A video game centered around convicted child sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein may have been accessed and played by students in Wake County, school officials confirmed to WRAL Tuesday.
The game in question, "Five Nights at Epstein's" is a survival based game appearing to parallel another internet horror game "Five Nights at Freddy's."
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WCPSS officials confirmed the division has received two support tickets related to the game, saying that one of those tickets has been resolved.
"The associated website has been blocked on district-managed devices," a WCPSS spokesperson says.
They added that district staff are still working on the second report to gather more information, so "access can be restricted if needed, as the original ticket did not include a specific URL."
What we know about the game itself
WRAL received a tip from a parent and teacher in the county, wishing to remain anonymous, alleging that students were accessing a Jeffrey Epstein-based video game,
Similar narratives were found on social media, posted by parents in other areas of the county and confirming to WRAL their children informed them of the gameplay in the last couple of weeks. The topic has come up in local Facebook groups as well as Reddit threads dedicated to teacher information.
Alicia Brewer, another parent in Wake County, said she learned about the game after it came up in conversation with her son, who is middle school.
“I said, 'I don’t want you playing that game. Do you know who that is?' He said ‘No it’s just a game.’ I said it’s not just a game and I don’t want you playing it,'" she told WRAL.
Several YouTube streamers have recorded themselves playing the game, in which they then link to sites where it appears viewers can download the programming necessary to play. At least one download link cited, found on itch.io, is no longer active.
Reporting on the topic is scarce, both among local and national outlets.
The game's objective appears to take players through different levels of gameplay, involving time spent on the island at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy.
Brewer said based on what her son told her, the game appears to be more popular than the two support tickets received by WCPSS.
"This document that this one kid made, it's a Google doc, he sent it around to a bunch of kids," Brewer said. "We found out about it Thursday of last week, [but] they’re still playing to this day.”
Brewer's son told her that classmates were indeed using district devices in some instances to access the game.
What school divisions are saying about it
Officials with WCPSS acknowledged the issue Tuesday, saying they're working to block the necessary websites.
"Games are blocked by default on WCPSS-managed devices as part of the district’s content filtering practices. If a game is hosted on a website that is not already restricted, staff may report it for review, and the district can block access as appropriate," WCPSS officials said.
The district recently hired a new vendor for filtering access to certain websites. The new tool is known as Lightspeed, and it was deployed districtwide in February.
While Lightspeed could block certain gaming websites, that block wouldn't prohibit students from downloading games on their personal devices. Many students prefer to use their own personal laptops at school, rather than their school-issued Chromebook.
"While internet filtering applies to online activity, offline applications or content stored directly on a device are addressed through student acceptable use expectations and school-based supervision. Schools may address inappropriate use of devices in accordance with district policies and student conduct guidelines."