18+ instances

General Discussion Communities
,
1

as we all know alot of users dont have the 18+ on vrchat and alot of instances and communities are for 18+. its against vrchats TOS to ask users for their age and date of birth so for those who host and run 18+ communities how can they run their communities and instances for those who are 18 and above and dont have the verified 18+ badge?

1 Like
2

Record a clip of an 18+ group asking for birth dates and report it to VRC with the names of the group and any user with administrative powers.

Age gated instances also are in question, because apparently some groups still feel the need to have bouncers, which at that point it’s definitely breaking the rule.

1 Like
3

I just realized that I read your post wrong, what I said still applies anyway.

If a group instance isn’t age gated then it can’t be 18+ without breaking tos or community guidelines(asking for DOBs if there’s a bouncer, or exposing minors to adult subjects if no one’s checking ages).

Simply what the group owner(s) and members have to do is buy VRC+ just for a month and get verified, problem solved and everyone wins.

1 Like
4

Unfortunately, this isn’t against TOS. See the community guidelines: Community Guidelines — VRChat

VRChat Guildelines

Group instances are instances created by a Group. These include Group Public, Group+, and Group-Only instances.

  • Groups may moderate their instances how they see fit within the bounds of our guidelines. Group moderators can employ verbal or text-based warnings, system-level warnings, kicks, or bans to enforce their rules.

  • Group instance rules must be reasonable. In other words, people should be informed about the rules, the rules should be fair, and the rules should make sense for the environment.

    • It is the responsibility of the Group to inform Group instance occupants of any Group rules they need to follow.

    • Any rules should be fair. They should be possible to follow, and they should be consistent with the VRChat Guidelines.

    • The rules should make sense and should not be exploitative. For example:

      • Acceptable: Requiring people to wear Poor or better avatars at a crowded event

      • Unacceptable: Requiring people to watch an advertisement before joining a Group instance

    • Groups should handle Group moderation appeals and processes. VRChat Trust and Safety does not handle Group ban appeals. Requests submitted to VRChat Trust and Safety regarding Group bans may not receive a response.

      • Having an appeal process for your Group is ideal. However, you aren’t required to have such a process. You may approve or deny Group ban appeals as you see fit, or inform people that “no appeals are accepted”.

“Groups may moderate their instances how they see fit within the bounds of our guidelines. Group moderators can employ verbal or text-based warnings, system-level warnings, kicks, or bans to enforce their rules.”

This also includes the request to share your DOB, even if you are age verified, groups can still request it. This is because there isn’t a direct violation of privacy if you don’t share it, it’s illegal if they coarse it out of you, but it’s not against the TOS directly. Otherwise, that would have already been a privacy nightmare from the beginning.

Furthermore, in their legal page (Terms of Service — VRChat)

8.10. World Creators and Instance Owners. If you create a world or instance, you may not collect or create features that collect information that provides the real identity, address, phone number, or government identification number of any User using such world or instance. You may collect such information, with the User’s consent, outside of the Platform.

This does NOT cover your date of birth, it’s PII but not your real identity. So group instances are allowed to ask for your DOB to let you in.

2 Likes
5

And that’s unacceptable.

6

Morally… questionably… unacceptable? Absolutely. Against ToS? Not quite.

1 Like