The two apparently got to know each other through the computer game Fortnite. This is a so-called co-op survival shooter – the goal is to survive on an island for as long as possible.

Players shoot at each other, constantly having to be on guard against attacks. They can talk to each other in chat or via voice function.

“This is as close as perpetrators can get to children”.

For Julia von Weiler of the organization Innocence in Danger, “online games of this kind and social networks are an El Dorado for perpetrators because it is so easy to get into contact and also to intensify this contact in a manipulative way.”

In games, users team up, help each other, celebrate successes. That creates closeness, the expert explains. In analog life, you have to find other ways to create this kind of bond.

Many play with headphones, concentrating entirely on the voices of the other players. “I can’t get any closer to the children than that,” von Weiler assesses. This opens the door to “cybergrooming,” i.e., the initiation of sexual violence against minors on the Internet.

Real meeting leads to child abuse

To then also exchange in other social networks such as WhatsApp, is obvious for many perpetrators. “Now there is no escape. The perpetrators can contact the children away from play, flatter them, threaten them and manipulate them,” says the psychologist.

“Innocence in Danger” assumes that every second adolescent is contacted in a sexual way on the Internet. According to a study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, around 728,000 adults in Germany have sexual online contacts with children they do not know.

Surf tip: All news on the Corona pandemic can be found in the FOCUS Online news ticker.

What can parents do?

Adult people who play online games with children should not be condemned in general, however. “It can be weird for some, but not reprehensible. It becomes reprehensible when the adult gamer intends to hit a child or forces them to perform sexual acts on camera,” von Weiler said.

Clue could be close contact far beyond computer gaming. “For parents, it’s difficult. They have to make it clear to their children that there are insanely great people on the Internet, but on the other hand, there are also dangerous people out and about,” says the expert.

“Many don’t see the danger. After all, the child is at home and safe – even though he or she could be chatting with a suspected perpetrator right now.”

Online gaming: “Providers are sitting back”

He said it’s important for parents to be aware of their responsibilities – in both the analog and digital worlds. “If my child goes to a party, I also inquire, maybe talk to the parents and make agreements with my child.”

Parents should therefore get to grips with how such online games work, what the tone is like there, what other players are communicated with.

In addition, the psychologist also takes the operators of online games to task: “The providers lean back. Of course, they have no interest in children coming into contact with suspected offenders. But there is no concept for the protection of children and young people.”

“On the Internet, children are on their own”

An EU regulation requiring social network providers such as Google and Facebook to use software to search their services for relevant representations is planned but has not yet come into force.

In addition, the expert can imagine moderation in online games that prevents conversations in a sexual context. “When children and adults are in a climbing gym, for example, that is a protected space with supervision. On the Internet, children are on their own,” says von Weiler.

More on the Ayleen murder case:

The 14-year-old Ayleen from Gottenheim is dead. Her suspected killer is a 29-year-old man who was arrested in Frankfurt on Friday. At the moment, there are many unanswered questions in the case of the slain teenager – and frightening findings about the suspect.

After days of anxiety, there is sad certainty: the missing Ayleen (14) is dead. The police have arrested a suspect, it is said to be a previously convicted sex offender. All important news about the Ayleen case in the news ticker.