[NA] Orphan players looking for a 18+ only community

[Jojoya]

The fact so many of first posts immediately jumped to thinking 18+ and orphan had something to do with kink or anything sexual says a lot about the average mental age of the community.

A lot of people overlook the community finder. Don't ignore it. It's actually very useful for finding FCs that actually care about being active and engaging with their members.

There's no need to list 18+ if you're not looking for that type of content.

Yes, I understand that wanting the company of other adults and not children is a consideration but it's not worth specifying. Common interests and meshing personalities are the important part of a social FC and those things aren't necessarily age specific. Would someone who is 22 feel comfortable in a FC filled with people who are 50+, or vice versa? Probably not yet they're all above the age of 18.

I've known 14-15 year olds that act like they're 30-40. I've also known 40 year olds that act like they're 10.

Putting 18+ in what's effectively an ad is going to attract the wrong type of attention so why do it unless you're looking for the things that tend to come with that label?

[Astrus]

There's no need to list 18+ if you're not looking for that type of content.

Yes, I understand that wanting the company of other adults and not children is a consideration but it's not worth specifying. Common interests and meshing personalities are the important part of a social FC and those things aren't necessarily age specific. Would someone who is 22 feel comfortable in a FC filled with people who are 50+, or vice versa? Probably not yet they're all above the age of 18.

I've known 14-15 year olds that act like they're 30-40. I've also known 40 year olds that act like they're 10.

Putting 18+ in what's effectively an ad is going to attract the wrong type of attention so why do it unless you're looking for the things that tend to come with that label?

That's reaching a bit.
About 80% of FC related shouts I see are looking for an age of 18+, roughly a third are looking for a range of 25-30+ and there's nothing unsavory about it safe, maybe, for the occasional bit of coarse language if you consider that NSFW.
It's just people looking for a specific minimum age group and I get it, kind of, the majority of 18 year olds I run into feel like a completely different species, the only conversation I can hold with them is telling them to get off my lawn.
Are there outliers? Sure. I was one of those back in the day, that's why you can make exceptions to the rule just like you can choose to no longer associate with adults who can't act their age if that is a concern for you but as a blanket criterion age works.
Same with people who can't keep it in their pants, even if the FC is at an average age where such topics are not inherently a problem I'm not afraid to block and move on.
Back in my day *shakes cane* we used to play with new prospects for a week or two to see if we meshed before fully integrating them into our community for that very reason.

People need to stop being so terminally offended that the mere mention of age 18+ is inherently explicit to them.

If you are looking for that type of content the more apt keyword to look out for is NSFW.

[Sindele]

Hell, I had a 23+ rule in the FC I ran during the pandemic years. Had nothing to do with explicit content and everything to do with the fact that FF14 is my leisure activity and leisurely leading an FC is considerably easier when I don't have to deal with course-correcting people whose brains aren't fully matured. It's not even to blame them for it - I just really wasn't interested in repeating the experience of my FC being the tutorial level for someone learning adult social dynamics. Been there, done that, got several of the T-shirts.

[LianaThorne]

There's no need to list 18+ if you're not looking for that type of content.

Yes, I understand that wanting the company of other adults and not children is a consideration but it's not worth specifying. Common interests and meshing personalities are the important part of a social FC and those things aren't necessarily age specific. Would someone who is 22 feel comfortable in a FC filled with people who are 50+, or vice versa? Probably not yet they're all above the age of 18.

I've known 14-15 year olds that act like they're 30-40. I've also known 40 year olds that act like they're 10.

Putting 18+ in what's effectively an ad is going to attract the wrong type of attention so why do it unless you're looking for the things that tend to come with that label?

I think it's perfectly reasonable to specify that you don't want the company of children as an adult lol. When I see 18+, I don't automatically jump to thinking that it's rated that way because of sex (unless it's attached to a brothel related ad because...yeah...), some adults just don't want to be around kids unless they have to be.

I also have no interest in being trapped by minors who think it's funny or TikTok worthy to catfish as an adult. I also don't think I'd have much in common with the new generation that seems to also think it's hilarious to go around destroying stores to get famous on the internet (look up kids destroying sephoras if you're curious).

So, personally, I'd rather keep to my own age group (25-30+) than turn into a babysitter for a parent that thinks monitoring their child is giving them a PC/tablet and letting them go/end up as a new viral TikTok that shoots them into fame.

[Absurdity]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to specify that you don't want the company of children as an adult lol. When I see 18+, I don't automatically jump to thinking that it's rated that way because of sex (unless it's attached to a brothel related ad because...yeah...), some adults just don't want to be around kids unless they have to be.

I also have no interest in being trapped by minors who think it's funny or TikTok worthy to catfish as an adult. I also don't think I'd have much in common with the new generation that seems to also think it's hilarious to go around destroying stores to get famous on the internet (look up kids destroying sephoras if you're curious).

So, personally, I'd rather keep to my own age group (25-30+) than turn into a babysitter for a parent that thinks monitoring their child is giving them a PC/tablet and letting them go/end up as a new viral TikTok that shoots them into fame.

I would generally agree with that sentiment because I started playing vanilla WoW when I was barely at it's age rating and I remember how much of a little annoying shit I was, I wouldn't want to deal with myself from back then.

We live however in a time where you can't even expect a 25 year old to act like an adult anymore, so not even specifying 18+ only is going to save you from people acting like children.

[LianaThorne]

I would generally agree with that sentiment because I started playing vanilla WoW when I was barely at it's age rating and I remember how much of a little annoying shit I was, I wouldn't want to deal with myself from back then.

We live however in a time where you can't even expect a 25 year old to act like an adult anymore, so not even specifying 18+ only is going to save you from people acting like children.

At least I'd be getting catfished by a legal adult rather than a minor that could land me in jail. c:

[Jojoya]

At least I'd be getting catfished by a legal adult rather than a minor that could land me in jail. c:

A minor catfishing isn't going to land you in jail if you're not doing NSFW activity in your 18+ FC.

They're still extremely unlikely to land you in jail even if you were since chat records would show the minor engaging in the catfishing. The courts aren't going to hold you responsible when it wouldn't be reasonable for you to think that the person you were talking with was anything other than what they told you.

Specifying 18+ also doesn't stop it from happening. It makes it more likely to happen because if minor wants to know what's going on in and be a part of an 18+ space.

What people should be doing is saying they want to be part of a SFW FC if that is what they're looking for instead thinking that a NSFW FC is always going to list itself as NSFW. Listing an age requirement isn't going to do much when you have no guaranteed way to catch a lie.

[Mosha]

A minor catfishing isn't going to land you in jail if you're not doing NSFW activity in your 18+ FC.

They're still extremely unlikely to land you in jail even if you were since chat records would show the minor engaging in the catfishing. The courts aren't going to hold you responsible when it wouldn't be reasonable for you to think that the person you were talking with was anything other than what they told you.

Specifying 18+ also doesn't stop it from happening. It makes it more likely to happen because if minor wants to know what's going on in and be a part of an 18+ space.

What people should be doing is saying they want to be part of a SFW FC if that is what they're looking for instead thinking that a NSFW FC is always going to list itself as NSFW. Listing an age requirement isn't going to do much when you have no guaranteed way to catch a lie.

Even in a strictly SFW FC I wouldn't want to deal with minors. IMO children should be sent to the coal mines until they are of legal drinking age.

[LianaThorne]

A minor catfishing isn't going to land you in jail if you're not doing NSFW activity in your 18+ FC.

True.

They're still extremely unlikely to land you in jail even if you were since chat records would show the minor engaging in the catfishing. The courts aren't going to hold you responsible when it wouldn't be reasonable for you to think that the person you were talking with was anything other than what they told you.

This is heavily dependent on state as not all allow for the "mistake-of-age" defense, meaning the fault will fall entirely onto the adult. If the person in question happens to be under the age of 14, then there is no defense at all. You'll have to do your own research further on what your state/country specifically allows.

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Specifying 18+ also doesn't stop it from happening. It makes it more likely to happen because if minor wants to know what's going on in and be a part of an 18+ space.

I have no idea what FCs you've been in but I've personally never had an 18+ FC evolve into this massive sexual experience with minors banging down the door to get in.

What people should be doing is saying they want to be part of a SFW FC if that is what they're looking for instead thinking that a NSFW FC is always going to list itself as NSFW. Listing an age requirement isn't going to do much when you have no guaranteed way to catch a lie.

Or you can join an 18+ FC and if it doesn't fit your tastes, you move on to another. Again, I don't know when 18+ automatically started equaling sex but in my perspective, it's just saying you want to be around people who aren't children lol. I'd feel more awkward asking some random person with an ad "Hey...is this a sex based FC?" lmao.

Do normal nightclubs put 18+ or 21+ on the door because there's sex going on? No. It's because they serve alcohol and the club will literally be shut down if a kid decides to come in with a fake ID, get drunk and either hurt themselves or have their parents report it to the police. It is an 18+ or 21+ venue (depending on country) for that reason, not because there is sex happening (the couple of venues in Vegas being an obvious exception here). Shockingly enough too, most people when they go out for a night with their friends don't want to drag their little brother or sister around everywhere or be in an atmosphere with screaming children. So...why can't the same idea be applied to FCs that list as 18+? Why can't they just not want kids around either because...in a manner of speaking...they can be extremely annoying? XD I also don't wish to take on the role of babysitter for a parent who can't be bothered to do it themselves and judging by some previous threads on this forum, some people literally expect the internet to parent their kid for them.

[ZavosEsperian]

They're still extremely unlikely to land you in jail even if you were since chat records would show the minor engaging in the catfishing. The courts aren't going to hold you responsible when it wouldn't be reasonable for you to think that the person you were talking with was anything other than what they told you.

Within the US Federal Court system, a person would have to prove to the court (as using the age defense causes the defendant to be the one to bear the burden of proof) that they believed the person they were interacting with online was 18 or older, with the burden of proof being held to the 'preponderance of evidence' level of proof (in English, this means the evidence the defense provides would have to be enough to convince both Judge and Jury that the person they were reasonably convinced they were interacting was 18 or older is stronger than the evidence the state has against the person either not knowing or knowing the individual was under the age of 18). This particular law is rather broad in terms of its application and without knowledge on what the minimum sanction is, it would be difficult to say what would happen if conviction was not averted. I am unsure how well a message from the minor stating they are 18 within a rated T game would hold up against whatever the state is able to produce.

State law is obviously significantly different and, depending on the laws, this defense does not exist.