Recently, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has revealed that terrorist groups are using online games to groom children into committing acts of violence, such as mass shootings or burning down schools.

These are foreign groups, according to the PNP, which makes it challenging to go after them. Perhaps, what we can do now is to explore why and how children are groomed while playing videogames.

The named game that is used as a vehicle for grooming children is Roblox. But other games are used as vehicles as well, such as Minecraft, and more aggressive games such as Fortnite, Valorant, and other similar titles. If it is a massively popular online game with a massive community, it is safe to assume that it is being used by groomers.

One thing these games all share in common is the open communication among players. The grooming process doesn’t start with some random person screaming for recruitment. Grooming is a long and arduous process.

We describe grooming as a process in building trust with someone who is vulnerable, be it child or adult, for the purpose of manipulating, abusing, and exploiting them.

It is also crucial to consider that young people are constantly seeking self-discovery and validation, and there could be some who have been missing them in their lives, which is exactly what groomers are looking for.

A groomer will be constantly on the lookout for people they can groom. In the case of online games, it can start with a simple giving away a free item to make them happy. It can be complimenting on their skills or creation within the game. The groomer would leverage on this, pretending to share interests. For the child, this means nothing. All they know, they are making friends. This isn’t a flaw in a system in itself, it is the corruption of something wholesome.

Once a certain level of trust is established, the groomer will try to lure the child to a third-party communication platform, where unmoderated messages can take place, such as Telegram and Discord. Here topics of discussion can go anywhere. Some are sexually exploited. Others are exposed to extreme levels of violence.

Again, none of this is sudden. Grooming will take time. In cases of violence for instance, it will begin with “shocking” matters, gradually scaling the level of violence upwards, until the child is desensitized by it all.

In high-octane games, groomers use the player’s anger, validating their anger, raising other topics to escalation, redirecting that anger elsewhere, such as a school. They then can broach other topics related to society, which will lead to steps of radicalization.

Whatever the method, the first step is often about “befriending” the child, teen, or young adult. It is all about validating them, praising them, making them feel one-of-a-kind, building a “special bond” with the sole purpose in becoming their top and secret confidant.

Groomers will do whatever it takes for their victims to like them, because it increases the chances that they will do what the groomer says.

In short, grooming is about manipulating the child’s, teen’s, or an adult’s psychology and emotions. This is a highly complex topic and there is so much more to it. But this is the gist of it.

Given that most of these groups are foreign, the PNP and their Anti-Cybercrime Group, and the CICC are facing insurmountable challenges. So, what can we do?

It is recommended to keep open communications and activities of children. Understanding the games they are playing and the people they are playing with. Being online and interactions limited in chat are not nothing. They are like open wounds, susceptible to infections. It is also crucial to consider establishing a safe space for children and teens, reserving judgment, to prevent them from withdrawing.

If you want to learn more about how grooming happens, I found this resource to be helpful, and you can check it out yourself.

Roblox themselves have a number of child safety features. However, they have been criticized that is not enough and should do more. In the Philippines, Roblox was almost banned, which has been addressed when they presented their updated safety features to include age-based accounts and improved parental controls.