Are there any server(s) that are more child friendly?

[okpokalypse]

I've come back to playing and my kids (12, 8 yrs) both see my playing, think the game is awesome, and very much want to play.  However, I've noticed in my server there's sometimes some fairly non child friendly banter going on.  Specifically people talking about OF accounts and sharing links to such in general.  It's not frequent, but it's also not something I want to risk my kids seeing and following.  I'm trying to preserve what little innocence they have left.  🙂 

 

Anyhow - any recommendations appreciated.  I'd love to get them playing along with me.

 

Thanks!

[Greycat]

There's not necessarily a "child friendly" designated server or one that caters towards rugrats. 😉

 

If they're only playing with you? I'd say grab one of the lower pop servers and just arrange their chat to not have General and/or any other problematic channels showing. You can somewhat "lock down" what they see, both through hide options and removing chat channels (including, IIRC, tells.) Then save that config for any new character they make.

[okpokalypse]

4 minutes ago, Greycat said:

If they're only playing with you? I'd say grab one of the lower pop servers and just arrange their chat to not have General and/or any other problematic channels showing. You can somewhat "lock down" what they see, both through hide options and removing chat channels (including, IIRC, tells.) Then save that config for any new character they make.

 

The intent is that they'll only play with me, at least during the school year.  But I have a feeling that will change in the summer when they're off school and I'm still grinding out my workday 🙂.  But yeah, removing tabs / channels is probably the best way to go, and I can use the "threat" of spot checks to ensure they're not abusing it.

I'm just trying to do my due diligence cause we already had to go full admin on my daughter's (8) Kindle cause she was smart enough to figure out the admin password, create a 2nd profile, and then installed tiktok on it, which she's asked for and been expressly forbidden from using until she's old enough.  Not gonna lie, I was somewhat impressed she figured it all out on her own and was devious enough to keep it to herself (her brother had no idea). 

[Scarlet Shocker]

This game is fundamentally 16+ (I got that from War Witch verbatim in 2008)

 

I appreciate there is a lot in this that appeals to younger people but there is some young adult stuff present in the game. The community reflect that, as you might expect.

 

Personally I would be very unhappy to see this game moderated to accommodate younger participants. I know it has always happened but I think it's down to individual parents to be in charge of safeguarding for their own offspring until they are of age.

 

[Mjolnerd]

Back when CoH was a "real," published-and-sold game, it was rated T for Teen. I don't remember for certain, but it's fairly likely something along the lines of "you must be 13 to play" may have even been in the terms of service at the time (maybe even in the HC version of the agreement now?). I think that's about the most we can reasonably expect nowadays.

 

It's near-impossible to control player-to-player interactions in an online game without implementing really draconian and often unreliable text-censoring methods (your stalker's level 6 power is "[censored][censored]in's Strike" because the word ass is naughty and therefore blocked) and/or maintaining constant moderation, neither or which is realistic for an all-volunteer team.

[Snarky]

I play on Excelsior.  I have seen some salty comments once in a while.  But honestly pretty rarely.  In LFG and General it rarely even starts to get racy.  I myself post a few Snarky (Reg TM, pat pend) comments whenever someone feeds me a line.  And I have been known to drop an off color "dad joke" punchline, but nothing you wouldnt hear on TV after 8 pm.  I do not know what an "OF acct" is.  I looked a general search right know and google thinks I want an accounting education.  I cannot remember the last time I saw a link posted in public channels.  

 

I have seen some horrid (and criminal!) stuff in WoW during the off times I play every year or two.  I report each of those incidents.  There is a line.  I am here for immersive gaming, not predatory criminal behavior.  I watch Dateline Chris Hansen when i want to laugh about that.  Squidbillies did a great episode on that as well.  

 

In short I do not know what server you are referring to.  If it was Excelsior I apologize for my stupid compatriots.  I will harm them the first chance I get!  But I just do not see it there.  And i play regular, watch the general channels a bit while I play.  

 

A slow server may be the answer.  Or you may try a busy server like Excelsior that is pretty self policing.  In my opinion.  

 

Good luck to you and the little heroes (or I hope little Redsiders!)

Edited February 24, 2023 by Snarky

[Crystal Dragon]

1 hour ago, okpokalypse said:

 

The intent is that they'll only play with me, at least during the school year.  But I have a feeling that will change in the summer when they're off school and I'm still grinding out my workday 🙂.  But yeah, removing tabs / channels is probably the best way to go, and I can use the "threat" of spot checks to ensure they're not abusing it.

I'm just trying to do my due diligence cause we already had to go full admin on my daughter's (8) Kindle cause she was smart enough to figure out the admin password, create a 2nd profile, and then installed tiktok on it, which she's asked for and been expressly forbidden from using until she's old enough.  Not gonna lie, I was somewhat impressed she figured it all out on her own and was devious enough to keep it to herself (her brother had no idea). 

I would recommend turning on chatlogs if you hadn't already, just in case something comes up that's questionable for them. My son is 7 and he's deeply interested in playing, but he knows he's restricted from playing COH until he's at least understanding the rules of the household about online conduct and avoiding problematic behavior/chat content. He's a pretty smart kid, so you might end up running into him one of these days with his father and I playing together in a group. ^.^

[TygerDarkstorm]

37 minutes ago, Snarky said:

 "OF acct" is.

I believe they're referring to OnlyFans, which is known for people undressing for the camera and such.

 

As to some of the other discussion, the game was rated T for teen due to the actual content of the game, while if you read the small print around that, they mention that player actions are relatively uncontrollable and that player discussion generally didn't have a rating.

 

I remember back on live days that sometimes when we teamed with parents who had their kids with them, they would just mention it and we would try to keep our team chat respectful to that.

 

And to be fair, not all content on TikTok is bad or inappropriate for kids, however, since I'm not super familiar with the platform, idk how easy it is to try and filter it so that your child isn't overly exposed to all the stupid and inappropriate crap. I have enough issues with trying to get YouTube/YouTube kids to work right for my 5 year old.

[Snarky]

Oh OnlyFans lol.  I never see that stuff on Excelsior.  I would talk some Snarky smack down to anyone stupid enough to try to get me to pay to see bathing suit pics lol.  omfg.  I would start a house fire it would get so hot.  that would be epic!

 

Literally my character Bio: Yes, a real vampire. No, not like the council. They make those things in test tubes. No, I do not glitter. No, I do not want to go to High School and start a social life. Go away.

 

I try to bring the Snarky ancient vampire vibe to everything I do.  People trying to get me to pay for cosplay in General?  Oooooooh.  Hope they got some thick lizard skin.  This gonna get fugly!

[Astralock]

The original post has "Everlasting" written all over it.

 

But yeah, @Greycat has the best suggestion.  Play on Torchbearer or Indomitable, and turn General, Broadcast, and LFG chats off.

[El D]

I'll echo what the other posters are saying - curate the chat box channels a bit to remove General and similar public channels, go with a lower pop. server, and as player on Everlasting... I'd probably have them avoid that shard entirely, honestly. Not everyone there is a frisky 'All RP Welcome' type with a naughty character bio, but there's enough. Certainly more than any other server. My SG actually has a minor game where we point them out to each other 'in the wild' (IE, outside of Pocket D), if that says anything.

 

Regarding people sharing OnlyFans links in a server-wide public channel, that's definitely a 'report to the GMs' thing. Especially if you've got a chat log of the incident. Players are permitted NSFW roleplaying in private - with the hard-line requirements that it's consensual and everyone involved is of age - but just tossing direct links to adult content in a server-wide public channel definitely isn't 'terms of service' acceptable. Even if the OF links are just risque and not outright pornography that still seems like incredibly thin ice and not a precedent the HC team would be interested in allowing.

 

Like, not a prude but that's just not cool. There's a place and time, and it ain't public chat channels. >.>

Edited February 24, 2023 by El D

[biostem]

I would setup a custom chat channel only for you and your kids/family, and disable all other chat, possibly even local.  You may also want to avoid some of the more common hangouts, like Pocket D. 

[nihilii]

Torchbearer is so quiet these days even with chat on I rarely, if ever, see something inappropriate. Removing public channels is a good way to go, indeed. Props to you for being a responsible parent!

[okpokalypse]

Thanks for all the replies!  I'm gonna wait a little to see if they really want to play, and if their asks persist, I'll make the move to Torchbearer and do as people have suggested with the chat channels.

 

I appreciate so many getting back to me on this.  Love seeing a good community outside the game supporting newbies.

[UltraAlt]

21 minutes ago, okpokalypse said:

Thanks for all the replies!  I'm gonna wait a little to see if they really want to play, and if their asks persist, I'll make the move to Torchbearer and do as people have suggested with the chat channels.

 

I appreciate so many getting back to me on this.  Love seeing a good community outside the game supporting newbies.

 

I'm getting into this late, but, yeah, avoid the higher population servers. The higher the population the worse the behavior.

It was true on live and it is true now.

The most egregious will be on the most populated server.

The RP'ers generally flock to the 2nd most populated server (and with them come the ERPers).

Torchbearer tends to be pretty mellow ... especially these days when there seems to be an exodus to the more populated servers.

I've never seen any lewd behavior on Reunion.

 

Don't use any special channels.

I would pull the /general channel.

/help, /lfg, /broadcast, /team, and /supergroup (and maybe /local) are all you really need to play the game.

If you are going to be the only one gaming with your children then team is really the only chat channel you need to be able to see. The tabs are easy enough to edit and remove channels.

[Erratic1]

40 minutes ago, okpokalypse said:

Thanks for all the replies!  I'm gonna wait a little to see if they really want to play, and if their asks persist, I'll make the move to Torchbearer and do as people have suggested with the chat channels.

 

I appreciate so many getting back to me on this.  Love seeing a good community outside the game supporting newbies.

 

Welcome to Torchbearer!

 

 While you are planning a family play group, if you ever need more people to help out there are plenty of us willing to do so. So feel free to yell.

[Go0gleplex]

Yeah. I'm on Torch myself and seldom see much going on the chat channels and even when it's there, it's pretty much looking for groups and such. 

[Erratic1]

2 minutes ago, Go0gleplex said:

Yeah. I'm on Torch myself and seldom see much going on the chat channels and even when it's there, it's pretty much looking for groups and such. 

 

While it is infrequent at best to find anything child unfriendly in General, Help, or LFG on Torchbearer, I would still recommend muting those channels to achieve the OP's goals. But I have absolutely no memory of anything so coarse as OF solicitations in any of those channels on Torch.

[SeraphimKensai]

14 hours ago, Astralock said:

The original post has "Everlasting" written all over it.

I play primarily on Everlasting, but I don't RP in this game. I ended up on it because I liked the Roald Dahl reference and incidentally bumped into my old sg on Everlasting a few months in even though they've mostly "retired" from the game and now with almost 200 lvl 50s I'm too lazy to server transfer.

 

I've personally never seen someone posting links like that, not to say it doesn't happen, as I've heard of some people engaging in ERP, so I wouldn't be surprised if people were exchanging links with each other. That said if they do that via private channels or tells, I don't care as long as their consenting adults. But like I said I've never witnessed it.

 

I think as others have said about monitoring the channels they are in and enabling chat logs are a good idea. I'm hesitant to having them play on an empty server though (as I have my own personal server where it's just me, and that at times has similar population to indomitable and torchbearer). Part of the reason for playing an MMO is to play with other people too.

Edited February 24, 2023 by SeraphimKensai

[Snarky]

37 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

II'm hesitant to having them play on an empty server though (as I have my own personal server where it's just me, and that at times has similar population to indomitable and torchbearer). Part of the reason for playing an MMO is to play with other people too.

This.  I started on a dead server.  Liberty.  Coming over from PS2 console I had no idea.

 

But it requires a cadre of good players to do competent runs.  Granted I get on some epically incompetent PUG runs on Excelsior.  But I PUG a LOT.  If you want to badge?  If you want to level?  If you want to MMORPG?  You need a busier server.  

 

I have strictly avoided calling out one server or another.  That said I have had a weird experience on another Homecoming server.  Not creepy....just...aggressive.  It was NOT Excelsior.  Worst I have experienced on Excelsior is some bone headed stupidity.  My kind of peeps.

[Crossie]

I have been playing this game for a while and have never witnessed overly inappropriate banter going on.  I have certainly never seen anybody sharing links for OF accounts.  I play on Excelsior and the chat is pretty watered down.  Except for that one Katie something or another crazy lady in one of my PUG groups.  She was mean.  

[Jiro Ito]

I also play on Torch, sometimes with my kids who are roughly the same age as yours.  I disable General chat and there's rarely anything in LFG or Broadcast that I worry about.  Talk at hami raids or itrials can get spicy but you can skip those, or disable league chat.  On the rare occasion I take my kids, I let the league know I've got a young one and they've been well-behaved.

[AboveTheChemist]

It seems appropriate to post a reminder of section 5(c) of the User Agreement that we all agree to when clicking 'ACCEPT' to enter the game:

 

Quote

You acknowledge that the Game is not intended for minors under age 13, and You will not allow access to the Game, or the viewing of any display thereof, by any minor under age 13.

 

Proceed as you will, of course, but based on posts I've seen on Discord, it's something the HC team monitors.

[MrAxe]

My idiot side wants me to suggest playing on the test server. That would solve the people problem.🙃

[Oubliette_Red]

Something else you can do is check out the SG's in the server specific forums, to see if any list themselves as 'family friendly'. That may provide you and your kids a more active experience than just the three of you.