Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

[JanVanding]

You can also buy game time cards from many stores which do not require credit cards or other proof of age. There are people playing the game without parental consent due to the game's rating of 'Teen'. There is no actual age gating on the game.

Except there is.

If a parent has their child on a properly "restricted" account, they will try to go to the game and won't be allowed to get on the site, because Teen is still an age rating that falls under filter restriction as mature content. There are parental controls on consoles and PCs, so I honestly don't buy it.

Again, it's the wider issue of Parents failing to do the job that the law is going to have to do, they were handed the tools, the parental controls and monitors, they were given a big fat age rating sticker front and center of the box with a banner sticker on the back that says what content the game is restricted for.

Players will always do their best to keep themselves safe and accountable, the RP community is exceptional for that, this is another case of "But please, think of the Children" when it's 100% clear, children should not be playing this game because their parents felt it was too much hassle to scroll through the parental controls option.

Edit:

To Meira

You must have worked and attended some very lax venues then, having worked and attended many of the nightclubs myself, there's a lot more that will go "Can't sell you a drink unless you join our discord" where they are presented an age verification consent form. After the last Server wide GM raid (which was they were quite right in doing, a lot of venues had gotten sloppy and were getting out of hand with their advertising) a lot of clubs tightened their age verification consent restriction.

Come and dance, come and party, socialize

You want anything else? Age Verification is right there.

[Taytay]

This game is rated T for Teen. Teens play this game. Adults playing this game need to be mindful of that fact and be responsible for their actions and words. Period.

The ESRB rating doesn't rate online interactions, and it says as such clearly on the rating itself. So your argument is flawed right out the gate.

It is not my job nor anyone else's job to parent your children. Period.

[FilipinoPepper]

This honestly does not make any sense and is exactly why I feel that trying to standardize GMs or make them a separate job department in SE would make the most sense. That way, you have the same people policing the same things and there is not as much variation to how they answer situations. It seems unreasonable to create a tag for RP but then make it a bannable offense to advertise in the only viable way. The screenshots show the GM saying that you should use a fellowship but HOW do you advertise those? (Oh, maybe via a PARTYFINDER you say?!). If we shout things, it's more likely to get people riled up and annoyed than putting it in PF.

Don't get me wrong, I don't RP and I dislike anyone trying to RP with me, but every one has their world in Eorzea. Mine may be raiding and why should that make me anymore special than a roleplayer, or a crafter, or a gatherer? Get out of the mindset that "It's not relevant to me so get it out of my sight.," and more in the mindset of "These are my people and we should give them a place to feel safe and expand their circles."

[LittleImp]

Party can mean a variety of things in the context of the game. Just because you don't agree with me, doesn't mean I'm dense. They are still gathering people for entertainment, IE: a party. Whether it's the traditional "game mechanic" version of a party or not is irrelevant.

There's nothing wrong with RP venues posting in PF and I honestly look at PF first if I want to go to a venue before trying to sort through anything else. Which I don't since I rather not leave game to seek something in game. Just imagine raiders being told not to post party finders for their statics and having to use other means to find people. A lot of people would be raging in the other direction then.

The realization that your original reply wasn't just a joke has left me genuinely astonished, congratulations. I am not an accomplished enough mental gymnastic to take you seriously.

I also don't think raiders would be impacted that much if static recruitment was banned from PF; Most people recruiting for statics are using other platforms to do so these days, it's just a lot more convenient.

[rance-sama]

Why are you and LittleImp trying to police the PF to "only content parties"? I've used PF for the following:
- having a Omnicrafter make me something that I had all the mats for and my gear was not good enough
- buy a mount someone was selling for a friend
- join someone who was making artwork or photographs
- join someone looking for a static member
- doing something in a city for a patch release or expansion release that involves playing with others

All these and more instances are still parties in a way. That's why the "other" tab is there for.

To be honest, it's the same guy and their sockpuppet being all "based Squeenix and Yoshi-P getting rid of the ERPers, I'm so epic xDDD" over and over despite being told repeated times about the "Other" Tab. I doubt you'll get any intelligent answer at this point.

[LittleImp]

The ESRB rating doesn't rate online interactions, and it says as such clearly on the rating itself. So your argument is flawed right out the gate.

It is not my job nor anyone else's job to parent your children. Period.

This is why we have a terms of service and a moderation team that enforce a set of rules specifically laid out entirely separately from the ESRB rating.

The collective density of the people in this thread is going to cause a singularity.

[Taytay]

I'd like to preface by saying I support an RP section in the PF.

However:

The idea behind party finder is that you're using it to join a party. When you go to an RP venue being advertised in PF, you don't join the party the person has hosted to do so. Often the party is locked to an impossible ilevel or some such. Ergo they are not using it for its intended purpose. This can of course also apply to run sellers and the like.

And yet it isn't being applied to run sellers, Twitch advertisers, Discord advertisers, crafters looking to make a quick buck, AFK clubs, feet pic buyers or anything else mentioned in this thread.

It's just being applied to roleplayers. Roleplayers and roleplayers alone.

So please point out in the terms of service where it is against the code of conduct to use party finder to advertise a roleplay venue and then we'd have something to talk about.

[ZackZero]

To be honest, it's the same guy and their sockpuppet being all "based Squeenix and Yoshi-P getting rid of the ERPers, I'm so epic xDDD" over and over despite being told repeated times about the "Other" Tab. I doubt you'll get any intelligent answer at this point.

It honestly doesn't help that one of their go-to posts involved closing out with an attack against "degeneracy" - which has a fairly wide interpretation.

[Shin96]

Balmung, your reputation precedes you.

Now, while I don't understand Roleplaying at all, I think that warning is a bit harsh. They should be focusing on handing out warnings to people that want to sell pornographic imagery or attention-seekers taking up unnecessary space.
If this particular issue is not directly stated to be against the TOS, then the GM is at fault here. If it is, then accept the rules and abide like everyone else is doing.

[MeiraStarborne]

The ESRB rating doesn't rate online interactions, and it says as such clearly on the rating itself. So your argument is flawed right out the gate.

It is not my job nor anyone else's job to parent your children. Period.

You are correct in that the ESRB rating makes an exception for online interactions. But that doesn't make my argument flawed. As an adult, if I wanted to ERP with someone I met in the game, I would have them verify their age outside of the game, (someone mentioned age verification on a carrd website). I would then take my ERP out of the game.

Again, I'm part of the RP community. Worked at and managed clubs on Primal and Crystal that offered ERP services. I know how little age verification actually happens. But other adults can make their own choices. I do think it's the responsibility of the adult to ensure that the actions they take are with those who are of age to legally participate.