WoW Cougar Arrested
A 16 year old boy in Ontario recently ran away from home for a few days to be with a 42 year old woman he met in World of Warcraft, whom he described as his soulmate. The boy lied about his age to the woman, telling her that he was actually 20 years old. The woman was married with four children.
Though they met on WoW, they had been talking mostly on MSN for the past year. The parents knew about the relationship (though the extent of their knowledge and approval is unknown) and monitored the kid's computer usage. The kid had a history of WoW addiction and had been to counseling and was now only allowed to play as a reward for good behavior.
Over the Christmas holiday, the woman traveled from Texas to Ontario to be with the kid. He asked his parents if he could meet her and they said no. But he snuck out at 2 am anyway and met up with her at a hotel. With the help of the local authorities the kid and woman were spotted within the next 2 days. The parents decided not to press charges, as the age of consent in Ontario is 16.
However, when she returned to Texas, she was charged with "two counts of online solicitation of a minor and one count of child enticement" as the age of consent in Texas is 17. She's currently in jail with bail is set at $310,000.
Both age of consent laws and international jurisdictions are complicated subjects, so I'm going to reserve comment on the legal aspects of this story. But in terms of morality and justice, this is one of the few instances of a news story about video games and crime where parental negligence doesn't seem to be a factor.
Sometimes people just act irrationally when they think they're in love. Online relationships can often be mesmerizing and addictive. Speaking from past experience, I know it's easy for hormonal teenagers to go overboard with online infatuation.
For our younger readers who may find themselves in similar situations, just remember that you don't really know a person until you've interacted with them in real life on a daily basis, even if you've spent years talking to them online. A person's online-self may seem worth making drastic real life changes for, but their real life self is going to invariably very different. Sometimes it's better to keep online relationships online, especially if their fruition could land one of you in jail.
Teen runs away to meet older WoW soulmate [WoW.com]
Bradamantium
Posted to Video Games on 7 January 2010
· Comments (9)
Other stuff like this: online safety, World of Warcraft, WoW
If he lied about his age to her then why was she convicted?
why the fluff is this stuff always from my province, we're getting a bad rep here!
>..>
-MC
How can you have different ages of consent in the same country?
I do not understand the American legal system at all.
Kane, from Wikipedia: The fifty American states are separate sovereigns with their own state constitutions, state governments, and state courts (including state supreme courts).[37] They retain plenary power to make laws covering anything not preempted by the federal Constitution, federal statutes, or international treaties ratified by the federal Senate.
In other words, the federal government is limited in its ability to mandate laws. The intent was to allow states the freedom to experiment and create the society they wanted with minor interference as long as the results were constitutionally grounded.
And Bronvices, she hasn't been convicted, merely charged. Also, Statutory rape is considered to occur whether or not the minor lied. Sounds asinine I know, but that's the law, such as it is...
What gets me is this: "With the help of the local authorities the kid and woman were spotted within the next 2 days." So: he ran away, he meets her, and, instead of asking questions when a 16yo shows up in place of her 20yo friend, she stays with him for 2 days? Sure, there are some pretty mature looking 16 year olds, but im still skeptical. Pics anyone? (i know, i know: people see what they want to see.) Anyways this is ignoring the moral and legal aspects because then i'll just turn this into a rant.
Btw Kane: Ontario is in Canada, not the US (though it wouldnt have made a difference as Aladin points out).
Wow... Well, If any state would find a way to awkwardly punish someone for sex and sexuality, Texas would be it. If she did solicit the kid and all that, then she's getting what she deserves. This is too messy and not enough really known about the nature of their communications prior to meeting to really pass judgement at this point though.
Putting aside this particular case, we hear stories similar to this a few times a year, whether it be WoW or some virtual environment or even just dating sites. Be smart people, as always, when it comes to dating and whatnot online. It's not magical, it's not better than meeting irl, it's just got a different set of rules, and as this article pointed out, online selves are kinda different than real world selves.
"Both age of consent laws and international jurisdictions are complicated subjects, so I'm going to reserve comment on the legal aspects of this story."
You just scored a thousand internet points in my book.
Well here's the thing.. did they roll Alliance characters? if so, give them both the chair.