What goes on in this game???

[mousepartygrl]

I have to say that yesterday during our "dis Ball" my DD14 wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. A girl in a princess costume asked her if she was taken...now being that our mules were all over the place. My dd asked her if she was a donkey and she responded that that was mean and that she liked girls! She wasn't a dis person and wasn't a mule. My advice was to ignore her.

For the most part I have not seen anything bad... things are much worse on AIM and MY Space. VMK is the best out there as far as "yuck control".

 

[magicmouse2]

I am sick of saying people saying 'take me' That phrase should be banned IMHO. I also think boyfriend girlfriend rooms and games should be banned. Maybe if VMK got some more Great games like fireworks, the kids wouldnt find as much innapropriate entertinment.

 

[ScroogesNephew]

. . . kids will ALWAYS find a way. Think they're 'safe' anywhere? It's just part of growing up. Remember? (Maybe that's the problem, you DO remember, ha ha)

 

[Zandy595]

What is a mule?

 

[marypops!]

a mule is an extrfa chacter you make to get credits and stuff if you don't want to waste your own credits


it took me 5 -6 mules to make my new room complete with pyramid

 

[jennat]

I know NOTHING about this...just an interested mom...but if you know his screen name, can't you look at "other posts by ________" and read the stuff before and after his posts to see what he has been dealing with...or is this different than the rest of the boards. Like I said, sorry to but my ignorance in but thought, just maybe it would help.

Ignore if necessary

 

[Zandy595]

I know NOTHING about this...just an interested mom...but if you know his screen name, can't you look at "other posts by ________" and read the stuff before and after his posts to see what he has been dealing with...or is this different than the rest of the boards. Like I said, sorry to but my ignorance in but thought, just maybe it would help.

Ignore if necessary

No, you can't do that. It's not like a message board. People talk to each other in little conversation bubbles and they disappear after a while.

 

[Zandy595]

I have grounded DS from the game until I can figure out if there's a way he can play safely. I have a feeling there isn't a way to do that though.

 

[NJ Mike]

I agree with canadian. Being a parent myself, the bigger issue is the child covering up the window with another screen or shutting it down. VMK is relatively harmless, although i have witnessed (and reported) personal info being given out such as states people live in, what they live near in the state, the fact that they are in "almost hi school but not yet", and so on. That bothers me, but i allow my kids to play and monitor them. They know if I EVER (and i have them on my friends list so i can see any old time) see them in a room other than someone from the dis board, yavns room, or a main vmk room (like central plaza etc) then they are done. period. and they understand that. it's awful hard for vmk to monitor a personal room especially if it is not that crowded, and all the people in there WANT to be up to no good. So i just simply dont allow them to go in there.

THe issue of your child hiding the screen concerns me only because who is to say that the next time they hide something, it is NOT vmk but something really inappropriate. I agree with canadian, that its not good. If the child needs to hide what they are doing on the computer, then they don't get to use the computer. Otherwise, why would they hide it. Pretty black and white answer, i know, but thats just how i deal with my two children, you may prefer other methods.

 

[Sora Necross]

OMG! Are there any safe places on VMK where DS9 can play? If so, where are they? Should I sit with him every second he is playing to make sure he isn't exposed to that?

I wonder if Toon Town has that type of stuff going on too. I was going to let him play that, but now I don't know.

Gosh no! You have a thing called speed chat were you must choose from selected words to say. There might be some mean players, but they can't say much of anything mean. ToonTown Online is safe and great!
Trust me, I play it and you get mail and cards and there is usually fun activiteis to do too.

 

[Maleficent2]

I have grounded DS from the game until I can figure out if there's a way he can play safely. I have a feeling there isn't a way to do that though.

I am not telling you how to parent or what to do but I do think that is alittle overboard.


I am parent also, with a DS8 who plays and an adult over 45 , as I said before I play everyday and I have seen very few things that were out of line. things can only being insinuated not said. VMK has a very strict vocabulary. And I would be the first to not allow my child to play VMK if I thought things were out of control and not monitored.

OMG! Are there any safe places on VMK where DS9 can play? If so, where are they? Should I sit with him every second he is playing to make sure he isn't exposed to that?

Exposed to what? What were you concerned about exactly? That might help us in understanding just how we can address those concerns. Why were you concerned about a Mule?

I think maybe you should sit down with your son or you alone make a character and play the game awhile before you serve judgment on it. Like Mike said do not allow him to go into private rooms unless they are owned by someone on the DIS any of the public areas should be no problem and honestly I can not see the private rooms being that bad but I do not go to many so I have limited knowledge in that area.

You think that is bad? I was in the Central plaza and some random girl was going up to ppl and pretended to have *cough*sexual contact*cough* needless to say i reported her and a VMk staff member came.... i dunno wut happened because i left.

I really do not see how that could be possible...if you could PM me I would really like to know.

Also Zandy595 if you would like to PM me about what you are concerned about I would be more than happy to discuss it with you. I feel that would be easier so you can freely say things you might not say on this thread.

 

[Zandy595]

Exposed to what? What were you concerned about exactly? That might help us in understanding just how we can address those concerns. Why were you concerned about a Mule?

I think maybe you should sit down with your son or you alone make a character and play the game awhile before you serve judgment on it. Like Mike said do not allow him to go into private rooms unless they are owned by someone on the DIS any of the public areas should be no problem and honestly I can not see the private rooms being that bad but I do not go to many so I have limited knowledge in that area.

I grounded him from the game because he was hiding the screen from me everytime I went in his room. If he feels he has to hide it from me it can't be good. He is so embarrassed by it that he won't even tell me what he was hiding. Until he tells me what it was he's not allowed to play the game.

I only asked what a mule was because I didn't know. I never said anything about being concerned about a mule.

I have been told by other DIS and VMK members that people fake "make out" and talk about "doing" someone and being turned on.

I saw two girls talking about whether they slept with their boyfriend in the Music Game today.

You think that is bad? I was in the Central plaza and some random girl was going up to ppl and pretended to have *cough*sexual contact*cough* needless to say i reported her and a VMk staff member came.... i dunno wut happened because i left.

I am sick of saying people saying 'take me' That phrase should be banned IMHO.

I was cruising through the Popular Room List and I saw a room called "Girls Gone Wild", I mean, the name alone is not an appropriate for VMK. I looked at the room info screen and it said "Boys it's your lucky day! No Rules!".

I have read more on a VMK forum, but I'm not going to put it all in this post. Now, you may feel this is alright for your child to see/read, but I feel differently.

 

[Zandy595]

I don't know if this is allowed, but I'm going to post a link to the VMK forum. I apologize if I am doing something wrong and will delete the link if it is not allowed.

http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6296&highlight=inappropriate

 

[Maleficent2]

I have read more on a VMK forum, but I'm not going to put it all in this post. Now, you may feel this is alright for your child to see/read, but I feel differently.

Whoa now hold on there a minute I was not attacking you and I do not appreciate you attacking me! No if that were going on then no I would not like my son to be participating in that sort of thing.

I grounded him from the game because he was hiding the screen from me everytime I went in his room. If he feels he has to hide it from me it can't be good. He is so embarrassed by it that he won't even tell me what he was hiding. Until he tells me what it was he's not allowed to play the game.

Grounded him for that is I beleive a good thing...I just thought it was overboard for you to ground him because of something you thought might be going on in the game. If my DS were to hide things from me then I would probably ground him also.

But please do not attack me I am just trying to understand what your concerns are so maybe they can be addressed better.

I did PM you but you did not return my PM.

Mal

 

[DarkSideMoon]

my suggestion is to create a character and play the game for a while, then decide as a parent, whether you would allow your son to play, vmk can be a great place. out of a month of play i have seen two bad things but, but i have made some very good friends and have had a bunch of vun discussing things with my friends. i think some of the suggestions were great with the buddy lists and the like, and i would be happy to be buddies with your son so if he needs anything or bad things are being talked about i can report the players and write vmk staff without him being embarressed.

 

[Zandy595]

Maleficent2 ~ I certainly didn't mean to make you feel like you were being attacked, but I have to say I felt like I was. I apologize, I know it's hard to interpret what people are saying sometimes when you aren't actually speaking to the person, face to face.

 

[Zandy595]

I have read more on a VMK forum, but I'm not going to put it all in this post. Now, you may feel this is alright for your child to see/read, but I feel differently.

I made this comment because I personally know some parents who allow their 9 year old boys to watch R rated movies and the stuff that is happening on VMK wouldn't even faze them. I'm sorry if I assumed incorrectly. I didn't mean to offend you.

 

[Maleficent2]

Maleficent2 ~ I certainly didn't mean to make you feel like you were being attacked, but I have to say I felt like I was. I apologize, I know it's hard to interpret what people are saying sometimes when you aren't actually speaking to the person, face to face

that is very true.

If you felt attacked by me then you took my post completely wrong. I was only trying to understand what your concerns were exactly and where you were coming from. I should have said instead of overboard, that I hoped that you had not grounded your son from the game because of something you think might be going on within the game.


Like I said before I play this game everyday and have more hours clocked in it that I care to admit and I have never witnessed anything as bad as the vmk.net post and only once saw a boy character make reference to anything mildly inappropriate...and in that case he was reported and immediately removed from the game.

My son is not allowed to visit other people rooms on VMK unless I am in the room with him period. He is also not allowed to trade unless I am present.

I hope you take Darkside's and my suggestion and make a character and play the game....

 

[NJ Mike]

another suggestion is to talk with your child. As mal pointed out, the main or common areas, are usually free of that type of thing and vmk in general can be good for kids. But, and again this depends on your child, if you go looking for bad things/places/people in vmk, you WILL find them. But if you don't, its a pretty fun place for kids and adults alike.

 

[Zandy595]

I'm still trying to get him to talk to me about it. I told him if he wants to play VMK again he has to tell me what he saw/read and that he is not to hide anything from me again. He is just so embarrassed that I think he might give up the game just because he doesn't want to tell me about it.

I really hope he didn't go looking for the bad things. He has a friend from school/cub scouts who I think may have steered him that way though. This is the one who is allowed to watch R rated movies and play MA rated video games.

If he finally decides to tell me what was going on, I will do as some of you have suggested about the buddy list and only going in certain rooms.