Please Make Arm 18+

[MeTekillot]

A teenager exploring their sexuality by writing terrible smut with some other loser over the internet also seems harmless to me, if I'm being honest and socially crude.

[Hauwke]

We could go the total other way around, and have a warning on account creation:

"Warning - this is NOT a sex-themed game, and as such, we do have minors playing it. If you absolutely insist on ERPing your character's way into fame and fortune, please be advised that you might be ERPing with a 12-year-old whose mom doesn't realize her kid is fapping to a text game."

Dear God. I love it. Decision made, let's use this.

[MeTekillot]

A teenager exploring their sexuality by writing terrible smut with some other loser over the internet also seems harmless to me, if I'm being honest and socially crude.

Or several other losers, as the case may be. I'd say I don't judge, but I do. Quietly.

[JohnMichaelHenry]

Totally harmless, Met. I agree. No pics. No way to tell if that is a 13 year old or a 65 year old in RL. Staff already made the IG min age 16. If you are some creeper into kids, you ain't gonna find any satisfaction here. Move along.

[Halcyon]

What if a player could flag their account, or send in a request ticket for a video call interview.    A staff member would set up a free gotomeeting, zoom, or similar video call, and over 10 minutes explain policy as well as collect screenshots of photo id.

Then, the player "adult smut" flag would be approved, and visible to players in the game with an assess command flag.   If there was a later legal complaint, anyone who had engaged with a non flagged pc with sexual content or torture content would be reported to law enforcement, with all applicable logs.

Thoughts?

[MeTekillot]

Are you serious?

[Heade]

Having an 18+ rating in America means your media is geared toward sex. If Arm is listed as an 18+ MU*, it will be labeled as a sex game.

I disagree. Arm was labelled as 18+ for years, and it was far deeper than a "sex game". it also had a bigger, more robust population when it had that 18+ label. And when I started playing arm as a young person, it was literally YEARS before I ever found myself in a mudsex scene, because that wasn't my objective in playing.

Despite the 18+ label that was clearly stated on the website when I first started playing arm, I joined primarily for the idea of a permadeath, roleplay enforced game. I also played forsaken lands, which someone else here mentioned, because they advertise their game as permadeath with enforced RP. But their version of "permadeath" is a bit silly because a PC can resurrect as long as they don't lose their "totem". And you get stunned for a period of time if you remove someone else's totem, giving them time to OOCly message some buddies to come make sure they don't stay dead.

In any case, my point is that arm offers a lot in terms of providing an RP environment in which things MATTER. Permadeath makes things like standing up for someone in the wilderness against a bandit or simply not robbing or killing you while you're sleeping/injured a significant thing. It makes RP between characters more meaningful and believeable. It helps you to truly immerse yourself into the world and the character. That is why I joined arm, and also why I believe that other adult themes that are currently present in the world(like sex and romance) are sacred to the integrity of the game. Having characters develop real feelings for other characters and interact with them realistically adds depth and real fear of loss. It makes the relationships between such characters real. And in a harsh, permadeath world focused on immersion, that is important.

And because of that, I'd much rather have an 18+ notification on the website and at account creation than to have the integrity of the game world threatened. Without that depth of RP, arm is just like any other PK mud, just with harsher penalties for death.

[Dar]

Are you serious?

That just killed me.

[Heade]

What if a player could flag their account, or send in a request ticket for a video call interview.    A staff member would set up a free gotomeeting, zoom, or similar video call, and over 10 minutes explain policy as well as collect screenshots of photo id.

Then, the player "adult smut" flag would be approved, and visible to players in the game with an assess command flag.   If there was a later legal complaint, anyone who had engaged with a non flagged pc with sexual content or torture content would be reported to law enforcement, with all applicable logs.

Thoughts?

@Mek & Dar: I just assumed they were trolling and ignored the post.

[Dar]

And I laughed at it and commented how awesome it is. Moving on!

[Shabago]

Locking the topic, as I can't possibly see anything constructive being added to the discussion at this point, and considering half of the posts were inflammatory or trolling to begin with. If, what or how any change is made will be discussed staff-side (Yes, we're discussing it) - beyond that, this has clearly run its course.