Online sex game for children: sound comments from Kidscape

Papermint is a new online game for children which creates a cute virtual world in which children are encouraged to form "relationships", get pregnant and have a "paper baby". There is no lower age limit and no "date of birth" verification. Children playing in this virtual world are invited to set up a personal avatar and indicate whether or not they enjoy having sex.

Peter Bradley, deputy director of Kidscape is rightly concerned, and has done well to get several good points across in the Sun:
What on earth are they thinking? This website is irresponsible and of significant concern.

Even if this site were to be aimed at adults I would have concerns. But to think this can be accessed by any child - no matter what their age - is an outrage.

To encourage children to enable their avatar to have sex, become pregnant and then to talk about it to others is totally irresponsible.

This is not based on educational messages. It just encourages young people to have an inappropriate online lifestyle.

Kidscape also has concerns about communication between avatars - is the site moderated? If not, there are serious child protection concerns.
See: Kids web sex game slammed

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