Player age notification for Alliances (not sure how else to explain it)

Came across a scenario within our allience which made me think but also explain why I see recruiters requestion for over 18 only players.

As in everything online these days there are parental right controls, minor warnings etc designed to you when a minor is around.

My alliance is mostly made up of mature players who have families and work so our conversations have been accordingly so (no filth or rude stuff at all but adult adult stuff) then based on a single comment made during our chats by one of my members, it dawned on me that this person was very young so in asking that person thier age which they would answer to with a couple of other members we asked this person questions which eventually cornered him into revealing his age and it turned out it was only a 10yr old child.

As adults (as any parent can understand) we instantly changed the what we talked about.

This got me thinking on how this could be solved without violating personal detail laws or affecting players rights.

At the end of the day this is a game and the last thing we (at least I) would want to do is either kick someout out because thier a child but at the same there are things kids should need to hear and based on the fact that these are community chats which involve people from a diverse world arena getting together meaning chats can be about anything, I feel itā€™s important to know when a minor is around.

So came up with a couple of suggestions which would at least warn others when a minor is on without providing player details to anyone which are

  1. Have some sort of tiny icon or mark attached to that minors icon which would warn others that this is a minor.
  2. Within the allience panel where it displays the list of members, under the members username, next to where it shows members rights have a word or icon showing that is a minor.

Now this can be set in the background to 13/15 or whatever SG feels is appropriate within the laws.

Now I know Iā€™m going to get responses here like, well watch what you say, keep your chats about the game or something like that but we all know that within a community chat area discussions are not always what should be heard by 10yr olds/minors and any parent will understand what I am talking about here.

I personally have seen the type of conversations which are being had in the chatrooms and although not rude they shouldnā€™t be for minors ears and by warning there is a minor present adults would then be able to watch what say.

Anyway it was just a thought which, like I said concerned me as a parent abd thought Iā€™d put it out to you all to see if itā€™s a valid point and take it from there.

Cheers

One of our players asked to bring her 12 year old grandson onboard. It immediately changed the tone of our earlier carefree but adult banter.

The worst part though was that his parents kept grounding him from his tablet as punishment for any infraction. A powerful tool I wish Iā€™d had in raising my own kids :rofl:

Luckily the grandmother realized it wasnā€™t going to work and she removed him.

Since then weā€™ve made sure to advertise our alliance as MATURE. We wouldnā€™t knowlingly allow a child to join.

Agreed and I do the same punishments with my kids, works well, lol

Having said that, although I understand the adult only aspect completely, this is game after all and Iā€™d rather see a child in my allience who can learn from us rsther than not including them and they end with some unthoughtful team of midgits because the good alliance donā€™t want them, ifvtheir playing the game they should be treated with the same respect as a player no matter what age.

Having said that my post isnā€™t about not including them but more about find a way to make adults aware there is a yound child present. As to why goes without saying.

Cheers

There are quite a few alliances that advertise themselves as family-friendly. I took that to mean they included children. It would be nice if kids could be directed their way.

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Interesting idea, but Iā€™ve no idea how SG could implement this. So many of the kids playing are on their parentsā€™ devices. Unless they create something where you have to click ā€˜yes Iā€™m above __ ageā€™ I donā€™t see how this could be set up.

So true and good point, as my kids started that way as well.

Iā€™ll think about it. I think your optoon of asking the question when a player first starts playing on their first log on sounds like it would work well and be the easiest to implement and then itā€™s left up to the honestly of that player but at least the option will be there.

If a player/minor is found to be dishonest it could then be reported back to support to tag that player or take it from there as to what to do about it. But in general must young kids would be wanting to enter the so quickly that lying about thier would be the last thing on their mind.

Only my opinion on have 4 kids of my own.

I want to suggest adding a button to each alliance to describe the ā€œtypeā€ for example using the movie rating of G PG and R. Or Child friendly (all ages); family friendly (16+ recommended); some adult language (18+ recommended); adult only (18+ required).

I see people come into alliance and unleash bad language or naughty behavior. And even if it is ***** by the game, kids can figure it out. Maybe this could help set a basic ground rule while minimizing exposure of minors to adult behavior