Maybe the question should be asked (and it was by Eric Krangel at SAI): should something be done about pervy dudes who ruin things for any woman who gets on the web? Especially in virtual worlds?

Well, Sony has taken the step to monitor and censor some of the content being brought by certain members of its PS3 online community. And it looks like a good idea, considering how rotten some of these users have gotten.

Listen, I was once a 15 year old boy during the heyday of AOL, back when there were 23 person chat rooms and instant messaging. So I have some understanding of how easy it is to be more–shall we say–forward, when we’re online. And for shy kids, sometimes it’s the only way to feel like part of the larger group.

But, that said, would any female gamer in her right mind sign up to Sony Virtual Home for an authentic experience unless parameters were set? Perhaps there are a few women who have fun with it, and perhaps some of them are dudes who want some attention, but is it fair that female gamers have to be harassed continually online? Should they pretend to be men?

Censor away, I say.

Video via Krangel at SAI.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 12:30 amand is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.