The Teen Challenge

Most Virtual Worlds are for kids (6-8) and tweens (9-12). ourWorld is, for the most part, for teens (13+).

From a community standpoint, that provides a lot of challenges. Teens are notoriously difficult to please. The content teens want is basically juvenile adult content. They want to swear. They want to talk about sex. Some want to talk about booze and drugs and everything else any sane site admin would want to avoid entirely.

So, what do we do? We monitor. We have clear expectations. We remove the worst offenders. The most important thing I do is treat everyone with respect. I say "There are kids here, we don't know how old anyone is, and we can't have this sort of thing." Either they get it, and the problem is solved, or I shut them down, and the problem is solved. Some of the people I chat with most frequently are people I've sent Code of Conduct warnings to. Good kids (with dirty mouths, like that's something new!)

I'd say 90% of the kids on ourWorld are saying and reading things their parents wouldn't completely approve of. I'd say less than 5% are saying things that are really out of line. I review chat logs, but that doesn't give a good sense of the conversation, as it happens. I wander around the site using in an assortment of guises, making conversation or just reading. Most of the time, these teens are talking like teens, which is tough for a grown up like me (and their parents) to handle, but there is nothing wrong with it.

In the words of a generation older than even mine, The Kids are All Right.

-Adam!!!

YoVille, a few days later

YoVille did an update yesterday changing a couple of things.

1. Added a chat filter, replacing many swearwords with 'yadda'. This has created my favorite YoVille term, 'motheryaddaer'. While not empirical, I've noticed swearing (by dodging the filter) increase by a huge margin since the filter has been put into place, though it is likely the newness of it has spawned a lot of boundary-testing. I found the lack of a filter refreshing, but am not at all surprised it has been added. I guess teens will have to satisfy their swearing needs in real life.
2. Added Trades. The concept of virtual world trading has a lot of pitfalls, but my naivete shielded me from a big one. "16yo for sale", meaning a bit of cybersex for some virtual coins. Virtual prostitution, it seems. Either the offers are scams, or they're not. For once, I hope there's a lot of scamming going on. When we add trading to ourWorld, I am going to be on this issue like a motheryaddaer.
   

Now, I'm 38. What that basically means is I have no business being on YoVille according to most of the inhabitants. The usual coversation is:

"Hey"
"Hey"
Where you from"
"You?"
"How old are you?"

At that point I have to lie, be evasive, or fess up and the conversation is OVER. I've decided never to lie about my age (or anything) in a VW, so I have a lot of short conversations. Thanks to "Grown Up" parties in YoVille, I've experienced some nice chats with nice people, but outside of those chats, my presence is unwanted. I think I come off as creepy.

Truth is, working on ourWorld has got me a bit addicted to Virtual Worlds. I usually like the few kids who tolerate my presence after knowing I'm an oldster. I like gaming online. I just need to get over the fact that even though I work on a Virtual World, they aren't for me (at least not any I know of.)

-Adam!!!