Roleplay Party Finder Account Suspensions

[Lunalepsy]

Luckily with the new All Saints Wake event, they can finally dress like they act.

Isn't that a buzzword used by the same people who created those shame lists in certain raiding groups on Discord?

[ReeveAnkharet]

It's just weird that these suspensions are happening now, when these venues were perfectly fine advertising their places for people to convene and have fun.

[Jojoya]

It's just weird that these suspensions are happening now, when these venues were perfectly fine advertising their places for people to convene and have fun.

GMs aren't spying on game activities 24/7. It takes someone opening a ticket before they investigate.

Clearly there is some player out there who is taking offensive at the listings. Perhaps it's a protective parent looking out for their child who recently started playing the game.

This goes back to the various game ratings and ToS. Part of the ToS is that you acknowledge there are underage players present and agree to act accordingly in your interactions with other players.

In many ways, that's to protect the player as much as SE. If a parent discovers you've been engaging in ERP with their minor and report it to law enforcement, you could be in serious trouble. "They told me they were an adult" won't be much of a defense if you didn't take responsible actions to confirm they were an adult.

If someone feels the need to ERP via a video game, they should be choosing a game that has a hard 18+ requirement to play. There you would have some protection should the other player turn out to be a minor. In an 18+ game, there's a reasonable expectation on your part for that other player to be an adult legally able to consent.

That is not true here. You simply have no way of knowing.

The game is not rated E10+ or E, which are the appropriate ratings for Children.

In most areas, a teen is still legally a child. The Teen rating is not a defense.

[milkhorn]

ERP privately arranged between consenting adults is fine. That has been made clear by GMs in the past.

ERP being publicly advertised in Party Finder is not. That was made clear with the ToS clarification.

If your carrd info included in your PF listing is explicitly stating ERP activities, you are publicly advertising ERP since those curious have to visit your carrd to get the full description.

I think that's the distinction you're failing to grasp.

Involving a third party site for in game activities is no longer protection. They reserve the right to take game related content posted on third party sites into consideration when making account action decisions.

If this is the case then it needs to be said clearly that it's the result of content found on a third party. We have been advertising the same way for over a year now and it is still bizarre to be hit so suddenly with it, (again as the same time as others leading us to believe in rp targeted reports as we've suffered in the past). If it has something to do with linking a carrd then more people would be at risk to violations. How can they control people linking their carrds when 80% of roleplayers will have them in their search info? In the same vein people linking their discords and having adult themes in their channels would have been reprimanded as well. To me it still isn't concrete, but I understand what you're saying.

[Kidria]

It's not just the wrongful suspension on these people that's having attention called for to it, but also the actions of the GM itself. There is little to no evidence given by the GM, no actual attempt to explain the violation or even link the behavior to a violation. Not to mention, for the two people mentioned in the OP's post, these weren't even given the chance to be spoken to. They were just suspended at 3AM/4AM. The GM handling this appears to be the same one that did similar abuses of power in the past and now, even after the devs gave the OK for mature RP spaces to exist, continues to do so.

Bringing in the game's rating means little when the game itself includes highly mature themes such as suicide, enslavement, rape, torture, murder, sex/child trafficking, child abuse and child endangerment. These are infinitely darker and far more damaging of scenarios than RP venues promoting sex-positive spaces. In fact, the inclusion of "18+"/"21+" warnings is more adherent to the rating of the game than not including them.

ERP or mature RP in itself is not wrong between consenting players. By having the warning in PFs for venues, it paints a clear picture of the maturity needed to consent to these RP. Calling it a profanity is inane. Ageism doesn't apply when complying to stated rules and laws.

The GM handing out these suspensions is abusing rank and power and, once again, needs to be taken down and take responsibility for the abuse. Considering this is the second string of like abuse, the GM in question really should not be allowed to decide in, mediate, or interact with the player base.

[TaleraRistain]

It's not just the wrongful suspension on these people that's having attention called for to it, but also the actions of the GM itself. There is little to no evidence given by the GM, no actual attempt to explain the violation or even link the behavior to a violation. Not to mention, for the two people mentioned in the OP's post, these weren't even given the chance to be spoken to. They were just suspended at 3AM/4AM. The GM handling this appears to be the same one that did similar abuses of power in the past and now, even after the devs gave the OK for mature RP spaces to exist, continues to do so.

Bringing in the game's rating means little when the game itself includes highly mature themes such as suicide, enslavement, rape, torture, murder, sex/child trafficking, child abuse and child endangerment. These are infinitely darker and far more damaging of scenarios than RP venues promoting sex-positive spaces. In fact, the inclusion of "18+"/"21+" warnings is more adherent to the rating of the game than not including them.

ERP or mature RP in itself is not wrong between consenting players. By having the warning in PFs for venues, it paints a clear picture of the maturity needed to consent to these RP. Calling it a profanity is inane. Ageism doesn't apply when complying to stated rules and laws.

The GM handing out these suspensions is abusing rank and power and, once again, needs to be taken down and take responsibility for the abuse. Considering this is the second string of like abuse, the GM in question really should not be allowed to decide in, mediate, or interact with the player base.

If this is the same GM doing the same thing, then it definitely sounds like SE might have some house cleaning to do. It's only going to give them bad PR if their GMs don't stay within their own guidelines.

[kejakalope]

It's not just the wrongful suspension on these people that's having attention called for to it, but also the actions of the GM itself. There is little to no evidence given by the GM, no actual attempt to explain the violation or even link the behavior to a violation. Not to mention, for the two people mentioned in the OP's post, these weren't even given the chance to be spoken to. They were just suspended at 3AM/4AM. The GM handling this appears to be the same one that did similar abuses of power in the past and now, even after the devs gave the OK for mature RP spaces to exist, continues to do so.

Bringing in the game's rating means little when the game itself includes highly mature themes such as suicide, enslavement, rape, torture, murder, sex/child trafficking, child abuse and child endangerment. These are infinitely darker and far more damaging of scenarios than RP venues promoting sex-positive spaces. In fact, the inclusion of "18+"/"21+" warnings is more adherent to the rating of the game than not including them.

ERP or mature RP in itself is not wrong between consenting players. By having the warning in PFs for venues, it paints a clear picture of the maturity needed to consent to these RP. Calling it a profanity is inane. Ageism doesn't apply when complying to stated rules and laws.

The GM handing out these suspensions is abusing rank and power and, once again, needs to be taken down and take responsibility for the abuse. Considering this is the second string of like abuse, the GM in question really should not be allowed to decide in, mediate, or interact with the player base.

It's completely an ESRB thing. Or rather, not so much the ESRB-- Square isn't worried about the US ratings system specifically-- but rather the game's PEGI rating, the European and satellites equivalent. The US tends to not really give a shit once the ESRB rating is issued as long as you can avoid headline scandals, but other countries are not as lenient. Australia, in particular, is notoriously censorious in these matters... and happens to be where Square is investing a tremendous amount of money later this month opening new logical data centers. That's why we're suddenly seeing a crackdown.

[Batbrat]

Avoid saying 18+. Look for ways around it, like "Leave the kids at home!" or "Old and crusty? Let's get funky" you get it right-look for a harmless way to say no minors. and even then I'll be honest, minors will still absolutely lie to your face and go in. Only do it if you're feeling quirky, otherwise don't bother with the 18+ thing lol. It won't filter anyone. Kids know when they're putting themselves in harms way, they just don't care. Not until the situation is bad enough and usually by then its because it's moved to discord and now they're sharing irl things. There's nothing anyone can do other than immediately once alone, ask them directly if they're over 18. If they say yes, great! If they say yes and it was a lie, tell everyone you know and get them ostracized from future events like that as they rightfully should be-no mental health isnt an excuse either, don't fall for the pity party ploy. Kid's don't belong there. Most who lie and ERP continue on just fine because they love ERPing, but if they're going to do that then it should really be with people their own age if it must be done at all. Now that I think about it, we really need to stop obsolving them of all guilt. 16 isnt stupid, it's naive. A 16 year old isnt too dumb to also first ask the age of who they're with. That's a two way street. So for any minors here clutching G'raha fanfic, you need to hold yourselves accountable and start asking ages too. and you need to be honest about yours and stay out of spaces that you know arent for you.

Anyway back to the main point. Wording is everything. Water it down as much as possible. Type your advertisement and then read it like 20 times. Ask yourself "Now if I were a dork who had nothing but free time to get offended and read into things way harder than one should, could I in any way shape or form find this sentence incriminating?"

[milkhorn]

-snip-

Anyway back to the main point. Wording is everything. Water it down as much as possible. Type your advertisement and then read it like 20 times. Ask yourself "Now if I were a dork who had nothing but free time to get offended and read into things way harder than one should, could I in any way shape or form find this sentence incriminating?"

To me this is counterintuitive. It would do more harm to have people stumble unwillingly to venues that have mature themes than to put our warnings outright. If the concern is for minors then shouldn't our warning with the forbidden phrase "18+" be more in line with the TOS to have consent when engaging with these types of activities?

[Saimeren]

Honestly, it's probably the 18+ part. This suggests adult activities. You can't actually enforce the age limit thing, so you could be encouraging minors to have RP "adult activities" with adults.

Although I agree that maybe a written warning outlining exactly why they're being contacted and monitored would be better than an outright 3 day ban. I'd say your friends got off lucky.