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FTC Says Virtual Worlds Bad For Minors
eldavojohn writes "A new report from the FTC is claiming minors have access to explicit content via online virtual worlds such as those found in online games. The report makes five recommendations to keep little Johnny away from the harms of Barrens chat: Use more effective age-screening mechanisms to prevent children from registering in adult virtual worlds; Use or enhance age-segregation techniques to make sure that people interact only with others in their age group; Re-examine language filters to ensure that they detect and eliminate messages that violate rules of behavior in virtual worlds; Provide more guidance to community enforcers in virtual worlds so they are better able to review and rate virtual world content, report potential underage users, and report any users who appear to be violating rules of behavior; and Employ a staff of specially trained moderators who are equipped to take swift action against rule violations."
Most people nowadays have liquor cabinets at home and beer in the fridge. In order to protect minors from consuming alcohol, we propose the following measures. Use more effective age-screening techniques to prevent kids from opening the bottles. Child-proof caps and lids would suit this purpose. Use or enhance age-segragation techniques to ensure kids aren't allowed access to parts of the house where the liquor resides. Re-examine consumption filters to ensure that bottles that are drunk by kids are detected and quickly discarded. Provide more guidance to household enforcers (other adults and siblings) to ensure they can accurately detect when a kid is getting drunk and report the kid or discard the bottle. Employ a household staff of specially trained moderators who can watch your kid like a hawk to ensure they don't consume alcohol.
This whole segregation thing is crap. 95% of interactions between a child and an adult are positive. Segregation leads to 'Lord of the Flies' inbreeding of immature thought. Mixed company is the proper company for a child to have to learn how to grow up to be a sane, responsible, rounded individual.
Look at our history... children didn't grow up in segregated 'child only' areas... they grew up working with their parents and community members. They were exposed to life.
I'm of the opinion that over 95% of interactions between a child and adult are positive. How many of you have grouped with an obviously young kid, and helped them through an instance? Asked them to please be more polite, or type neatly, or don't ninja all the loot? Grouping, chatting, and talking with more mature players is what helps children learn maturity (at least in the context of an MMO).
Perhaps some of the other points of the article have merit, but I'm quite against age segregation. We are a community... act like it.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.