Will there be an official response about Party Finder advertising?

[Themarvin]

They don't have to give an answer, all of it is in the ToS and recent events have had a GM explaining to someone who apparently got reported and how and it is not for it's intend.

People are very wrong, if they think that this kind of player riot done by a few is a wise thing to do, first of you can't verify if people is 18+, you could end tampering with a minor very easy as hormones run crazy from 11-12 to 17 years old, and you could end getting stamped as a sexual offender, likewise, this should not be a possible gateway, for creepy old women or men, to hurl them onto minors, it is certainly not what the game is about and it is certainly not what SE is interested in at all.

[xxmiamorecadenza]

Interestingly enough, I've seen a recent reddit posting with someone whose account and postings were intent on actively reporting 'ERP' venues.

I'm apathetic about the whole thing. But it'll be interesting to see if SE squashes the advertisements completely.

It'll make for a fascinating development, at the very least.

[Bsrking5]

Nope, in fact they will try and let it fade away. Like as if not talking about something makes it better.

[cr2032]

There has been an official response already. There was some internal mix up, it's perfectly fine to advertise RP in PF.

[Saefinn]

The official response to me was clear, but unfortunately it doesn't do enough to stop idiots dogpiling and using it as an excuse. Heck I suppose not everybody reads the forum or even agrees with the outcome and may take it into their own hands. Report the heck out of these people, it's harassment at the end of the day and so long as you're squeaky clean then it shouldn't be an issue as it looks like it is fine to use the PF for this purpose.

Sure it means they're wasting GM time if these reports are malicious and don't bear fruit. Fortunately, harassment is against ToS so action can be taken against them.

As long as you're not breaking ToS in your PF you should be fine. This was one GM's mistake rather than anything official. This includes keeping it legal, for the ERP side of things "legal" is the big emphasis YoshiP made in an interview.

But from a personal note, if you are going to use the PF or shouts for ERP make every step of precaution to avoid underaged participants and of course oust anybody who is doing something dodgy. I know people there is a level of self policing in those communities, but I think this is the biggest concern about when it comes to ERP, this aside from the people who just think it's "ick". But the way I see it, there is an advantage to these communities having a good relationship with the moderation and GM's of the game to ensure nobody is doing anything illegal. As you rightly say in your OP, this stuff isn't going anywhere, whether people are open about it or whether it's underground and I think if people are open about it, it gives more room for people to oust any wrong doing within those communities.

[WoW]

Get rid of all these ads. PF is made to form parties to do game content. Not to set up an ad 24/7 with ilvl 999 so no one joins so you can keep your ad up. You have fellowships to spread that nonsense in. It's time to make PF great again.

[Saefinn]

Get rid of all these ads. PF is made to form parties to do game content. Not to set up an ad 24/7 with ilvl 999 so no one joins so you can keep your ad up. You have fellowships to spread that nonsense in. It's time to make PF great again.

It's not for 24/7 ads, I agree as especially they put a time limit on listings. In that case, use a Fellowship though improvements are needed to fellowship for sure. But somebody advertising an event about about to start or are running? I think it's a feasible use of the PF and of its "other" tab until such point they decide to add a "social" finder or have an public event section of Fellowship or a "social" section of PF. Because RP is still content, albeit player driven content (but makes use for many game features).

[GrimmH]

I want to add my two cents on this conversation. Besides the people missing the point, ignoring filters, in game settings, and plenty of other grand tools. This is an active crusade by people who waste their time because "Oh I don't like this!" Screw the fact I used a stawman. That's not my bloody point. The point is because a GM messed up, and other GMs had to fix the fools mistakes. But it took one to screw up and now Primal and Light are having active battles with Anti-Rpers. Yes Anti-Rpers. People are trying to justify their actions despite actually making things worse. For starters. CHILDREN AREN'T STUPID! A child can understand that 18+ means you need to be 18 years old or older for this venue. And if they don't know they can I don't know. Ask people. I find it insulting that people are blatantly missing the point. Are being trolls and think they are being funny when they aren't and people like the WoW guy who could be both a troll and legit about his claim. Certain ads on party finder are an issue. I personally don't like seeing a "Buy feet picks." or "Selling materials for X million gil." in the party finder. Yet there they are. And as much as those ads need to be nuked. They exist. What will I do about them. Filter them bloody out. This is exhausting and terrible. Its so bad,

Get rid of all these ads. PF is made to form parties to do game content. Not to set up an ad 24/7 with ilvl 999 so no one joins so you can keep your ad up. You have fellowships to spread that nonsense in. It's time to make PF great again.

That I can compare stuff like that to American Politics. CAN WE NOT! This is a video game. A place we all go to enjoy and have fun. To escape real life and real life politics like that. I want to play this game. I want to rp. I want to enjoy this game I spent money. This is just sad, and I feel exhausted. The fact that this is happening doesn't surprise me in the end. But since it directly affects me, and people I know, and People I don't know. I can only say I'm extremely disappointed.

So in the end. I'm going to play the way I want to play. Fun for everyone. Because that's the point of playing a Massive. Multiplayer. Online. Role. Playing. Game.

[LianaThorne]

For starters. CHILDREN AREN'T STUPID! A child can understand that 18+ means you need to be 18 years old or older for this venue. And if they don't know they can I don't know. Ask people. I find it insulting that people are blatantly missing the point.

If you've personally never experienced a child/teenager sneaking onto websites they shouldn't be on or doing other things online/irl that they shouldn't be doing at their age (like sneaking out at night for example or sneaking onto porn sites in the middle of the night), that's awesome for you but I'm sorry, you're not the majority of people and you have an extraordinary amount of faith in them. You're correct, kids aren't "stupid" (some can be incredibly smart), but that doesn't stop kids/teens from being kids/teens and rebelling against the rules and doing what they want. I'm sure we all were there at least once in our lives. If you put a giant "DO NOT ENTER" sign on a door, it's incredibly tempting to go inside and check it out because you're being told "Sorry, no." And I'm sorry, I doubt a kid/teen will ask first before they decide to check out something that they know they shouldn't be looking at. They'll just look at it and accept responsibility for it later (or act like they didn't do anything).

I'm not sure if you're aware but an overwhelming amount of kids/teens these days are being raised by the internet and YouTube (even more so with the pandemic since parents I've even spoken to have told me that they can't stand having to deal with educating or parenting their child anymore). So, there's no one really policing the kids and teens in those households and the parents don't know what's going on until it's too late.

Take for example the growing number of cases of kids emptying out their parents bank accounts by buying things on Roblox, Fortnite, FIFA, etc without a care in the world or an understanding of how money works. There are both kids and teenagers doing this. You can't tell me that's okay and that those who are doing this have a firm understanding of the consequences of their actions. Same goes for sneaking into a bar as a teenager. They do it because they think it's cool and they don't understand that they can cost someone their job (same as me) for getting caught. They can brag to other people about it on social media (who knows, maybe even go viral recording it because apparently that's the most important thing in the world to the younger generation these days) and it fuels the "Oh hey, I'm pretty invincible" shtick that we all probably felt at least once during that age.

If you want to believe that kids are perfect angels who know that 18+ means they're not allowed to at all and all rules are meant to be followed, that's up to you. It's really not the reality though.

[Shinklet]

I'd imagine any response would be brand friendly and very obvious. But I'd expect the GM team never, ever, ever acknowledge ERP lmfao.

Something along the lines of "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, the relevant SGM's have been notified. PF's that are found to be violating any of the term's of service shall be removed. If you see any more, make sure to report them using the service desk.."