A shot of Lauren1992 got deleted and I thought I'll leave her a shout to tell her why it got deleted. I saw that she is 17. Now my question: As far as I remember you have to be minimum 18 to be allowed to play here, wasn't it?
Ok, thanks Deviant =) Is one of the admins taking care of this then? I thought about it and there is a big problem, because this site doesn't check the age of a member somehow. So in the end everyone, even a 13 year old can be a member and just say he or she is 18 or older and you don't know the truth. The problem can start by parents seeing their kid hang around here, maybe at exactly that moment this kid has a shot with boobs or gore and they could sue the admins here, because according to law the admins are responsible for checking that there is no kid under 18 here. Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to complain about this, but I just happen to know that because I have an own online game and I would like to help by pointing it out. I know it's quite hard to have something that checks the age, especially because this is a site internationally used, so even checking the number of the id doesn't work here. The easiest way (for the admins) is to get a picture sent with the person on it and holding the id or drivers license, where you clearly can see the birthdate and pic on the id or drivers license... but not everyone wants to do that so you could loose users.
Yes it is, or what do you think why movies have a rating before they get released? A 13 year old is not allowed to see specific nude and/or bloody content and so on... Since when is a 13 year old allowed to go into cinema and see a movie rated 16 for example? And these laws are also binding here on this site, that's the point...
EDIT: Maybe I should say again, I don't want to complain and personally I really don't care of little kids and what they do or where they spend their free time in the internet, I just wanted to say this, because I wanted the admins to know what problems they could get...
mouha, I dont really see the problem, there are not that many gore or boobs. And there is no porn here. If I was a parent, I wouldn't be worried about this site at all, if a child wants to find gore and porn, he will find his/her way in some other sites... I dont really see how this can be fully controlled, I'm not willing to send details about myself on the net, certainly not ID and all, just a question of principle. And to be honnest, if I was 17 it would suck not to be able to play. I watched my first horror movie, I was probably 12, I watched Les Valseuses when I was the same age which shows lots of nudity... Anyway, if the rule of No unsuitable content is followed, I dont see the problem. But I dont make the rules :)
This 18-years-old minimum rule is probably for WTM creators' peace of mind. And I can understand it. This way, they don't have to worry about the shots being too explicit, they don't have to reject awesome shots just because there's nudity/blood on them, ... Plus this will probably avoid most complaints and/or legal issues.
I know what you mean Chrisy and you're right, I see it the same way, but the problem is the law(my opinion is different than what I'm talking about when I talk about the law)... other sites are not this site, you know what I mean? I was just talking to the admins of this site(because I like it here and I don't want them to get problems) and they have the minimum age in the rules for a reason... because there are movies not allowed under a specific age. I'm sorry if someone feels now angry or whatever because of what I said... like I said, just wanted to help...
Hi Phoenix, I don't where you are from (I have a slight idea though), but you may know that ratings are not the same in every countries. I my country a "boobs" tag itself does not lead to any restriction. You can see "boobs" in advertising, mainstream magazines, on the beach and even in prime time on regular tv. I often wonder what kind of frustrated committee can give an infamous PG16 to some movies when I get an US dvd.
Of course if I have to decline my id to play wtm, you'll count without me.
350 years ago, a great philosopher wrote: "Vérité au deçà des Pyrénées, erreur au delà"
Hey efji, the thing is, it doesn't matter which country you are from because the internetlaw is a bit different than other laws, because it is international... And even if a movie is rated different in different countries, the point is, that there always is content not allowed under a certain age, that's the reason for 18 years or older, so than you can be sure... And of course you see boobs in advertises and so on... I'm not talking about that, for one reason: it has nothing to do with this site ;) And if a TV station airs a movie with boobs on prime time it's the responsibility of the parents and the TV station and not the admins of this site ;)
However, I shouldn't have said anything because now you all probably think that I think so... which is not. Like I said, I don't care personally about those kiddies. But I do care about this site ;)
A typical problem of online conversations. Phoenix just wanted to point out that the terms of WTM say "You must be at least 18 years old.", but nothing is done to check this. But people get this wrong for some reason. It's not about if you think this is right or wrong or whatever! When you have a website that happens to have some gore in it (which is good) you must think about age restrictions. And a simple text, hidden in the terms, may not be enough. Other websites are not having these age verifications for pure enjoyment.
So. I think there should be at least an age verification when people want to sign up for an account. Nothing fancy like sending a picture of your id, just asking for the date of birth and that's it. I know this can be cheated easily, but then the admins can at least say they have done anything. The same way like most of the websites do it. My opinion.
I can see exactly what Phoenix means, this isnt about if its OK for 15 year old boys to see boobs or gore :) Phoenix just doesnt want to see our beloved WTM get in trouble - just good intentions.
Perhaps though this is purely a question for Naut/Tliff. You are right, I am sure by law there should be something to protect minors from accessing certain things, and the site doesnt appear to have any verification. Try posing it as a private message to naut or tliffe in IRC.
Thank you Deviant and them00ch, at least you guys know what I mean =) I took your advise them00ch and sent them over the contact function a mail. I told them about the forum discussion so I think when they find the time they will read it :) And then we will see if they find a solution to this ;)
What if 17 year old Lauren saw a pair of boobs? =D hahaha! I know what you mean though. But it's pretty hard to control. I think all admins can do is require the age when a new user is registering, and if the user is under 18, he/she will get a message that no users under the age of 18 are allowed. Then kids will do what they always do, lie about their age, and the admins are no longer legally responsible :)
@ Phoenix Your concern won't go unnoticed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Although I have to say that MisterZob was dead-on with his statement:
"This way, they don't have to worry about the shots being too explicit, they don't have to reject awesome shots just because there's nudity/blood on them, ... Plus this will probably avoid most complaints and/or legal issues."
We have no way of checking the age of our users (besides the "ID sending thing", which we obviously can't and won't do). We'll however add an age-verification check during the registration process (like Deviant proposed)
I actually thought I remembered this same scene being tried with a little bit of the "member" showing . . it didn't make it I guess and maybe they are trying a less graphic shot . . ?