Yes I know that you have to be 13 or over to sign up but apart from that 5-12 year olds could be playing on some of these games.
Games
Imagine an unsupervised 6 year old on this and they play something like Ricochet Kills,Light people on fire or Super Mafia Land. Surely that would be a bad influence. On Exit path they go on exit path and on multiplayer they keep winning. Sooner or later a person who keeps losing will start swearing as they would think that that kid is something like 27. Yet again that is a bad influence and they could go around swearing at their parents not knowing what they are saying.
Enforcement
Administrators and/or Moderators will have to do something about it. I don't exactly know what but can you put forward some ideas.
The problem is nobody knows who is under 13 and who isn't.
You are correct, no one can say definitively who is over 13. However in cases like this it is the responsibility of their parents to ensure their safety when using the internet.
it is the responsibility of their parents to ensure their safety when using the internet.
Although you are correct many parents won't check as they ASSUME that they are looking at stuff they should be. And there are many people who have filters on their computer to make sure their kids aren't looking at stuff they shouldn't be.
Y'know how on ESRB they say "online interactions not rated"? That's the same reason. You cannot genuinely define an online interaction on AG. Even though the game seems general, people can and will post NSFW comments. Oh, jeez this one time.....
But yeah, another topic. What others may define as higher than pg-13 or higher than PG, may not be the same for others. SPORE is E for everyone, yet you can tear apart the entrails of monsters and watch your guy eat them. It's simulated animal violence, what would be typical of Teen rated games. Lighting people on fire and, what's more confusing, Super Mafia Bros., are below PG-13, but above PG. It's like....PG10 or something.
We try our best to filter text and cussing, but I don't believe we have it in the multiplayer chat rooms on the games. I do like the idea of letting the game know your age, though, so others can know if they're playing with an under-age player.
many parents won't check as they ASSUME that they are looking at stuff they should be.
As a parent I can honestly say that such behavior appalls me. My children will be lucky to use the internet unsupervised or without blockers by the time they are 15 let alone under 13.
Also, as Freak pointed out, while a game may have an appropriate rating, you cannot guarantee that the users will keep their comments and such appropriate. We can try to monitor things on the forums and such, but we can't moderate the multiplayer games.
In those cases it is, like cormyn said, more appropriate for the gamers to reveal their age so the other players can reign in NSFW comments to keep them safe. Furthermore, one doesn't even have to be a registered AG user to play the multiplayer games on here so even assuming that everyone is honest about their age on their profile there is no way to know for sure that only people over 13 are playing.
This goes back to parental supervision. If you don't want you kids seeing certain things then you don't give them the freedom to do so. You cannot rely on others to make sure that the world is appropriate for your progeny, it's up to you.
Personnally I would check if I had kids (Only 17) as you never know what will come up.
Google Filters
People might have filters on google but a friend might give them a web address for a game like Ricochet Kills 2 which s shooting. So they type in the address and they find Ricochet Kills 2 and they play so that will be a bad influence.The problem is that google couldn't filter that as it would only filter searches on google. They could just use a different search engine like Bing instead.
If a parent connects their computer to another with something or other special cord something they can control what you see on the internet or what sites you go on. Schools use this as well. so if the parent doesn't like it they can take into their own hands. Oh, and what MR walker said
People might have filters on google but a friend might give them a web address for a game like Ricochet Kills 2 which s shooting. So they type in the address and they find Ricochet Kills 2 and they play so that will be a bad influence.The problem is that google couldn't filter that as it would only filter searches on google. They could just use a different search engine like Bing instead.
ricochet kills all of a sudden is a bad influence and suddenly i want to kill people by bouncing bullets off of walls? and why are you worried about the kiddies if the parents can't supervise them on the interwebz then it's their fault
There is no way to solve this problem, but there is a way to prevent it from happening, and it is that the parents must ensure that they're kids are playing suitable games for they're age, and not some violent gore-ish killing game. Parents must always be concerned of what they're children are doing on the Internet, they must also be concerned of the sites they go to everyday, and check it out to see if it has any rules that should be respected(like the age rule). But it would be a good idea for games to know your age, I find it hard to do.
