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The Hidden Predator: How Online Gaming Endangers Our Children

18 1
06.10.2025

The nightmare which befell a very close friend started with a formal sweet message to his 12-year-old daughter. She was playing a video game with a stranger and was winning. Suddenly, the first message popped up on the screen: “What a great player you are!” She replied with an innocent, “Thank you”. And thus started the chat, which engulfed the young lady and nearly ruined her.

It was the mother who noticed her addiction to the screen. That day, she just sat and observed the game. The name of the player her daughter was playing with was handsome dude. To her shock, the message which saved her daughter appeared on the screen (she later told us that it seemed like all life had seeped out of her and she was dead): “You are very beautiful. Especially your eyes. I want to see more of you so I can worship you, my dearest.”

Her daughter tried to cover it up as any teenager would do. But the lioness in the mother had awakened. She immediately called my friend, who rushed home. In his distress, he called me, and I reached their house. It seemed that the parents were having a heart attack. After calming them down, I started talking to the daughter.

After the first message, chatting started. The cyber-stalker started asking questions and leading the conversation. He/she started pressing her for pictures. Slowly, the bullying started. And then the threats came. After being repeatedly coaxed and threatened, the girl sent two pictures of her face. The cyberbully became bolder. The next demand was for explicit pictures. The girl did not know what to do. She talked to a couple of friends who also did not know what to do. She was afraid of talking to her parents as she knew that they would get very........

© The Friday Times