Roleplay Party Finder Account Suspensions

[Zsolen]

1. Do you not know how creepy it is to ask people you just met in-game to send you their ID for an age check or to hop on a voice call with them? Or the fact that some people like a measure of privacy and don't give their discords out.

2. If an adult either ignores the fact that someone is a minor then yes, they are at fault. However, if someone actively lies about their age whether it is for an RP venue or to get into an FC, that person blatantly disrespected boundaries that were laid out plainly and clearly.

3. Most players are not immortal who just want to go around sexting or corrupting teenage players. Hence why a lot of venues are 18+ and blacklist/block people they find out to be underage. A majority of people already enforce it in a way that is reasonable for what the game allows because pretty creepy for strangers to want to hear your voice to try to verify whether you are an adult or not or request that you send them your ID.

Lastly, it isn't hollow for adults to say that they don't want to be in the company of minors. A majority of players already enforce it by using the in-game measures of blocking/blacklisting people if they lie about their age. If you'd rather adults just hang around teenagers in-game and not even bother to say they want the company of other adults, I mean by all means.

I just personally find it is creepy that some players would rather adults hang out and RP with teenagers who may be upwards of a decade or more younger than them and not have spaces where adults don't have to be in the company of children because apparently adults wanting to hang out with other adults is somehow problematic because children who lie about their age don't listen and/or respect boundaries?

The only creepy people are the ones that ERP with people, not caring if they are minors or not, all the while having 'carrd' pages with ERP type of stuff on them. If you don't at least make an attempt to understand who you are interacting with, that is on you as an adult, just like IRL.

[Ranaku]

...

Yes it is creepy and as a roleplayer myself i feel for all other roleplayers. I know 18+ doesn't just mean ERP, it means also other adult content and especially when you go into the direction of tabletop RPGs with well...things that include also gore and death and stuff ofc that is also 18+. So i don't blame the roleplayers flying under the radar completely, sure it is also a bit their fault but what i would wish for is MMOs, which will never happen, rating their games as 18+. But they would lose a huge audience with that which well leads to less money.

It's just sad that we are in this weird limbo between laws, protecting minors and well allowing adults to do what they want between themselves. SE wants both young and old people as audience, roleplayers want to roleplay adult themes and well governments and parents want their kids to be safe. And these things clash with each other and as long as this doesn't get resolved in any way there will always be people who go to the chopping block to be the example that SE actually does "care" even if they turn a blind eye on the rest.

So the only problem i see with the adult players here is that their standards get so easily compromised. Heck i would be freaking out having ERP with a random dude in the quicksand (we take the fact that i play Lalafell out here for the sake of this example) cause they could be a minor and i don't know it. And this is the point, the fact that this isn't troubling people at all they just accepted it as part of the system that 1/10 is maybe a tiny bit underaged is...creepy at best.

That said, i like the roleplayer culture and all the nightclubs even though i don't visit them. And i would hate seeing that culture getting just nuked, i mean Covid really hits all of us hard and i believe that many of the people going to such clubs ingame just want to relax a bit and taking that away idk i would be against it, personally. But there will be people who will get hurt in the future and as long as all people accept this moral limbo as a compromise this will go on.

So the lesson to be learned here is that if it hits you, you shouldn't cry about it. Cause you are part of the system. If SE decides you need to be the next example so they can say that they actually care, then you take the bullet for the rest. Making a forum post about it like this thread well it won't change anything. That is what i want people to understand at the end. And it is the same with mods. SE can't ban everyone, half of the playerbase is modding their game in some sort by now but to show that they do something here and there people will get hurt and get a ban, it's a risk you might or might not want to take.

[kaynide]

The 'Teen' rating' holds in the United States and other parts of North America. The ESRB holds little sway around the rest of the world. In most of Asia this game is rated 15+, in most of Europe it is rated 16+.

Those ratings give wide latitude to retailers to limit sales of a game, but that's not their main purpose. The game rating system is a Band-Aid that pretends there is no need for policing video games by law because, see, game producers are voluntarily suggesting age ranges for which a game is suitable, despite not knowing anything about your children or what you'd allow them to play. I'm pretty sure that a 10 year old with a credit card can purchase M-rated games via Steam (used as an example only), as there is no way for Steam to verify your age, other than to ask and pretend that's enough.

Please keep this in mind as you attempt arguments using "for the kids".

This game was never designed "for the kids", although SE is perfectly welcome to police their game in any way they choose. There are plenty of other venues, non-RP venues by the way, where interactions between players are both unregulated and possibly dangerous "for the kids".

My point was not semantics regarding the age rating. My point was that the game devs want to attract a certain demographic - ideally as wide a net/as inclusive as possible within the laws of certain countries, and will enforce a very PG-13-esque game strictly rather than risk potential banning from an entire country, such as Australia.

[Kakure]

So the only problem i see with the adult players here is that their standards get so easily compromised. Heck i would be freaking out having ERP with a random dude in the quicksand (we take the fact that i play Lalafell out here for the sake of this example) cause they could be a minor and i don't know it. And this is the point, the fact that this isn't troubling people at all they just accepted it as part of the system that 1/10 is maybe a tiny bit underaged is...creepy at best.

Why is that creepy?

Deliberately grooming minors is awful. We all agree on that. No one here is in favor of kids having pretend video game sex with adults.

But if I ask someone's age and they lie to me, why should I care? I've done as much as any porn website, adult game, or adult chat site on the internet does. If some minor somewhere untruthfully testifies about their age to access some porn site somewhere on the internet, I couldn't care less. I am not their parent. Why is it creepy if I choose not to devote any of my limited emotional bandwidth to worrying about whether some anonymous person on the internet is lying to me?

[Ranaku]

Why is that creepy?

Deliberately grooming minors is awful. We all agree on that. No one here is in favor of kids having pretend video game sex with adults.

But if I ask someone's age and they lie to me, why should I care? I've done as much as any porn website, adult game, or adult chat site on the internet does. If some minor somewhere untruthfully testifies about their age to access some porn site somewhere on the internet, I couldn't care less. I am not their parent. Why is it creepy if I choose not to devote any of my limited emotional bandwidth to worrying about whether some anonymous person on the internet is lying to me?

Cause it means you have compromised morals. Easy as that. Your morals are fake and compromised and you don't care about it. In most societies you have a public responsibility. Like not running naked through the streets in front of kiddos. Even if you paint on your forehead that you only want to be watched by adults.

In many countries you have this responsibility also online. Not to do shit in places where minors are active. No matter if you put 18+ up there or whatever. This is a fact, it's nothing optional and SE has to act after it or well corporations have to act like they care so they can cater to as many audiences as possible cause money. So people will get hurt, just not SE. xD

[Escalon]

I on a personal level dislike any forms of RP, be it normal or ERP, but I always lived by the motto : Live and let live. As long you don't push it down my throat, you do yours.

But the problem is, this community is way too report happy, you get reported for the most minor things, be it, Glams, RP and ERP, Opinions, Profanity, simple mods, etc.

Oh, you called me an Idiot for failing an explained mechanic 10 times in a row ? Report!
Oh, you disagree with me ? Report!
Oh, you don't share the same views on things as me ? Report!
Oh, you don't like the mods I'm using to enhance my personal experience ? Report!


This is exactly the price you pay for this "nice" community. People are not robots they enjoy different things, have different views, like to speak their mind, and should not be penalized for it, even if you don't like it.

[GaleMex]

Every single person in here laser focused on the whole "18+" thing has completely and utterly missed the point. At no point did the GM state that was the issue, which is the ACTUAL issue going on here. That the only reason the GM said the suspensions were being issued is for "inappropriate" behavior is silly because "inappropriate" could mean literally anything. Inappropriate in what sense? In what context? Inappropriate because it was sexually implied? Inappropriate because it wasn't related to the game or game mechanics? What exactly is "inappropriate"? Anyone pointing at the 18+ thing... I think that speaks more about you than it does the GM.

The GM has gone on an RP crusade before, last year, and the 18+ topic wasn't even brought up because it had nothing to do with what was happening. "18+" is being used as a scapegoat, and not even by the GM, but by the community itself.

I also read some comments about "good riddance, the sooner the ERP brothels are gone, the better" and all I have to say to you is this.

Mind your own business.

[Zsolen]

Every single person in here laser focused on the whole "18+" thing has completely and utterly missed the point. At no point did the GM state that was the issue, which is the ACTUAL issue going on here. That the only reason the GM said the suspensions were being issued is for "inappropriate" behavior is silly because "inappropriate" could mean literally anything. Inappropriate in what sense? In what context? Inappropriate because it was sexually implied? Inappropriate because it wasn't related to the game or game mechanics? What exactly is "inappropriate"? Anyone pointing at the 18+ thing... I think that speaks more about you than it does the GM.

The GM has gone on an RP crusade before, last year, and the 18+ topic wasn't even brought up because it had nothing to do with what was happening. "18+" is being used as a scapegoat, and not even by the GM, but by the community itself.

I also read some comments about "good riddance, the sooner the ERP brothels are gone, the better" and all I have to say to you is this.

Mind your own business.

The carrds. It was mentioned then and is mentioned in this thread.

Maybe you should read before telling people to mind their own business.

[TosumeTosu]

....

It's understandable to want to protect minors from predatory adults. But the way that you do that isn't by removing 18+ or thinking players who only want to want to interact with other 18+ people or thinking that they should just accept a ban because they... didn't want to interact with kids. If anything, it can send the message that it is more acceptable if an adult interacts with a teenager than it is for an adult to interact with another adult. 18+ players who don't want to interact with children shouldn't be put on a chopping block because they're doing what other reasonable, non-predatory adults would do.

It's one thing to pause and ask someone if they're an adult before continuing an ERP or to just not do an ERP because you are unsure of their age, it is another to ask that someone that you met in-game, via roleplay, should send you age verification via either an ID or voice call. That part is creepy and it comes off as a violation of privacy or attempting to do so. Many people, especially women, don't want to do give out their discord let alone voice calls because of the number of creepy weirdos you can get.

If it isn't against TOS to put 18+ in a venue, then it shouldn't be a bannable offense. You're asking people who aren't predatory to just "take one for the team" and get punished for trying to do the right thing. Of course, this could probably be fixed if SE added some verification on their end. Alternatively, being able to actively kick people out of FCs and bar them from entering. If they want to show they care, they can remove people that are legitimate harassers and stalkers as opposed to punishing someone for notwanting to interact with kids.

If they're going to make 18+ against the rules or something that can't be listed, then go ahead and make it a blatant part of the TOS.

Like, from personal experience the reason I have 18+ only in my search info isn't that I have modded NSFW and am just ERPing. It's because I, as someone who is in their mid-twenties, does not want to engage in a roleplay with someone who is nearly 10 years younger than me and still in high school, especially not over the internet. It can become a weird power dynamic and as a reasonable adult, I don't want to engage in that for the sake of "not being punished" or to avoid "taking the bullet".

tldr; Most adults do reasonable diligence to make sure they aren't rping with minors and unless advertising a venue as 18+ is against TOS it shouldn't be a punishable offense and roleplayers who actively want to cultivate spaces for adults shouldn't be punished or have to "take the bullet" while genuinely predatory people get to continue doing whatever they're doing.

[GaleMex]

The carrds. It was mentioned then and is mentioned in this thread.

Maybe you should read before telling people to mind their own business.

Did the GM mention the carrds in the conversations with these people? The two occasions I've seen don't mention them.