(11-10-2014, 02:34 PM)Xydane Wrote: I'm just going to throw my two cents into this one. I agree with Tiergan 100% completely as there is a very thin line you cannot cross with it comes to anything gaming related (whether it's RP, chat, etc) and breaking the law.I thought the better of bothering to come back in to post in this thread, but I need to point out that the bolded is the only case where you can actually be arrested. You have to show a real intent to engage in sex with an actual, real-life minor before you are even considered a threat.
There are divisions/teams in law enforcement who's sole duty (whether they play the game in general or not) is to search and investigate this kind of shit. If you think that's not true, think again.
There has been a lot of cases where people have met through MMO's and etc, ultimately coming to unfortunate events that have transpired.
It is also the duty of the players themselves to report to GMs' if they see and/or hear something that is off track.
Cybering, ERPing, or whatever with either an underage fictional character or a RL minor is never going to get you into trouble, and absolutely no one in this thread has shown any actual proof to the contrary. This is entirely irrespective of the perceived morality of engaging in the activity; people (plenty in this very thread, of course) will naturally look at anyone who engages in such askance but it is absolutely hilarious that people continue to assert something that has no proof.
You think it's icky? Fine! You're entitled to your opinion. I would, however, appreciate it if people would less spout falsehoods as fact just because they sound "right" or seem like what is "reasonable" when the reality is far removed from their vision of how things should be (and how things "should" be is obviously going to be different from person to person).
But okay. Since I've already disclosed that I ERPed as a minor (and told no one, except for one individual whom I trusted implicitly), I will also disclose (at the risk of outing myself as a creep - already done it once, don't really care anymore) that I engage in ERP with and as underage characters. No one in a position of authority actually gives a shit. Granted, I keep such activities low-key and far, far outside of the realm of the public eye, but still, if this were actually a criminal activity I would know about it!
And really, that's what it comes down to, isn't it? You just don't want to see it. You don't want to know about it when it happens. And that's already the case! This sort of thing happens everywhere in places you're just not aware of, and that's fine. No one is getting hurt. Everyone involved is giving their implicit consent to engage in such activity, and can withdraw from it at-will. There are some concerns stated in this thread about encouraging exploitation of minors etc. but it's incredibly silly to make that argument considering all the other questionable things we RP on a regular basis (helpfully listed by allgivenover). Let's not also forget that what we're talking about here essentially boils down to thought-crime, one with no real "victim" to speak of, which still isn't an actual thing you can be convicted for in any case.
I should note at this point that I don't really understand the folks who suggest that there should be some intrinsic artistic value in the things people RP. I don't agree with that at all. Sometimes you just want to kick back and have a good time, and I don't see anything wrong with that whatsoever. There are far worse offenses to me than people RPing out their repressed desires because they want to, such as ignoring the context of the setting, going full-on Mary Sue, godmoding, just plain old bad writing, and so on and so forth. The former I generally don't even get to see unless they MT; the latter is everywhere. Priorities, people!
So, in summary: ERPing with underage fictional characters is okay. It's also icky to a lot of people but nobody will get in serious trouble over it. ERPing with actual minors is far less okay but you still won't get arrested for it and most minors will not disclose their real age to you anyway if they have enough self-awareness to be engaging in ERP in the first place. Trying to solicit actual minors for real sex is totally wrong and you WILL get arrested for it but that has effectively nothing at all to do with ERP because you've already broken the IC/OOC barrier with impure intent.
I realize that by making this post there will be people who totally ignore my opinion in the future because they see me as morally bankrupt, and I am okay with that. If completely writing off the concept of thought-crime and having a very strong separation between IC and OOC is enough for someone to treat me as subhuman I probably never wanted to interact with an individual to begin with. C'est la vie.