Suggestion for Adult Servers- LISTEN UP DISNEY GUYS!!! (lol)

[Dr. Zeppers]

The thing here is I would say is that Disney prides itself in telling parents that the content on thier site is kid safe. Parents want to be able to unleash thier children, without having to do what parents are supposed to do (monitoring thier childs activities). So Disney goes to no end to make it that way. Thier methods are obviously less than perfect, and quite aggravating when you start bringing in an older crowd of gamers.

Games like toontown, etc fit that genre, and thats great. They draw only the target audience (ie children) for the most part. Fitting the genre of a kids oriented game, in a kidsafe environment, excellent!!!

You start expanding into the pirate world (even the POTC movies were pg parental guidance) you have a genre that appeals to an audience of all ages, not primarily children.
How do you deal with this.

How do you make bloodthirsty pirates the game is built around... kid safe?

Question the description of "bloodthirsty"? Like Barbossa says in the first movie when Jack offers trying diplomacy... "Talk like that is what lost you the Pearl in the first place Jack. They'll be easier to search DEAD."


Yes, ive been told for example, you dont like it, there are many other pirate games out there.

Folks there are more POTC fans out there than you likely know, and they are not children. How many think that the POTC movies are responsible for fanship? Well in recent years perhaps, but not in my case. I grew up with Pirates of the Carribean. I've ridden the ride at DisneyLAND (not world) 100s of times since its opening at the park. Its one of the oldest rides in the park, and surprise!!! It has always been one of the MOST popular rides even before any POTC movie was even a thought process!

The first movie itself had several scenes taken directly from the original Disneyland ride! For example, the scene with jailed pirates trying to get the dog to bring them the key for example, has been a scene in the disneyland ride since it opened. The scene with Barbossa drinking rum as an undead... it streaming down his gullet (visibly).. taken from the ride. The idea of appearing skeletal with moonlight, was also derived from the ride, although it used 'lightning' as the light that showed the skeletons.

I knew that "Dead men tell no tales" long before any movie was produced, the jolly roger (skull crossbones) that appears top middle of POTCO has been at the start of the amusement park ride for years saying just that.

Its theme song? "Yo ho! YO HO! A pirates life for me" played throughout the ride, and sang by Captn Jack and Miss Swann on the beach of Rumrunners Isle (in the first movie). "I love that song" says Jack!

POTC has a place in my heart, and the movies adding a further storyline to the subject makes it just that much more my choice of pirates games. Either loosening things up for this game, or providing portals to 'adult oceans/servers' would ease alot of tension, and likely help to escalate revenues. It would also help serve those which have remained loyal fans for decades.

Zeppers lvl 40 - All mastered but lvl 21 cannons
Groggy McJones lvl 26 - All weapons quest/tp quest finished - avoiding story quest
http://pirates.teamofx.us

[DarkScarlett]

I had an idea the other night they signify basic from unlimited by name plate colors i think they should devise a way to signify 18+ and if the ones lie about age or someone illegally verifies that for them they should have the liabilty

for the last week i have had all sorts of friend request and turned them down imediatly because i had found that a few of the friends i have were children - talking about adult themes to me but because of my suspicion and thier actions i just boldly came out and asked - if they were adult..... i got a few um ok bye whispers and then some were actually honest

I explained i liked to play with my own age and not to take it personally but i pay to play how I want to................ then i had to deal with a bunch of drama on why i xed them from friends someone followed and hassled me for an hour........... CRIMANY..... HOLY HORMONE DEVELOPMENT, I EXPLAINED HEY IM JUST AN AVATAR .....now please leave me to my plundering

i just really think it would be helpfull for both age gruops alike to know who they should run with.

alas this prob will never happen, but from now on i may be known in some circles as the pirate who says " uh not to sound like a pirate snob but are you an adult?"

LOL at least that way it will be documented in those millions of GB of un monitored chat logs I made an effort, oh my spelling is horrible but im a little hot about the topic

[strathound]

Originally Posted by DarkScarlett

I had an idea the other night they signify basic from unlimited by name plate colors i think they should devise a way to signify 18+ and if the ones lie about age or someone illegally verifies that for them they should have the liabilty

for the last week i have had all sorts of friend request and turned them down imediatly because i had found that a few of the friends i have were children - talking about adult themes to me but because of my suspicion and thier actions i just boldly came out and asked - if they were adult..... i got a few um ok bye whispers and then some were actually honest.

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

[Lucrecia Merlose]

Originally Posted by strathound

No offense, but I think a lot of you are missing the point....

I think most of us understand this is a game aimed for the youth. Personally that is not what I am focusing in on. Keeping in mind children may access the adult server for whatever reason, the parents should be made aware of this. How?

1. Have child/parent accounts joined.
2. Lock the parent toons so kids cannot gain access.
3. Do not share YOUR account login information with your children
4. Disney makes an option for parent accounts to lock children from adult servers and/or gives an alert to parent account when child account accesses adult server.

If a child makes a seperate account solely for the purpose of getting into adult servers then the parent is not supervising the childerens computer time efficiently.

I'm a parent too but my child is 4 years old and his only interest on the computer is on my lap at the Noggin website. I do sympathize with your concerns but there are easy methods to use in order to satisfy both sides of this issue.

As for online predators...we deal with them now...we will deal with them on adult servers. The answer is proper supervision and computer gameplay in moderation.

Originally Posted by strathound

....Anyways, Disney, keep it safe. If I wanted to play an MMO with adults, I'd be playing World of Warcraft still.

I played WoW...I found it quite the task to find any adults...and if they all were adults they sure acted like loud mouthed teenagers. I never heard so much foul language, sexism, racism, and bigotry in an online game until I played WoW.

I for one am not wanting an adult server to condone such "WoW-esque" behavior but instead to offer an environment that feels very restricting to adults....giving out IM names, emails, or any identifying information. Not that I would do this with just anyone online...but perhaps if I persuade one of my longstanding MMO friends I do not wish to feel I must tiptoe around everything which I do not have to do in other MMOs.

That being said, the lack of an adult server would not make me leave POTCO...but it sure would be nice!

[DarkScarlett]

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

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

[Lucy]

we do not allow our daughter internet access.