Underage Players
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@Aria said in Underage Players:
I think Iāve run into exactly two people who are working on their undergraduate degrees in my last six or so years of playing.
Which isnāt a very good judgement of someoneās age, jussayinā. In Australia, at least, the rate of people entering undergraduate programs at 25+ is on a steady rise.
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@Pavel said in Underage Players:
@Aria said in Underage Players:
I think Iāve run into exactly two people who are working on their undergraduate degrees in my last six or so years of playing.
Which isnāt a very good judgement of someoneās age, jussayinā. In Australia, at least, the rate of people entering undergraduate programs at 25+ is on a steady rise.
Ohh, I finished mine at 30. But no, these players are both absolutely tradiational college kids who are, like, 20-22.
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I have no issue with underage players exploring themes much like a lot of us did. Sometimes they are exploring parts of their identity and this does seem safer. Iām not going politics but at least in the U.S. we arenāt exactly moving towards a welcoming arena of exploration. If you know, then you you know. If you donāt, count yourself lucky.
HOWEVER
I also donāt want to be an adult who has a logs of my character (not that I log) engaging in an activity with a person I didnāt know was underage. Then for it to come out in my RL area as well. There are very RL things that can happen depending on your job (especially if government is involved) or your life or other things. I mean look how weāve seen people twist real lives between adults ā now add that aspect and just Nope. Gonna nope right out.
Thatās my take mind you. I mean I also know that I lied about my age IRL. I had a fake ID. I did things. I saw things, but still on this sideā¦ yeah. Iād ban them, but thatās all that could be done I think. Itās very complicated on both sides.
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For a long time Iāve wondered how people didnāt figure out that I was a 14 year old masquerading as a 19 year old when I starting MUSHing. Itās probably more likely that itās not that they were just oblivious or didnāt realize it, but that the people I played with at that time and I were all four edgy teenagers in a trenchcoat pretending to be adults in a Sabbat pack. I guess the real Masquerade was the friends we made along the way.
@Pavel said in Underage Players:
@Aria said in Underage Players:
I think Iāve run into exactly two people who are working on their undergraduate degrees in my last six or so years of playing.
Which isnāt a very good judgement of someoneās age, jussayinā. In Australia, at least, the rate of people entering undergraduate programs at 25+ is on a steady rise.
This is also fairly common in the US, from what Iāve seen while working on my PhD and doing community mental health work with emerging adults (recently anyway). And look, I donāt want to get into politics or blaming everything on certain economic principles like I tend to do, but in this case we have a very bloated and unwieldy educational system that ties into all of the other systemic issues in the States, which goes beyond the undergrad level. Shit, at Stanford they recently built these (actually pretty nice) ālow income housing unitsā for the postdocs to live in. However, what Stanford didnāt realize is that the management company they hired to rent these apartments out have disqualified nearly all of their postdocs due to lack of income from Stanford.
Mind you, this area is exceedingly unaffordable, like I live in a place thatās notably considered to be a bad area and Iām still paying an exorbitant amount, but rising costs of education alongside rising costs of housing have made it hard for people to get into school without either getting tied up in loans, getting good enough grades/being good enough at sports to get scholarships, or working full time while going to school, so it would make sense to save money for a while.
Anyway! Yeah, kids in games. I would prefer to not have it happen. Itās extremely hard to enforce. As far as I know we didnāt ban anyone who was underage on the Reach or Metro2, I wasnāt staff at Fallcoast long enough to really learn, but Iām 100% sure that there were people who were underage and kept it to themselves. The question is how to detect someone underaged. In the case of SH I guess the player outed themselves, but itās hard to count on that.
they/them
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When it comes to enforcement, you just do what you can. Make a rule to point to (and cover your own ass with), and if it comes up, then you politely explain why theyāre being removed and just remove 'em. Gently.
Overthinking things and burdening yourself with too much responsibility isnāt gonna be helpful. Thereās a point at which it isnāt your job and becomes a parent/guardian supervision issue. Youāre not responsible for that.
Additionally, if youāre going to twist yourself into knots over potentially playing with kidsā¦ youāre absolutely potentially going to be playing with kids. Itās not a guarantee that you are, but anyone you meet on the internet could be anyone. So, if that risk hits your threshold, thatās up to you to think about and act on. Thereās no one-size-fits-all answer to that.
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I mean everyone here is getting a picture of a photo id and todayās newspaper before engaging in TS, right?
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@shit-piss-love said in Underage Players:
I mean everyone here is getting a picture of a photo id and todayās newspaper before engaging in TS, right?
I just ask if they know what a newspaper is. Itās faster, and more accurate.
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@shit-piss-love said in Underage Players:
I mean everyone here is getting a picture of a photo id and todayās newspaper before engaging in TS, right?
Something betterā
Brb, starting an OnlyFans but for TS
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@KarmaBum My oldest has been playing in Discord servers for a while, and these kids are ruthless about policing their safe spaces and will bounce an adult faster than you can blink.
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@Raaspra thank you for sharing that. It is reassuring. š„°
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I really appreciate everybody taking the time to engage with the topic and giving some really helpful and interesting answers.
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@somasatori said in Underage Players:
For a long time Iāve wondered how people didnāt figure out that I was a 14 year old masquerading as a 19 year old when I starting MUSHing.
People didnāt notice I was a 9-year-old masquerading as a 17-year-old, people are dumb as fuck.
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Hi. I figured Iād come out of the woodwork for this post because it feels pretty relevant to me, since I started rping around 13 and only came of age a couple years ago. RP has single-handedly been one of the most cathartic outlets for my creativity, personality, and sexuality, and also one of the most emotionally taxing. I genuinely donāt think Iād be who I am without years of rp under my belt, but I also would have avoided tons of unnecessary stress and a lot of very real hurt. As a kid, I lacked the mental and emotional bandwidth to handle some of the heavier situations that arise in these spaces, not just abuse, but general bleed and vicarious feelings. I think itās especially easy for kids who donāt have much of a social life to immerse themselves way too deeply, so instead of a hobby it becomes a coping mechanism. Obv this isnāt an age-specific issue, but people of lower maturity level are certainly more susceptible.
So, on one hand, rp was integral to my development as a person, but on the other, it kinda fucked me up and Iāve had to reevaluate my relationship with it recently. Collaborative writing can have such a beautiful and powerful impact, but Iād say underage people should stick to spaces with others in their age range, and if they are caught on an 18+ game, turn them away with an invitation to return later. -
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@Artemis Thank you! Iām really glad to get the perspective of someone still very young. Iām sorry you went through the stress and hurt parts (which I can empathize with, even though Iām older and was never so young in the hobby) but Iām glad you could find the positivity you could in the environment, as well.
I appreciate your input very much.
