity, sexuality, etc. is unlikely to do any damage unless you're keeping them criminally ignorant. For most of human history children weren't shielded from such things, and even today in several cultures it's quite common for children to start playing sexual games with each other at a very young age in mimicry of the adults. They'll be fine. Any sex or violence portrayed on screen may shock and confuse them, and they'll need your guidance, but think of it as a teaching moment for (3). Genuine videos of real graphic violence is probably some of the worst real damage that can be done online, and it may traumatize them for a while, but it's still "just TV" and kids are incredibly resilient. Most have probably seen at least a few horrific movie scenes they wish they could unsee before they reach 10.