Goonhub
10-04-2024, 10:43 PM
Alright, I was going to post my own thread about this to bring the discussion somewhere it would be relevant, but it seems I was beat to it.
I'll go ahead and throw in my rambling thoughts on this; I agree that the current age bracket stated in the rules (13+) is too low and should be raised. While yes, this is a very comical and cartoonish game, I have two main issues with the current policy:
The best solution to both of these issues would be to raise the age bracket, which I think at a bare-minimum should be 16+. It's good enough to keep people who are probably too young from playing and fits the current server environment fairly well. While I personally wouldn't mind seeing it raised to 18+ instead, I also understand how drastic of a change that could potentially be to the server environment, so that isn’t what I'm going to suggest.
I’m also well-aware that people lie on the internet, and obviously putting up a sign that says “16+” or "18+" won’t stop absolutely everyone, but it at least puts up a policy and expectation to be followed and enforced if someone finds out otherwise. I also know that changing the age bracket at all will be a big change and might lead to some people needing to leave the server. Though given everything I’ve already said, I think it would be a healthy change for the server to make. I'll even throw in the idea of "grandfathering" players who are about a year under the minimum but have already been playing awhile, though it isn't an idea I'm going to fully vouch or pitch for because I'm sure that's even more work on an already big policy change suggestion.
That's all I've gotta say on it. Probably said something weirdly because a lot of this was a draft I was already writing earlier today, though I think a change to the age requirement policy could be a good thing. Just maybe not to 18+ unless it's handled with care (I think TDHooligan brings up a good point about the kind of look that could give the server)
I'll go ahead and throw in my rambling thoughts on this; I agree that the current age bracket stated in the rules (13+) is too low and should be raised. While yes, this is a very comical and cartoonish game, I have two main issues with the current policy:
- One, the absolute level of violence thrown around in the game. While playing you’re likely going to have your character ripped limb-from-limb, explode into gibs, or you can even have your character commit suicide in a multitude of comedic yet horrifying ways. This isn’t really something I think a 13 year old should be playing, and this is coming from someone who played games like Left 4 Dead, Fallout, and Dishonored around that age, all of which having a decent amount of gore in the combat. However, ss13 feels different than if a kid that age were to play gorey games like the ones I listed. And I’m gonna go on a limb and say it’s the RP and online elements that ALSO goes into it that makes me feel this way. Whether you’re playing on classic or RP servers, you’re still playing a character of your own creation and interacting with real people playing their own characters. I think that the comedic and lighthearted take on violence, drugs and such in an online community could have a MUCH greater negative impression on someone that young when compared to a 13 year old playing Call of Duty or the like.
- Then there is the second issue, which is the rules on character romance. I completely agree with the current state of the character romance policy and I think romance can be a good way to push for more character development on the RP servers, so long as it doesn’t push in a way that breaks ERP rules and that it doesn’t close off interactions. However, the age of the players is where things can get dicey with this rule. I, personally, already wouldn’t really feel that comfortable finding out that my character told a 13 year old that they were “going to murder them and eat their organs” or whatever I think is a funny and insane thing to say, and I DEFINITELY wouldn’t want to ever risk starting a character relationship with someone that young. Yes, players checking with each other is an important part of doing a character relationship like that, but I think the age minimum of 13+ leaves too much room for error, headaches, and/or worse down the line in regards to this.
The best solution to both of these issues would be to raise the age bracket, which I think at a bare-minimum should be 16+. It's good enough to keep people who are probably too young from playing and fits the current server environment fairly well. While I personally wouldn't mind seeing it raised to 18+ instead, I also understand how drastic of a change that could potentially be to the server environment, so that isn’t what I'm going to suggest.
I’m also well-aware that people lie on the internet, and obviously putting up a sign that says “16+” or "18+" won’t stop absolutely everyone, but it at least puts up a policy and expectation to be followed and enforced if someone finds out otherwise. I also know that changing the age bracket at all will be a big change and might lead to some people needing to leave the server. Though given everything I’ve already said, I think it would be a healthy change for the server to make. I'll even throw in the idea of "grandfathering" players who are about a year under the minimum but have already been playing awhile, though it isn't an idea I'm going to fully vouch or pitch for because I'm sure that's even more work on an already big policy change suggestion.
That's all I've gotta say on it. Probably said something weirdly because a lot of this was a draft I was already writing earlier today, though I think a change to the age requirement policy could be a good thing. Just maybe not to 18+ unless it's handled with care (I think TDHooligan brings up a good point about the kind of look that could give the server)