If possible, would you support the idea of a 13+ server?
Dec 30, 2018 8:33:39 GMT 10
Anouk silentwolf and grannyh like this
Post by Alejandra Mooseberg on Dec 30, 2018 8:33:39 GMT 10
This poll is not about how easy another server for players at or above a specific age will be to make. This is simply if SSO decided to do this, would you agree and why or why not (if you'd like to explain)? The main reason SSO has a filter is not just because it is targeted to kids, but also for the majority of players (as it appears?) are in the USA. USA has a law called COPPA, which basically means, if your website/game does not meet certain requirements, children under the age of 13 cannot join it in the name of protecting childrens' privacy on the Internet. Naturally, this also means having a strict filter. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page on the main SSO website, you can see Privo's certificates of it being COPPA and GDPR approved. However, with a 13+ server, SSO could get away with a black list of words rather than a white list in the United States (and other countries, depending on their laws)
Having a 13+ only server would mean:
- The filter would become less strict.
- Custom club and horse names could become a reality in the server (I'd guess the reason why there aren't custom club or horse names are because of the very reason that players could make inappropriate references or something of that nature in the names).
- The game may appeal a bit more to older players.
- SSO could loosen up on some rules, such as no romance roleplays on these servers (these happen despite their best efforts, anyway. Making a 13+ only server could bring players who do those onto a new server where it won't become a danger to those most vulnerable.)
But, this would not be without its cons:
- Children under the age of 13 can easily lie about their age in order to join this server. It would have to be hidden and not be a public update, and just a small update given to players who have set their age as 13+ or older that they may now switch to a 13+ server for a less strict filter (though they will not be required to). Even then, players will find out about it eventually.
- Keeping track of players in this server would be difficult, since these servers would most likely become more and more popular as time goes on.
- Inappropriate roleplays beyond simple romance would become a problem.
- Live moderation would probably have to happen here more than anywhere else.
- It would become far easier to share personal information that normally would not be easy to share.
- The server may become a concern for some parents.
I'd like to point out that another game called ROBLOX basically already does this, except the players play on the same servers, it's just that 13+ players can see most things others say because they have a far less stricter filter than those under 13. In general it works out for them, and whenever I attempt to tell this to an under 13 player they simply have no idea what I'm talking about, which means that the 13+ chat is mainly a secret to most kids. I'm saying this because I'm trying to tell that this idea COULD work out. (FYI I'm 13, I turned 13 in October, but my account says I'm older because, yes, I lied about my age.)
I personally would support this idea, despite the cons. If not a server, at least having ROBLOX's system would be nice, where under 13 players will see hashtags while above 13 players will.. I guess, see less hashtags depending on what is said. Most players in the game don't mean anything bad in the first place, and while yes there are bad people out there they're probably going to try no matter how hard you make it for them, just because they're that kind of person. Child predators are quite smart and manipulative and they will try and get under your skin, even with the current filter you could probably, unfortunately, get someone's phone number if they're gullible enough with the "read caps" strategy. People are already advertising Discord servers in global at this point. A 13+ server could bring lots of players who'd like to share social media and such somewhere else.
Another simple fix for concerned parents is to just disable chat for their child altogether, so they would not be able to read or send chat messages until the parent disables the setting. They would have to add a parental controls part of the website, but such a feature is probably something that parents would want anyway. Or parents could disable whether or not their child can go to a 13+ server. This still does not fix everything, but for the parents genuinely concerned about the servers and the chat, they can disable these social features as they wish. If they end up adding parental controls, the information about parental controls should be sent with the activation e-mail as well (and in the e-mail to everyone in general if parental controls is added).
Will under 13 players still go in the server? Probably. Then again, will under 13 players still register for Google services such as YouTube and Gmail, which are barely regulated at all? Probably. But just because these people are going to join despite it being against the rules isn't really your problem, it's more of the child's, his/her parent's, and SSO's problem. And like I said, even if its a safety concern because of this, the parental controls I just proposed for parents with those safety concerns should be kept in mind. The parental controls should allow them to regulate these things as they wish. If the parents allow it? Well, maybe they can trust their kid to be mature and responsible in the first place.
(I understand that there's a topic already like this, asking about 18+ servers, but it seems to have been talking more about male characters & LGBT+ acceptance in the game rather than the filter. I'm not sure what the rule on similar topics is, but if this is too similar I guess I could delete it or something.)