Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » A "dark" setting for prompts (rejected)

Your proposed slider meanings violate the guidelines for what topics are allowed on our public forums, which means it could not be implemented and makes it a great illustration of why this idea doesn't solve the problems it seems to be setting out to address.

Use groups. If you don't want to use DMs, use groups. If you want to play content that's too much for our public areas but still allowed in private, use groups.

What if I make a character for a specific group - therein following the advice and the rules - but my character gets flagged anyhow, as I need to create a character in order to join a group in the first place?

How can I avoid this, even if I use all the appropriate tags for violence, sexual content, etc?

My understanding is that if one person finds offense, we are told to report it - which they are well within their right to do. However, if that character is strictly used in a group, but the profile is still offensive - how can that character survive on the website with the instruction being given?

Just trying to understand a little more what comprises 'dark themes'?

I'm not against people doing their thing, we all have our cross to bear and experiences to hash out in roleplay; but I'll be honest, if 'dark themes' foray into (tw) sexual assault/graphic violence I can't support this idea in good conscience because that compromises me morally to think there'd be a section for people potentially wanting/seeking out those things on a PG-13 site with minors--though I agree things should be communciated/warned against and the content triggers you can write notes in are good for that.

I'd be worried what the intent behind a filter like this is and how it could be abused.

I've roleplayed my fair share of rock-the-boat plots and -dark- characters, in my experience it all comes down to communication and setting hard limits on where you stop. Letting the other player know, hey, this character may be problematic for you - is it okay to discuss themes before we go on?

If your content warning is honest and not diluting/downplaying the themes, I know from then on whether I'll continue or not. People sometimes say there's sexual/graphic content on their site for instance, but write very graphic and detailed background/histories (one of which actually made me sick/panicked and I'm not a sensitive person).

You can make a character profile that contains content too extreme for the public areas of the site if you use the appropriate flags and content warnings, just as you can create a group that goes beyond what is allowed in the public areas of the site. Someone reporting it does not automatically mean any action will be taken.

You can't create a character or group that includes the content we don't allow anywhere on our platform. So, I don't see the conflict.

If you're not so much concerned about staying just on this side of the rules, but actually concerned about offending or harming other players who might stumble across the profile, it's entirely possible to create a character profile that just includes the basic description of that character, without laying out every horrifying thing it's only doing in that group. If you don't want people who could be upset by the content to have any way of accidentally stumbling across it, then don't put it where they can stumble across it. Just put it in your group's members-only forum section, for example, can greatly protect members of the community who might be triggered by that content.

The slider being toggled only when an account is 18+ and a setting is willingly checked to show posts using that slider, and only used in the adults only LFRP forums? Is this a possibility to protect public forums? Or too convoluted?

I’ve also noticed the tagging isn’t a part of making a new character steps anymore, and has to be actively done afterwards. Is there a way to reinstate that now that we have the trigger warnings options? To get new players who might not know it’s there to take the time to fill that out?

I’d be more than willing to create a group for players of dark themes to collaborate and seek amongst each other, with private forums, if anyone is willing and interested in that as an option? (We could discuss over PM’s as to not clog this thread )

Regardless, thank you Kim.

Since we aren't going to change what types of themes we're going to allow people to request in public, (for example, requesting rape is not allowed even in the adults only forum) I don't think the slider is a viable solution. We do not want this type of content in public areas of the site.
The flag checkboxes, as well as the custom content warning, are part of the character creation wizard. It's not part of the initial character creation form anymore though, as that was often too early for people to know what they were going to include on the profile or not. I would like to see it come back to the top of the actual profile editing page though.
This is exactly what groups are great for.

I originally sent this via PM to konnie, but realized that others might be considering starting extreme request groups too, so here's my two cents on that:

Catching up on this discussion, I remember that at a certain point during the RPR 2.0 campaign / preparations there had been talk (a proposal maybe?) about having certain character profiles private or shared with certain people only. This was to be a feature which allowed (a) writers to write their drafts in peace away from curious eyes, and (b) some characters to be kept more private, possibly related to more sensitive topics but not only. Right now, it is possible to make a character anonymous, but it is not possible to my knowledge to make certain information hidden from the general public on the character's profile.

I don't recall the outcome - would such a feature be possible / maybe even on the list of things in development?

It could help solve some of the issues discussed here. To be specific, we are talking about several issues:

1. If there is a need to include a Darker Themes slide toggle in the LFRPs.
2. If there is a way to make sure that writers retain some freedom to write darker characters without other people seeing triggers which may be upsetting to them.
3. If there is a way to prevent certain categories of users (minors, people who have reported being sensitive about certain topics) from seeing the darker characters by including an additional setting which could be "restrict view from XYZ" for example, in the same way we have the 18+ option in the friends or contacts messages.