While the update may provide actual freedoms . . .

[Kui]

(Please know and understand that this is an opinion to provide feedback for better services from RPnation and in no way should it be taken offensively or aggressively towards those dedicated to creating a rather unique and friendly (User friendly, not quite rule friendly.) website to enjoy themselves on. Please correct this forum location if it is in the wrong location.)


Hi, this is Kui.


RPnation is still very incredibly restrictive in terms of finding roleplay partners for those looking for casual (And die hard) roleplayers not found on the website. While most roleplayers, from my experience, do not use a website to roleplay on, this is so very restrictive and not only that, but just wrong. Imagine, playing League of Legends for example. While you enjoy the stay, you are unable to create a thread on the forums to add new friends to speak to outside of League of Legends. This would be an act to ensure maximum traffic and in my opinion, this is what RPnation was doing however have now minimized this effort by allowing you to private message to contact others. (I need to Emphasize that this JUST happened.)


Now what if you don't RP on forums? But you still want to private message people that you obviously wouldn't know as a part of this forum and to gather those individuals attention to a platform such as Skype. People enjoy freedom, I enjoy freedom. I don't enjoy and frankly, I generally refuse to use a website if I don't have basic freedoms like the ones being refused by RPnation. The update to private messaging sure is a step forward but the website still does lack freedoms that allows Roleplayers to do as they like, such as myself. I do hope that my opinions and feedback are taken seriously and in an open mind as well. What I hope the most for from this post though is the freedom to make a post, look for people interested in a roleplay outside of this website and hopefully remove as many restrictions as possible.


After all, what you might not be interested in as a staff member, as a community, might not be what others are interested in as well. With as many resources as locked rooms, perk systems to gain resources for the future and present and adding additional "Rooms" for those wanting a particular RP, restrictions are only a way to protect those with green in their eyes.


With best regards and green in the eyes,


Kui.


(A response to an email. Yes, I am aware of the recruitment area. Forgot to mention that ^^)

 

[Mordecai]

@Kui,


Our rules are in place the way they are because we, a United States based website, MUST adhere to a law called "COPPA: Children's Online Privacy Protection Act." Essentially, we must do everything in our power to prevent users under the age of 18 from coming in contact with material COPPA deems 'erotic.' Ergo, our rules are not meant to 'restrict' or 'limit' you. Our rules are in place to prevent our website for getting shut down by not being in adherence.


I hope this helps your understanding.


Cheers,


Mordecai

 

[Kaerri]

This would be an act to ensure maximum traffic and in my opinion, this is what RPnation was doing however have now minimized this effort by allowing you to private message to contact others. (I need to Emphasize that this JUST happened.)

Actually, this is a loosening of restrictions, not a tightening. In the past we were enforcing the "no recruiting for off-site RP" everywhere, including PMs if those were mentioned. (Note that we do not spend our time going through every PM; we haven't that kind of time! But if we're advised of it, we did something about it, just like any other rule.)
RP Nation is and was always meant to be a place for forum RP. Of course not everyone enjoys that form best, or exclusively; I myself also like tabletop and MMO RP. However, there are plenty of other places for that sort of thing, and we prefer to keep our focus, well, focused.


Also, as Mordi says, there's laws we have to follow too, and the RP Nation rules are meant to keep the site in compliance with those.


What do you mean by "green in the eyes"? I've not come across that particular idiom before.

 

[Kui]

Green in the eyes means that I am looking for the better of the self which means I am looking for a benefit of this website. Although that law is most definitely true and in place a lot of websites have found a way to bypass the law without error and worry of trouble. Newgrounds for example is a website incapable of ensuring positive environment for the children on the website (Because we all know not everybody is 18+ on that website ) however requests that the user themselves are 18+.


Not only would this solve that problem but the website also has tools or at least I think they have tools to create rooms with locks and privileges in them. If the answer above does not solve this issue a basic profile informational question could be established to ensure that the children do not enter an 18+ RP. For example, Timothy is 13 years of age and is restrictive from entering particular posts. Although, I can't seem to think of a correct answer for why this website would not allow others to recruit on it for roleplayers that benefit that group in particular. As I mentioned before, it does seem very greedy in my eyes.

 

[Mordecai]

As great of an idea as it is to find ways around the law, we are here to cater to a wider net of roleplays. The average age of our members is about forteen to fifteen. It would harm the website significantly to make our website eighteen plus instead of thirteen plus, and would remove over half our user base.


We have also considered the possibility of having locked forums, but at the end, decided against it because we could still be liable if an underage user lied about their age, had access to the forums, and we got sued by their parents (Yes, this can happen and has).

 

[Kui]

I am not suggesting that the website should be 18+ but only specific areas of the website should be. I understand the liabilities of the law, though websites like Newgrounds, ****hub, 4chan would all be long gone and off of the internet for a very long time. (If a person provides incorrect information that is illegal to provide the way they did to purchase something, the seller would not be in trouble, the person impersonating would be in trouble.) Although this conversation is not about this particular topic, I do wonder why recruitment is restricted to private messaging and that is all. Does that not sound wrong?

 

[Mordecai]

I am not suggesting that the website should be 18+ but only specific areas of the website should be. I understand the liabilities of the law, though websites like Newgrounds, ****hub, 4chan would all be long gone and off of the internet for a very long time. (If a person provides incorrect information that is illegal to provide the way they did to purchase something, the seller would not be in trouble, the person impersonating would be in trouble.) Although this conversation is not about this particular topic, I do wonder why recruitment is restricted to private messaging and that is all. Does that not sound wrong?

It's restricted to private messaging because we deal a lot with user harassment and stalking. Some of our users may not understand that when they post their information publicly, they are suddenly liable to being stalked, harassed, etc. in ways that the staff of RpNation is unable to assist with. I apologise if you are unhappy with this rule but it was enacted after a very long discussion with staff so we could find the line between A. catering to our members and B. covering our butts from the law.

 

[Kui]

I would love to meet one of those users.


Though I do understand the firm grip of the rule, it is too restrictive for the website to be used by those with a distaste for forum roleplaying and looking to start a community roleplay concerning themselves. Like I mentioned before though, it is not a matter of the law (In my opinion) as other websites are performing a much more effective measure of keeping those on the website safe without restricting those looking for people to roleplay with.


Though I do hope rules change in the future, I appreciate the time and effort you gave into responding to my post. And hopefully I will, in the future, receive an email back from RPnation. A lot of the times Moderators and Administrators don't take kindly to questioning rules and regulation and I appreciate the maturity that you show.

 

[ehmygirl]

I can promise you that our abidance to the COPPA laws and keeping 18+ material off of our site is not going to go away. It is, in fact, one thing that all staff members are quite proud of: a 13 year old kid can come here and roleplay without having being subjected to adult material.


Now you mention that we could do as other websites have done and locked parts of the site where people who are 18+ only can enter. Granted, a person lying about their age would be a way for a website to claim due diligence, this would be in keeping with the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. The point is to keep kids safe. Kids these days might seem more aware of dangers in the world than Great-Aunt Myrtle when she was a girl, but predators who prey upon children still find them and children are still being abused and hurt. We do not want to be a site where there is any possibility of a child being preyed upon.


Let me repeat that: We do not want to be a site where there is any possibility of a child being preyed upon.


That's it, plain and simple. Even if it wasn't in keeping with COPPA laws, we'd still be a site that didn't allow 18+ material. Because we are not that kind of site.


If that is not to your liking, then that's okay, you don't have to RP 18+ stuff here. We don't want it and if you do, then please, take it somewhere else. Just don't advertise for an offsite 18+ roleplay. We are exanding and we're evolving into an RP site that does more for and with our users. But we are not going to offer 18+ material on our site nor do we wish to be connected, however remotely, to it.


You mention greed and suggest that the reason we don't do this is because of money. I hate to be the one to tell you but I am going to do so anyway: this website makes no money. There isn't a profit, we have never had a month where we've looked at our funds and saw a penny of profit. We run on donations from users but there have been many years in which our administration has put up hundreds of their own dollars, each month, just to keep this site alive.


You might not like the rules, but they're there and they're there for a very good reason.


So, instead of thanking us for relaxing rules and allowing for more leniency towards off-site RPs, you want us to relax our rules to do something that is not in keeping with our values?

 

[Grey]

it is too restrictive for the website to be used by those with a distaste for forum roleplaying and looking to start a community roleplay concerning themselves.

I've got no horse in this race, but I am deeply curious as to what this means.