Age rating TOS feedback
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The rules have been updated as mentioned to state the new(ish) rating of the website, that being "child friendly with parental guidance" (or "PG" in other words). We decided not to include a specific age in any capacity, official or non-official, because we don't want people thinking they need to be of any age. Instead, it is alluded to based on the content of the website and nothing more.
While the new rating does allow slightly loosened conversation and topics (Undertale, anyone?), this doesn't mean that our stance has really changed. We were a little bit in the realm of 'child-friendly with a PG-ish acceptance on things' even when we stated we were 'child-friendly', in hindsight, though it was still closer to 'child-friendly'.
I'll unlock this thread so if there are any questions, they may be posed and I can edit them to the first post as reasonable. :)
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Hey all~
So I'm going to get right in to it.
The present age rating for our website is "G" or "E" (depending on where you're from) which basically means it's suitable for everyone.
No huge issue there, really, is there? Well...
The thing with being on the internet is that the internet itself is not "G" / "E". At best, it's "PG", if we're being real, here. Sure, the Pokémon games have those ratings but they're also not tied to the internet.
I'd also mention that there's a fair point to be made in that the games made aren't based around player interaction / communication. It's there, yes, but it's not the core aspect... And where player interaction is typically involved you can find "Online interactions not rated by the ESRB".
This all said - I'm not suggesting that we bump everything to unrated or something... It's more that there is a case to be made where the rating that we presently have conflicts with what the internet is. We'd be wrong, for example, to say that a parent could place their young child on our website and everything would be fine.
Thus my suggestion is as follows - we change the rating of the website to PG-13. This means that anyone younger than 13 is still welcome on the website, we just suggest / recommend parental guidance on the matter.
Where does the feedback come in on this?
Well, am I missing something? Is this a good idea? Am I right / wrong? Why? Should I be fired and replaced with an Oculus headset?
Silliness aside, mind you, I am quite serious in this matter - this is a change we are considering and we want the communities input on the matter.
Thank you for your time reading <3
EDIT: Finished eating so adding this here - Suggestion that it'd be better for PG and not PG-13 taken on-board seriously. PG seems more preferential than PG-13 c:
PG-13 is not a full no-go but is definitely looking less reasonable than PG. Would still probably offer "13" as a non-official suggestion to parents.
EDIT:: Just waiting for Niet to come home so we can go through and verify and all changes to the ToS (rules).
Would it be possible to have the website be G and the forums in particular be PG-13? In general I feel the content on the site itself isn't that damaging or bad for kids.
(I admit I'm not sure where the latest Halloween event stands, but even that is fairly lighthearted to the canon Ghost Marowak incident.)
EDIT: Actually, I forgot about the ZC buying page. I don't know if it's possible, but maybe that should also be PG-13, since it is paying real money for virtual currency.
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I think it seems like a good idea! Maybe explain that the site itself is safe but that parents need to watch out when it comes to user interactions? That way parents don't have to be stressed about every little thing that their kid(s) do on site but just when it comes to talking to other users? Be it forums, trades etc.
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@GrayGriffin It's less about it being damaging or bad and more about being able to understand the game. Sure, at it's core you can just hatch eggs and click people, but that's not the whole game - the community is, and there have been instances where the community hasn't exactly been "G"-rated but also not so far gone we could really do anything?
There's also the fact that there are instances where we do need to ask to speak to a parent because we legally cannot discuss something with a minor (typically serious issues, but it's still a fair point to consider).
Also, tbh, saying that the site is "G" but then saying "oh but this is PG-13" isn't really a good idea. At that point there's so much of the site that's 'PG-13' that you can't justify the G-rating, if that makes sense?
The event we ran is G-rated. There was nothing bad that happened in it - much worse has been done in the actual pokémon games.
Go look at some of the Pokédex entries for canon Mega Pokémon if you want to see what you mega evolving does to them... And sometimes the trainer (It's not nice).
@DuchessLunaire I mean we'll be keeping the content G-rated from a development standpoint. The stories we opt to tell won't be changing - it's mostly just covering the content of the website in an overarching manner, if that makes sense?
I was mostly thinking about some petsites I was part of as a younger kid, where if you were under 13 you actually couldn't access the forums/PM system. On the other hand, I think Pokefarm still allows people to not give their birthdays, so that's not really a solution, right?
Yes that makes sense ;) I was just thinking about my mother in particular and when I was younger and she needed to know what sites I was on, she was less stressed about the sites that explained what exactly parents needed to watch out for instead of .. this site is pg 13, your child is not and you should watch their every move just in case. (Cause when u suggest my mother something she takes it as a you should do this or else your young pure soul of a child will be flubbernugged)
I wouldn't go as far as PG-13 to be honest. I honestly see the middle ground of PG fitting the site more. The site may have had some problems in the community, but the ones I've seen have been probably about PG in my opinion?
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I'd say changing the rating entirely would be better than just changing parts of it (if that's even possible). Simply because the user interaction is strongly present, it's everywhere. Sure, forums are one thing, but it does not end there. Trades? They can include messages and the pokemon you get may have something in it's bio. I once got a sort of a memorial mon, which had a story about someone's friend who'd died to cancer. Not every parent would want their kid seeing that. Clicking others exposes the player to seeing the About Me's which may contain stuff the parents should be aware of, and so on.
So I think just slap the PG-13 on the whole site. It's not like it's going to prevent anyone from using it, it's just telling the parents that they should pay attention to their kid's doings.
I personally don't have kids, but if I did, I'd consider this site to be one I'd want to monitor, simply because of the amount of user-submitted stuff the kid may see. So just pointing that out to parents who haven't gotten familiar with the site before could hardly be considered a bad thing.
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@GrayGriffin That is correct. We allow people to opt out of providing their dob at the cost of some of the features of the website. The Discord link, birthday features etc. Nothing major.
Locking out the forums would be a big problem, imho, since the community is so core to our game.
@DuchessLunaire lol I can understand that... hm. I can certainly work with my team to determine a sort of 'checklist' for parents? Think that would cover what you've brought up? owo;
@TrainerCalliope That's fair enough. I hadn't actually considered just direct parental guidance. I'll edit the first post to note that as the present option being considered but with PG-13 as the 'more extreme' consideration, though less likely, methinks. Thank you!
@Manewa Seems to me you hit the nail on the head as to our reasons ^^
If this is thing saving site etc, why not xD
Not bad idea in my opinion, but this is changing nothing than few words in rules.
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