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+--- Thread: 18+ Age Restrictions (/showthread.php?tid=299)
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Jakky - 08-01-2010
Mm. Cultural differences do complicates things, as most stuff classified as (I don't know how your ratings work) 18+ or something in the US will likely be only a 15 here in the UK. But ya gotta be consistent.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Spartle - 08-01-2010
The guild I was with in WoW had an age requirement of 18+ but we were not an RP guild so the ERP tag never got tacked onto our name. It was more of a way to find others in the same age group (mostly late twenties with some forty years plus making up our core) and keep our reputation of being mature and laid back. We did, however, allow a few players who did not meet the age requirement in. There are some pretty mature fourteen year olds out there! But of course, we did make some.. ahem, adult jokes here and there but our guild leader would keep everyone in line to avoid defiling innocent ears (or eyes if they read it?).
My two cents, I don't like the Mature = Adult = They Must ERP connotations. I blame society. *firm nod*
Quote:As far as I know, Mature ratings in USA is often given due to nudity or sexual content.I don't think that's always the case but it's most likely true to some degree! I see a lot of Mature video games are just violent (Does Dead Space have suggestive themes?) and The Sims gets a Teen rating even though it does say on the box "suggestive themes" and nudity even though they blur it.
[size=xx-smal]Just going to go to bed now before I make an idiot of myself..[/size]
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Kashemia - 08-01-2010
Well, age is often a hard thing to judge maturity on. I've met some very mature 14 year olds, and some 30 year olds that acted like teenage girls. But having a restriction can still help I think, in finding people around your own age...
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Xaefan - 08-01-2010
In America, it's more mature-themes to say the word "FucK" than to stab someone in the chest until all you see is a pool of blood.
Also, I didn't mean to open up such a large topic of discussion... Also, I didn't move it out of the thread.
HMM!
But, anyway, I wasn't implying anything in general, it was merely a question of taste. Setting an age standard for a guild is a double-edged sword. We should have a not s****y ESRB system for guilds. Like E guilds are LOL FAMILY FRIENDLY, and M guilds are more accepting of violent happenings and amounts of cussing and the stray nudist.
But, the ESRB sucks, so.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Kashemia - 08-01-2010
Yeah, I agree that the ESRB system doesn't really fit roleplay... Hell, it doesn't fit a lot of movies either <.<
Also, the rules are not to say that if we discovered someone in the guild was 16 or 17, they'd be kicked... It IS more of a way to cover all bases, so that IF someone gets upset, etc... I feel like I'm starting to quote myself too much
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - ArmachiA - 08-01-2010
It makes sense to have some kind of age restriction on a smaller guild, you want to play with people your own age and if your a small guild and your only going to have 4 or 5 members, makes sense to make sure that happens. I don't think you're doing anything wrong.
CB will house members from 18-48 at launch, so I'm more comfortable letting in a 17 year old because they're close in age to the 18 year old. I'm not sure how much I'd interact with the younger member out of the game, but I would know there are people near their own age they can interact with.
I don't know, it would be odd having a guild that was 25+ and letting in a 16 year old.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Renaise - 08-01-2010
I personally believe in taking it on a case by case basis, I have known 16 year olds to be a lot more mature and sensible than some 50 year olds I know.
Thats kinda why I like an interview process
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Seraphine Felstar - 08-01-2010
One of my first end game shells had a average age of about 23+. There wasn't a lot of mature discussion on the shell because everyone was busy with end game events/progression and all the chat was focused around game mechanics. One of the officers decided that his 13 year old child was old enough to play FFXI and be in the linkshell. He definitely had his parents permission but it wore on everyone else quickly. He was constantly chattering, demanding people help him, and would have fits if things didn't go his way. During our first dynamis run with him he successfully tanked the entire run after ganking tons of gear from people who had earned them with "Oops" as his only comment >.>
When the issue was brought to the attention of the parent, he refused to believe or understand why it was a issue with any of the shell members. He insisted that he would just watch his child more carefully, but it didn't help. Eventually rules had to be made just to accommodate this one person and it was frustrating for everyone involved.
Conversely my end game shell has an average age of 26-27+ with several people who are well into their 40's. We talk about work, taxes, our children, game mechanics and yes, sex. No, we're not having sex at all but we joke about it and post image on the forums (like motivational poster kinda stuff) that aren't appropriate for children. Everything we say is just joking around and no one takes it seriously, but for kids it might be a bit confusing or misleading. We don't have an age limit and to be honest when people under 18 join the shell they normally get bored anyway. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of old people when we start talking about music from the 80's and why we hate our bosses? - Since the few teenagers who have joined leave, my guess is no one XD
To make a long post even longer, I'm a mom and I watch my kid like a hawk. However, I know a couple in my linkshell that have a daughter who is one week younger then mine and they don't watch her at all. More then once I've heard about them yelling over ventrillo for their four year old son to watch the baby so they can keep chaining exp >.> It's really rough for me to constantly be having to watch her and never getting a moment to myself, but I'd rather myself be inconvenienced and know I'm being a responsible parent. Not all parents are responsible and would rather blame the evils of the internet and other people for their child's behavior. The rules are here to protect ourselves as much as the children (yep, teenagers are children no matter how mature they are).
Age requirements are not a bad thing, nor does it mean everyone is talking about something naughty who join. It's just letting people know what the mentality of the shell is and to make it easy on hyper sensitive parents who aren't really watching their kid as carefully as they could.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Soren Miren - 08-01-2010
I'm in the same camp as those who just feel like its more appropriate to play with people in the same age category. While I've employed a loose age requirement for A.E.T.H.E.R., it isn't really meant to define what sort of content we introduce in RP or to protect us from any angry parents. The only 'angry parent' issue I've ever had is when a guild member in WoW complained that our gchat conversations were too raunchy for the two year old sitting in his lap to be reading. /boggle
That being said, in that same WoW guild we managed to acquire a, get this, twelve year old. Tweve. As in the same age as Fyrian's younger brother obsessed with his Wizard 101 and the (thankfully) restricted chat therein. I mean this was just out there, I don't know why we didn't kick him sooner considering the kinds of blatant immaturity he was bringing into guild chat. Maybe there was some humor in it, or it could also be that the guild was finally in its death throes by that time. Either way, lesson learned there. Eesh.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Kashemia - 08-01-2010
Crystal, you're always amazing at explaining things. Just wanted to applaud your post, since it's exactly what I've tried (=failed) at saying for the past many posts.
And about responsible parents, that reminded me of a youtube meme I recently saw... The first video I saw was of a 12-year old crying, saying that some posters had ruined her life, and then her dad coming in and yelling something about the cyberpolice. Apparently some people from 4chan or something had harrased her, and at first, I felt really bad for her, I know how horrible some people on the internet can be... Then I found the reason why they had done it in the first place, a video where she talks about "haters", saying that she would "pop a glock in their mouth and make brain slushie" or something (Sorry for my terrible butchering of english expressions, I probably said that ALL wrong <.<). While I still don't condone the harrasement of a 12-year old, or of anyone in general, it was pretty obvious that the parents blamed the internet, pretty much ignoring that their daughter behaved like a total brat. I don't think you should keep your child off the internet, but I think it's important to teach them that even there, you should act reasonable.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Asyria - 08-01-2010
You all heard about Hobbs the 11 years old right?
Over 50 minutes of hilarity FRAPS'ed in a WoW raid guild Vent?
With the 11 year old trying to hit on every adult women he heard?
If you haven't try it: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63587481
This is why I'm in favor of Age requirements.
More seriously, it's true that age doesn't always mean maturity, but an age requirement usually isn't a rule.. more like a guideline (Pirates of the Caribbean lol).
More seriously though, Crystal wins this thread with her explanation. The second half of the third paragraph in particular very nicely expresses my views on wanting to hang out with people around my age.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Kashemia - 08-01-2010
Asyria Wrote:More seriously, it's true that age doesn't always mean maturity, but an age requirement usually isn't a rule.. more like a guideline (Pirates of the Caribbean lol).
QFT. And as it has been stated, it's a way to play with people who are around your own age... While I know +18 allows for a pretty big spread (I've been in guilds with people who were 20 years older than me), most people go through a lot when they're a teenager. I changed much more in my teenage years, than I've done for the past couple of years, so the difference between someone on 25 and 35 will often seem less than between someone on 15 and 25. At least that's my experience. It's not to say that all teenagers are immature, far from it, and I'm still relatively young myself (early 20's), it's just what I mostly observe. As Crystal said, in many of the guilds I've been in, a lot of younger people found it boring.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Seraphine Felstar - 08-01-2010
Thanks everyone! I felt like I was writing my life story there, but I'm glad I managed to get the point across clearly.
Quote:The rules are here to protect ourselves as much as the children (yep, teenagers are children no matter how mature they are).
This was stated from a purely legal, parental point of view. When I was a teenager I understood a lot of the world and the consequences of my actions and I feel like I could have handled a more mature guild. However, the law doesn't make allowances for maturity so taking on a guild member who is under the age limit without a warning or restrictions is really taking a lot on for the other members. Sad it's that way.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - River - 08-01-2010
At the risk of repeating things that have already been said, I thought that I should at least speak up, as the leader of the Stormguard. As it has been said before, we have an 18+ age restriction. This means that you sign an agreement that you are 18 or older. I don't encourage people to lie, but it's been known to happen. There's not much I can do about it, but at the same time, it's not my job to police those who decide to lie about their age.
The age restriction in the Stormguard, as Jakky said, is from a purely legal standpoint. People can LOL about lawsuits and give hypotheticals all day long, but until you've been in my shoes and had a parent start throwing the fear of the law at you, you don't exactly understand how serious a mood it can put you in. Now, there are plenty of arguments from people saying that parents can't exactly sue you for running a guild and talking about adult content in front of their child. It's true --- they shouldn't be able to, since it's actually the parent's job to monitor the games their child is playing.
However: they can do a lot to make your life hell, even if they can't follow through with a full lawsuit. I've had it happen, and I never want it have it happen again. This is why we have an age restriction and agreement before you can join our guild.
It doesn't mean we ERP. I ban that kind of thing from guild chat. What people do in /tell and AIM are their own business. However, I don't ban posting erotic material on our member-locked forums, if it has to do with a plot.
As others have also said in previous postings: there's a certain amount of life-experience difference between the time you are in high-school and the time you begin making your way in the world. It has less to do with maturity than it has to do with understanding and connection of the individuals around you. I connect and enjoy playing with my 16 year old nephew just fine. I think he's very mature and I'd love to RP with him. However, he's in a different headspace than I am. He'd probably be pretty impatient with the fact that I usually have to start going to bed around 11 o'clock at night because I have to work in the morning. (Just an example.)
I completely respect role-players younger than 18. I think that they are the future of role-play, and I constantly learn from many of the ones I play with outside of Stormguard. However, as a guild leader, I have to protect my ass and protect the interests of my members. I can't wait to play with many of you at RPC functions and other events, but I hope you all understand that the age restriction is not there to keep you down or make a statement. It's there for very specific reasons.
Re: 18+ Age Restrictions - Xaefan - 08-02-2010
On a somewhat related note,
Pure comedy relief is a twelve year old boy talking to a 40 year old woman about how he worries that because he has a girlfriend, and kissed her, that she'll get pregnant.
Yes, I kid you not, this wasn't an actual RP guild (It was just a loose collection of people who played PSO with me) but we were just hunting one day, and he seriously asks "If I kiss a girl, and I don't wear a condom, can she get pregnant?"
Lulz ensued.