Teague
05-05-2006, 01:21 PM
Dear newHorizone and Dreamscape members,
Over the last few days it has become clear that there is confusion regarding the "rating" of the VZones. We've always referred to it as "family friendly", and it seems that for some, this has meant that we use a "G" rating. We on the other hand have always managed the VZones under the guidelines of the PG13 rating.
So, in order to make things clear, and to help members who feel that this is an important issue, we have updated the Terms of Service statement on the VZones site: http://www.vzones.com/tos.htm (http://www.vzones.com/tos.htm) .
The TOS now states that we are PG13 compliant, and it describes the rules:
PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; some use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words may be heard.
In essence, this means that if you or your children are in newHorizone or Dreamscape and have not installed the free Profanity Filter (http://www.vzones.com/download/prof_filter_installer.exe (http://www.vzones.com/download/prof_filter_installer.exe) ), you may see text that includes profanity. Likewise, if you are a member of either world, you may occasionally use profanity (and I don't mean every other word!), and not be hassled for doing so, unless another member decides that it is too much, and complains to a staff member. If a staff member is asked to solve a profanity situation, they will ESP the member who is using questionable language and ask them to desist. If they do not, the staff member may resort to muting the offender, and if the behavior is not fixed, other action may be taken.
As to other issues that relate to this rating question, first, any reference to "weed" in the Amsterdam locales will continue. The Amsterdam locales are reflections of a particular city, and in that city are coffee shops where drugs are present. We are not interested, nor qualified to judge the moral aspects of this real world fact, we just portray reality. Second, images of real world skin and clothing are included because we believe that seeing a pixel image of clothing on a body will not send anyone into a frenzy or corrupt the world's youth. It is harmless, and is part of the effort to provide new and interesting avatar bodies to the members.
All of these elements above fall well within the guidelines of the PG13 rating.
VZones Management
Over the last few days it has become clear that there is confusion regarding the "rating" of the VZones. We've always referred to it as "family friendly", and it seems that for some, this has meant that we use a "G" rating. We on the other hand have always managed the VZones under the guidelines of the PG13 rating.
So, in order to make things clear, and to help members who feel that this is an important issue, we have updated the Terms of Service statement on the VZones site: http://www.vzones.com/tos.htm (http://www.vzones.com/tos.htm) .
The TOS now states that we are PG13 compliant, and it describes the rules:
PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; some use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words may be heard.
In essence, this means that if you or your children are in newHorizone or Dreamscape and have not installed the free Profanity Filter (http://www.vzones.com/download/prof_filter_installer.exe (http://www.vzones.com/download/prof_filter_installer.exe) ), you may see text that includes profanity. Likewise, if you are a member of either world, you may occasionally use profanity (and I don't mean every other word!), and not be hassled for doing so, unless another member decides that it is too much, and complains to a staff member. If a staff member is asked to solve a profanity situation, they will ESP the member who is using questionable language and ask them to desist. If they do not, the staff member may resort to muting the offender, and if the behavior is not fixed, other action may be taken.
As to other issues that relate to this rating question, first, any reference to "weed" in the Amsterdam locales will continue. The Amsterdam locales are reflections of a particular city, and in that city are coffee shops where drugs are present. We are not interested, nor qualified to judge the moral aspects of this real world fact, we just portray reality. Second, images of real world skin and clothing are included because we believe that seeing a pixel image of clothing on a body will not send anyone into a frenzy or corrupt the world's youth. It is harmless, and is part of the effort to provide new and interesting avatar bodies to the members.
All of these elements above fall well within the guidelines of the PG13 rating.
VZones Management