"Do you have kik", "How old are you", "-insert sexual statement here-"
People shouldn't be able to ask this stuff so freely  

This is a problem that has persisted for as long as GraalOnline has existed on mobile platforms, and does not appear to be going away any time soon.

A while ago I ran a few investigations into users who ask for Kik for "chat" and there were some interesting results. Between 2011 to 2013, there was a decreasing trendline in male users asking girls for Kik explicitly requesting indecent images, however there was also a similar increase in apparent lesbian users asking girls for Kik to "chat" or "have fun" and "make friends". The number increase in the latter was roughly equal to the decrease of the former.

Using a spare account, I left the character idle in Graal City and received a dozen or so such invitations. Once a Kik username was exchanged, they wasted no time in making demands for nude photographs. Their intended targets are usually underaged teenagers and they appear to know that their actions are against the law.

Through making some small talk and attempting to divert the conversation topic, I was able to trace the personal details of the majority of such users down to their real names and locations. Unsurprisingly, 100% of the "lesbian" Kik users were males in disguise. When presented with this evidence and told that their actions were illegal, most of them used the excuse "I'm below the age of 18 so these laws don't apply to me, I'm not doing anything wrong" (most of them were below 18, a few were above), which is actually untrue, since they were still committing an offence. What was shocking was how some of them are already in relationships (through some background research, about half of them are) and yet they do this behind their girlfriends' backs, as well as their blatant disregard for the law and morality in general. Additionally there was evidence to suggest some of these users were collecting underaged nude images and then sharing them online, an act of child pornography.

If I kept an archive of all of these sex offenders' details and submitted them to law enforcement organisations, there would be enough evidence to successfully prosecute several dozens of them and keep them away from vulnerable children in the future.  

Posted by Midori

This is a problem that has persisted for as long as GraalOnline has existed on mobile platforms, and does not appear to be going away any time soon.

A while ago I ran a few investigations into users who ask for Kik for "chat" and there were some interesting results. Between 2011 to 2013, there was a decreasing trendline in male users asking girls for Kik explicitly requesting indecent images, however there was also a similar increase in apparent lesbian users asking girls for Kik to "chat" or "have fun" and "make friends". The number increase in the latter was roughly equal to the decrease of the former.

Using a spare account, I left the character idle in Graal City and received a dozen or so such invitations. Once a Kik username was exchanged, they wasted no time in making demands for nude photographs. Their intended targets are usually underaged teenagers and they appear to know that their actions are against the law.

Through making some small talk and attempting to divert the conversation topic, I was able to trace the personal details of the majority of such users down to their real names and locations. Unsurprisingly, 100% of the "lesbian" Kik users were males in disguise. When presented with this evidence and told that their actions were illegal, most of them used the excuse "I'm below the age of 18 so these laws don't apply to me, I'm not doing anything wrong" (most of them were below 18, a few were above), which is actually untrue, since they were still committing an offence. What was shocking was how some of them are already in relationships (through some background research, about half of them are) and yet they do this behind their girlfriends' backs, as well as their blatant disregard for the law and morality in general. Additionally there was evidence to suggest some of these users were collecting underaged nude images and then sharing them online, an act of child pornography.

If I kept an archive of all of these sex offenders' details and submitted them to law enforcement organisations, there would be enough evidence to successfully prosecute several dozens of them and keep them away from vulnerable children in the future.

Great reply  

Posted by Midori

This is a problem that has persisted for as long as GraalOnline has existed on mobile platforms, and does not appear to be going away any time soon.

A while ago I ran a few investigations into users who ask for Kik for "chat" and there were some interesting results. Between 2011 to 2013, there was a decreasing trendline in male users asking girls for Kik explicitly requesting indecent images, however there was also a similar increase in apparent lesbian users asking girls for Kik to "chat" or "have fun" and "make friends". The number increase in the latter was roughly equal to the decrease of the former.

Using a spare account, I left the character idle in Graal City and received a dozen or so such invitations. Once a Kik username was exchanged, they wasted no time in making demands for nude photographs. Their intended targets are usually underaged teenagers and they appear to know that their actions are against the law.

Through making some small talk and attempting to divert the conversation topic, I was able to trace the personal details of the majority of such users down to their real names and locations. Unsurprisingly, 100% of the "lesbian" Kik users were males in disguise. When presented with this evidence and told that their actions were illegal, most of them used the excuse "I'm below the age of 18 so these laws don't apply to me, I'm not doing anything wrong" (most of them were below 18, a few were above), which is actually untrue, since they were still committing an offence. What was shocking was how some of them are already in relationships (through some background research, about half of them are) and yet they do this behind their girlfriends' backs, as well as their blatant disregard for the law and morality in general. Additionally there was evidence to suggest some of these users were collecting underaged nude images and then sharing them online, an act of child pornography.

If I kept an archive of all of these sex offenders' details and submitted them to law enforcement organisations, there would be enough evidence to successfully prosecute several dozens of them and keep them away from vulnerable children in the future.

Can you pls be president?

On topic, I don't think Kik itself is a 'bad' thing. I use Kik a lot to chat with friends when I'm not on Graal or taking a break just so I stay in touch. The way it's used is what makes it portrayed as this awful thing. FFM ran into this same problem a few years ago I believe. Before Kik, we had FFM. Same thing happened. The scary thing, from what I heard, was they had this sort of underground porn trade industry. On Graal. Isn't that absurd? I never knew about this until FFM was off the AppStore from an old friend of mine who used to work on the staff team, and he was helping an officer or someone file charges on everyone. I never really found out what happened, nor do I know if such a thing still exists today. But you never know. You just gotta be aware of these things. It'd be nice to have someone pick of the torch again and help stop the spread of child pornography.  

Posted by Forydj

What do you think about people asking for Kik and snapchat too send explicit pictures? Post your opinion here. Personally I think it's wrong.

depends I guess. If a 10-12 year old does it is not as bad as a 18+ guy but thats just me. Not saying its ok for the 10 year old but im not going to look at him like some sicko. Graal used to have a bigger problem when people were able to put nude images on their furniture, they would show that in the actual server.  

I remember before guild picture reviews people would put a naked photo of someone from Graal as their guild logo then take a tower with it o-o.  

Posted by GOAT

depends I guess. If a 10-12 year old does it is not as bad as a 18+ guy but thats just me. Not saying its ok for the 10 year old but im not going to look at him like some sicko. Graal used to have a bigger problem when people were able to put nude images on their furniture, they would show that in the actual server.

I remember a friend saying he had something funny to show and his house was pretty much filled with porn /).-

Ah the "good" old days...  

Posted by iBubble

I remember a friend saying he had something funny to show and his house was pretty much filled with porn /).-

Ah the "good" old days...

Lol  

I believe it should be taken seriously. We should have people banning these people if they are 100% sure. It wiuld be a hastle though.

Luckily, this problem isnt as bad as 2010-2012. I remember the "peek rooms" for 20 bombs. It was everywhere. On furniture, on guilds, in statuses! It was a giant 18+ black market in a 8+ game! It has gotten so much better and i am happy for that.

Overall, i believe that it is a bad, but unpunishable crime on graal. Any1 could create a new account. Right now, we just need "scouts" to track down those who are getting the children, and report them. Those who are 18+ Are fine, as long as they are "chatting" with 18+  

Posted by HON3Y BADG3R

I believe it should be taken seriously. We should have people banning these people if they are 100% sure. It wiuld be a hastle though.

Luckily, this problem isnt as bad as 2010-2012. I remember the "peek rooms" for 20 bombs. It was everywhere. On furniture, on guilds, in statuses! It was a giant 18+ black market in a 8+ game! It has gotten so much better and i am happy for that.

Overall, i believe that it is a bad, but unpunishable crime on graal. Any1 could create a new account. Right now, we just need "scouts" to track down those who are getting the children, and report them. Those who are 18+ Are fine, as long as they are "chatting" with 18+

We were working on a system to counteract this problem, but things fell apart a little after the whole staff restructuring...  

back in the ol' rate gp days  

Posted by Sicx

back in the ol' rate gp days

I remember them.... Ah memories of men pretending to be girls and having the same picture and arguing it's them. Lol good times  

explicit chat context should be considered in this as well
I can think of two guilds off the top of my head, one active and one inactive, that would practically always have some sort of awkward sexual conversation going on if I ever had the tag on

this kind of discussion shouldn't be limited to male offenders either, because there are long-time female players in this community who are pretty beloved yet abuse their sexuality and constantly say sexual things to players and they get a pass (some of them well over the age of 21), but people seem to sweep it under the rug because they're female instead of male

IMO, the females are an even stranger case because they seem to do it strictly in a manipulative way to get certain things out of the game
I mean, if you're really going to spend 1000 hours towering because a girl showed you a picture and then gave you some SEXY CHAT then you're going to have some serious troubles when girls in the real world come after you

one of my best friends on this game is Sarah because you'd hardly even know she's a female while talking to her and she doesn't make a point of it or try to use her gender as if it's supposed to be some kind of an "advantage" or benefit to her in game, she's chill

I think it's pretty natural for people under the age of 18 to want to talk that way and share pictures due to curiosity
I think it's pretty natural for people over the age of 18 to want to talk that way and share pictures due to maturing and having certain desires
but when one crosses into the other, IDK, weird

I won't even send a picture of my face to people on this game who are under the age of 21 because I know how hateful certain parts of the community are and it'll come back around as some inappropriate rumor, when the reality is that there are people who do certain inappropriate things rather often and they are pretty liked and looked up to within the community  

Posted by Thallen

explicit chat context should be considered in this as well
I can think of two guilds off the top of my head, one active and one inactive, that would practically always have some sort of awkward sexual conversation going on if I ever had the tag on

this kind of discussion shouldn't be limited to male offenders either, because there are long-time female players in this community who are pretty beloved yet abuse their sexuality and constantly say sexual things to players and they get a pass (some of them well over the age of 21), but people seem to sweep it under the rug because they're female instead of male

IMO, the females are an even stranger case because they seem to do it strictly in a manipulative way to get certain things out of the game
I mean, if you're really going to spend 1000 hours towering because a girl showed you a picture and then gave you some SEXY CHAT then you're going to have some serious troubles when girls in the real world come after you

one of my best friends on this game is Sarah because you'd hardly even know she's a female while talking to her and she doesn't make a point of it or try to use her gender as if it's supposed to be some kind of an "advantage" or benefit to her in game, she's chill

I think it's pretty natural for people under the age of 18 to want to talk that way and share pictures due to curiosity
I think it's pretty natural for people over the age of 18 to want to talk that way and share pictures due to maturing and having certain desires
but when one crosses into the other, IDK, weird

I won't even send a picture of my face to people on this game who are under the age of 21 because I know how hateful certain parts of the community are and it'll come back around as some inappropriate rumor, when the reality is that there are people who do certain inappropriate things rather often and they are pretty liked and looked up to within the community

Do you mean the Sarah who says it hurts to breath in her status?  

no but that Sarah should probably seek medical help