Could SL ever make you go this far?

Amen to that. It's time that we apply the same human rights to children that we grant to adults.

But it's not only physical "discipline" (=abuse). We should also do something about people who mess with the gullible minds of children and turn them into delusional, superstitious and religious copies of themselves.
It's quite hard to deconvert from a delusional world-view that has been imprinted and indoctrinated into one's mind from an early age. Some never manage to think rational again and live their whole lives with a damaged self-perception ("I'm a sinful worm, only my invisible 'soul' matters" and the dangerous notion that their physical lives are unimportant because they're in for something better afterwards.

People with the paranoid belief that there's an invisible devil out to get their soul, with unwitting servants in human shape, and a guy with a long white beard who keeps a checklist on their behaviour and might punish them for following their natural urges – those people were just as messed up during their childhood as a person who suffers from the consequences of physical abuse. Being raised in a paranoid state of mind is something that can never be completely repaired.

I'm not going to get into a huge arguement about whether or not internet/gaming addictions are diseases, though I will say for a long time my family thought I was. But I am perfectly fine with leaving games for lengthy periods of time, which I have, including SL.

What those two parents did was horrific, and an addiction isn't justified. They had to feed themselves, to keep playing. They couldn't take the extra time needed to feed their kids? Yeah, no. They probably have other mental and social problems outside of just being addicted to video games.

One of the things I like about SL, is how easy it is to step away from. I might spend hours in-world on a weekend, building or chatting, but there isn't any pressure to stay there. I don't like to be forced to sit at the computer the way some people feel they are with their gaming guilds expecting them to be there for the rest of the group to do whatever.

I like to "AFK" for coffee, or even just keep half an eye on SL while doing other things. It doesn't need my full attention, and that's something that differentiates it particularly from all those competitive games.

Absolutely! Internet gaming - in this case, a contributory cause of child neglect or an extreme form of self centredness? SL, MMORGs, Intenet etc, can be "addictive" - but this is a pseudo sort of addiction and nothing like that resulting from drug or alcohol dependency. Some people are more vulnerable to addictive behaviour traits for all sorts of reasons - but the most vulnerable of all are the infants who needed their parents care and protection.

Its the relevant part about escapism thats a diseases in human beings. Many things in life give us these if we 'choose' to take them, or are deemed required to maintain some form of hope/achievement.
So often with Internet related 'offences', it has become the new escape, the new way to ingnore failings in rl, the pressures, the dreams we always wanted. When they fail us, they are perhaps monumental enough, when added to rl failures or under achievements, that people are tipped over the edge.
Neglect of RL... well to different degrees, we all neglect something/someone to be on the internet playing out these fantasies.

Perhaps RL social intercourse has been swapped to using a keyboard or microphone? Shopping online swapped for actually interacting with other people?

This was never more exposed than in a recent sl related movie I watched, whereby a couple, married in both RL and SL, were actually playing out their real lives within sl for over 14 hours everyday, they went to parties, had sex, laid on the beach, dressed up a home and virtually every amenity of their desire, yet played not 3 feet from eachother in the same room. When they were shown as a RL couple, they seemed somewhat disfunctional and almost uneasy they actually had to speak verbally to eachother without using their keyboards or avatars.

The young couple in question on the posters link, were perhaps not too far from the couple I mentioned above, and as they had 2 children 11 months apart, indicates that the only part of the escapsim that is common between cases like this, was that the internet was involved. I remember video games, playstations, gameboys all being cited as 'diversities' to taking part in real life.

With the advent of VR coming closer everyday, and certainly on the minds/agendas of every 'futurist', will there come a time, when we see the same story, but the couple were immersed in a VR suits and their brains plugged into a super computer, where they slept, ate, had sex, shopped and even brought up a virtual family? At least RL children, perhaps won't become victims?

I've been trying for years to warn people about the evils of Tupperware, but no one would listen. Perhaps they will listen now.

Its so much easier to place the blame for your own actions upon external influences:

"I would never neglect my children... SL/EverQuest/WoW made me do it"

"I would never be that big of a jerk... I was drunk"

"I didn't mean to kill that woman... but she was trying to buy the last Fresh-As-Can-Be container set"

People of weak minds have been shrugging the blame for thier own actions since the beginning of time. It's not MMORPG's or alcohol or Tupperware that's to blame.

The things that makes me weep for humanity most is simply the more unsavoury aspects of basic Human Nature.

Nothing and nobody has the power to 'make' anybody go that far. Only the persons themselves have any power to get this wrapped up in whatever they are doing, to the point of starving their own children.

Had it not been SL, it would have been some other excuse.

Exactly!

The mindset of most of the world now is "it's not MY fault" and "someone else is to blame".

So few accept responsibilities for their own actions now days. Makes me sad to see fingers pointed at everyone BUT the one responsible.

When I was a guide for SOE, most of the responses I got when investigating griefers was "it wasn't me, my little brother was on my account". Damn scary how many people have little brothers who only get on a specific password/id secured program to cause grief, lol.

It is sad that some go so far into the addiction that others end up suffering. Yes, it will always happen as people are all different. Just a shame when help is ignored, or worse.

I fully agree. I also think there is a tendency for all kinds of abuse to be worse in families of this kind. When you have to appear righteous, it's impossible to ask for help or report any problems. The paranoid state of mind is paired with authoritarian attitudes that deny human worth, and justify selfishness in anyone with a little power over someone else.

To acknowledge human rights, you have to start by acknowledging that any human can have rights, but who can believe that a human has value, if they are so superstitious that they think humans are born evil?

I would agree with Some of what you say, and yet, The Withdrawl from Alchohol, like that from heroin, or Cigarettes Has a definate time frame, the Physical/Chemical dependance is broken after a term of Convelescence, HOWEVER, the psychological dependancy on Alchohol is among the strongest known, As any recovering Alchoholic will tell you, the Alchoholic Never gets over the desire, The Psychological Compulsion is with them for life. Whether this is an After effect of dependancy is debatable, But That is the End result, the BEGINNING is the same, the need, or the desire to ESCAPE What is it that says One person will Settle for a Galss of Wine Each day with Dinner, while the Other will eventually be Drinking Mouthwash, and Aftershave? There IS a Certain Psychological Disposition that drives the abuse. Some Compulsions Can be controlled, Some are more difficult, if not impossible to rein in. and whether one is Born with a Bit of bad Wiring, or whether Life has Damaged them in some Way the Compulsions exist.
It IS Possible that there will be recorded, a case of net addiction So severe that the Person Suffering it will need to eschew Ownership of Digital tech entirely in order to lead a Normal Life, if indeed in the early days of the 21st century in North America a life without any Digital toys can be Classified as normal.
How severe the compulsion is rests to a certain extent With the individual.
Have you Ever Seen an obsessive compulsive Trying to resist their compulsion? they Can become Physicaly Ill from doing so, the mental stress can be that severe. Do you ever become Mildly agitated or uneasy if you can't talk to friends on the net, or text message them, or do you Feel naked without your cell phone?
Whatever the compulsion, there IS something Chemical going on in your Cranium, Adrenaline, Endorphins, whatever, you DO form a Biochemical dependancy on things, and there Is Withdrawl. it just happens that the Toxic reaction of alchohol, heroin, Cocaine or Nicotine is more severe because the changes they wreak in your biochemistry are more radical than those of the chemicals produced by your own body. There is a Chemical Root there, but Psychology, and perhaps biochemical susceptability play a Big role in whether one becomes addicted, or How severe an addiction one faces, But it ends up being the same thing in the end.

Angel.

Angel.

Dearly Darlings,

Maneo and I could never have children so we have often borrowed others progeny to fill our parenting needs.

My dogs AND cats get a bath once a week, get their toenails does 4 times a week, get their teeth brushed daily...If I can find the time to get all this done and still be here in SL there is NO excuse of abuse. I hope you all have a lovely afternoon...I'm getting ready to watch TV with the floppy earred ones as Maneo is flying Home from NOLA. He hates to share the TV couch...but the wee ones deserve it!

Ever Yours,

Mrs. Showdog Tiger