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Games Entertainment

Addicted Gamers Succumb To Cybercafe Thefts 47

Posted by simoniker from the only-looking-at-the-shiny-graphics dept.
Thanks to the Hong Kong Standard for their story discussing a sharp rise in petty theft from Hong Kong video game centers, a statistic they blame on addicted gamers losing track of their real-life possessions in a gaming swirl. According to Connitta Chau, New Territories South Crime Prevention Officer, "Players are often distracted when they play video games. Many customers put their phones on tables or computers", making them prime targets for having items stolen. She further revealed that "Thieves sometimes talked victims into letting them borrow their mobile phones and simply walked away with the handset." Do players need a purse or handbag to put their valuables in, or is there no way to cure the distracted real-life state of an avid gamer?
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Addicted Gamers Succumb To Cybercafe Thefts More

Addicted Gamers Succumb To Cybercafe Thefts

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  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @03:29PM (#6601171)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • People are stupid

      I agree, although gamers in japan must be particularly stupid or trustworthy.. you'd never seen an American kid in a large city leave their cellphone sitting on a table out of view.

      • Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)

        by Captain Pedantic ( 531610 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:06PM (#6601339) Homepage
        I agree, although gamers in japan must be particularly stupid or trustworthy..

        Well, Americans must be pretty stupid if they think that Hong Kong is in Japan.

      • Re:heh (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Hong Kong, not Japan. The criminal trends are different between the two regions - theft in Japan is not a major problem, except when it comes to umbrellas on a rainy day, or small municipal/corporate property. Personal property in Japan is typically left alone.

    • Re:heh (Score:4, Insightful)

      by secolactico ( 519805 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @03:42PM (#6601243) Journal
      Yep. And so is this article.

      Do players need a purse or handbag to put their valuables in

      Where do they keep them when not gaming? Don't they have pockets? DO they walk around with the cell phone, wallet, pda, whatever in their hands?
      • I often see asian guys putting their cellphones on the table everywhere they go. I think it's just because they tend to buy shiny nokias and install bling bling such as transparent batteries and flashing keyboard that they don't keep their cellphones in their pockets. Gotta show off !

        • Re:heh (Score:1, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Really? I keep my mobile in my jacket pocket with the ringer shut off, so as not to let anyone know that I have a phone that they can ask to borrow (or steal, to be somewhat on-topic).

          Guess I'm not keeping up with what other Asians are doing. I'll leave that to you.
          • Well there's a suburb close to my city with a very very very high percentage of Asians, so whenever I hang out there I get to see blingish blingish cellphones, and cute Japanese chicks !
        • I often see asian guys putting their cellphones on the table everywhere they go.

          I see guys that are very definitely not asian that do this with all sorts of crap that should be in their pockets (ie wallet, keys, etc) and wonder how they get through a week without having it stolen (and, interestingly enough, they're usually the guys that can't find their stuff when they need to go home a few hours later). I'm not sure what it is, maybe some kind of phobia related to pockets, but it has nothing to do with
      • Ever tried playing DDR at the arcade with a mobile phone + associated ariel in your pocket? NOT recommended

    • Hmmmm.... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by goraknotsteve ( 648117 )
      Can't say I've ever worn my kilt to any LAN gaming, but the sporran is always a handy thing for keeping your phone/wallet/keys in. Being right up against your privates you would notice anyone trying to pick-pocket (or pick-sporran?) you. Gets round the fact that carrying a "man-bag" makes you look like a girl - anyone who says wearing what amounts to a skirt make you look even more like a girl will have a bunch of hairy-@rsed Scots to deal with!

  • Not anything new, really (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fehlschlag ( 543974 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @03:38PM (#6601226)
    Sadly, this is no different than being distracted at any event, e.g. concert, soccer, sleeping between connections at a train/bus station, ...

    The people that have their things stolen in such a manner have nothing to whine about if they don't take pay attention, or carelessly leave things lying about.

    On the bright side, there are still a number of people that make an effort to return stuff left in public buildings or transport (I know, different kind of carelessness, but same effect). I've run across a few in my history of folly, and can only applaude them.
    • Ah, the mindset of the sociopath:

      "If you aren't smart enough to protect your stuff you deserve to have me steal it..."

      Sorry, it's freaking *wrong* to steal, whether an item is carelessly placed or not.
      I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the parent post was moderated "insightful" by the /. gamer crowd.
      Go ahead, mod me to hell, doesn't make it right...
      • Your absolutely right! It is wrong to steal, and no one deserves to have their stuff stolen. Unfortunately, we still live in a society in which stealing is commonplace. It's been going on since long before our parents were a glimmer in our grandparents' eyes.

        However, we do have the knowledge that this is happening. And unless we have tons of cash to throw around to repurchase items we use on a regular basis (I certainly don't), we still need to look at ways to deter the stealing. One of the methods is to
  • It's European! </obSeinfeldQuote>

  • Prevention (Score:2, Interesting)

    by TripleA ( 232889 )
    I can think of many ways to prevent theft such as this. Put your phone on top of the monitor, you should see if someone is trying to take it from there. Or the cafes could have small drawers at the table for you to put your things in. No need for a lock, just put the drawer straight under the monitor, so you'd have to back away a bit from the screen to be able to open it.

  • Open mind, insert DUH. (Score:3, Informative)

    by TitaniumFox ( 467977 ) * on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:16PM (#6601375) Journal
    Physical security is always an issue with your techno-toys. Trying to stick your cell phone in one of your front pockets can be bulky, depending on what sort of phone you have. After looking at the way fashion has totally trashed the usefulness of cargo pockets and the expense of those purpose-built TechnoPants, I found standard (Dickies, Carhartt, etc) carpenter jeans to have better pockets for my standard geek loadout. My cell fits perfectly in the tall, thin pocket for the hammer handle, and I actually use the pencil pocket for (surprise!) a pen, alcohol markers and a pencil.

  • LAN Parties (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mrpuffypants ( 444598 ) * <mrpuffypantsNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:49PM (#6601508)
    This is a concern for a lot of people at LAN parties as well. When you bring your computer ans it's associated accessories (mouse, keyboard, cell, batteries, camera, etc.) with you then there's always the chenacce that something will get swiped.

    At least for LAN parties the best way to protect your gear is to get to know the people sitting around you. Know who's going to be around your computer and if you see somebody picking up stuff off your neighbor's computer give him shit about it.

    Also, bringing a backpack or something is a great idea; at the end of the evening at Quakecon at least you can always toss your stuff into the backpack (stuff like mice and headphones) and go up to your hotel room. It's unlikely that somebody will try to walk out with your massive monitor, but a mouse is easy to slip into a pocket or something.

    Most people are considerate and don't take stuff when they themselves have 2-3k of equipment with them too. Bad apples get crushed fast.
    • i suspect this has happened since copyparties started(yeah, what did you think demoscene grew out of..), as has trashing of the place and other things that happen _always_ when enough people get together.

      anyways when i used to go to assembly(at one point biggest demoscene event, 4000+ visitors) and take my computer with me, we would usually arrange some turns to keep watch on the hw, and stick smaller pieces into the computers, plastic bags, whatever that keeps it out of plain sight (ok, they could check t
    • Or, you could just get some friends that aren't out to steal your shit. :-)
  • This story was posted right after "Games As A Multitasking Aid?"

    Ehm... If games help multitask, then these petty thefts wouldn't exist?
  • We would leave quarters up on the monitor railing to tell whose turn was coming up next. Those quarters never got stolen by nobody because we all had a system of honor and respect with each other.

    Kids these days are just too rambunctious and don't have any sense of pride and honor!

    (and before you start modding me down... 1> Yes, the quarters DID get stolen 2> My generation supposedly had no sense of pride and honor either.)
  • but my pants have pockets.

  • victim here (Score:2, Informative)

    by thesightsmith ( 694776 )
    Unfortunately, I had a nice Digital 8 Sony camcorder stolen from me while playing a car game at E3 2003. I was at the GameShark both. The thing was, I'm usually very "theft aware". However, I thought I was at an event of professionals. Apparently, no matter where you are, the bad element follows.
  • In the Western world, we have this thing called an "apartment". With that, keeping your valuables safe is no more complex than activating a device known as a "door lock".

  • I don't know how long it took exactly, but my wife learned long ago that I'm useless when I'm in the midst of gaming. She even got to the point where she warned her family about leaving messages with me since, when she's not home I'm 90% of the time on the computer.

    They got to view it first hand when her mother stopped by to go shopping and I was in the midst of an EQ binge. Her mother politely tried to make conversation while my wife finished up, and it went something like this:

    Mother-in-Law: What are you doing? Is this that computer game?
    Me: Yes.... uh... yes it is.
    Her: (nods) Why is that woman screaming?
    Me: Because I'm killing her.
    Her: Oh... what are you doing now?
    Me: I'm looting her corpse.

  • I forgot my keys in the car.
  • Keep your stuff where you can see it, don't lend it to anybody, and don't leave it unattended. If you can, put it in your pockets.

    Personally, I wouldn't lend my phone to a stranger in the first place. Especially without keeping an eye on it!

    Maybe one idea is to have lockers set up at the place, like they do say.. when you go to the pool or something. Course, I don't think it should have to go that far, but if this kind of thing is a problem, it may well have to.

    I'd rather see people use a little
  • Do players need a purse or handbag to put their valuables in, or is there no way to cure the distracted real-life state of an avid gamer?
    Well d'uh. If you're going to let thieves simply pick up your stuff from the PC beside you, you might as well provide a nice bag for them to put it all in.

    • D'oh! (Score:2, Funny)

      by ChibiTaryn ( 646855 )
      Us chicks already get the short straw there -- handbags.

      Phone, PDA, wallet, usually odd pieces of jewellery, chequebook.... in mine there's even sometimes a digital camera. All in a nice handy carry-bag, ready-to-go.

      They really need to start putting pockets in women's clothing!

  • An accurate reference to theft for once! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Is this a slashdot first? A news item about theft that is actually about theft?

    Too often, there are items about "theft" which are really about copyright infringement instead.
  • Stick your knapsack in your crotch area. Works charms for me. No guy would go there to steal your stuff.
  • and feel the gentle warmth of mobile radiation

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