Danger Zone: Web Sites for kids!

From Angie K.: I wanted to inform you of a dangerous online kids' game at www.howrse.com. It's the first time we've ever let the children play a game online. They had seen an ad for it in Horse Magazine which I got for our 18 year old who likes horses. They like horses too and thought this game would be like their old CD-ROM Dogz 4 and Catz 4 by Petz. However, we found out the second day it wasn't anything like it at all!

We didn't know why they spelled horse with a "w" but thought maybe the normal spelling was a taken web name or something. Of course, we had to sign in to even see anything of substance on or about the site. The children chose a horse breed and color and name, etc. Then the program said they could make their horse "immortal." This seemed peculiar, but we figured it was just pretend. Then I saw players could earn "karma" points. This was getting even more disturbing. The software company name was "Owlient." I wondered why owls would be associated with a horse game. I wondered if the "ow" in horse wasn't somehow symbolically related to the "ow" in Owlient. There was also a black barn icon labeled "The Black Market." I thought why black? Any barns around here are red.

It wasn't until the next, the second day, one of the children had a problem while checking on their "horse" that I incidentally (or rather, providentially) saw my son had gone to the "Black Market." When I stopped and inspected that page while backing out of his movements on the site, I noted every link was the name of Greek Mythological and heathen gods/goddesses. Names included Hephaestus, Morpheus, Fertility, Aphrodite, Zeus, Medusa, Eolus, Pandora, Pegasus, Atlantes, and a statement that said, "A God that grants your hoses stamina and speed.....". Yes, the G was capitalized. Okay, these are more than big red flags, these are flashing neon lights that this site is evil!

I showed my husband and the children what the matter was and why it was bad and dangerous. They know there is only one true God, The Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They didn't want anything to do with it after they found out it paid homage to all gods but the Lord God although the children innocently liked their horses. I deduced that Howrse.com smacked of Hinduism and most likely witchcraft. We ended the game and deleted ourselves out of it.

It appears that this site www.howrse.com attracts children on the basis of liking horses. Once they sign up and get into it, they are led little by little, deeper and deeper into occultic symbolism, nomenclature, verbiage, and ideology it appears. The first day, your horse was "born" and all you could do was feed it apples or hay or carrots or something. The second day you could feed it and do a little more, etc. I also discovered the second day that to "breed" the virtual horses required email contact with other players which we would never allow them to do. A few minutes later, I discovered the site was from outside the US. The tiny flags at the top of the webpage were French, German, UK, and another, but no US flag. I hadn't seen them before.

I did a quick online search of Owlient company and found it was out of France by two boys.

Then I did a search on owls as symbols to find out if there was any significance to it. I got on your site and realized there is INDEED much malevolent significance to the symbolism of an owl especially by heathen and occultic religions. I was then able to connect the proverbial dots with all the pieces of the site's symbols and nomenclature and ideology that indicated to me it's creators are no doubt occultists.

I am compelled to share this warning with you so you may be a conduit to share it to others. I thought other parents should know before it's too late. If I hadn't been involved or watching and looking and supervising, I may not have noticed when I did. 9 and 12 year olds are not necessarily versed at recognizing nomenclature or symbols, etc.. Furthermore, they were so engrossed with taking care of their horse, they weren't paying that much attention. I explained to them that words and symbols have meanings are used intentionally to convey things and that we need to pay careful attention to them so we don't get ensnared in something we never intended. That's what parents are for. It's OUR responsibility, but these days, children too need to learn to develop an observing eye and ask God for wisdom as He gives in James 1:5.

I am thankful God brought this to my attention. Had I not responded, who knows what could have happened. No more online games! I'm not sure any online filters are designed to filter the occult/heathenism. Filters are only as capable as their designers.

Thank you very much.

Mrs. Angie K.

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Danger Zone: Web Sites for kids!