Should EPISODE be 15+ instead?

Hello. I am making a post to get other people’s opinions on something. Well, from what you can see from the title, should EPISODE be 15+ instead?
Here are my reasons:

  1. Some just turned teenagers are running around here on the forums, and I know that some of them are mature, but some of them aren’t.
  2. The stories being posted on EPISODE are slipping by the radar and the content within them would be 15-18+ in a normal setting.
  3. Some younger audiences are entering anyway, and if we have EPISODE be 15+ instead, maybe this will help filter them out a bit.

What does everyone else think?

Cheers,
R.
Right now this has been moved to https://notquitefetch.episodeinteractive.com/t/suggestion-for-episode-what-if-we-make-sections-for-different-age-groups/1463/5
thank you everyone for debating and viewing this!

26 Likes

I agree that if it was up to me, Episode would be at least 15+. I think the majority of Episode stories that are written are written with older audiences in mind. There is a huge difference in the maturity of of a 13 and a 16 year old. It’s hard to write for both age groups because the story starts to become to ‘childish’.

I also think that people under estimate how much these 13 year olds now understand, say, and hear. I have worked with middle schoolers in the past and have a 13 year old sister. These ‘kids’ are using worse language then me (all the way to the f-bomb) and they know way more than I did in middle school. They aren’t as innocent as people like to see them.

Honestly I’m not sure why 13 was decided because it has never felt like an app for someone that young; especially because of the social interaction aspects.

(Sorry I started to rant.)

21 Likes

I agree with this. Speaking as a 16 year old who started playing Episode at about 12-13 (back when Episode wasn’t quite so…mature), I can definitely say I would never ever ever let myself at that age see Episode as it is today.

Although the modern teenager (and younger) are arguably more exposed to less appropriate content than previous generations, it does NOT mean they’re ready for it, and although it might help them reach a larger audience of viewers to make the app 13+ rather than 15+, they seriously need to realize that (according to a few posts on the old forums) letting kids that young view content this mature is not only morally wrong, but also potentially legally wrong in some cases as well. If it absolutely isn’t possible to enforce age guidelines, I’d say they need to enforce their content guidelines, far, far better at the very least.

8 Likes

I agree with both you and @Purple_Ghost , kids should really not be on here, and yes, they aren’t morally nor mentally ready for 15+ stuff.

Cheers,
R.

5 Likes

I’m not really sure cuz I played Episode when I was 11 and I just played Mean Girls or Demi so it didn’t affect me anything

7 Likes

Today there is a lot of girls that are pregnant with 14 which means they don’t just know about sex they actually do it . They are most likely to like those steamy hot stories because they are now teens with raging hormones . I think there should be less stories like that yes … But a lot of kids like to go here and check out good stories that have nothing to do with pregnancies . And btw 6 year old girls are already palying dress up games with pregnant girls so I think … I think we should make more stories with less sexual content for people who just want to play something when bored wothouth sensual , horny fantasies of young girls coming to reality …

10 Likes

I agree with no one. :woman_shrugging:t4:
My kids play GTA5 and the youngest is 6 years old. In that game they have to touch naked girls and they enjoy it. There’s many sexual content not just that one!

We live in a modern times and kids approach to sexuality in a healthy way.

My kids are very sad because they can’t play Episode stories - for only one reason - they don’t understand English that well!

So in my opinion there should be no age limit for the readers! But there could be age limit for writers!

And I’m very sad that sexual-mature content is not allowed in Episode stories. But I respect the guidelines.

12 Likes

There are some stories that are fifteen plus, but they give a warning and some stories are just straight up weird.

4 Likes

If you don’t want an age limit for the readers then why should there be an age limit for the writers? Seems a bit hypocritical if I’m being honest.

3 Likes

What if they did it by making you select your age and then stories that were deemed 15+ were locked so they couldn’t read them?

I agree with you though, some of the stuff on here is not suitable for the younger ones. I mean I am almost 17 and some of the stuff on Episode is a bit much for me sometimes :sweat_smile:

9 Likes

I really like that idea … But still there is plenty of kids who lie about their age … It’s just like putting that warning at the begining … I don’t think they care … And maybe they want to see it to finally see what adults like doing

2 Likes

Moved to Episode Fan Community section as this is an Episode-specific post. Carry on! :v:t2:

I’m not so sure that I agree with your parenting tactics… the GTA franchise is all rated R isn’t it? Children do not have the right mental state at a young age, let alone 6, to be playing games that involve you running over people and hiring hookers. It teaches them the wrong things at a young age.

Just my opinion,
R.

9 Likes

You’re probably right. But half of their school mates play it, so :woman_shrugging:t4:

I personally don’t like the idea of barring Episode from younger audiences. There are stories on here which would appeal to them and I think that they should have access to those! I do think there should be age ratings on stories, and you should only be able to access stories within your age rating,

6 Likes

Well, think of it this way, like what @Lady-Mehek has said, a lot, if not most, of EPISODES stories are actually aimed towards older audiences. And if EPISODE makes it so it’s 15+, maybe we can, as writers, can have a little more breathing room regarding what is allowed in our stories, it wouldn’t be as strict. But because EPISODE is 13+ a lot of content we wish to put in our stories, murder, suicide and the like, is all barred off, not saying that there isn’t all together, but it’s severely strict and heavily monitored, basically breathing down your neck. And people do lie about their age all the time, and a lot of under age kids have already snuck into EPISODE countless times and stirred up trouble.

So is it really wrong for EPISODE to be for 15+ instead?

Cheers,
R.

3 Likes

As I said, I think it’s kinda unfair to bar younger people from the app to give us a little more breathing room. I know it can be hard to work within the constraints of these age standards in our stories, but there are a lot of younger readers who love Episode and I think it would be a shame to be elitist and not let them experience it.

I do think, however, that we should be able to choose the age ratings for our stories. I understand that people may lie about their ages if there are ratings, but people will also lie about their ages to get onto the app anyway. It’s the same problem - the only difference would be that we wouldn’t be trying to block younger people from reading all episode stories to save us the hassle.

I do agree that there should definitely be more constraint around ages, but I just don’t think it’s fair to stop all younger people from using the app just because some (or most) authors want to write more mature content. We should be able to provide space for both!

6 Likes

I think having Episode being 15+ is a good idea. And, I really like the idea of age restrictions on specific stories. Some people have mentioned it might not work, but the thing is, there are probably loads of kids under 13 playing Episode right now. We can’t keep them from doing that, but we can give that 13+ warning. It’s just like video games that are rated M or apps that are 17+. Technically, all someone has to do is say that they’re old enough to play and they can (this is unfortunate but true). If we put a 15+ rating on Episode, we can write with less constraints. So, even if someone a few years younger that 15 plays Episode, Episode won’t be liable for any inappropriate themes, because they weren’t supposed to be on Episode anyway.

However, if we still want to keep our full audience, then just having age restrictions on specific stories is a good solution. Just as I said earlier, we may still get some younger people, but we will have written with guidelines for the intended age, so it’s not our, or Episode’s fault. Seriously, I guarantee that there are a lot of kids playing Episode who are under 13.

Personally, I think the content guidelines are a little too strict right now. We’re not all writing for 13 year olds. And, I feel like the theme/language warning at the beginning of stories does nothing at all. People can still report stories, and, in review, they’re pretty much treated the same way as a story would be if it didn’t have the warnings. There needs to be some way to write with slightly more mature themes.

8 Likes

We already have those warnings tho …

We could probably have sections and people who are above 15 can enter. Like:

Section: EVERYONE Section: 15+ ONLY

Or something?

R.

5 Likes