I enjoy playing the occasional puzzle game on my iPhone to pass the time (read: walking an 11-year-old dog that no longer desires the oft-visited blocks in our neighborhood). Back in July I downloaded the game epic pet wars as I waited in line to see Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. The game was free and I wanted a larger challenge than the expert setting on Soduku. I was immediately hooked on this multiplayer online game and likened it to crack. Crack wasn’t the right word to choose to describe the game: it’s a quaalude that online Roman Polanskis can distribute.
A couple days ago I received a message from another player saying Hi. I sent a reply saying Hello and left it at that. Then I received this message:
wats up? im 12 and a boy wat bout u?
My first thought was why the hell is a 12-year-old playing this game? Furthermore, why is a 12-year-old boy allowed to message someone that hasn’t been 12 in a very, very long time?
I sent an e-mail to the support team at epic pet wars expressing my shock and disbelief that a 12-year-old was allowed to play the game:
I’m a fan of epic pet wars and have been playing for a couple months now. My pet is a Turk called ____ and recently some player called ____ has been contacting me. My only reply to this player has been “way older than 12, happy fighting!” when asked “wats up? im 12 and a boy wat bout u?”
I understand that players of all ages use epic pet wars but it is not okay for a 12-year-old to use the game. For that matter, I don’t even think it’s legal for anyone under the age of 13 to use an online application.
I don’t want to engage this player any further but the game doesn’t allow you to block other players. I strongly recommend you implement game settings that allow users to block messages from players under the age of 18.
This is the reply I received:
Many people under 13 own ipod touches as gifts from their parents. There are deep parental control settings enabled on all those devices. Have you considered that the player in question could be using an iPod touch?
My reply:
You’re missing the point. I do not want to receive any messages from players under the age 18, let alone 12. I am a responsible 35-year-old adult with zero interest in engaging teens and young adults. Can other players make the same claim? Miraphonic is opening itself to a world of liability if online predators were to exploit this lack of responsible gaming.
Also, many of the players in the game use screen names that contain derivatives of “fuck” and “nigger”. Believe me, I’ve seen these names more than once as I play. You’re telling me that the “deep parental control settings” are recognizing “Fucking____” and shutting down the app?
The company should know the age of every player using the game, therefore also have the ability to create a setting in the game where players can choose age-appropriate dialogue with other players.
The reply:
I’m sorry that you feel that way. Your points are all valid and we do censor illegal words after they are viewed once (the original view must be sanitized first).
However, consider the situation where a random user who is 28 claims they are 11 years old. Regardless of the existence of many young players of our game, there is no way to tell for sure what their age is and even if we did ask for birth date it is obvious that many kids would lie and perhaps post the same comments on your profile exclaiming that they’re underage.
There is no system we could put into effect that would satisfy you beyond a banning or blocking system, which we’ll consider implementing in the future… as a 2-man team though, its difficult to segment lots of time to issues like these.
Are you kidding me?
I can cite myriad online sites that offer a checkbox to disable messaging beyond appropriate age ranges. It’s. a. simple. checkbox. That checkbox protects kids from online predators and allows adults to enjoy multiplayer online games without having to worry about feds knocking down their doors. Miraphonic, “this 2-man team”, has no problem receiving money from players spending cash for points, or dividends from affiliate links that make money off new accounts from people who want points to spend in the game. But finding the time create a simple setting that allows users to filter communications in a game is difficult?
Whack. And all the reason I need to resume puzzle games: single player and nary a chance of underage kids trying to converse with adults.
I am not attempting to compare myself with Roman Polanski – I must credit Snooks for coining the phrase “The Polanski Option” – but it is beyond frustrating that I should even have to explain to a game manufacturer why it is inappropriate for a minor to have access to adults in an online environment. To say nothing of irresponsible on the part of Miraphonic.