Click to view What.... the.... hell?
Orlando's Channel Six news is reporting that pedophiles are offering "game points" in exchange for nude images of children sent through video games.
Well, reporting is a bit of an overstatement. They declare that in their headline and the first sentence of their "story" but never really explain what the hell they're going on about. In fact the entire story is a mess of quotes, misstatements and supposition that never gets around to actually explaining what the story is about.
There is, for instance, this quote:
"Kids are playing games, and they are being asked to take photos of themselves naked in order to get game points," state attorney Cybercrime Detective Lt. David Maurer said. "There is not only the chatting version of the games but also a webcam involved."
So this lieutenant with the Florida State Attorney's Office apparently thinks that some games (video games?) involve taking photo and sending them to some people (pedophiles?).
But then the lieutenant returns to the story a graph later to say that this is actually just one of his personal theories, as in not fact.
The story then mentions that the most popular games around are Halo 3, Call Of Duty, Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto. Wait does that mean you get points for sending naked pictures of yourself to pedophiles while playing Call of Duty or Halo 3?
Who knows, but the news channel quotes two parents who are "worried, scared." Don't worry, I'm right with you. I'm worried that whatever idiot who wrote this story might have actually broadcast it and I'm scared that this "reporter" might strike again.
I've emailed the station to try and get some actual fact, to see what they're on about. I'll update once and if I hear back. Feel free to email the station yourself if you're too impatient to wait to hear what they tell me.
'Video-Gaming' Child Predators Offering Points For Nude Photos [Local 6]