Virtual Reality

Sometimes it feels like the World is turning at a faster rate than before, almost everything we do has changed in one way or another in recent years. Television is now changing to digital only, Sky + has revolutionised the way many watch television, i pods and mp3 players have changed the way we listen to music and mobile phones have become a modern day necessity.

The internet has contributed more than most forms of media. Social networking, blogs, chat rooms and online gaming, all of which aim at getting people closer together than ever before.

However, we are all aware of the dangers of networking and socialising through the online community. We have all heard about the sexual predators in chat rooms and how the young and naive are preyed upon. We have also seen similar issues arise with social networking sites, such as Bebo, where police have been called into action over online bullying and promoting gang culture.

The internet is open to everyone and anyone, unfortunately that applies to all areas of society.

The gaming industry is a multi-billion pound industry that reaches all corners of the world, covers every age group and sex, from a 10 year old in China to a 47 year old business executive in London. There has always been issues with gaming, such as age certificates for specific games that have violent content, drug related content and even sexual content. However a new chapter of gaming has opened, it may have been in use for as much as 5 years, but we are now seeing a real influx in the popularity of gaming online. Playstation, X Box, and Wii all have online gaming networks.

These networks offer the opportunity for gamers to interact and participate in online gaming together and against one another. You have instant access to the internet and millions of fellow gamers looking for a more intense gaming experience. You can play against each other, message each other, even speak and use cameras to view one another.

In Barrie, Ontario, a 15 year old boy has been abducted through online gaming. The 15 year old boy like many his age, joined the online gaming craze, his game was Call of Duty 4, an extremely popular game with online players. His parents thought he was spending too much time playing, and confiscated his XBox and game. The boy has been missing for a total of eleven days, and this recent development has shook the local Barrie community as well as gamers world wide.

I spoke to Colten Topa, 17, a local Barrie gamer. He said. “I thought, how could this happen, it's not possible, and then you start thinking it could happen to you, it's nerve racking”. “It makes me feel a lot more cautious, I want to play a game with them (online gamers) for a while before I would even give my real name” “My parents have told me to be a lot more cautious and not to get personally involved with anyone online”.

This level of communication and interaction through a media form such as gaming puts the younger consumer in an extremely vulnerable position.

They could be playing a game with an individual twice their age as often as every single night. With the popularity growing and access being so easy, it was only a matter of time before someone used this for perverse purposes.

Regrettably this is the world we live in. Each avenue where the young and naive are exposed to such a large community with out proper monitoring and guidance must be analysed and all possible prevention policies must be implemented.

Parental control is a must. All parents must monitor what games are being played and who exactly are they being played with. play with the child,s so you can judge for yourself, if it is an appropriate atmosphere for a younger person to be involved in.

Parental guidance is only one step. The console giants Nintendo (Wii), Sony (Playstation 3) and Microsoft (X BOX) seem to be making little if no effort towards protecting its younger consumer. The signing on process may ask for your date of birth, but this seems nothing more than a formality, probably to aid market research more than the consumer. With the money being accumulated by the big three, some steps to make people aware would be helpful, especially for parents of children using their consoles. As the clich goes “if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is”.

Online gaming is the most exciting thing to happen to gaming since 1971 when Atari Inc brought us three moving digits, two rectangle, one square, resulting in ping pong! Times have changed since the ping pong days in more ways than one. Games are more complex, but then, so are the issues. The console giants must take responsibility for its online network and protect all of its consumers, but without proper policing and protection, it begs the question, who really is in control?