The New Age Rules

[blowuup]

This would be my version of the rule, I think it covers the bases.

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

The minimum age for any PC is at least physically and mentally 18 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made.

This server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen. There are to be no violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters.

Explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters physically or mentally under the age of 18 is an extreme circumstance, and the player(s) guilty will be permanently banned no matter the circumstance, this will be strictly enforced.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game in accordance with the rules above.

[khaevil]

In response to the question of if age has even come into play.

For me, not even once.

I usually play characters that are 18. Unless they are someone who would have significant schooling like a wizard or they have a significant backstory already 18 is that typical going out into the world age. But it's always just a backstory for me and noone has ever asked how old my PC is. I treat my backstory as personal information and don't spill every last detail of my background to random people I just met.

However I have little doubt that as soon as there's a 25 or older rule I'll run into either:

A rules enforcement wacko who wants to make sure everyone obeys the speed limit by driving that exact speed in the passing lane.

Some pedophile who want to erp a looks-like-14 year old looking for someone under 25 so they can complain that if I make an 18 year old they should be able to as well.

[tankteddy]

This would be my version of the rule, I think it covers the bases.

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

The minimum age for any PC is at least physically and mentally 18 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made.

This server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen. There are to be no violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters.

Explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters physically or mentally under the age of 18 is an extreme circumstance, and the player(s) guilty will be permanently banned no matter the circumstance, this will be strictly enforced.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game in accordance with the rules above.

+1 on this or change it to age 20/21

[DM SummerBreeze]

This would be my version of the rule, I think it covers the bases.

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

The minimum age for any PC is at least physically and mentally 18 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made.

This server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen. There are to be no violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters.

Explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters physically or mentally under the age of 18 is an extreme circumstance, and the player(s) guilty will be permanently banned no matter the circumstance, this will be strictly enforced.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game in accordance with the rules above.

I like your suggestion, but it misses the mark about the vague wording, which is one of the core reasons for the change. We can adjust the age, but I strongly believe we should not go lower than 20 years old. Reasons I already mentioned on the previous page. At the end of it all, as Dialectic mentioned, this is to reduce DM workload for reasons previous mentioned, and lowering it back to 18 just doesn't do that effectively, unfortunately. It's one of those rule changes where we wish we didn't feel we have to make this change, but apparently we do.

[DM Gixustrat]

Personally I’ve never made a character under 30 because our characters level so fast, yet we become professional adventurers in a manner of months. Anyone here who’s mastered a mental or physical discipline knows it can take years, in most instances a decade or more. For me one kinda ties into the other.

[Lambe]

..

[Lambe]

Explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters physically or mentally under the age of 18 is an extreme circumstance, and the player(s) guilty will be permanently banned no matter the circumstance, this will be strictly enforced.

The highlighted part is easy to skirt around as only applying to characters who are under the age of 18, which is not allowed to begin with. It must be explicitly stated that a physically 18 years old toon cannot be roleplayed as being any younger in any form by any party IC'ly.

[blowuup]

This would be my version of the rule, I think it covers the bases.

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

The minimum age for any PC is at least physically and mentally 18 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made.

This server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen. There are to be no violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters.

Explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters physically or mentally under the age of 18 is an extreme circumstance, and the player(s) guilty will be permanently banned no matter the circumstance, this will be strictly enforced.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game in accordance with the rules above.

I like your suggestion, but it misses the mark about the vague wording, which is one of the core reasons for the change. We can adjust the age, but I strongly believe we should not go lower than 20 years old. Reasons I already mentioned on the previous page. At the end of it all, as Dialectic mentioned, this is to reduce DM workload for reasons previous mentioned, and lowering it back to 18 just doesn't do that effectively, unfortunately. It's one of those rule changes where we wish we didn't feel we have to make this change, but apparently we do.

Can you please provide an example of vague wording? I'm having difficulties understanding the concept. If it's too inappropriate, PM is fine.

[DM SummerBreeze]

This would be my version of the rule, I think it covers the bases.

I like your suggestion, but it misses the mark about the vague wording, which is one of the core reasons for the change. We can adjust the age, but I strongly believe we should not go lower than 20 years old. Reasons I already mentioned on the previous page. At the end of it all, as Dialectic mentioned, this is to reduce DM workload for reasons previous mentioned, and lowering it back to 18 just doesn't do that effectively, unfortunately. It's one of those rule changes where we wish we didn't feel we have to make this change, but apparently we do.

Can you please provide an example of vague wording? I'm having difficulties understanding the concept. If it's too inappropriate, PM is fine.

If you go back a page, I actually go into detail about this exact scenario and explain some of why we chose the rule.

[matelener]

I don't agree with this new ruling because it doesn't prevent anything more than the previous one. In my opinion, there are two gray areas that should be addressed instead:

1) The rule states that every PC must be factually at least X years old. But, it says nothing about the behaviour or the physique of the PC.
2) Can a PC lie about its age in-character? For example, a halfling trying to pass as a child for whatever IC reason.

[DM SummerBreeze]

Personally, I would propose this change as highlighted:

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

Beyond that, though, this server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen at most. No violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters under the age of 18 or racial equivalent in age.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game.

The minimum age for any PC is at least 20 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made. Any form of skirting the rule by use of vague or misleading wording or terminology to attempt to describe or insinuate a character as being physicially in appearance, or mentally underage is strictly forbidden and is considered breaking the character age rule. Breaking this rule is a considered a severe offense and can result in serious consequences.

----


Unusual Characters
Every PC must be a legal adult (at least 20 years of age for humans or the racial equivalent for nonhumans). No exceptions except as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server.


----



– Content = Teen
– The Server, Forum and all interactions are to be rated Teen or below. ERP/sexual encounters (other than fade to black scenes), graphic or extended nudity, gratuitous violence and torture, and especially rape or miscarriage are strictly prohibited. Pregnancies are forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game. The minimum age for any PC is 20 years old or racial equivalent except as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server.

[Asmodea]

At the end of it all, as Dialectic mentioned, this is to reduce DM workload for reasons previous mentioned, and lowering it back to 18 just doesn't do that effectively, unfortunately. It's one of those rule changes where we wish we didn't feel we have to make this change, but apparently we do.

Many in the community are willing to step up to help manage the work load of making sure the server remains a safe place to RP. Many in the community support a no-tolerance policy towards infractions in regards to under-age RP as well. If anything I am concerned that the rule change will not curb behavior at all and it is a Band-Aid fix to a spurting wound. As complaints of this kind are common (which is a kind of scary thought) that says to me that more effort needs to be put towards curbing it than adding two years to the minimum age of PCs.

The difference between: 'You can't insinuate you are younger than 20 years old' and 'You can't insinuate you are younger than 18 years old' does not seem a huge gaping difference... is this entirely boiling down to the use of the word teenager or adolescent? If so. Context should be pretty clear.

[khaevil]

There are two things I see lacking in trying to stop this:

You need a rule that makes the behavior against the rules, and raising the age doesn't do that. The starting age could be 8,000 and they'd roll up an 8,000 year old immortal that doesn't look a day over 12 and has amnesia so they are naive. 18 is important since it has legal ramifications, but 18 works just as well as 8,000.

And then you need enforcement. It's going to be a constant problem because people can buy new CD keys pretty cheap and change their IP address or use a proxy to mask it. There's no easy way around that but it looks like you've got plenty of volunteers.


These are probably the same players who have been around for years. The NWN2 community is packed full of an abnormally high fraction of white supremacists and people with all sorts of deviant fantasies they can't safely act upon in real life. I suspect they come here to roleplay the behavior that in real life would get them arrested, where here the worst that can happen is they get banned.

[Rhifox]

Personally, I would propose this change as highlighted:

PG-13 Content
All players must be 13 years of age or older to play on Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles.

Beyond that, though, this server, the forums, and any interactions within them should be the equivalent of PG-13/Teen at most. No violations of this rule, not even within the privacy of an inn room or guild hall. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters under the age of 18 or racial equivalent in age.

Pregnancies are strictly forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game.

The minimum age for any PC is at least 20 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made. Any form of skirting the rule by use of vague or misleading wording or terminology to attempt to describe or insinuate a character as being physicially in appearance, or mentally underage is strictly forbidden and is considered breaking the character age rule. Breaking this rule is a considered a severe offense and can result in serious consequences.

----


Unusual Characters
Every PC must be a legal adult (at least 20 years of age for humans or the racial equivalent for nonhumans). No exceptions except as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server.


----



– Content = Teen
– The Server, Forum and all interactions are to be rated Teen or below. ERP/sexual encounters (other than fade to black scenes), graphic or extended nudity, gratuitous violence and torture, and especially rape or miscarriage are strictly prohibited. Pregnancies are forbidden unless directly supervised by the DM team and approved in advance. Any pregnancies are a form of "retiring" a PC for the duration, and resulting children are NOT to be roleplayed or represented in game. The minimum age for any PC is 20 years old or racial equivalent except as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server.

This is more or less fine by me.

The only thing I would change is this line:

Unusual Characters
Every PC must be a legal adult (at least 20 years of age for humans or the racial equivalent for nonhumans). No exceptions except as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server.

to

"Every PC must be at least 20 years of age for humans or the racial equivalent for nonhumans. No exceptions as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server."

or

"Every PC must be a legal adult and at least 20 years of age for humans or the racial equivalent for nonhumans. No exceptions as outlined in the rules on the PG-13 content for the server."

The way it is currently written is implying that 20 is the age of majority in-universe, when that is not the case.


Also a remaining '18' number was missed here:

This includes, but is not limited to, excessive vulgarity, gratuitous violence/torture, graphic/extended sexual situations, and explicitly or implicitly sexualizing any characters under the age of 18 or racial equivalent in age.

[zhazz]

Personally, I would propose this change as highlighted:

The minimum age for any PC is at least 20 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made. Any form of skirting the rule by use of vague or misleading wording or terminology to attempt to describe or insinuate a character as being physicially in appearance, or mentally underage is strictly forbidden and is considered breaking the character age rule. Breaking this rule is a considered a severe offense and can result in serious consequences.

I'm a bit on the fence about this. Characters with autism/Asperger's are fully functioning adults, but can be perceived as being mentally underage. I'd even argue that a decent proportion of the Faerûnian population could/would be diagnosed with such, if going my modern medicine standards. Mainly they will be found among wizard's apprentices, and craftsmen; considered savants within their professions. And that's even before considering adventurers.

It's a thankless task to draw the line, and there's likely no good answer. That being said, I will propose my own change.

The minimum age for any PC is at least 20 years old or racial equivalent for all characters made.

Any form of skirting this rule is considered a severe offense, and can result in serious consequences. This includes, but is not limited to: use of vague/misleading wording or terminology describing or insinuating a character as being physically or mentally younger.

Characters with mental/emotional deficiencies are allowed, but will be held to a higher standard. Savants, and characters with autism or Asperger's fall under this category.

Is it perfect? No. Because there is no perfect version. Is it better? I think so, yes.