Membership Allowing junior players -- a turn-off?

[Rune 1,099]

I think on the catch all sites that don't have a setting and are a free for all on doing what you want this would be perfect... With different naming 

[Zahhy 130]

It depends on the community you are building and what you want from your site. People wanting to avoid underage roleplayers won't play, and teenagers looking for a safe place will! What kind of community are you hoping to cater to?

 

Basically - we have to follow the rules. If there is content that is rated a certain way - it is your responsibility as admin to maintain a site that blocks youngsters from getting ahold of or participating in said content. However - if you're no longer worried about making rules that protect the youngsters on your site and you want to post M content, an 18+ site might be for you.

 

I remember when Sirocco switched to Premium i.e. 18+. The content rating of our site (super low) didn't change until almost a full year later when I became admin. After discussing with the players on site we decided that most of us were comfortable and willing to participate in M rated content. I now have rules to limit protect the content. Basically, the rules follow the JCINK guidelines on how to keep content from minors. As there are no minors on our site these regulations are for taste and guests viewing the board. If some of my players don't want to read the smut or violence, they don't.

 

It also means my rating isn't consistent, most of our players play at 13+ rating, and a few of us dabble a bit more 18+ but thankfully we're all 18+ thanks to JCINK's Premium policy so I'm not overly concerned with offending any new players that clicked on a thread that had [M] warnings all over it.

 

In the past I've had open games and joined them - especially when I was underage (well over a decade ago). I would be sad not joining an M site that I really liked, but that's why I always started my own. There are plenty of teenage friendly games out there that don't run mature content where your friend will be able to participate!

Edited January 19, 2018 by Zahhy

[Jacob 58]

I've held to a centrist position over the last fifteen years.  When I was 14, I started in the ani-manga community.  That fluctuated with original high fantasy and the Harry Potter franchise until I exchanged the latter for non-personified Disney.  Prince Florian (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) (1937) is/was my staple canon.  After I fell sick, I dwelt on leaving role-playing entirely.  It thankfully didn't occur.

 

Made homeless by two people in 2013, they drove me to disassociate with minors online.  I wouldn't write anything "adult," per reason of my conscience.  Male children inspired by the titular Oliver Twist were a strong suit, so I doubled down.  It was the immaturity over a sopranista which sparked my pique.  Now 29, I'm able to pen amongst kids if I am treated like the younger parties desire to be treated.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Jacob

[Elena 546]

57 minutes ago, Rune said:

I think on the catch all sites that don't have a setting and are a free for all on doing what you want this would be perfect... With different naming 

 

Why only places which don't have a setting? I think an established setting allowing all ages on a PG-13 environment is the best. Wouldn't people of all ages bond over their passion for Harry Potter/ Star Wars/ Age of Sail?

[Rune 1,099]

34 minutes ago, Elena said:

 

Why only places which don't have a setting? I think an established setting allowing all ages on a PG-13 environment is the best. Wouldn't people of all ages bond over their passion for Harry Potter/ Star Wars/ Age of Sail?

Never said only! Just figured that situation could benefit from it.

[Uaithne 543]

I wouldn't mind RPing with younger members. How are they going to get better if they don't have more experienced people to play with them and guide them? Can you imagine being a teenager and not being allowed to play on so many boards?

 

But I also don't want EVERY board I play on to be all-ages, and I'd never join an R-rated or 333 board with anyone under 18. I don't RP smut so I'm not worried about what I'm doing as much as what other people are doing.

 

I advise against making a separate junior member group (I know you made your decision but I'm throwing this out there for others, too). It would make those younger players feel lesser or not a part of the team. If we were talking 8-10 year olds, sure. But teenagers want to be seen and treated as independent adults, not mini humans. Ultimately you'd get people lying to be a part of the "real" group.

[Morrigan 1,826]

7 hours ago, Mousie said:

I'm in my 30s now... maybe it's something that happens to you when you're 30? When I was 19, and even at 25 it didn't make me as edgy as it does now. The bigger concern  (for me) was if said daughter was on board, and did bring friends, we would have parents to contend with in the real world. And that could potentially look bad for my co-admin. So there was a lot of structure put in place to avoid that, which ended up hampering the older players.

 

This has nothing to do with age, just perspective. My BF often asks me "Well if..." questions. He doesn't always like my answer but he does ask me them. You need to ask yourself well if questions.

 

Well if... we did allow users under 18 how do I feel about it?

Well if... we don't allow them what does that do for my current member base?

Well if...

 

Put yourself into the mindset of your members and your potential members etc. I know you've already personally made up your mind (which is awesome) but it's not all about the specifics and whatnot.

 

To put you all in a perspective that you may not have considered. About half of the active sites, just listed in this directory, are considered an "adult site" with a rating of 333 per the RPG Rating system. (I verified at least 65/124 links).

 

This doesn't include ratings that are like 323 or similar which are still inappropriate for children or still 18+ but have a little less desire for explicit smut scenes.

 

Which means that over half of the roleplay world we exist in denies helping cultivate children interested in our niche of life which means that they will either have to lie to join us or find some other way to roleplay. That's a little scary if you think about it.

[Sailor Chrome 43]

For me it completely depends on the RP genre and what I look for in that genre. If it's on a Harry Potter, Disney (cartoon), High school or other genre typically aimed at a younger audience I'm not going to care too much about the age of the other writers because I don't expect those RPs to get too dark or adult in either theme or thread. However, if I'm playing in some kind of general Slice of Life, supernatural or superhero genre site I expect darker and more adult themes and threads so I wouldn't want to write with anyone under the age of 18.

[Lawman 88]

Well, for the longest time it's something that I've never really given much thought about. I mean, I'm generally not the sort to go around digging for personal information like that - I'm not going to ask (plus well, sites I run are and will always be PG-13 in terms of content), and you don't need to tell me. I mean, age has no bearing on one's ability as a writer (I mean, I disagree with the idea that younger writers with their lack of life experience write unconvincing stories - because 90% of the time fiction tends to shave down much of the complexities and nuances of reality to begin with in order to entertain us) nor their ability to be respectful and polite towards others. I'd see a reason to be on guard in adult-oriented sites (i.e. just to make sure they aren't some kid who lied about their age to sneak in), but in all-ages sites? Just gotta learn to watch your behaviour and don't do anything that'd make me suspect that you're trying to do anything sleazy and all's right with the world.

[Stat 60]

So first of all, I don't care much about the rating of a site if I really like everything else, but:

 

20 hours ago, Mousie said:

I'm in my 30s now... maybe it's something that happens to you when you're 30? When I was 19, and even at 25 it didn't make me as edgy as it does now. 

 

Yes! I don't know why, but this happened to me too! I've always loved having younger players around and showing them the ropes, and I was always super excited to be there to watch them grow through their writing. As I approach 30, I continue as happy as ever to help new roleplayers, but adult new roleplayers. I think it's more that I feel that I don't have anything in common with a child anymore - we have very different lives and concerns, and that translates into wanting to play different types of plots and characters - than that I feel it's weird to hang out with teens, because I also really really agree with what Morrigan said.

 

13 hours ago, Morrigan said:

Which means that over half of the roleplay world we exist in denies helping cultivate children interested in our niche of life which means that they will either have to lie to join us or find some other way to roleplay. That's a little scary if you think about it.

 

I first started roleplaying in a Harry Potter site that was ran by a 40yo. It was a safe space for children to an extreme - it wasn't simply PG13, you couldn't approach any sort of sensitive topics (illnesses and mental conditions were off-bounds, characters were not allowed to be racists or homophobes, no drugs or alcohol or rocknroll), and tbh it really worked. The site was massive and, while a lot of the players were teenagers, there were also a lot of adults (I was 18 when I started and 23 when I left), but because of all those super-strict rules you were sure you would never cross the weird line with any young players. Eventually, after seven months (characters progressed through Hogwarts years every month), your character would be an adult and, if you had proved maturity so far, you would be allowed into a new area of the forum where rules were a bit loser.

 

Honestly, this is the sort of game where I'd want my kids, but it was clearly made with being kid-safe in mind, and I don't think that is what all (or most) of us want of roleplaying.

 

So while I think it's amazing that places like that exist, and that site still is one of the fondest memories I have of roleplaying, the truth is that I don't consider going back there. I'm almost 30 and I want to hang out with people my age, exploring the thoughts people my age have. I also think that we're all overlooking all the examples that are the complete opposite of that Harry Potter site. There are tons of teenager-built-and-ran communities out there, where they do stuff their way and tailor to their needs in ways we oldies wouldn't be able to. Would I rather have my kids under the supervision of that amazing 40yo admin than running lose with a bunch of teens? No doubt about it. Do I think they'd need me to cater to them in my corner of the internet to jump in to my hobby? Of course not!

 

So this was very long just to say that I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with roleplaying with children in a controlled environment (just like when I was 13 I had drawing classes with retired people and no one thought it was weird), but there's nothing wrong with deciding that's not what interests you in your hobby and go play with kids your own age!

[Kit the Human 758]

@Stat that sounds a hell of a lot like PW. 

 

But I want to echo what Stat said, a controlled site that operates under the ethos of, "I'm comfortable with my 12 year old playing here" can work well for both adults and children. The adults just take the adult stuff off site.

 

But you need to commit to that from the outset. And thus all of your rules revolve around idea, without flinching. 

 

And yeah, that means a lot of monitoring of content. The site that I'm thinking of had a team of people (prefects) who combed all posts for objectional content. In some cases, prefects were just expected to flag a post for admin attention, other easier things they were expected to PM the user about. Template PMs were provided for every situation! 

 

In saying that, I'm not sure this sort of site would fly with this particular RP community. I believe that that site's affiliation with HPFF was integral to it's success. I haven't come across a forum that runs quite the same way. 

 

I hope more people do take up that baton! The adults I met there were...very important to me. I owe one person in particular quite a lot. Of course, not all adults are prepared to be that kind of figure, and that's OK too. But spaces where HEALTHY adult/teen relationships can thrive are important.

 

I don't expect you to do this Mousie! I certainly wouldn't, I've had my gut full of uber strict and it's been years since I was on that site. But if anyone else is reading and considering such a site's within the smorgasbord of 18+, it can be done. 

[TurnABlindEyeEDDY 11]

Personally, I would have no problem playing on a board with 18> members but I would not want it as my 'home base' and my own site is 18+ due to content (many of us dabble in M threads and there is extreme violence etc). I feel like if a site is potentially going to have members under the age of 18 it needs to be made perfectly clear and the admin need to be VERY VERY involved to ensure the safe space for them. I'm a mother of 3 and I would cringe three different ways if my oldest was on a RPG site because I've seen what some of these deviants (me included lol) RP and talk about!

[FriedKilamari 46]

I don't mind interacting or writing with minors! It's rewarding, it helps them grow, and I can offer them perspective on their problems (many of which I've probably gone through myself). I don't mind having minors on mature sites so long as they can't access content not meant for them.

 

Our own board is rated 3-3-3, and we have some minors (15-17) on site. Thankfully, MyBB has a prefix application that denies access to threads marked M or EX. No birthday listed? You can't access them. We also forbid the minors we have from participating in threads marked as such. If they want to smut RP with each other, they can do it off our board. While we can't prevent someone from lying about their age, we are fully prepared to ban the accounts of those who lie about their age, as it violates a site rule (18+). Our younger members are from before the rule was changed, and it wouldn't feel right to kick them out because staff decided to bump up the age. I as an admin make sure to religiously police that because it could open a can of worms I absolutely don't want. That and I value the safety of minors.

 

All that aside, I draw the usual line of who I interact with at about 15-16, just because I can't handle a lot of the drama that tends to come with teenagers. I'm in a tumblr community of ask bloggers, and oh my god some of the drama is just... so petty. I remember what it was like to be that age, but over a decade later I have no patience for that kind of thing anymore. It's more for my own sake than anyone else's.

 

Would I join a kid friendly site? If it captured my interest, absolutely (pokemon, anyone?), but I tend to find myself leaning towards sites where I'm not limited in terms of what I can write (ie: 3-3-3). I don't like being restricted, and that 3-3-3 rating generally prevents minors from joining.

[Uaithne 543]

I'm dying. We're all so old. As I'm reading about the parents who are concerned with making sure the sites are appropriate for their children, all I can think of is when we were those kids' age because the thought of our parents approving sites for us would have been sooooo disturbing. Because we were *totally mature* and our parents were old fogies who just don't understand and try to control us too much.

[musicdiva1331 34]

I'm of the mind that it depends on the board. I'm on one HP board that does allow folks under 18. It's pg-13 with pword areas for those who are over 18 if they want to write smut. If the content is not appropriate for those under the age of 18, then I'm not interested in those who aren't 18 being on the board. 

 

I also get weird about my characters being in romantic relationships with characters written by those who are under 18 on any board that does allow under 18. I think that's straight up because I'm a former teacher though and I like to dot my i's and cross my t's.