ALFA PG-13 or 18+ ?

[dirsa]

see, this is the biggest problem with alfa - beating around the bush and making drama out of it... if someone simply stated - listen guys... there's shit going down that could get host in hot water should a minor ever be caught in it. choices are - stop the shit or make it no minors allowed. - my vote would have been different... but i guess that's divulging information one should not be privy to....

[JaydeMoon]

I think people are less concerned about it actually being 18+ and more concerned about what might happen if you go shout it from the rooftops.

Despite some logical and reasonable arguments , I bet there will be some percentage of people who play this game that may not be so reasonable and logical and will see a big 18+ label as a bright neon sign blinking "SEXY TIME RP HERE! YOU LIKE?!?"

A lot of people or just a few? Who knows. But when I see a big 18+ label for a server, I generally assume it's not for violent content! Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd probably steer clear.

But as it was also pointed out... like 1 of the 3 people who might join up in the next year won't.

[Hialmar]

Just to clarify things:
- This is indeed for covering hour hosts in case we end up with the problems Castano emphasized;
- This won't be advertised everywhere;
- The 18+ will only be a checkbox at the end of the app;
- Along with it there will be a disclaimer saying that we are not a social server with sex at the central focus but that we are D&D RPers who ethically think that some stuff around ALFA isn't for children.

Edit: oh and of course we won't ask for people IDs card so if someone around 16 comes around and ticks the box saying he is 18+ we won't be able to find out anyway...
Now if his mother becomes ballistic we can point her to the 18+ checkbox and hopefully this will end there.

For the record, Erevain/Blindhamsterman was a member of Toril which was clearly stated as 18+ (in his app form like what we propose here) and this was while he was 16... And Toril wasn't a social server...

[Veilan]

- This won't be advertised everywhere;
- The 18+ will only be a checkbox at the end of the app;
- Along with it there will be a disclaimer saying that we are not a social server with sex at the central focus but that we are D&D RPers who ethically think that some stuff around ALFA isn't for children.

As stated elsewhere, I will re-iterate here:



Oh, and maybe do leave out any mention of t3h cyb0r whatsoever - saying "by the way, we are not about sex!" means that at least we have thought about it and will have people thinking about it. Just pointing out that we think some content may not be suited for children should be fair enough.

Apart from that, I just want to stress that the consensus seems to be that just because we would "officially" become 18+ does not mean people can feel at home here doing nothing-but-you-know-what in ALFA, nor subject unwilling parties to their vivid descriptions, trying to use 18+ as a blank cheque.

Basically, nothing will change to the status quo, apart from the hosts covering their rears with a figleaf (I hope this imagery is not rated M).

Cheers,

[Blindhamsterman]

For the record, Erevain/Blindhamsterman was a member of Toril which was clearly stated as 18+ (in his app form like what we propose here) and this was while he was 16... And Toril wasn't a social server...

I certainly don't remember a check box being there, perhaps that was put in after I joined? I know that many of the people there knew I wasn't actually 18 also. (I was 17 at the time, not 16 also I believe).

But I guess thats a fair point, the check box does at least cover hosts etc and mean that even IF something happened it can be pointed to as a 'they certified their age as 18' type thing.

[peterdin]

..... apart from the hosts covering their rears with a figleaf

*handsover to I-KP to cover avatar*

[Hialmar]

I certainly don't remember a check box being there, perhaps that was put in after I joined? I know that many of the people there knew I wasn't actually 18 also. (I was 17 at the time, not 16 also I believe).

But I guess thats a fair point, the check box does at least cover hosts etc and mean that even IF something happened it can be pointed to as a 'they certified their age as 18' type thing.

Look here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200503101951 ... ership.htm

TORIL Member Application

Please answer the following to the best of your ability. We are not looking for deathless prose, but do want to see if you can express yourself well.

1. Please verify that you are age 18 or older.

It was there when I applied about 6 month before you IIRC
I agree that a lot of people, including me, knew that you were less than 18 but this was more to cover Nick's rear

[Mirabai]

As stated elsewhere, with the addition of the disclaimer and not actually advertising it anywhere, I am good with it.

[Rotku]

What about just adding it to the usual conditions that most sites/forums make you tick before you can join up? Does it really need it's very own little box?

[Hialmar]

What about just adding it to the usual conditions that most sites/forums make you tick before you can join up? Does it really need it's very own little box?

The thing is that we don't have that.

People don't create a forum account before applying to ALFA. They do both of the same time with the app form.

I agree that we could put it as a legal mumbo jumbo above the submit button.

[I-KP]

*handsover to I-KP to cover avatar*

[X] I understand that this forum is adult because of me.

[Burt]

Does having a disclaimer actually offer legal protection?

[hollyfant]

Does having a disclaimer actually offer legal protection?

Probably not, but who knows from how many different jurisdictions ALFA is being accessed anyway? We can't very well ask for legal advice from every single place in the world an ALFAn might be. Or claims to be. Or is. Or passes through.

[Regas]

We may be overdoing the risks where minors are concerned. If we make a good faith effort to disclaim our content and require minors to register as such then we've made a reasonable effort to protect minors from adult type content. A bigger risk would be knowing a member to be a minor and then allowing them access to sexually explicit content. This is an argument to keep membership 18 and over which is probably safest for server hosts. Even so I'd rather see the base line content start with less of an adult emphasis so we can avoid turning the place into bad Gor novel.

[Swift]

A bigger risk would be knowing a member to be a minor and then allowing them access to sexually explicit content

Is this just an american thing? Since when was sexually explicit content all that falls into the R rating?