Sexy pictures, violent avatars and (ok, far-fetched) stories.

[Guest]

If your character is a, let's say Jack the Ripper or a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hide, I would expect a bloodbath. Nothing that bothers me here. Bloodbaths are your RP.

[Varyag]

Ahh, I haven't seen anything on here that you can't see in 5 min of watching tv at night.

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"I looked up and all I saw was green death"

[Drake]

Stories, being entirely optional reading material, are open to the creative license of the author. Don't read stories, especially the ones labeled 'R', if you don't like the subject matter.

Sigs and avatars... Well, as long as they don't contain actual nudity or the banned swears, I don't see a problem. As others have pointed out, pictures scantily clad women are pretty common on TV, in magazines, billboards, EVERYWHERE. (Edit: Violent and quasi-violent images are at least as common, and this is a violent game).

I won't get into the discussion about whether or not scantily clad women are really something which should be censored from youth.

And sometimes things are OK just because the youngest of our players just wouldn't 'get it'. Like Patriot's avatar. Heh, Hedgehog.

[tazuras]

I am of the opinion that the game is rated T for teen so that's the standard that the community should conform to. If a parent feels their child should not be playing the game due to content then it is that parents responsibility to prevent them from doing so or visiting these forums. It should not be our job to act as parents.

As for you personally disliking some of the content here, well, perhaps it's just not the community for you then. I will say though, that as far as the forums and in game chatter are concerned, I feel this place is pretty clean.

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[pchwang]

True, but we have 12 year olds on the server.

That's also an undeniable reality.

Oh, and must I remind you all that showing pornography to minors is considered a crime?

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[7:42:05 PM][6:51:36 PM] Igor (Smokey): btw terry
[6:51:48 PM] Terrance Cooper: Ye?
[6:52:00 PM] Igor (Smokey): nothin
[6:52:03 PM] Igor (Smokey): just sayin btw
[6:52:05 PM] Terrance Cooper: <_<

Johnny_Haas: you shot anti criuse speed rockets!!!
Johnny_Haas: but why????
Johnny_Haas: ??
Johnny_Haas: why you shoot criuse speed rockets?

[Imperialis]

A simple solution might be putting a 'spoiler' type thing on dodgy pictures. Like what they do on other forums, where you click 'show' to show the spoiler or image or whatever.
Anything risky could be posted that way.

[pchwang]

Exactly.

But now, who wants to step up and write the coding for a spoiler bubble to appear over any avatars or signatures deemed inappropriate?

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[7:42:05 PM][6:51:36 PM] Igor (Smokey): btw terry
[6:51:48 PM] Terrance Cooper: Ye?
[6:52:00 PM] Igor (Smokey): nothin
[6:52:03 PM] Igor (Smokey): just sayin btw
[6:52:05 PM] Terrance Cooper: <_<

Johnny_Haas: you shot anti criuse speed rockets!!!
Johnny_Haas: but why????
Johnny_Haas: ??
Johnny_Haas: why you shoot criuse speed rockets?

[sovereign]

Forum rules (and moderator actions) have it so that if you want to link a picture with nudity or swearing stuff in it, you link to it and mention why its a link and not just an image. If a kid goes there anyway, well, it's their fault, they knew what they were getting into. It's sort of like how its okay for there to be porn on the internet at all while minors are also on the internet- if they go to those sites, it isn't the site's fault.

Violent avatars? Seriously? If someone has an avatar that makes me think I'm playing Silent Hill, then there's a problem. But if their avatar has a weapon? May I remind you that we're playing a spaceship game in which people are killed left and right? May I remind you that in the cutscenes for Mission 9 of the singleplayer campaign the good guys shot several people and we see Governor Tekagi throw a sword into someone's chest, something that you usually don't see in anything less than PG-13 movies, where it is okay to have barely censored sex scenes, bloody murder, the occasional swearing, and massive gun violence (pick a James Bond film, any Bond film)? No, I think we're fine so long as we stay within PG-13 bounds, image-wise. If you can play through SP, you can see the stuff the mods don't force-link. And if you thought SP was too rough, then I'm sorry but what the hell are you doing here?

As for the stories... if they're violent, sexual, etc., then they have disclaimers on them. I haven't found any that didn't. If you ignore the disclaimer, you are not allowed to be upset about the content. If someone posts something very violent and/or overly sexual (like an in-detail account of a rape-murder or something) without any such disclaimer (or in a thread without it), THEN there is an issue. But if they label it as such, it's your fault if you read it anyway.

I've seen the mods fix things that shouldn't be out in the open, so it isn't like this stuff just slips through all the time. I think we're fine as is.


EDIT: I just re-read the original post. Stuff from movies where people were killed, comic-wise or otherwise... you know, in Bambi, the titular deer's mom dies. I guess that you'll be offended if I make the adorable little bunny "Thumper" my avvy. Let's do an experiment, shall we?

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[Drake]

Scantily clad women are not pornography, and I haven't seen any avatars or sigs which contain actual nudity. It's a fine line, but it's the line which the real world uses... No female nipples or any genitalia = not nudity.

[Trogdor]

1. We have some avatars, that are movies, were people died (comic style or real). Maybe it seems cool, but for me it's only disgusting.
2. We have some pictures (comics too) here, that are not for 12-years-old-teenies. I remember a topic in media center month ago, something about a new picture for anything. I saw the picture, and a question hit my brain: "Is she wearing panties or not?"
3. We we have some vilent stories (ok, like title says: far-fetched) in the RP session, that are rivers of blood.
Where to draw the line?

My thoughts:

1. and 2. are not ok. Only a feeling and my intention to post this. Too sexy or too violent for my eyes. Call me a washcloth.

3. is ok. Why? We are playing a game, were we shoot eachother. And because of RP. But: Are those bloody stories really neccessary?

Discuss!

Wow. Get over yourself. This game is rated Teen, and anyone playing this game, or reading these boards, should be emotionally mature enough to handle violence. Heck, this server and its forums are even cleaner than stock Freelancer, where the characters let some profanity slip and people get shot at several points in the story. I realize we want to keep the ingame chat and forums clear of harassment/racism, but sometimes I feel like I'm playing 'Storytime in Kindergarten' rather than a space shooter where a galactic war is raging.

If you don't like it, go play Hello Kitty Island Adventure or some crap.

True, but we have 12 year olds on the server.

That's also an undeniable reality.

Oh, and must I remind you all that showing pornography to minors is considered a crime?

No one's showing kids porn. If someone has something naughty and some kid happens upon it, they've found it themselves and it's the parents' fault for not keeping an eye on them.

No more than it's Google's fault if the kid types in something like 'leg' into a search and gets dirty pictures and website matches that don't get caught by the safesearch filter.

Plus, in my opinion we shelter kids from reality too much anyway, shielding them from everything that isn't so nice and 'pure' about the world. Oh noes, boobies! Aahhh I'm scarred for life! It's stupid. We're probably the only creature on this planet that feels the need to shelter its young from the concept of reproduction.

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