Your experiences, Fleahop, are decidedly limited. Would it be reasonable for me to say "Well, every Dungeons and Dragons game I've ever seen has been a bunch of fat nerdboys playing chainmail bikini elf chicks," and say that all of the D&D games in Wanted: Players make it "seedy" or "immature"?

In my experience it isn't "confusing M and A" as much as "GM doesn't want to have to worry if a Player get's overly descriptive of something before the GM can force a Fade To Black".

And it ensures they are getting adults.  Not that that necessarily indicates more maturity ont he part of the Players, but the perception is there.

We have that already.  A GM is free to make his game Adult, and still require that his players fade to black for sexual content.

This is, in no way, misusing the system.

Also note that, as others have mentioned, the Adult flag does not apply exclusively to sexual content.  It's perfectly possible to disallow sexual content, and still have a game that requires an Adult flag.

The current system of three ratings is far simpler and clearer than adding multiple grades for things like, "no sex, but still 18+".
This message was last edited by the user at 20:09, Fri 20 July 2018.

In reply to NowhereMan (msg # 14):

Yeah it would. If you touch something and it's hot then someone tells you it's not hot, who do you believe? Using prior experiences with a thing to judge it is human nature and I'm just describing my experiences.

You're incredibly right about them being limited, but it's all I have to go off of. I love the tools on this site and how it's set up and would really like my like-minded friends to join up. So yeah I'm going to try it with them and see if they care or not.

Keep in mind, also, that the "A" rating allows for GMs to have a built in safety net so their game (which they are held fully responsible for the content of no matter who actually posted what) isn't as easily in violation of the rules. It's simply easier if you already have players over 18 to toss up the tag just in case something goes sideways that you miss. It's extra helpful also for games where you don't actually know all the players you have well and aren't sure if they will do things outside of the posting guidelines you set when you aren't paying attention, or if you are away for a period of time and can't actively police it.

In all cases though, the best policy is that if you aren't sure what the expectations of a game are, ask. If you aren't comfortable with the requirements or expectations, you can always opt not to play. I've been in "A" games before and they've never included any sexual content at all, but maybe some might have considered the violence graphic? Others, maybe not. With an "A" rating, you don't have to worry about what side of a blurred line you might be on with your content in that case.

It should simply be enough to allay your friends fears by saying, the "A" rating is not necessarily synonymous with XXX ratings, though if you are looking for those games, that's the only place you will find them. But if you are really worried about that possibility, ask, or just limit yourself to "M" or general games. They are there, if you look for them.

Not really. Proof of age isn't required: It's on the Honor System. Some folks DO lie, especially when it helps get them what they want. An Adult rating is no assurance of 18+ year old players.

By that logic, a General-rated game has no assurance of not having graphic sexual content, either.

In reply to NowhereMan (msg # 20):

Oh, the moderators will shut it down if it does. And you can tell the content simply by reading posts.

Not so with age verification here.

Rules like laws will be broken, but they give enforcers means to punish those misusing them and a rubric for what's to be expected if/ when that happens.

And yet we have a surprisingly high success rate in discovering those who have lied about their age.

In reply to tmagann (msg # 21):

The content of the Go to Your Room! Chamber of Lost Souls says otherwise. Granted, it probably hasn't caught everybody, but it has been enforced.

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 23):

Possibly...or possibly you just don't realize just how many folks are fibbing.

And that is the difference between optimism and pessimism. :-)

in the  end?   the Mods  can't  catch everyone... but the ones they do  catch are extracted.

 There was a Player in my game  had  another  game that used a lot of my homebrew, with  some of his  added to it.. was a nice  game..but..he was busted for  Duel Profiles... I had to remove him from my game to?

 that's the way it goes...you hope you don't lose  anyone, but they rolled the dice and lost...

Assuming you're absolutely correct, tmagann, and Adult games are inundated with 9-year-olds (:P) then there's still an important functional difference:

In the case of sexual or other adult content coming up in my game, if a minor is viewing that content, and the game is rated Adult, they are the ones breaking the rules, not me.

In reply to tmagann (msg # 25):

Never been called an optimist before.

Just to put my two cents into the continuing conversation.

I believe that if you have to put a special tag on the vast majority of games, with a good number of them being the most restrictive, then they aren't being used correctly. When 90% or more (of my quick survey) of games have at least a mature tag it makes you wonder why do the tags exist?

If people really don't want minors in their games, which seems to be the case, there should be a way to verify age. I doubt the majority of minors in adult games are caught, so it'd also help with that issue.

There is a way to verify age, Fleahop. When you attempt to join an Adult game, it prompts an age check. Those checks are stored, and inconsistencies lead to bans from Adult games. Yeah, a particularly consistent minor could lie convincingly and not get caught, but without access to government databases for every nation with Internet access, there's no way to independently verify the stated ages.

Ok, going to peek my head in here.

I play in Adult Games, specifically for the sexual aspect of the writing. With that said, I don't do it for porn, to get off or stuff like that. I do it because I enjoy writing something that deep. While some of it is fantasy like, not all of it is.

When it comes to Adult games like that, everyone here give or take who play or GM's them are very dedicated to things going well and smoothly. Even with the Adult Sexual games, there are things that cannot be done in them. And that is taken very seriously. As a GM, we watch for things and stop them right away if they come up. If need it, removing the player and reporting them. If there is even a doubt or an inkling that someone might be underage, and lying about their age. We report it, we make sure the Mods are aware of it and they get banned from the Adult games. That even includes people who are of age, but don't act like it.

Of course you can't absolutely get everyone, maybe there are a few on the site in the adult section who are 14 but act surprisingly adult and mature. It's possible, an i. f they slip someone will be there to report them. Nothing is a perfect catch for this unfortunately, as it is the internet. And you know everyone tells the truth on the internet... :P But we have a pretty good system here, compared to other places.

The thing is with the Adult games here also, is we are very protective. And it is safer here, then other websites for us. Other websites, horrible, horrible things go on there. And no matter how much the mods try to clean it up it is impossible. It isn't like that here, because we have multiple layers to block out the bad stuff. And anyone serious about the adult games, protects that and protects the players.

You are allowed your opinion, as your friends are. If you like the cool tools of the site that is great. You don't like Adult sexual content that is fine, you are not required to. But to shun RPOl because it has it isn't really fair. The protection we have for our games, are also the protection for you to not have to deal with it.

The Wanted threads are pretty obvious as to what is going to have Adult sexual content most of the time, if you really look at it. And if you are not sure, it is as easy as asking a GM. You have choices here, and you are really never exposed to any adult content unless you want to be. And if you are, and if it shouldn't be there then you alert the GM in the game. Everyone here just wants to have fun and enjoy themselves in the ways they see fit, and RPOl really offers that ability.

You will not find anything else like this around.

Hey prophacyks, you brought up good points and I don't plan on shunning rpol. People can do what they want it doesn't really bother me what's going on elsewhere as I just won't stick my nose in it.

What I'm getting at now is that the majority of games require these tags. Not that I have a problem with that, but if everyone wants non minors then it may be best for the site to make that the status quo.

As for a better way to verify? Just throwing this out there, but I'd pay a one-time one dollar charge to get access to adult games. I'd imagine that would keep minors (especially the early teens) out of those games and in others. I don't imagine most adults will care about sparing one dollar to verify themselves. You can still ban minors if they stole their mom's card or have their own and are caught...but yeah I would be all for that.

I'd also personally do away with the mature tag and instead have an all-ages tag for those very friendly, not so serious games. This is again because of a lack of non-tagged games. Mature games are the majority and should probably be treated as such.

Actually, I think this came up at one point when subscriptions were being talked about, but nothing's come of it yet.

Define "not being used correctly".

The Adult tag is used to restrict access to a game because it contains (or may be intended to contain) restricted content.  Non-members can't read that content (and can't really make any judgement on whether or not it's there).

The Mature flag is simply a warning for site users that the game may contain a small amount of content that some people might find offensive (bad language, references to drug use, etc).  There s no age restriction on Mature games.

Everything else is rated General.



That would be because it's not a popular idea, and it has proved to be impossible to find a payment method that sufficient people find acceptable.

But the tags have worked out well so far, so why change things because you don't like something? Really it comes down to, if you are looking for something specific then you have to do the leg work and ask.

And the money part was already tried for the Adult games. Many of us got together, and fought that because it wasn't fair that we get punished for being an adult. And there is really no difference on what we are fighting, the kid can still find ways around it with credit cards. Really the only thing it would have ended up doing, even if it was a small amount of money. Is it would have alienated a lot of people who love this site, and work to keep it safe. And a good majority would have left, maybe some might have paid it but not alot. And anyone new coming in, they wouldn't want to pay money to be able to write in an adult setting. They would just move onto the other sites that were free.

And again, why change something that has worked well so far? People know exactly what they want their game to be, and why they wanted marked that way. It is simple with the three options, you at least then know what you might be getting. It is up to the GM though if any of it, will be in it.

That last sentence is technically correct, but doesn't tell the whole story.  If I read the policies correctly, the GM is responsible for the content of his/her games, and for verifying the ages of all players.

I've not had anything like what you're saying here happen in one of my games, so I can't speak from experience, but the reality is that we, as GMs, are not exactly "off the hook" if one of our players misrepresents their age and we fail to take action about it when we find out.

No.  While the site does contain a number of Adult games, the games that don't have that rating are open to all.  RPoL has a long-standing reputation as a family friendly site.

In reply to horus (msg # 36):

I haven't have direct issues with minors in adult games, either. I know that as GMs we are required to take action should we discover a minor in an Adult game, but if a player gets their Adult access revoked, are they automatically kicked from Adult games they're already in, or does it just prevent them from getting into new ones?