Non-Disney Online Games SmallWorld - New build is online!

[aengus]

another post also reminded me. We were also told a childrens version of this game was coming also. Not sure of the when, but it is a planned occurance.

 

[SkippyPaul]

Is anyone else locked out of their accounts? I havent been able to load my account for 2 days or use my stereo. Im gettin a little arggggggg. I can go on my other account but not the one I use all the time.

Sweet cant even load my room, so its that room for some reason and unfortunately when you sign on it drops you in there.

Anyone else?
Rob aka Skippypaul VMK

 

[lizbeth374]

the first time i went to the pool hall (I forget the name), as soon as i walked in the door i started hearing the f-word. it was something by snoop dogg on the radio and the f-word was used repeatedly. i muted it like bug said and told my son to do that as well. but sometimes you arent quick enough...so he has been playing with the sound on the computer itself turned off.

if they create a g-rated version that doesnt interact with the regular version, i guess i will be a member of the g-rated version so i can interact with my kids.

 

[lindseysmomma]

I'm just going to jump on the bandwagon here. I actually suggested this to them. A way for me to allow the kids to play only seeing selected friends chat (like mine, King's and a few trusted Dis folks my kids knew from VMK) and not allowing them to view any videos/hear any music except their own. This apparently will not be happening as the kids version will not be linked with the adult game at all. Sad for us as we are looking for a game the family can play together.

This game is very creative and incorporates lots of neat stuff, but please parents try this out yourself first. I was in a room with some other VMK moms when the song being played was dropping f bombs like crazy. Even just trying to shop, I have had some very lude remarks. So be careful.

I was in that room with you, and that is the exact reason my daughter wont be in any public rooms, and my sound will be turned down when she is around.

Bottom line this is not a game for kids. It was never designed for kids, and while we are looking for games for the whole family we can't expect the owners of this game to change it for us. If they did it would be great, but I don't see that happening.

 

[LittleWoodenHead]

Bottom line this is not a game for kids. It was never designed for kids, and while we are looking for games for the whole family we can't expect the owners of this game to change it for us.

Well said, lindseysmomma! This cannot be repeated enough.

For months, the developers of SW have been putting together an awesome virtual world, with a specific audience in mind. Suddenly, an influx of refugees from VMK descend upon them, looking for a new "home". So far, they have been very welcoming and appreciative of our feedback. BUT I think we need to be careful. They will soon get tired of hearing comments and complaints about the language/music/un-Kid-friendly nature of their world. And I'm sure it would not be a simple matter for them to build in the multitude of filters, etc., necessary to make their world acceptable for a younger audience.

I understand that parents might want to share a game world with their kids. VMK was extraordinarily special in that regards (which is something that the suits at Disney didn't seem to comprehend.) But SmallWorlds just might not be the place you are looking for.

Personally, I love the game as it is. I love being able to talk to my friends in a normal fashion without dictionary dancing. And, honestly, I love it that one of the songs on my Seeqpod features a couple uses of an R-rated adjective.

 

[threeboysmom]

Pink, please post that on their boards. Tell them how VMK's list worked how we had to accept before an add. They are very receptive to us and willing to hear our suggestions.

Just posted my opinion under a thread already there entitled "Friends Option"

 

[aengus]

Just trying to get a read here, do people think this game is not appropriate for the boards?

I have played the game quite a bit and I see it as PG-13, are others of the opinion its beyond that?

lately I am seeing several posts going over and over the fact it should not be played by kids, we are interested in your opinions so could you elaborate on "kids"

 

[Mamacita]

Aengus, I have noticed a few vmk players on there that don't seem old enough to be there, and my younger kids won't be playing there, but I think discussion on this board is ok as long as it's clear that this game isn't filtered for kids.

I've had issues with items disappearing, have you guys? I set down several new things, change the walls/floors, leave the room and come back to find the items gone and the settings back to what they were before. It's happened to me twice now.

Mamacita

 

[Bee2u]

Just trying to get a read here, do people think this game is not appropriate for the boards?

I have played the game quite a bit and I see it as PG-13, are others of the opinion its beyond that?

lately I am seeing several posts going over and over the fact it should not be played by kids, we are interested in your opinions so could you elaborate on "kids"

Well, I definitly won't let my 13 yr. old daughter play, but then there are a lot of pg-13 movies we won't let her see, either. I don't think I would let my daughter play even if she was a few years older, simply because the whisper feature allows anyone to say anything, and some people take advantage of the anonymity of them to make very inappropriate comments to females. My 16 yr old son, I might let play, but would talk to him about some of the things he might (probably would) hear, and let him know that if these things started appearing in his vocabulary that he wouldn't be playing anymore. My 18 yr old son is free to play what he wants, but knows the types of language that are unacceptable to us.
(No, I am not older than dirt; I'm only two days older than trees.)

I think the discussion is fine for the boards here, but do realize that even though SW is stated to be geared toward ages 13 and up, when the staff says they plan to make another version for 'kids' that it's the young teenagers they are thinking about, not younger kids.

 

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

Just trying to get a read here, do people think this game is not appropriate for the boards?

I have played the game quite a bit and I see it as PG-13, are others of the opinion its beyond that?

lately I am seeing several posts going over and over the fact it should not be played by kids, we are interested in your opinions so could you elaborate on "kids"

This board is 13+, right?

 

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

(No, I am not older than dirt; I'm only two days older than trees.)

 

[aengus]

OK seems like maybe we are all on the same page, at least so far. All opinions are welcome of course.

We have been trying to get all the games that are definitely PG-13 to say so up front and reminders. So far thats every game to be honest ROFL.

Anyways... what no questions? I was with a staff member for like 2 hours last night I heard and saw all kinds of things. Any questions?

it was funny the spa broke, so nobody else could come in, so me and a friend literally had this staff members undivided attention for like 2 hours ROFL

Oh and its obvious we are bff's already... just saying

 

[lindseysmomma]

I think the discussion should still be open here on this board because so many VMK people are playing it.

My daughter is almost 6, if she was in her teens I would probably let her play this site by herself.

You also have to think how many kids under 13 even find this site interesting. Yeah my daughter likes to move my avatar around but actually playing no. She would rather be on a site where there are things she can do.

Also how many kids are on this forum? It sounds like a lot of adults and teenagers to me post here but I could be completely wrong.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

OK seems like maybe we are all on the same page, at least so far. All opinions are welcome of course.

We have been trying to get all the games that are definitely PG-13 to say so up front and reminders. So far thats every game to be honest ROFL.

Anyways... what no questions? I was with a staff member for like 2 hours last night I heard and saw all kinds of things. Any questions?

it was funny the spa broke, so nobody else could come in, so me and a friend literally had this staff members undivided attention for like 2 hours ROFL

Oh and its obvious we are bff's already... just saying

There ya go, A. Suckin up to the staff already!

As for the 13+ issue, I think it depends on the maturity level of the person. I've known some 13 yo who were very immature for their age and those I would not allow on this game. Others I have known are more mature and I would let them play.

That being said, I haven't even mentioned this game to my Godchildren. I wouldn't want them playing this for a while yet. They're 11 and 8.

 

[GoofyWaterCoaster]

Can anyone get into the spa? I see 7 people in

 

[OctoPie]

I was teasing octo ROFL

my location is posted right there under my tags LOL

ok omg i am clueless i am having a dumb blonde moment and im not even a blonde im a see brown hair

 

[aliceblue]

Just trying to get a read here, do people think this game is not appropriate for the boards?

I have played the game quite a bit and I see it as PG-13, are others of the opinion its beyond that?

lately I am seeing several posts going over and over the fact it should not be played by kids, we are interested in your opinions so could you elaborate on "kids"

I guess "kid-appropriate" is subject to interpretation.

From purely a safety standpoint, SmallWorlds (as well as others like Gaia and SocioTown) has nothing even close to the features that a game designed for kids should have. But then very few do. (If you change the word "kids" to "minors" I think it puts this in a little different light.)

Since the content depends on who you run across in the game, comfort with that is also going to vary. My kids are lucky they grew up when the internet was new, because even if they were 13, I would not be happy with them playing this, but that's just me.

I heard someone say that a "kids" version of SmallWorlds is planned down the line, with that meaning age 13+. I am curious to hear what the developers would consider to be the distinguishing factors between the two games. If they don't consider the present version to be aimed at that age group, it tells us at least how they are categorizing it.

Anyway, as far as offensive content, I think the total impact on players could be greater than similar games, since there are videos and music as well as free chat. Parents should certainly be advised about this, but again, I know some consider that to be ok for 13-year-olds.

I have mixed emotions about SmallWorlds being discussed here. It's only natural for younger Dis members to read the enthusiastic reviews by adults and want to try it out for themselves. Of course we have no way of knowing who is going in with parental approval/supervision, and that bothers me. (I have already grilled two young players about that in the game.) But if SmallWorlds was excluded from allowed topics, in all fairness the other "teen" games should be as well.

A separate game forum for the adults would be a good solution in my opinion, but I don't know if that's even possible on Dis.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

So far, I haven't seen anything inappropriate on SW. Some one actually tried to say a curse word and it got the old asterisk effect. Also, I saw somewhere that a host said they were having trouble with people putting "bad" songs on their radios, so it is a concern on their end.

From what I've seen, Gaia is much worse. It's like Second Life with child-like avatars.....disturbing.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

So far, I haven't seen anything inappropriate on SW. Some one actually tried to say a curse word and it got the old asterisk effect. Also, I saw somewhere that a host said they were having trouble with people putting "bad" songs on their radios, so it is a concern on their end.

From what I've seen, Gaia is much worse. It's like Second Life with child-like avatars.....disturbing.

Gaia can be pretty bad.

But, not only is the music and videos suspect, but so are the artboards and pictures. I haven't seen any bad photos yet. But yesterday, I went into a room entitled VMK Reunion (or something like that). There was one of the drawing boards that was blank with the f word written on it. So we can pretty much write on those whatever we want. It was set to allow anyone to change it.
I didn't see anyone that I really knew in there, but I just had to get out. I was thinking how that was great way to give VMKers a bad name.
I think it was pretty much teens trying to see what they could get away with.

I think I'm going to make the suggestion (or someone else here can do it) to make everything automatically set to only owner changing things. Then they can give us the option to allow others to change whatever we want. Right now I've noticed that the dafault is set to allow all to change things.

ok omg i am clueless i am having a dumb blonde moment and im not even a blonde im a see brown hair

There's another name for that. It's called dishwater blonde. LOL My best friend used to call herself that all the time.

 

[disvaclub92]

We had a nice visit with Angela yesterday as well. She was very sweet and enjoyed hearing what suggestions or comments we had. She asked us when VMK closed. She never had the chance to play VMK, but was interested in our suggestions.

We advised her about the dictionary that VMK used that restricted words. She advised us that anything offensive in a public area should be blocked. Private area's are not filtered. In regards to the radio's playing bad lyrics in public rooms, she stated that she would take it back to her management to see what they can do. She said possibly they could configure a "safe" playlist on radios in public rooms.