Admins don't know what do about Bluestar. HALP?

[Astaroth]

Astaroth — Today at 1:10 PM
Don't know what to do about Bluestar but really don't wanna be like HEY KIDS WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING PORN
Diana — Today at 1:12 PM
I think it's just cause we haven't advertised in years, so most people have aged up and a lot of our traffic is just word of mouth or older roleplayers looking for less gross places
Astaroth — Today at 1:13 PM
Prolly
But I know there are younger roleplayers who want to do RP with peeps and look at the Bluestar section and go ":["
Diana — Today at 1:15 PM
a lot of the star content players have gone to private messages over the past few years including the teens =_= I'm not sure why it's trended that way without research D:
Astaroth — Today at 1:16 PM
Yeah but do we just leave an empty forum where no one wants to be the first one to post D:
The why is less important than what to do about it
Diana — Today at 1:17 PM
that's one of the reasons why I was wondering if we should keep catering to teen members T___T it's like, I dont wanna go around encouraging that content cause it's weeeiiird, but I also hate going 18+ only cause that kinda sucks. but like how to you get people int here without sounding creepy?
Astaroth — Today at 1:17 PM
Yeah
Diana — Today at 1:19 PM
I also half wonder if it's because they don't realize it exists cause that's been a problem before too
Astaroth — Today at 1:19 PM
I mean... I guess we could post logs of this exchange as a thread and get input?

 

[Diana]

HELLO. YOUR ADMINS REQUEST ASSISTANCE.

What do we do? D:

 

[Astaroth]

Do we go 18+ only?

Do we remove the Bluestar sections so teens have no OPTION but to RP in PMs where we can't be sure they're playing with peeps their own age?

Do we just leave empty forums everyone is too intimidated to use first and hope for the best?

Legitimately do not know what do. D: I have actually had a couple teen members PM me wishing it was easier to find people their own age to RP with and not even for sexual content, but I do realize we also don't have as many younger members as we used to.

 

[Solar Soarfell]

PFFFFFFT you guys are hilarious, but I'd be glad to help. Try to look at it from a blue star perspective, you come on Iwaku looking for all kinds of rp, and yes that includes sexual, teens can be that way too and it's great that they can express themselves in that way despite the topic itself. Iwaku is unique in that way. A blue star comes looking for rp of that nature to find that not only is no one sending out any request like that, but their also thrust onto a whole new rp server unlike others. It can be a little much to start a new server alone and it discourages some new blue stars who want to make friends. In my time here I've helped several new players get there bearings and make friends here, both blue stars and red.

I feel like that should be a big goal, blue stars need a way to connect with one another in the beginning as many can get discouraged, and for most they don't want to be the first ones to send a request in the blue star section, it also feels like a hassle to leave those things behind since they will eventually become 18, forcing them to leave those things behind.

I however do agree that blue stars need to express themselves more, which is why I would like to be the first to start posting there, if that is okay then I'd like the blue star section to stay :)

 

[Waking Nights]

To me, it sounds like if you want to keep the under 18 options open for teens to rp keeping the Bluestar option is probably the best bet. Since you can moderate that properly. I'd argue since there can be more issues with under 18 rps and rpers it makes more sense to keep it around. That said though, it does seem like a kinda rough choice regardless. But it also sounds like there isn't much you can really do to *spawn new teenage rpers from the ether to populate bluestar*. I'd err on the side of being more responsible and also not punishing the few that remain and use the system.

 

[EldridSmith]

I just migrated from RPN a few days ago as the admins interpretation of the rules was ridiculous and the RP my friend was making had some minor adult content (gore, sex references/jokes, the usual that comes with dark fantasy). So I'm not overly familiar with the site yet. But RPN's real drawback is the lack of the ability to post things not entirely "safe". Whereas you lack that drawback. Just thought it would help to tell you why I joined Iwaku.

 

[D0ve~]

As a fresh Bluestar roleplayer, I think that it should stay. The thing is, we have a lot of bluestar potential but we're all just kinda scared to be the first person to advertise that idea because of the fear of it getting ignored or disliked. Honestly, we just need a little push, I suppose? It doesn't seem too fair to those that are bluestar and rp to age lock the entire site, you know?

 

[Thaleko]

I dont normally comment to things like this

But i guess Ill say.. What drew me to iwaku in the first place is that its supposed to be an "adult" site. With adult rp. Where you can cuss, can talk (even if you dont expressly do) about sexual things. You can do overt flirting, like touching, petting, even idk groping. And you can do REAL BAD blood and gore if you want to make the stakes of your rp high. And yea, you can do sex.

However. Thats what its said to be on the surface right? Then i find out, thats not really the case. Or is it? Idk, its freaking confusing (even now i wanted to write the F word there but used "freaking" instead). I gotta admit, i might be an idiot, but im not even sure how the site works.

Do I have to moderate myself? Cuz theres youngins around? Or can I be myself and post what I want, and the young teens are the ones that are kept away? Idfk. And i think its due to that, that places on the site are either dead, dying, or just plain not obvious in how they work. And it makes the RPs actually suffer.

I guess what Im saying, is if this place didnt cater to teens, and was just open to the adult stuff everywhere, itd be obvious what is allowed and where. And that would make rps better overall. Like it would be up to the individual rp, to express if they wanted to tone stuff down, or what they allow.

But like rn, is it, "Can i do some real dark shit in the past of my character in this rp? Or no? Uhh, idk, guess I wont."

edit: as for what to about what youre asking specifically, guess i dont know haha, just saying a minor frustration

 

[Hecatoncheires]

Delete Bluestar.

Then delete Redstar as well. And yeet the rest of it whilst you're at it.

It's 2021 who even RPs anymore it's for fuckin nerds.

 

[Diana]

@Thaleko I will help resolve your confusion!

You can say fuck and shit and damn and write all the blood and gore and booty and violence that you want! Even in your porn you can write it as filthy as you like! You can even talk about it in the OOC areas! Whether you are a teen or an adult. *(just make sure actual written sex scenes are in the star forums!)

The only restrictions:
- You can't write a sex scene with another member outside your age group. That means if you're 25 and your partner is 16, do not write sex scenes. You can do fade to black, or say the sex happened. But you can't write it together. This is to protect our adult members from potential legal issues.

- You can't write children under the age of 13 having sex. That's child porn, and we don't do that here. D:

That's it! Iwaku has always been about freedom of content and will continue to be!

 

[Thaleko]

@Thaleko I will help resolve your confusion!

You can say fuck and shit and damn and write all the blood and gore and booty and violence that you want! Even in your porn you can write it as filthy as you like! You can even talk about it in the OOC areas! Whether you are a teen or an adult. *(just make sure actual written sex scenes are in the star forums!)

The only restrictions:
- You can't write a sex scene with another member outside your age group. That means if you're 25 and your partner is 16, do not write sex scenes. You can do fade to black, or say the sex happened. But you can't write it together. This is to protect our adult members from potential legal issues.

- You can't write children under the age of 13 having sex. That's child porn, and we don't do that here. D:

That's it! Iwaku has always been about freedom of content and will continue to be!

so even when just discussing site stuff, you can say fuck? and talk about fucking? yet the site is open to teens that just i guess gotta deal with that? interesting lol

I guess the issue was that it just made rps a bit sketch to join knowing anyone could be seeing it and made me nervous who id be interacting with and what was allowed. But knowing this is alleviates that :> Thanks!

 

[Diana]

so even when just discussing site stuff, you can say fuck? and talk about fucking? yet the site is open to teens that just i guess gotta deal with that? interesting lol

I guess the issue was that it just made rps a bit sketch to join knowing anyone could be seeing it and made me nervous who id be interacting with and what was allowed. But knowing this is alleviates that :> Thanks!

I think what confuses a lot of people (and what a lot of rp sites will do wrong) is that they're treating teenagers like they are children. Teens are teens, they're out there cursing, playing violent video games, and exploring their sexuality. They KNOW what sex is. They're watching it on TV every day. A lot of people are very under-educated about law and what's appropriately aged content.

The issue is that writing sex scenes is this grey area because while many people are writing for the story telling, there's a lot of people that are writing it pure to get their sex-kicks, which is not a BAD thing! It's really hard to tell the difference and to moderate this in a Mixed Age setting. Most roleplay sites would rather go 18+ only so they don't have to worry about what's legal, what's not, and go through all the trouble of moderating.

Iwaku has years and years worth of research behind us! We're willing to do the work in proper moderation. We also make sure to put the actual problem content behind the Age Restrictions. That's why you can write anything you like on the site, but specifically sex-scene involved roleplays have to be in the Star Sections, where you KNOW the people joining those roleplays are in your age group. You can also see people's red star or blue star on their profile to double check. On top of that, we have an optional "verified" age members who send in an ID to verify their age, so you know 100% those people are the age they claim to be.

 

[Thaleko]

OO i see

well i dont appear to be age verified tbh XD hahaha tho i am undoubtedly over 21 or whatever

 

[Diana]

OO i see

well i dont appear to be age verified tbh XD hahaha tho i am undoubtedly over 21 or whatever

You also don't seem to have your Star settings set at all, which might be why you've never been able to see the right places for that content? GO THRU THIS LINK to your Account Details and make sure you've checked the options for sexual content.

 

[Solar Soarfell]

There, for all the blue stars I have put up the first blue star rp content since I don't even know XD

 

[Thaleko]

OO i see

well i dont appear to be age verified tbh XD hahaha tho i am undoubtedly over 21 or whatever

You also don't seem to have your Star settings set at all, which might be why you've never been able to see the right places for that content? GO THRU THIS LINK to your Account Details and make sure you've checked the options for sexual content.

haha like i said, i might just be an idiot, thanks XD

 

[Crony]

I say keep Bluestar. At least it would be there if someone decides to go first. Not all teens are comfortable with writing sex scenes and rough topics can trigger. I find IWAKU to be a safe haven for the underage if they are looking for it. The other two sites I RP on are adult only and honestly, they scare me sometimes. Lol

You could make a Bluestar banner ad.
You could offer a perk or something for the first Bluestar thread.

By the way, why was the forum wiped clean anyway? There used to be threads there.

 

[Stray Shinku]

Keep the Bluestar section. There's nothing wrong with it. We just need to advertise it more often instead of running from it like if it's a forbidden zone, lol.

I remember joining my first roleplay when I joined this site years ago as an adult. It was a Bluestar, and I really had a blast there, and the roleplay was absolutely amazing. The people, mostly practically all teens, were really nice, and kind.

 

[Araoir]

I think there's a couple of things to check, one would be see how many new users you're getting to figure out the population of users who haven't already likely committed to their preferred RP setup (eg. PM)

the next would be to figure out what you can do for orientation/on-boarding. How do you provide new users with their options and push them in the direction you want. Also perhaps creating some of those RP banners for general settings for people to post in. Not sure if you can tag those for blue or red star viewable only but you might be able to seed a couple of public setting RP/hangout spaces for your users (eg im thinking like Kitty's Gay/Lesbian/Bi bar from Gaia Online for reference)

the last step is likely figuring out whether you can or want to incentivize public play. What options do you have to reward players for forum post count rather than PM convos (eg maybe something like those RP invite banners again)

 

[Ashi]

By the way, why was the forum wiped clean anyway? There used to be threads there.

Probably due to inactivity. Threads will go to the graveyard after so long of no new posts, so if the entire Bluestar forum was inactive..

On that note, I think a lot of Bluestars likely go to pm's for more privacy. Perhaps they're embarrassed of others reading their content or are intimidated about posting there because they don't want to be judged? That and I've seen older members specifying in their partner searches that they don't want to play with someone younger at all. I can understand this; I'm one of those, myself. There's kind of a squick thing about playing with someone who is younger, even though the rp won't have sex in it because of the age difference. Legally, teens are still minors until the age of 18. Yes, they are going to do sex stuff and cuss and all, but they ARE still considered children by law. Adults don't want to get caught up in that. I think maybe older members just don't even want to approach younger members with rp's that have any possibility of romance between characters for fear of breaking the law, much less be approached by younger members with such ideas. Also there may be a maturity thing at play, mostly in terms of writing, but I digress.

I've also noticed a lot of new members starting Star rp's, then the thread is in the Graveyard and the new user has deleted their account after only days of being on the site. So perhaps, people are taking their rp's elsewhere where they can't be moderated teens or no? >>'

Eh, I went off on a tangent. BUT, to the point. I could only suggest that you (Admins) encourage younger members to use the Bluestar forum for the purpose of moderating. Of course, we understand the merits of pm privacy, but it's about their safety at the end of the day. You as moderators have to be sure that the users the younger members are playing with aren't actually adults preying on them. Assure them that they have nothing to fear in posting in Bluestar, no judging to worry about. If someone says something mean or otherwise inappropriate or unacceptable about their content, they can always report it.

For sake of the safety of younger members, I would say keep Bluestar. Just have to find a way to encourage or incentivize playing there.