Sep 4, 2007 6:45 pm US/Eastern
Expert: Children Use Cheating To Get Ahead Online
Online Networking & Gaming Sites Battling Increased Reports Of Kids Resorting To Beating The System
by Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Cheaters may never win, but it turns out at the very least they might be winning over your children online.
Thousands of young children are logging onto sites like "Club Penguin" and "Whyville" where members socialize and play games, but some experts are warning that many players are now teaching lessons that parents may not want their children learning.
Nick Mihaiu, 12, and his 10-year-old sister, Meghan, are quite fond of playing on Club Penguin, which they say is the favorite Web site. There they pick a penguin and then waddle around, chatting with other members. It's social networking for the younger set, where Nick says he meets buddies online.
Club Penguin is one of a handful of sites for kids usually ages 6- to 14-years-old. Members can chat, build virtual communities where they earn points to clothe and house their characters, and even get virtual jobs. Nick and Meghan's father, George Mihaiu, loves the environment.
"It's almost like their own little community, almost where they have an opportunity to interact with other kids so that they can learn to have some type of responsibility," George tells CBS 2.
But children may be learning more about life than their parents would like. For many players, cheating is now the name of the game.
"These are clearly unethical practices that no parent would want their kids to engage in," says Internet Safety Advocate Marian Merritt.
A quick Internet search pulls up plenty of information on how to cheat or hack into the games and steal points. Merritt says children are going to great lengths to get ahead.
"They're downloading applications, there are videos on YouTube even to show kids how to cheat, and there's situations where kids are actually paying kids in China and India to go online and play as them to get ahead," Merritt says.
One way to help prevent children from downloading programs is for parents to tell the kids that new software could be problematic, such as letting them know that downloading software that helps them cheat could spread a virus and destroy the computer.
Meanwhile, sites like Club Penguin are working feverishly to stop any kind of cheating from occurring. Keep in mind, these sites are parent approved and committed to making a safe, fun and interactive environment for kids on the Internet.
"We have a strong policy against hacking/cheating and various methods we use to catch users who are attempting this unacceptable behavior," says Karen Mason, a Club Penguin spokesperson.
While the sites are doing what they can to catch players "cheating" and even kick them off the site, experts say it's really up to the parents to teach their kids that in the end, it really doesn't pay to cheat.
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