Quote:
Originally Posted by strathound
No offense, but I think a lot of you are missing the point. Disney created this game to appeal to children that wouldn't find ToonTown very interesting. But they have to make these teens safe from online predators. Giving away the identity of the children in the game should be absolutely forbidden. The reason should be obvious. Everyone is so concerned about their own gameplay and their own wants that they are forgetting that there could be people within earshot that might not actually be there to play the game. They might be interested in something else.
I am a parent of two girls, both nine. We logon together and sail as a crew. They are sitting right next to me when the spamming of friend requests begins. Drives me absolutely crazy. I'm half tempted to make them create male characters.
There are lots of other online options out there if you like MMOs. But I would support having adult servers. Absolutely. So long as I know what they are, we can avoid those easily.
The challenge, of course, is identifying the adults. You may think this may be easy (someone suggested that Disney, lol, PHONE CALL every person and verify over the phone that they are an adult). But that's absolutely ridiculous and naive. If you think a teenager can't spoof that, you'll believe anything.
Unfortunately, I hate to say this, but the only way this will happen is if Disney agrees to spend lots of money on a special program to certify the age of specific players. And, they need to make sure that an adult account can't simply be logged into by a minor. That part may indeed be impossible. The good news is that the technology and know-how to do this is out there, just in a place you might not think of ... the online porn industry. They are required by law to verify the age of people entering their sites (don't ask me how I know this). I believe they do it by sending a $1.00 charge to a credit card in the registered member's name. Something like that.
Anyways, Disney, keep it safe. If I wanted to play an MMO with adults, I'd be playing World of Warcraft still.
Thanks,
Michael
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i am also a parent and have been coaching my daughter about internet saftey for years that is a big problem with many parents that just dontn have the lines of communication or know how to educate them about and dont mistake mysuggestion as only for adults to be aware of children.... only a suggestion in programming this differation could also be used as a tool on whose chat logs should be monitired more closley speaking from a back end technical type suggestion nad yes it would make adult users aaware that they aare talking to a child not every flippin adult is a predetor...... i am sorry it got u heated....... i do however make sure toopenly ask age when befriending and can usually tell within minutes by the slang, general talk and behavour, thus far i have made friendships that i would like to take beyond the caribbean and feel unfortunate that certain things cannot be shared.... there are ways around it at angle , FOR ALL ASPECTS AND SUBJECT of this topic.... this is what i have found for myself 86% of the ppl i have meet are 30+ in age paying accounts who mostly allshare viewpoint of opting out of partaking in quest with the younger set. just an opinion and suggestion, i am glad u posted and i apprieciate yours