The Video Gaming Community and Pedophilia:
A grave amount of allegations of statutory rape, solicitation of child pornography, and sexual harassment of minors have been made in the past week against well-known players of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate video game. (1/22)

So what in the hell is going on in the gaming industry and why? We have all expressed to our children who play games online how to keep safe, and to make sure they are not giving out personal information or meeting up with other players. (2/22)

So how does this translate when underage children go to gaming tournaments? The gaming industry appears to be a sexualized industry and an easy breeding ground for pedophiles to groom their next victims. (3/22)

Here’s the sauce. So what happened in this situation is there are internet chat rooms that these Smash players can communicate in. Some of the rooms were a pedophiles breeding ground. (4/22)

In these rooms both male and female children were given compliments, and asked to send adults pictures of themselves. As they became more comfortable in the grooming of children they began to ask for sexual images and started sending these kids sexual images of themselves. (5/22)

The most shocking part is that this behavior has been documented over a period of five years because Super Smash Brothers has had several versions since 1999. I believe they have had five different versions. (6/22)

I also want you to understand that I am not blaming Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. I blame pedophiles that look for systems to lure in children. In the gaming industry, where online gaming occurs, you will have adults interacting with children. (7/22)

The reason why I am working with friends on highlighting what is happening in Super Smash Brothers, it’s because this game is typically marketed towards children but there are people in their 20s 30s and older that do play. (8/22)

Kids are on equal footing with adults at tournaments in in chats. Just this week there have been over 100 allegations of sexual misconduct towards children due to this game and the platforms available to both adults and children. (9/22)

Why am I talking about this? It‘s a parents responsibility to monitor what is happening with their children online. Predators often find a way in to connect with your child through the Internet. Gaming is a platform that attracts people from all walks of life and all ages.(10/22)

However in the climate of our society with many parents working it is very hard to monitor every single keystroke that occurs on a computer or gaming system. This opens up our children to be groomed by predators.(11/22)

We need to be making sure that we are having discussions about online safety and enforcing rules in order to keep them safe. My son does online gaming. I only allowed it at the age of 14 with other kids that were verified from his school. (12/22)

Now that he is 19, he can speak to whom he wants as an adult, but he still follows the practice of play with people that you know in real life. He follows this practice as he has heard of other friends being groomed whose parents were not as involved. (13/22)

Another question I have is where were the parents during these tournaments where you had children, teenagers? and adults all in areas exposed to one another and at times alone? (14/22)

“Research has shown that pornography can desensitize children to sexual behavior, thus making it easier for predators to groom children into sending child pornography and engaging in sexual acts.” (15/22)

I would also like to point out that it is not OK to blame the game manufacturers. They have the best intentions at heart and what people do to manipulate children through something that seems so innocent cannot be blamed on the company. (16/22)

Here is the official statement from Nintendo:
(17/22)

I am a gamer as well and I have seen some crazy things go down across many platforms. I want to bring this to your attention as parents. The most innocent of intentions can lead to crimes against your children. (18/22)

We buy them the gaming systems that they love, because we live them and want them to be happy. We do not expect predators to be waiting to hunt for them online. (19/22)

Whether your child is 9 or 19, please speak to them about the dangers of online predators, grooming, and pedophilia. Explain to them what red flags to look for and how to keep themselves safe. Over 100 allegations of sexual abuse were made in one gaming community. (20/22)

Now really sit down and think about how many different online gaming products there are, games available, and chat rooms or forums available for players. (21/22)

Our children are in danger. Please make sure that we are opening our eyes to this and not using technology as a babysitter. (22/22)