I really appreciate everybody taking the time to engage with the topic and giving some really helpful and interesting answers.

So, I’ve agonized for the hour since I’ve become aware of this individual joining the Discord server for the new Silent Heaven game that has been created with a very specific eye toward and much labor put into being a safe space for players, but I don’t want to sully the advertisement thread or development thread with this issue, because it shines no ‘enlightenment’ on anything specific to the game, and also likely needs to be a bigger discussion contextually speaking than just one game.

An individual that has played another game for a couple of years was recently outted as being underage. The response - or lack thereof - of that game’s administration has become a bit of a sticking point for several people involved with that game on various levels, including some really long-term players and it seems quite a few people from said game have hopped on to enjoy the launch of the Silent Heaven game (I hope they’re all enjoying it as much as I am, too). The playerbase of the older, existing game was informed that some rules are just unenforceable, and that encouraging players to try to enforce them for and between themselves would just foster an atmosphere of distrust and possible exploitation/extortion which is - a take, I suppose. The fact that the whispers have it that this player also sought out, if not outright engaged in, sexual activity in the game with people who had no idea they were, for all intents and purposes, a child, is something I find very alarming and feel also needs some sort of discussion.

I’ve opened this thread to shine light on the fact that that player is now present in the Discord for the Silent Heaven game and to express that at least one of the other players, myself, has a real issue with this. I’d like to hope others will, too, but I’m only speaking for myself here, as somewhat of a keen player of these games but also as someone currently slowly working their way through building a game themself, with a real interest in how @Jumpscare has managed to pull together mechanics and policy to create a place everybody can feel welcome and not be attacked or exploited in an OOC fashion and I’m really loving what I see.

I realize that actually policing age is difficult, if not completely impossible but I think it bears some discussion as to what can or should be done if administration of a game that incorporates adult themes (violence, sex, etc) in its very theme and setting finds out they have underaged players. I also realize that many of the people who were and are members of the communities surrounding these games were under the age of consent themselves when they first began to engage in text-based multiplayer interactive writing games, though I didn’t discover them until I was in my twenties and I think the context of then and now bears some discussion, as well.

Basically, with the recent (welcomed, on my part) emphasis on consent and honesty within these games, enforced to varying degrees through both policies and mechanics, I’m not at all sure how to handle, as a player or future administrator, the possible presence of children in the playerbases I’m also present in, and how to fairly judge how I feel about the violation of boundaries and safety I feel goes on when these kids, with their natural curiosity and lack of understanding of the possible consequences of their behaviors both for themselves and others, lie in order to play these games and get the sorts of interactions they want while playing them.

I hope I managed to raise this topic in a way respectful to both the adult players and possible underaged players who might read it, and with a minimum of accusatory tone, but I’m having some issues with this since it became so suddenly important and I’d like to see the input a community of this nature, with people participating across various game types and genres, has that might help.

At this point, I don’t really want to take the chance of playing and exposing someone else’s kid (I’m a parent myself) to these themes, because I’d be unhappy if I found out my kids were. While I understand this particular individual is going to be of age very soon, it still doesn’t sit well with me that they’ve lied and basically tricked people into activities that would, had they known, violate those other players’ ethical and consent boundaries. At the same time, I don’t just want to quit the hobby wholesale because of the chance of those things happening or completely remove myself from certain games due to their subjects, because I feel like it would be an unfair imposition on me - or any other player feeling the same way - to have to quit games to avoid the issue.

So, that’s where I’m stuck, and I’ve chosen to toss this out to everybody else, hopefully to have a vibrant and respectful discussion about. Thanks in advance.

@Livia said in TinyMUX Question:

@untitled https://github.com/thenomain/GMCCG

Don’t I feel silly. I thought I checked. Thank you so much and have a good day.

@Artemis Thank you! I’m really glad to get the perspective of someone still very young. I’m sorry you went through the stress and hurt parts (which I can empathize with, even though I’m older and was never so young in the hobby) but I’m glad you could find the positivity you could in the environment, as well.

I appreciate your input very much.

@Roz You’re an angel, thank you for this.

What’s UTS??

This is weirdness the opposite of weirdness I saw and was thinking on earlier this week .

IDR which game it was, but there was a game I was paging through the wiki and how-to-cg of and there was a COST associated with rolling in as part of group concepts. I actually maybe kind of get this one more, BC I’ve seen games get raided like a Discord server by small groups of people with chips on their shoulders and in a lot of these RP games, all it takes is a couple to wreck shit.

Maybe the background attachment requirement is a heavy-handed way of pushing brand new players into a mentorship with an established player. Doesn’t negate any of the valid criticisms already voiced here, OFC.

@inuki Yeah, if it’s true it’s not cool but neither is admin treating people like shit.

@Pavel Alright, I’ll just say it’s a stupid argument to begin with, and that this person feeling compelled to spray all their words at the screen in defense of someone not interested in defending themselves while at the same time insisting they don’t care that much is… par for the course in these communities I guess.

Typical disappointment.

@Prospero said in Neitherlands:

@Nobody-0 said in Neitherlands:
… (and I would really ask that you provide some semblance of evidence about that if you actually have it because I’m always willing to admit if I’m mistaken, but every single bit of evidence I have says the contrary, and all you’ve presented is a memory of a handle changing hands several months ago)…

To be fair, it’s not like you’re offering much more, but I also don’t see people beating it into the ground in a way worth a 500 word essay that still doesn’t introduce actual evidence, either.

@inuki Yeah, if it’s true it’s not cool but neither is admin treating people like shit.

@helvetica Ah, thank you!

What’s UTS??

@Artemis Thank you! I’m really glad to get the perspective of someone still very young. I’m sorry you went through the stress and hurt parts (which I can empathize with, even though I’m older and was never so young in the hobby) but I’m glad you could find the positivity you could in the environment, as well.

I appreciate your input very much.

This is weirdness the opposite of weirdness I saw and was thinking on earlier this week .

IDR which game it was, but there was a game I was paging through the wiki and how-to-cg of and there was a COST associated with rolling in as part of group concepts. I actually maybe kind of get this one more, BC I’ve seen games get raided like a Discord server by small groups of people with chips on their shoulders and in a lot of these RP games, all it takes is a couple to wreck shit.

Maybe the background attachment requirement is a heavy-handed way of pushing brand new players into a mentorship with an established player. Doesn’t negate any of the valid criticisms already voiced here, OFC.

I really appreciate everybody taking the time to engage with the topic and giving some really helpful and interesting answers.

So, I’ve agonized for the hour since I’ve become aware of this individual joining the Discord server for the new Silent Heaven game that has been created with a very specific eye toward and much labor put into being a safe space for players, but I don’t want to sully the advertisement thread or development thread with this issue, because it shines no ‘enlightenment’ on anything specific to the game, and also likely needs to be a bigger discussion contextually speaking than just one game.

An individual that has played another game for a couple of years was recently outted as being underage. The response - or lack thereof - of that game’s administration has become a bit of a sticking point for several people involved with that game on various levels, including some really long-term players and it seems quite a few people from said game have hopped on to enjoy the launch of the Silent Heaven game (I hope they’re all enjoying it as much as I am, too). The playerbase of the older, existing game was informed that some rules are just unenforceable, and that encouraging players to try to enforce them for and between themselves would just foster an atmosphere of distrust and possible exploitation/extortion which is - a take, I suppose. The fact that the whispers have it that this player also sought out, if not outright engaged in, sexual activity in the game with people who had no idea they were, for all intents and purposes, a child, is something I find very alarming and feel also needs some sort of discussion.

I’ve opened this thread to shine light on the fact that that player is now present in the Discord for the Silent Heaven game and to express that at least one of the other players, myself, has a real issue with this. I’d like to hope others will, too, but I’m only speaking for myself here, as somewhat of a keen player of these games but also as someone currently slowly working their way through building a game themself, with a real interest in how @Jumpscare has managed to pull together mechanics and policy to create a place everybody can feel welcome and not be attacked or exploited in an OOC fashion and I’m really loving what I see.

I realize that actually policing age is difficult, if not completely impossible but I think it bears some discussion as to what can or should be done if administration of a game that incorporates adult themes (violence, sex, etc) in its very theme and setting finds out they have underaged players. I also realize that many of the people who were and are members of the communities surrounding these games were under the age of consent themselves when they first began to engage in text-based multiplayer interactive writing games, though I didn’t discover them until I was in my twenties and I think the context of then and now bears some discussion, as well.

Basically, with the recent (welcomed, on my part) emphasis on consent and honesty within these games, enforced to varying degrees through both policies and mechanics, I’m not at all sure how to handle, as a player or future administrator, the possible presence of children in the playerbases I’m also present in, and how to fairly judge how I feel about the violation of boundaries and safety I feel goes on when these kids, with their natural curiosity and lack of understanding of the possible consequences of their behaviors both for themselves and others, lie in order to play these games and get the sorts of interactions they want while playing them.

I hope I managed to raise this topic in a way respectful to both the adult players and possible underaged players who might read it, and with a minimum of accusatory tone, but I’m having some issues with this since it became so suddenly important and I’d like to see the input a community of this nature, with people participating across various game types and genres, has that might help.

At this point, I don’t really want to take the chance of playing and exposing someone else’s kid (I’m a parent myself) to these themes, because I’d be unhappy if I found out my kids were. While I understand this particular individual is going to be of age very soon, it still doesn’t sit well with me that they’ve lied and basically tricked people into activities that would, had they known, violate those other players’ ethical and consent boundaries. At the same time, I don’t just want to quit the hobby wholesale because of the chance of those things happening or completely remove myself from certain games due to their subjects, because I feel like it would be an unfair imposition on me - or any other player feeling the same way - to have to quit games to avoid the issue.

So, that’s where I’m stuck, and I’ve chosen to toss this out to everybody else, hopefully to have a vibrant and respectful discussion about. Thanks in advance.

@Roz You’re an angel, thank you for this.