I-Team 8 Investigation: Trash Talk

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Many times, parents are the last ones to know, the last ones to figure out who their kids are hanging out with.

And as I-Team 8 found out, many parents may not know their kids are playing video games online with total strangers and hearing profanity, racial slurs and perhaps hearing from predators.

"You can tell it's kind of hard for some of these kids to get on here and act like they have some sense," said Brian Mahone, a gamer.

Because the conversations are often laced with profanity, not just during game play. Shut the ---- up, b----! It happens when people are online waiting to play. I come back on some hardcore s---, you little b---- a-- n----!

What would parents think of some of this language?

"Probably wouldn't approve," said James Varga of Plainfield.

But, games are rated M for a reason. M stands for mature language.

"Yeah, usually a lot of four letter words, cause sometimes in Halo and any games where you have to kill someone, if they get killed they'll start swearing and after the match the other team will start trash talking the losing team," said Richard Cosgrove of Plainfield.

All the trash talk has one gamer fed up.

Adam Sessler said, "And don't give me that first amendment thing cause that's a crock of s---. What I want you to do is explain why you only choose to call people ugly racist and homophobic names to make yourself feel better and why you can't stop doing it and why this has become to endemic to the culture of online gaming."

XBox is planning a solution.

"That'll actually take broadcast audio and change it or filter it, or censor it. So the F-Bomb and all these four letter swear words will automatically be erased in real time," said Brent David of Mission Control Lan Gaming Center.

"As you can see, I spend entirely too much time working, I need to take off some more time and get better," said Brian.

Brian isn't just a gamer, he's a cop. He says there is more than just a problem with profanity.

"We know about the internet dangers, a lot of people don't know about the gaming dangers," said Major Brian Mahone of the Indianapolis Metro Police Department.

Think of online gaming like an online chat room where predators might try to trick your children with technology built into the game.

"You know if a game comes out that a lot of kids are into, an adult can alter their voice so they sound like a kid," said Brian.

"The parents should be involved in their kids' game play," said Brent. "With the new parental controls that are out with XBox Live, you can make it so you don't talk or hear anyone. Where you can play online just like anybody else, but they can't hear you and you can't hear them."

It's important for parents to know even if a child wears headphones while gaming, they can still turn up the volume on the TV and hear everything being said. They have the option to mute any other voices or set up the game system so their child only interacts with friends they know and trust.