After deleting a fifth-grader's Destiny characters, his advice is: 'Suck it up'

A seemingly remorseless 17-year-old friend of a friend is responsible for deceiving a fifth-grader and deleting two high-level Destiny characters, Game Informer reports, based on interviews with one of the victim's mothers and the perpetrator.

And the bad actor admits to doing the same thing in a Grand Theft Auto game, too.

"I've done it multiple times," he said. "I think three? Four? I thought it would be funny."

Late last week, the griefer exploited his power when the 11-year-old turned over control of his console using the PlayStation 4's Share Play feature. That allows PS4 users to give control of their systems to third-parties over the internet. Sony advertised the feature as helpful, like in a theoretical situation in which someone got you through a particularly difficult part of a game.

The fifth-grader believed the friend of a friend would show him a trick for leveling up his Destiny characters. Instead, the malefactor deleted a level 31 Warlock and a level 26 Titan, leaving only a level 23 Hunter before the middle-schooler realized what was happening and cut the power to his PS4.

"What else is there to say?"

A player whose PlayStation Network ID was seen in the video was on the receiving end of attacks after the child's mother posted a video of the incident on YouTube; he claims that he didn't do it. According to his mother, the perpetrator was in the home, visiting another of the 11 children who live there, when he took control of the PS4 account blamed for the attack. She claims to have tracked down the culprit through a series of posts on the Bungie.net forums, and hopes this information will put the situation to rest.

Told of the viral nature of the video chronicling the incident and the attacks on another gamer whose account appeared in the video, Game Informer asked the miscreant if he'd do it again.

"It depends on the situation," he said. "Maybe. Maybe not."

He doesn't believe he has "to say anything" to the injured party's family, and his advice for those suffering after the attack did not ooze sympathy.

"Suck it up and move on with life," he said. "What else is there to say?"

Last week, the victim's mother said she contacted Destiny developer Bungie, who said it was unable to reverse the deletion.

"Please be careful out there, kids," a post on Bungie.net last week referencing the incident reads. "Bungie has some ideas for how we can make regrettable deletions like these less permanent. While we plan the right course of action (and build out new game features), protect your Guardians from sleazy online jerks — or dogs that step on your controller."