Yet another online danger
As most parents know, the internet and social media is a minefield when it comes to protecting our children.
Today we report that an alert has been sent to Wearside parents about the dangers of an online game.
Headteachers at schools across Sunderland were issued with the warning, through the city council’s Sunderland Safeguarding Children Board, urging families to be on their guard against the game Doki Doki Literature Club.
The Manchester corn oner’ s office, which is investigating the death of a teenager, wanted to highlight its concerns to local authorities across the country.
The coroner contacted local authorities across the country, saying: “I believe the information is so concerning that this warrants my writing at this stage to make the local authorities aware of the issue so appropriate information can be disseminated.
“This has arisen due to the fact I am conducting the in quest into the death of a 15-year-oldboy who died earlier this year. Evidence obtained suggested he had used an online game called Doki Doki.”
Doki Doki Literature Club was developed in 2017 by game producers, Salvato, an disbelievedto have been downloaded more than two million times in the first four months.
Although at the very beginning the game states clearly it is ‘not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed’, initially the characters are cute female Japanes cartoon-type figures, which would appeal to youngsters.
Indeed the innocent-looking branding would easily pass a cursory inspection by a parent.
However, it turns into a psychological horror game with suicide as a main feature. It follows things such as mental health issues, voices in their head, selfharming, suicide and violent scenes such as one of the player’ s neck snapping.
So parents are once again urged to ensure what their children or looking at or playing online, but some responsibility must go with the makers of games with a dark side to make sure their products will not attract the wrong audience.