Protecting adults from children online

As a 23 year old, I'm against censure based solely on age. I could not care less how old a person is (or how immature sounding their voice) as long as they can conduct themselves maturely and engage in the conversation (or at least have the wits to know when to stay out). Hell, I'm willing to bet that there are PLENTY over 18 that are a pain to game with. I'm also willing to bet you can spot most of them on forums like these using inane contractions and making some of the most basic of spelling mistakes. And don't even get me started on their complete lack of grammar - especially punctuation and capitalisation.

I don't remember who said it, but when males are under 16
they are assholes. I was an assholes, my friends were and I bet my father was. I worked in a game store and the young male customers were predominately douche bags. And when you can be online and anonymous, being an ass is second nature to boys. I don't know why so many of the younger players are pissed that we don't want to play with them. If you guys are so great play with each other.
BTW, friend codes are still worse than this.

im 20, honestly speaking, no one really gets mature or tolerable at 16(tolerable being defined as: someone you can chill with and have a decent conversation that isn't restricted by the level of intellect). And frankly speaking most 16 year olds are dumb-ass immature pricks, but some are actually quite tolerable. however anything younger than 16 (14 in this case) get exponentially annoying in proportion to the age. So a 14 year old opening his mouth is 98% lilkely to piss me off with a retarded comment.

Finally something on joystiq worth reading.

I agree though. I spent a month with people raving how great GoW is and how fun it is online. Eventually picked it up only to realize why i hate playing those types of games online. Hearing some 12 year old spend the entire time acting like an idiot and swearing more then most sailors ruined it for me.

THIS is why I never play online games. When Counter-Strike first got voice chat, it was like hearing all the swear-flinging of the text chat, except dramatized. It was Counter-Strike, the Book On Tape version. Instead of watching the teams complain about the lack of balance, or the begging to have me banned because I'm not very good at the game, I have to LISTEN to it.

I hung up my multiplayer hat after I had an entire server pinning their "push to talk" button down for an entire match, chanting "NEXT MAP PLEASE!" for about three minutes.

Vote with the player rating system in live. Get the kiddies banned!

Sweet XD
Stuff like this makes you wonder why you even log off online games that allow chat. XD

I'd like to see an age-restricted section of XBL, and I think it would work; at least, it would work well enough to justify its existence. Especially if they let you have special feedback for it, like, "this person is not an adult," where if you got enough of that feedback you'd get knocked down into the kiddy zone.

See, I got GoW the day it came out, and after a few days with the campaign I tried out the online play. The atmosphere was very -- dare I say -- mature and laid back; very stark contrast to 90% of the people I used to play against on Halo 2. People were playing to have fun, of all things.

Am I the only one here who's had decent experiences with younger players? My goodness, the most annoying, vile, immature players I've ever encountered have mostly been in their late teens - early 20s (I'm 24.)

I think multiplayer gaming is a bit of a mess right now. So many people use it as an outlet to take out their frustrations in their lives on the other players, and usually kids past puberty feel like they have more beef. As an admin on my server, we only had a couple of younger people ever make any real disturbance, and were banned very quickly, while other kids never really bothered us, and some were even cool.

I really wish the hate would stop. I understand the competitive nature of games, especially FPS games, but this kind of thing really drives away a lot of potential gamers, especially the female demographic. Nothing speaks to the world to stay away from gaming at-large quite like a round of GoW, or a recording like this.

It amazes me that so many people forget that they were kids once. The reason why you get annoyed online is simply because their parents don't hold the ratings on games accountable, or because you can't get over it and choose to be stressed about it.

I don't want to wave with the finger here, but saying 'BAN THEM ALL', or pointing out that wisdom comes with age is just short-sighted. Get the problem at the roots, and if you want to know where the roots lie, look in the mirror for a change.

That's just my 2 cents tho :)

Suddenly no chat Wii-online (unless you've exchanged friend codes)

Seems a lot more appealing
(Not trying to defend Nintendo as i still don't like the system)
But now it looks that much better

(I was a little shit myself back when i was 12, but after spreading A LOT of hate on PSO, i wised up and have been mostly courteous, unless i encountered an asshole) Me currently 17...

happy holidays, bah humbug, jk. i retract my earlier suggestion. but something needs to be done & they aren't all minors.

Well disregarding the limited view of the constitution whoever posted that people who think that every 11 year old playing M rated games misunderstands the point of the ESRB is both correct and incorrect. On the one hand, yes the point of ratings systems is to give parents a guide with which they may choose what is an is not appropriate for their kids. On the other hand it does not give a license to kids to participate in M-rated activities in a public forum. Children whose parents feel they are mature enough to watch R rated movies are more than welcome to take them to those movies provided they accompany them. The real point of rating systems is to allow parents to supervise their children. So unless a parent is supervising their child's use of M Rated games in the public sphere no I don't think they should have the right to play online. And even if their parents are supervising them I think there should be some sort of stricter point system to keep obnoxious and disruptive children from playing.
Finally I would like to point out that one of the things I truly enjoy about gaming is the intergenerational and even intercultural interaction. I meet and play with many people both young and old I wouldn't otherwise have any interaction with.

I think we just need a dumbass free zone. Yes I've been annoyed by the shrill voice, but I've also been annoyed by the 22 year old punk. And the old geezer.

In general 95% or so of gamers I play with online are pretty cool. We just need a way to exile the other 5%. They can go play with each other. I figure when dumbasses have to play with themselves they will see how dumb they are. But either way this puts them out of my way.

I quit WoW because my server seemed to be 90% obnoxious kids.

Kite: The difference is that online gaming wasn't prevalent when many of us were younger. When I was 14, my Mom would've never bought me things like $300+ game consoles, media players, and gaming subscriptions. It was a big deal for me to have an NES and a subscription to Nintendo Power.

Most kids now *expect* all these high-end items, but don't have any proper appreciation for how fortunate they are. They just abuse them and throw tantrums whenever they don't get their way.

I'm only 26, but i'm astonished sometimes by how ignorant, rude, and unappreciative many kids are. I dunno, maybe it's because I grew up with a single, working parent?

As someone who turned eighteen today, and having listened to just a tiny fraction of that recording, I wholeheartedly agree with the "seperate guild" sentiments. Not that I've played online with voice chat, but if I wanted to it definitely wouldn't be with prepubescent idiots like that. I remember how I was at that age, eager to prove that I was an adult, and I ended up making an ass of myself. The biggest barrier, I think, to this setup is that kids aren't supposed to be PLAYING games like Gears of War--"eighteen or over" should be the default. Seriously. And I don't think I would have said anything different yesterday, either.

That's a request I have. to be able to play with people 18+ on xbox live. This would be great for match-making and searches and other things.

It shouldn't be too hard to verify age. Once someone creates their passport account, I believe you need to include your birthday, so use this information to filter players.

protecting adults from children? give me a freakin' break! if ANY adult has any problems with being protected from children, then they are CLEARLY not adults. the problem really lies in the fact that there's WAAAY too many kids that are online that do not have the proper discipline to be able to be respectful to others online, and that is because their parents did not teach them to be respectful. there's NO freakin' way i would allow ANY child to push me out of something, just because they were being little assholes. they are just KIDS, after all.

dude I am an adult and prolley more immature then your average 10 year old so i dont think it would make any difference!!!

The voice and the cracks sound EXACTLY like the kid from the Man Show boy...I'm thinking it was set up?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu-8_ULksok

"I bet she's so horny right now milk's coming' out of her nipples." That line was high-larious, and I really doubt an 11 year old would come up with it.

lol that's hilarious! But those guys are probably bordering on something illegal, but still I agree anyone under 18 should not be allowed to play video games - they ruin it for everyone. I'm tired of all the stupid Jack Thompson's complaints about protecting children.

Scr*w the children, they shouldn't be there in the first place. Children shouldn't play games, and parents should 'parent' their kids.

What I wouldn't give for an adults only Counter Strike. Cant tell you how many times we have kicked a 5-10 year old who was on just to cause trouble and be annoying. And I go on to play and have adult talk with my friends, not cater to some 5 year old who's parents have better things to do than pay attention to their kid. I would pay for an adults only area anywhere!

Yeah, i'm 16 but i've got to admit that there are definite merits to this article. Grant you, I'm one of those kids who is excelling in High School and takes all those nerdy high level courses. I think there are definitely days where I can be a total asshole (but grant you, I'm not the type to drop F-bombs or make racial slurs).

Who was it that said that there should be content restricted games? I think that sounds like the best idea. And definitely a feedback system. If several players report you to MS, i think maybe they should review you and if they decide you ARE breaking the rules then you should face punishments such as bans or suspensions.

I dont quite know if age-restricted play is the right way to go. I'm going to have to agree that no matter the way we restrict it (short of using a drivers license number or a social security number as well as some form of video identification) that there will be some enterprising young people that WILL find a way around it and ruin the whole system.

I know perfectly tolerable 14-18 year-olds. The ones with half a brain and an ounce of maturity can be rather cool to play games with. However, the sheer overwhelming amount of children on Live who are complete asshats, learning to curse for the first time in their shrill, uncontrolled squeaks caused me to cancel my account some time ago. The idea of an 18+, or even 21+ restriction is likely the -only- way I'd ever be interested in online play again, outside of my select friends.

Step 1: Join http://www.2old2play.com

Step 2: Never play with young kids again

Step 3: Never play with young kids again

OMFG that was funny, and even funnier because I seriously recognize some of those voices... I haven't been on for 3 months, though. )=

you act as if adults dont act this way, and most of them do it out of spite knowing it annoys people. kids do it because they think its funny.

i prefer to stick with my friends list. find a decent website for adult gamers and play in leagues or casually with them.

" To me this seems like a comedy skit. Kinda like the old Crank Yankers, except with Vent and WoW. A little bit too funny to be real."

At first I thought it was a joke too, but being the guy that asked Hobbs if he ate paint chips, I later came to the conclusion that this kid is truely the byproduct of poor parenting (granted, based on my owns standards) and the internets.

Also its more "The Man Show" Boy then anything I have heard on Crank Yankers. I laughed, I cried, I wept for the boy. Then I DLed it and put it on a CD so my wife can hear it. Im going to use it as birth control.

Thats why ignore lists, mute buttons, and kick features were created. If a game doesn't have any of those, it isn't worth playing, because someone is gonna come and screw your fun. I personally find "GTFO n00b" + kick pretty effective. In MMOs its ignore/mute/kill of course.

Also all you people should be able to express that you laugh at them noobs. This way they get mad and leave, believe me ;)

"I'm 24, been married nearly a year and a half, and can honestly say that I was as mature at 13 as I am today; and no, that doesn't mean I'm some immature 24 year old, but rather than I was a very mature 13 year old."

The point was that, while you may have thought that you were mature, you were in no way possessing of the intelligence and composure that you likely do now, due to the inexperience of youth. Perhaps. Or maybe I'm way off base. I do however, happen to agree with the dude whatever the case may be.

Here's an idea. I was dealing with a $|\/|@rt@55 12 year old while playing WoW, and logged his username. Sadly, most 12 year olds aren't smart enough to cover their tracks (or to understand the importance of a pseudonym). I used this to find his info on Yahoo! and to subsequently find his parents. Turns out it's a kid who lives 3 streets over.

I went to talk to his parents, and SHOWED THEM what they bought their 12 year old. Not only did they have me physically destroy the WoW disk and cancel his subscription, they hired me to format his HDD, create a fresh WinXP install giving him limited privs, and bought a biometric scanner to register their prints, and not his.

To finish the job, I proceeded to give his parents a 45 minute lecture on WHY BEING HIS PARENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING HIS FRIEND.

To parents:
UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR CHILDREN LIVING WITH YOU UNTIL THEY'RE 30, BE A RESPONSIBLE PARENT! I'M SICK OF LOSING PRIVELEGES I EARNED BECAUSE SOME PARENT BUCKLED TO "If you love me, you'll buy [product]."

YOU'RE A PARENT FIRST, A FRIEND SECOND. STOP KISSING YOUR CHILDREN'S 45535 AND START WHIPPING THEM.

Done.

ooooh. theres was this one kids, named toby or toaster, yeah and he was 13 and he tried to join our clan and everytime he was on teamspeak he would not shut up! DEAR GOD he was always on about his parrot eating his microphone. it terrible. needless to say hes was kick/banned from teh clan and later the teamspeak server, since he kept coming back.

Ok, here is my take on this.

Whenever I am playing a game rated teen and up, and someone comes on and states they are well under the stated recommended age group, I do not "dummy down" the way I am talking at all, in fact I get more raunchy.

I feel that if the deadbeat parents are OK with their children playing games they are mentally not capable of handling, then I will do my best to give the kid a full spectrum mature level gaming experience.

I usually start in with the usual character assassination style comments, then start demeaning their parents through the use of very, VERY harsh comments.

My goal is simple, to cause said childs experience to be as traumatizing as possible in the hopes that he/she will go to rehab, and have the shrink hear WHY she was traumatized.

BTW I go by Kinslayer online for a reason.