Age Limit

Orderedchaos • 12 September 2012 at 7:13 PM

@calicogoldfish You never would see a banned account. When we ban accounts the account gets deleted. (ninja'd by meteoroid >.< )

I wouldn't say get rid of all users under a certain age but it might be a interesting to have some sort of literacy test to be able to post on the forums at least. For instance, knowing the difference between there, their, and they're, simple things like that. That way a user can still talk with others via pms or walls but would make the forums a little easier to read.

Also, most people seem to not realize this, but all the major web browsers have a spell checker built in. You just need to turn it on, if it's not already on by default.

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:14 PM

@Meteoroid Ah okay, I was just curious >>

spirithawk • 12 September 2012 at 7:15 PM

@calicogoldfish There would still be a such thing as asking a parent. I think Age Limits are stupid. A requirment to play on a website? What's next, a requirement to use the internet? Since when does your age matter to go on a website? Just because somebody's 7 or something does that mean that they're dumb and don't have propper grammar? No.

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:16 PM

@orderedchaos Your name is starting to fit this topic pretty well haha.

And I like that idea too, I have no idea how it would be implemented though.

Meteoroid • 12 September 2012 at 7:19 PM

@spirithawk There is a United States Federal Law called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) which actually regulates the age required to use a website where you must input information, which is 13. So, yes, there is an actual legal requirement.

Orderedchaos • 12 September 2012 at 7:24 PM

@calicogoldfish I've seen it done before. This is how its done in another game I play. http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/The_Altar_of_Literacy Would be interesting to see it done in an Egg Cave way. Perhaps a Gideh could have you take a test before gaining access to the forums.

Granted once you've passed there is nothing stopping you from abusing spelling/grammar, but it at least it proves you know it and people can call you out on it.

spirithawk • 12 September 2012 at 7:24 PM

I think that as long as little kids stay out of innapropriate websites it's fine. I just don't think EggCave should have an Age Limit.

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:25 PM

@spirithawk

Have you asked your parents for CC before? I know many parents find it wasteful.

And there is something called COPPA that every website has to go buy (if you ever read any websites terms&services;...) to protect young users from doing something that they shouldn't like telling a creepy person where they live and what they look like.

I'm not trying to offend you with my opinions on age, please keep that in mind.

Meteoroid • 12 September 2012 at 7:26 PM

@spirithawk That argument does not stop the site from being legally obligated to comply with Federal Law.

spirithawk • 12 September 2012 at 7:28 PM

@calicogoldfish Yeah, sure they do. But there are lots of websites where you can buy stuff with real money, and it says: Ask a Parent. Even if the Age Limit was 13, what 13 year old would have a credit card?

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:28 PM

@orderedchaos

That's actually pretty cool 😱


@spirithawk

Who is to say they won't? It's not just inappropriate websites, creepy people appear on EVERY website. I've seen young users around your age on the website Howrse that they announce literately everything about themselves.

spirithawk • 12 September 2012 at 7:33 PM

@calicogoldfish Very true, very true.
I've actually ran into a person today on EggCave asking for some personal information. O_O

Meteoroid • 12 September 2012 at 7:35 PM

@spirithawk That kind of behavior is something you should send a report in about instead of ignoring it.

cat • 12 September 2012 at 7:48 PM

I must disagree to this point. Honestly, most of the people with bad grammar and spelling that I have seen are over thirteen years old. And it does seem a bit unfair to the younger players of eggcave. I know, this might seem a bit like discriminating, but children are mostly what help run the whole game site!

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:51 PM

@spirithawk Report them, that is very creepy and the person should not be doing that .__.

spirithawk • 12 September 2012 at 7:56 PM

@calicogoldfish Yeah, I just sent in a ticket. ._.

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 7:58 PM

@cat Even though the majority of players are kids, they usually do not have a PayPal to buy CC (or bank account, considering you need to have one to make a PayPal account). If CC was not bought from older users, Kids couldn't play EggCave to begin with. Which is sad.

@spirithawk That's good, maybe they can figure something out from it.

Meteoroid • 12 September 2012 at 8:07 PM

If anything, any stricter age limit would have an effect on the Forum/Private Messages than the entire site in general. It would indeed be unfair to suddenly deny access to the whole site because of an age limit. As stated before, though, there is an age limit of 13 without parental consent regardless due to Federal Law.

crescentfeather • 12 September 2012 at 8:07 PM

@calicogoldfish I disagree with this.

People lie about their ages all the time. i.e. Email accounts. Even when they knew full well that we weren't supposed to have them yet, all of my elementary school teachers always asked us if we had an email address yet.

I know some older users who beg, act rude, demonstrate a lack of knowledge about how the English language works, etc. Is there a way to filter them out of this website?

I can't buy CC, either. A lot of people can't. Younger kids are actually probably more likely to harass their parents for CC, just like how you sometimes see a child begging their parents for a toy.

Egg Cave is supposed to be a fun children's website! 😋 Also, when I was younger, I was always kind of intimidated by all the older users and wouldn't really bother them much.

Age limits have always bothered me. :/

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 9:29 PM

@crescentfeather

I know, it doesn't stop them. But many times they are caught because they act immature or spell terrible. I'm on an art site that only allows 13+ and people get caught all the time over there for being underage while saying they are 19. It's actually not hard at all to find them >> and it's not just spelling, it's their attitude too sometimes if something they don't like or goes their way.

I know young users who begged me for money and asked me to trade my Unipeg for a Pinkunk.

Just because they ask their parents doesn't mean they are going to get it. I begged all the time when I was younger and only rarely did I actually get something from it.

Age limits don't bother me, simply because they are applying to COPPA and trying to protect younger users. And I suppose if they sneak around the rules and sign up anyways with websites, doesn't that show they are immature?

zoom150 • 12 September 2012 at 9:37 PM

@calicogoldfish you really have frustrated me can i talk to you in a PM?

jennifer • 12 September 2012 at 10:00 PM

@calicogoldfish @izzfred
I really think so. I mean I was 9 when I joined this site (5 months ago. OMG today is my annervirsery). I'm 10 right now and have a lot of experience. I think that maybe we should have how old we are on our profile &#40;if parents don't want them to see, they can take it off&#41; so a user knows that another user is younger and is not experienced. I was very shy and started off keeping to myself. Only when I became less and less active, that I decided to post. Maybe there could be a spell-check so users can understand each other. Google Chrome is horrible at spell-check.

calicogoldfish • 12 September 2012 at 10:38 PM

@zoom150 Sure you don't need my permission to talk about something you are upset about.

@jennifer One of the mods said we should take literacy test before we have access to the forums, which I think is a great idea. That way if somebody decides to have terrible grammar at least you can call them out on it and say type better.

zoom150 • 12 September 2012 at 10:47 PM

@calicogoldfish i will later one sec

jennifer • 12 September 2012 at 10:47 PM

@calicogoldfish
A what test?

Meteoroid • 12 September 2012 at 10:52 PM

@jennifer
I could not help but notice the irony in that post. 😋 Literacy is the ability to have a strong grasp on reading, writing, and thinking. Basically, the test would quiz people on grammar and other (usually) simple things related to reading/writing.

jennifer • 12 September 2012 at 10:54 PM

@Meteoroid
Oh, I understand now.

Deleted • 13 September 2012 at 9:59 AM

@jennifer @Meteoroid @orderedchaos

I agree a literacy test would help but what people like me in grade four? We haven't been taught to have a space after the period yet! Now i shall give my special thanks to jupiter_hollow (didn't want to ping) for letting me know about the space after the period thing which made people stop getting mad at me. Eggcave is a KIDS website so i strongly think there shouldn't be an age limit.

meta_knight_lover • 13 September 2012 at 10:20 AM

@calicogoldfish
@meteriod
@orderedchaos
@izzfred
@spirithawk

Did I miss anyone? XD Well anyway. I read this whole thread from top to bottom and have come to my own conclusion. Basically, I think it would be nice not to have these little kids on here annoying you constantly with their begging. However, I'm in agreement with Spirithawk that someone who is say 7 years old can act like their mature and us old people like that. 😃

However, the bottom-line is MOST kids on here do not act mature. XD And that's why Calico made this topic. Just so we're clear, I do not mind having younger users here who are under the age of 13, however the ones that make it blatently obvious they're 6 need to go please...

So I am in favor of the literacy test! However, I think it should be for the whole site in general. Or we could have it as two: one to get an account, and one to use the forums. The forum one would obviously be a bit more tricky than the regular one. Also, here's something I thought of. If we use the same test for each user, then people could just write down the answers and give them out to others as a way to cheat. I think to prevent that though, just make sure you change the questions often.

sanibel_18 • 13 September 2012 at 10:24 AM

@calicogoldfish

i am 11 and i have good grammar.😊(kind of) xD

but on pokemon.com parent have to join too just so the kids are allowed to join too.😊 maybe we could have something like that for people that are younger then 13 years?