I was issued a warning no info given. Thought our party finder issues were resolved?

[Penthea]

I've seen this argument brought up a few times, but personally I'd never connect "18+" in an ad to mean "we just want to be an FC for adults and not teenagers". People are still pretty immature at 18 if that's your concern. The age restriction is a legal one for certain content types, not an indicator that someone has turned into a mature adult.

Whether you connect to an advert or not isn't what matters.

I want to know if players are prohibited from advertising a preferred age rating for any form of recruitment, because judging from that GM's response this is possibly the case. Their issue is the advert didn't match the age rating of the game.

I'm sure that even though you wouldn't be interested in a fc that says they're for adults only, it doesn't mean you think they should get in trouble with a GM for merely saying that.

[Iscah]

I'm sure that even though you wouldn't be interested in a fc that says they're for adults only, it doesn't mean you think they should get in trouble with a GM for merely saying that.

That's not at all what I meant. I'd be quite happy to aim for an FC targeted "at adults" if that means a group that is more mature in how they behave and talk - but if I was looking for one, "18+" is not the label I would be looking for. That label would make me expect "adult content", not just adults, and make me steer clear.

So I'm not saying that people should get in trouble for using the label, but rather that the label is not a good one to convey what they mean even if it is allowed. Putting "18+" on a listing is going to get misconstrued as offering adult content by at least some percentage of viewers, whether it's a mod cracking down on that content, a person looking to engage in it or someone looking to avoid it.

[Penthea]

That's not at all what I meant. I'd be quite happy to aim for an FC targeted "at adults" if that means a group that is more mature in how they behave and talk - but if I was looking for one, "18+" is not the label I would be looking for. That label would make me expect "adult content", not just adults, and make me steer clear.

So I'm not saying that people should get in trouble for using the label, but rather that the label is not a good one to convey what they mean even if it is allowed. Putting "18+" on a listing is going to get misconstrued as offering adult content by at least some percentage of viewers, whether it's a mod cracking down on that content, a person looking to engage in it or someone looking to avoid it.

Okay but this isn't what the GM said, they said the advert didn't align with the game's age rating which is the issue. A person could say their fc is "for adult players only" or "no teens please" and that would still be an advert that doesn't align with the game's age rating. You don't need to exactly say "18+" to make it clear that your advert is not intended for minors.

[Jojoya]

As others have said, the issue seems to be the age restriction listed in the PF advertisement.

The game is rated 13+ in NA so if the content at the venue is appropriate for 13+, there's no reason to list it as 18+. You have no way of confirming the age of a player. There are children who act more mature than some adults and some adults who behave far more childishly than some children. Listing an age requirement isn't going to keep annoying people from showing up if they want.

It could be interesting to hear from RP venue operators who don't advertise an age requirement to see how many problems they've had because players who could be confirmed as being ages 13-17 showed up.

[RavenEbonclaw]

An actual official response offering full situational clarification on topics discussed here would solve many issues.

[LianaThorne]

As others have said, the issue seems to be the age restriction listed in the PF advertisement.

The game is rated 13+ in NA so if the content at the venue is appropriate for 13+, there's no reason to list it as 18+. You have no way of confirming the age of a player. There are children who act more mature than some adults and some adults who behave far more childishly than some children. Listing an age requirement isn't going to keep annoying people from showing up if they want.

It could be interesting to hear from RP venue operators who don't advertise an age requirement to see how many problems they've had because players who could be confirmed as being ages 13-17 showed up.

This is my best guess for why you got hit with the gaol hammer. ESRB rates the game as 13+ which doesn't include protections for alcohol or other situations that can be found in a nightclub scenario (outside of mild suggestive themes and simulated gambling) I get that around the world this is different, but for the US specifically that is our situation. And I'm also aware that there is a bit that says "In game conversations are not rated" in a nutshell, but that's not for our protection either. If you're in a DC where these situations are allowed by your rating system (I know PEGI isn't as strict as ours for example, since their 18+ rating allows for sexual activity, drug use, alcohol, extreme vulgar language, etc.), more power to you. Have fun. It's just going to be a bit trickier with US DCs because we are locked behind that 13+ window.

Also, we all know now that people are on a mission to shut down 18+ venues, regardless of what they're actually doing and odds are they won't be stopped. Take for example when we delete a friend off our friends list, they're gone from our end but we are not removed from theirs. This was done literally because staff doesn't want anyone to have their feelings hurt (in a nutshell). I highly doubt that they're going to get strict on people with this because they aren't going to want to take sides.

If ya'll want to keep doing your thing, you gotta learn to hide it better for now until people either get bored and stop or a miracle happens and staff decides to step in and do something about them.

[Mavrias]

May I ask why you are so quick to give up rather than try to get GMs to give a clear set of rules?

the gms don't make the policies. they are customer service reps at the end of the day. when an gm tells you "i can't give you anymore info" they aren't doing it to spite you, they are following the policy as outlined by their superiors.

I'm personally not really interested in bullying a customer service rep into giving me info that could potentially get them fired.

@RavenEbonclaw can you post the email the GM said you would receive? I'm curious as to what the further detail they said would be included was.

[SaberMaxwell]

I remember the good old days on coeurl before xpf, where you were lucky to have more than 5 party finders up at any given time, and most of them weren't even worth looking at cuz you were on coeurl and knew all the competent players were cliqued up anyway.

Can't wait till pf purity is achieved and we go back to those days.

[RavenEbonclaw]

There was no profanity said, the entire night by my character.

[RavenEbonclaw]

Again, still at a loss at what could have been considered “profane” given it wasn’t explained.