Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Age verification badges

I for one welcome our new badge overlords.

I like that it'll bring security and peace of mind to people who're paranoid about RPing smutty situations with secret minors. I think it would make for a great addition!

Apologies if I come across as short, I'm typing from a phone and forget to take into account how my tone comes across. 😥

I don't mean to upset anyone, I only wish to further my understanding of how this would be implemented and discuss bc I'm interested.

I like the idea!

I don't think people here have a problem with those who want the verification having a measure in place to protect yourself: security is a valid concern and it's not from a lack of faith I think, more a desire to understand more how the process would be secured and wariness from personal experience. It's nice to be reassured!

You see Yahoo, steam and other large corporations have been compromised and customer details stolen. People have faith in their banks but won't touch the app or consider mobile banking. It's a common worry I find.

Anyway, I had a look around and found mostly outsourced solutions for this as it's required in retail, gambling and sites of an adult nature.

Most take credit cards and we know this isn't a viable option for everybody.

I was wondering about the option to hide users and character profiles from under 18 year olds at the (hidden) player's discretion. I've seen that done on a similar website when I was younger. An opt-in option for a player to decide to hide their personal and/or character profile away from minors completely rather than cut off communications entirely.


Thoughts?

I've been following these discussions off and on, wondering just when to chime in, if I should chime in, wondering what I could put on the table that others haven't already said prior. I like to avoid having my words come across as being like in an echo chamber, though I also believe that adding more voices to a pool to add more perspectives to something that is a relatively serious concern is also within mine and the community's best interest as a whole.

I have to admit, I have actually had minors contact me for smut RP -- I put my foot down, and I said 'no, there's no way that I am endangering myself in such a fashion because you want to get a thrill of one kind or another'. Now, I think in this case that I might have been lucky that this was-then minor was conscientious enough to actually lay down what they were interested in for me to immediately say 'no'.

Now, on this same token, I am not a person that even LIKES RPing smut with people that I have not known for less than three to five months. That is MY PERSONAL comfort levels of RPing smut with others that I have gotten comfortable with.

The badges that would be in effect would be optional, and I am all for that. It gives a sense of security for anyone that is interested, and I admit that I 100% would be interested for that option. I WANT to know whether or not someone that I am RPing with is 100% AN ADULT ESPECIALLY IF THERE ARE ADULT THEMES.

I don't mind RPing with minors so long as they are courteous, respectful, and are wanting to improve upon their writing in any way, shape, or fashion that is not toeing the line on what is legally okay; I take issue when minors are trying to pull the wool over my eyes and trying to trick me into RPing stuff with them that will get me in trouble, get me flagged as a sex offender, get a strike put on my otherwise perfect record because that minor had no regard for my personal safety because they wanted something that they otherwise would not have gotten from someone else. THAT is where I have issues and close myself off to trusting anyone that I have not gotten to know well over time.

So yes, I am all for a badge that shows me that: "yes, this person is of age, they went through the process to show their identification and have been verified by someone to get that badge on their profile." This would be something that would make me more able to put boundaries on what I am and am not okay with, and would allow me an easy way to verify whether or not what I am wanting to RP would also be alright (i.e. would not potentially get me in trouble) in the long run of things.

The problem I see here is this doesn't readily address people who are lying about their age on their profile. I know of several people (who I will not name) who at one point or another lied about their real-life age to circumvent the system both on RPR and in Furcadia (to my knowledge they are adults now, but that doubt still lingers since they lied previously). Unfortunately, having the option to hide the profile from minors would do nothing to combat the minors who lie about their age. While the RPR moderator team is amazing and constantly working, they can't catch every case all the time.

This has been really helpful in shaping my thoughts on the potential of this feature. I have a few new things to mull over, and a good feel to how the community feels about it and what the most common concerns are. Thank you to everyone for your honest and thoughtful feedback.

I'm still not ready to commit to implementing this, but it remains on the table and will be something that I continue to probe and ponder.

I may be late on this but here it goes...

I have always been an anonymous writer. Just because I am an extremely private person and would prefer to not associate my personal life within my pen name.

That being said, the beautiful world of the Internet knows me by Vic and only Vic. The Internet does not know my face or gender. It knows my age and birthday only because I decided to display it for the same exact reason as to why this idea was created. So, in a way I do think that a badge verifying age to ensure safety is a good idea. Maybe my reasons for being partially against it is a little selfish. Those reasons being that in order to officially verify my age and ensure that I am in fact writing with adults of legal age, I have to...

A. Send my ID and money to a stranger on the Internet whom I do not know. Which, ignore my blunt honesty here, sounds pretty sketchy within itself. Though, that is probably 100% complete paranoia on my part so perhaps disregard that.

B. Trust in said strangers mentioned in A to shred all given information about my actual face and gender while also removing it from memory.

In summary, I’m conflicted.

I know this is stupid, but what if an adult asks a minor for certain RPs. I have not seen it here, thank god, but I seen some pretty creepy adults engage in certain RPs with minors on other sites (Facebook, AniRP, Gaia, RP.Me, etc). Considering I have dealt with a creepy adult on dA who kept asking for certain Rps and I turned him down, telling him he can get in trouble. He just replied with a "" and kept using peer pressure. I blocked him afterwards. If I know someone better and maybe get close, I will just share my name or some hobbies. That's about it. I was pretty much taught not to give out information or anything to strangers unless I know them better or get to know them more.

I rather wait until I am 18 to write gore type RPs. Smut doesn't interest me one bit.

As for Vic, I go by pretty much as Asroc, Gunvolt, Red, ETC. I am what am. An Anon writer who is just non binary and enjoys a writing hobby. Someone who knows from right and wrong.

As for the minors vs not writing well. I know some minors that can write better than some adults,but that part has nothing to do with the subject. I ramble too much so I apologise.

I do not feel comfortable with sending real life, legal documentation (passport, driving license, gov IDs), over a leisure/games site, more so with cases of identity theft and identity fraud.

If there were other ways to verify I am 18+ then I would definitely give it a try.

Even as a supposedly one off feature I have no assurance of who gets that ID and for how long it is stored (or stolen).

I would prefer to make a purchase of an 18+ badge via credit card since these are not given to minors for example and credits cards do offer some protection/insurance in case of identity theft.

This is not stupid at all, thank you for asking. If an adult someone knows you're a minor either because you told them directly or because you've made your age public on your profile, and that person continues to ask or pressure you for smutty role play, please immediately hit the report button on the p.m. where that happened.

An individual that does this is engaging in dangerous behavior, and we will want to intervene not just on your behalf but on behalf of the entire site.

In fact, if anyone of any age is feeling pressured by another person of any age to engage in sexual role-play that they've already stated they do not want, you have every right to block that person and to get the moderators involved.

Completely unreliable. Minors can easily obtain debit and gift cards, which can be used in place of credit cards; and as someone who used to work on a register, I can tell you that kids use their parents' cards all the time, usually with passive permission, and parents frequently get an extra card for their kid.

I think this is bad for a few simple reasons, Kids stealing cards from parents or whatever being able to use it to falsely pass themselves off as 18+, or using a something like a gift card that can be used like a credit card. ( i mean I might be wrong, but I know there will always be someone that will try and find a way)

Now I am on board for the Badges, though.

Also, I would like to add that some parents co-sign on official credit cards for minors. It's becoming more and more common as kids are involved in more and more activities that are expensive. Some of my students have credit cards and are allowed to purchase small items for themselves outside of the expected expenses like dance costume or food on competition trips.

Thank you got clearing this up. I see it allot on other places and I wanted some input.

I only asked becsuse I been harassed by adults for weird rps.

I don't mind a casual rp with an adult like a tavern or cafe rp.

almost none of the personal info is correct on my profile. i sign up on every website with the correct year and the wrong birth day and month, and keep it consistent throughout the site so that if someone managed to get my site info, then they still wouldn't actually have any of my info. i try to use pseudo-d emails. i've never given out my real name online. i use paypal exclusively for online purchases. as soon as debit cards with chips came out, i went and got one. i haven't owned a credit card, and i try to buy everything that i need in one transaction to keep the exposure of my name to the world as low as possible. in short, i'm a security freak - mostly because i know how devastating identity theft can be as a primary source.

i think it's very easy to imagine elitism coming out of these badges. i'm not going to say that there isn't a point to be made with epic statuses and age badges being similar, but i am going to say that epic sorts of accounts are an internet-wide thing and very common, so people are used to them. they've had time to process them, and get over the elitism associated with being able to have one - at least, most people have. however, websites with an age verification badge are not commonplace. it's a psychological principle that people draw coarser boundaries for things they are not comfortable and naturalized to; take, for example, gen z's opinion of electricity-based technology vs the baby boomer gen's opinion. the idea for these badges is to allow safer rp, and that is very easily warped into allowing rp - to rephrase, allowing safety is easily made into simply being the norm. take, for instance, spices being a luxury in ancient rome, whereas now they are a household item; take, for instance, an institution being very modern for having a first aid kit when they first came out, but now you can get one for $1.99 at dollar general. the coarser boundaries people will likely draw in regards to the badges might well turn into elitism. it happens all the time.

personal security is, imo, of the same severity as getting in trouble with the law. both affect your life forever if compromised. both affect you very negatively while they're happening. both estrange you from your current life circumstances. both come from a bit of negligence, or from your dutiful sentry over something and someone else's lying. i've heard of people going to family members and saying they'd invest their hundreds of thousands of dollars into good companies and return it in a year or so tripled, and then they just take the money and leave. the victims were devastated. i've heard of people who were sued for writing smut with a seventeen y/o. they're not all that different - the only difference is that one has prevalent relevance on this site, and one could have prevalent relevance on this site.

many people on this thread have said they are not comfortable providing personal info, or that they have concerns. i think we should hold them in the same regard as we are holding player's comfortableness writing out a scene with someone. neither side is wrong. they both have a right to be concerned about their safety. people aren't against this because they want you not to have peace of mind or because they want you to be at higher risk of going to jail; people are against this because they think the social implication is strong enough, when paired to potential security risks, to merit a no.

Graideds pretty much sums it up in my eyes.

Not all minors are looking for smut and not all minors are poor RPers. I have seen my share of adults who aren't good and carry the elitist attitude. Not on here, I have not encountered anyone like that. I just seen it on places like Facebook, AniRP, RP.me etc where elitism is putrid there and 20+ year olds who claim they are good aren't. No, they aren't learning or honing their skills. They can be downright cruel, critical an assume writing "longer" posts where everything is repetitive makes them good. I have seen the whole "illiterates are ew!" from people where they aren't good themselves. I view it as "you were once new yourself and may have did the same thing".

I been harassed allot by elitist people because I did not give in making fun of people who were learning or at least had common sense and knew what was right and wrong.

I have blocked many people in my RP days since 2011 when I started RPing and I was 10 around the 2011 era. I learned to type better and in paragraphs. Learned to block who was bad, nettlesome and bothersome.

As I pointed out. I have seen 20+ year olds pressure minors and other Rpers into smut, R18+ etc RPs to the point of harassing them. This behaviour is more of an issue on other sites. I been bothered a couple months about by a 20+ year old who wasn't looking for smut, but was somewhat creepy, bothering my character while he was OOC to "talk" to that character. I just blocked him.

Elitism is pretty much frowned down upon in RP communities and it spoils the fun and enjoyment of anything you love to do.

Sorry... I ramble too much. I had to let it this out, because I reread some of the posts and hearing "minors can't write well" or "are looking for R18" kind of set me off. Sorry.

Sorry, I must comment on this because I feel some of what you said is misunderstood or misguided. I have been following this forum and I haven't seen anyone on here say that minors cannot write. The people who want this badge want it because they do not feel comfortable one way or another rping with minors. The main reason is for safety. Yes, minors are looking for 18+ rps, we see it quite often here, but yes adults are also actively looking for inappropriate rps with minors as well. The way that you implied it, was that no minors are seeking 18+ rps, and unfortunately thats just untrue, just as its untrue to say adults are not looking for minors for 18+. Both are bad.

This is not an attack on minors at all and the people who would get these badges would feel a lot safer. After all, as stated a few times, people could lose their jobs over communicating privately with someone under age. This badge would be made specifically for these people who still want to enjoy their hobby and be safe.

Yes, there will be elitism, but there always will be. You have to try and look at it positively however, someone who doesn't want to interact with minors, with or without the badge never had any intention of interacting with minors anyways. So theres nothing you can do about it other than tell yourself 'they weren't worth your time anyways'. We all have to deal with it one way or another but I do not think the badge will cause any more elitism than there already is.

I apologize if that came off rude, I am certainly not trying to be. I just want to try and clear up any confusion.

Thanks for clearing this up more.

I feel the issue is kind of 50/50 on both ends.

I kind of wish other sites invoked a heavy rule over some issues. I left AniRP, but that place as well for RP.Me and Facebook seems to be a hot bed of Erotic RPers that plague the site. dA has it as well, in which both people get punished if they do it publicly or through PMs. I more so find it unsettling when I see a minor wanting R18+ Rps.

What I do not get is when either party says "It's just RP" or "Oh no! You won't get in trouble!" seem kind of foolish to say. Much like the person who bothered me elsewhere for weird Rps. I kept saying "no" and blocked him afterwards.

Edit: Nevermind, I'm just repeating myself.

At the end of the day, Something still needs done to protect the older roleplayers as well as the younger ones.

You could meet people half way. Such as they may not want their date of birth or even real age be shown. That is understandable but then you could be more vague. Make putting DOB mandatory but on their profile. Dependent on their age it will come up with 18+ or 21+ that way those looking for only those over 21 can just look on the profile and if the person is 28 and embarrassed so doesnt want to show how old they are then they simply fall into a large group of 21+ and those below that will say 16+ or not if younger.

People can of course lie but that is where a warning about terms and conditions would come in. Such as having your profile delete. Ip blocked or some sort of action to be taken given that they are lying and can potentially harm someones life by lying.

the issue with this is you can change your IP address so that completely invalidates that idea. I know you mean well, but there are ways around IP blocks.