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Adult content driving away younger players

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8 years ago
So, this is whats happened. I have a few friends who are 13-12 years old. I want to have them play with me, but the only problems is that they'd instantly have to leave becuase of adult content, language, etc. Is there a rule that we can make to let younger people play?
+2 / -2
Skasi
Adult content? You mean this guy?

Or is this just about text-to-speech saying "fucking shit ass idiot" all day long? The simplest way to avoid this is to avoid the "All welcome!" room.
+4 / -0

8 years ago
Rules already exist; there is a reason why the harshest insult you see nowadays is "nub".
+2 / -0
I have a valid question too! Aren't you 13 as well RUrankParzival?
If you want ZK might get tested by PEGI and/or ESRB for some reasonable fee (that you would have to pay btw) but online content cannot be rated.

camapign spoiler
[Spoiler]
+1 / -0
Adult content is obviously [Spoiler]
+6 / -0
8 years ago
Is the problem the player chat? With parents watching over kid's shoulders?


PLrankAdminSprung overbearing orthodox parents reading in-game player chat is probably the "adult content" by USrank[BM]Parzival.

PLrankAdminSprung the solution to the possible problem of overbearing orthodox parents may be an optional censoring script to blank out "bad" words with empty spaces.
(Asterisk censoring is not good enough for over-zealous parents!)

Optional censoring of this sort would make the chatlog appear (for each player who turns on the censoring script) to be made of broken english speakers, rather than adult english speakers who can use the word "damn" non-offensively.
+0 / -0

8 years ago
I don't get what you're saying, do you mean their parents wouldn't allow them to play or they would leave because of a few naughty words? I don't think I've ever even met a 12-13 year old who would do the latter, you must have some weird ass religious friends if that is the case.

It would be weird enough if there were parents that wouldn't let their 12 year old children play a game like this in the first place, I mean there's not exactly any violence or shocking scenes in it and you'd have to be incredibly naive to think a 12-13 year old kid doesn't already know plenty of foul language.
+5 / -0
Welp, this friend has pretty much got the most protective parents in the world. Ans yes autowar, exactly overbearing parents.
+0 / -0
GBrank[Fx]Drone I guess you've never been to white middle-class America. This sort of supervision is (perhaps surprisingly to foreigners) incredibly common here. Where do you think the ESRB came from? And all of our censorship laws? Until recently it was common to bleep the phrase "god damn" even on stations that broadcasted the "damn" by itself, for fear of the reaction of parents protecting the virigin ears of their children. Puritanism runs through the veins of American culture (though decreasingly so every day).

I guess I'll save you the rant on how idiotic this is, but suffice it to say that the experience described here is very common in the states. I think an on-by-default-disabled-with-a-button chat filter is a reasonable thing to implement for cases like this.

I agree that the parents are being irrational, but omitting this feature effectively excludes those kids from playing an otherwise family-friendly game.
+1 / -0
filter idea:
quote:
if nickname contains *pluk -> censor whole chat of given player
+10 / -0
8 years ago
c'mon USrankkaen ESRB is not a stupid system. Even if there are curses in the game it is rated T for teens which is 12+ and most importantly I don't think that most of the parents even know what that means since there are so many 'cod kids'.
+0 / -0
quote:
I don't get what you're saying, do you mean their parents wouldn't allow them to play

yes, the parents quite literally hover over their kid's shoulders when they play games (usually the mother), and manage this by restrictig their kids to an hour or two of "game time", and often will revoke computer or game playing privileges for the slightest hint of anything "inappropriate" and/or "ungodly"

or they would leave because of a few naughty words? I don't think I've ever even met a 12-13 year old who would do the latter

Of course you wouldn't, those kids are never allowed to leave the house, and often have internet curfews with parental blockers installed. Even then, their parents may have instiled a deep fear or deep brainwashing effect to make them keep themselves away from anything their parents might dislike to keep themselves "pure".

, you must have some weird ass religious friends if that is the case.

Schoolmates specifically, since ungodly neighbors with impure children are usually off limits for friendmaking, and all zealous religious parents take their kids to the same charter schools or religious homeschool cooperatives.


DISCLAIMER:[Spoiler]
+0 / -0

8 years ago
quote:
the parents quite literally hover over their kid's shoulders

damn i wouldnt mess with them
+3 / -0
8 years ago
PLrankAdminSprung new hover factory unit?
+2 / -0
8 years ago
The only way to be absolutely safe is to play in private room.
Public online gaming is not an enviroment that will ever be perfectly clean.
Do not play Tabula.
+3 / -0
8 years ago
DErank[2up]knorke
quote:

The only way to be absolutely safe is to play in private room.
Public online gaming is not an enviroment that will ever be perfectly clean.
Do not play Tabula.


False premise; you assume that the "cleanliness" is the desired goal.

The goal is for the young players to be "safe" from delusional parental fury by placating parents with the existence of censoring, filtering, etc.

+0 / -0
PLrankOrfelius

You are clearly unfamiliar with the history of video games in the US. The ESRB was the result of the video game industry opting to self-regulate rather than be subjected to harsh federal regulations (a la FCC regulations over TV and Radio). In the late 80's/early 90's as videogames moved into peoples' living rooms, there were vocal witch hunts against any content that might be considered dangerous or disturbing to children (according to a few hundred rich old white men). Seeing this coming down the pipe, and having witnessed first-hand the wrath of the federal government on other media industries, the videogame industry collectively shit its pants and formed organizations to regulate content before the federal government could do the same. The only reason it isn't a "stupid system" is because the industry pre-empted the government from creating one.

So, I didn't mean to imply the ESRB was itself that bad, but that it is an artifact of our endless holy war against pictures and words that old people don't like.

EDIT: Here's a good example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Entertainment_Protection_Act
Introduced by two of the most prominent liberal members of congress at the time, would have restricted sales of mature-rated video games in the same way that alcohol is controlled, complete with audits and FTC investigations.
+0 / -0
8 years ago
Religious zealots are cool right? Xenophobia and isolation is surely the best cure of all!
Regarding parent restricions I can confess that I was in this unfortunate possition because my mother also plays games thusly she knew what is approperiete for my age and what isn't. She has restricted my game time back when I was I dunno 10? to 2 hours max (with breaks) and also placed some restriction on games that I have already owned as for example I had to promise to not play Nazi Germany nor Soviet Union playing Hearts of Iron I.
Honestly? I don't think none of this was really damaging on me. Just reasonable (for the most part).
Parent blocking, limitations, restrictions are allright as long as they are not excessive and irrational.
+0 / -0
I think what previous posts meant to say was that these are exactly that: excessive and irrational.

[Spoiler]
+8 / -0
8 years ago
quote:
Xenophobia and isolation is surely the best cure of all!

Only when Japan does it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_syndrome
+0 / -0
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