I recently started playing vrc a month ago after getting a headset of my own. Despite being new, I’m not completely oblivious to the infamous quirks the player-base has: mirror dwelling, crashers, trolling, the seemingly chronically online users, and most notably, a lot of 18+ culture stuff.
As a minor, I don’t care what adults get into in their free time, nor do I really want to know(I’m already aware of ERP as a concept, I don’t want vrc to be the way I witness it in practice). But despite my street smarts and my lack of motivation to see the things I shouldn’t, I keep finding places where the aforementioned 18+ activities seemingly take place, but only AFTER I join and then am prompted to see myself out do I realize that.
I have no problem with adults wanting their own spaces away from children; its regularized in real life, so it would be fair that a game all about socializing would also share the same mentality, especially given how disruptive younger players can be. But imagine if you had to hear around the grapevine to know if places in real life were adult-only, and NOWHERE is that fact being advertised on the tin. That’s basically how it feels for me, especially for worlds that appear seemingly innocent.
The part that infuriates me the most is the fact that there’s an in-game way to verify your age as 18 or older, and a way to make it so that only people that are verified can join special 18+ instances, yet you still see instances with bouncers asking for people’s DOBs(which is also against tos and is a crime in some countries, coincidentally).
I truly want to know why worlds being 18+ is the last thing you learn about them, or why groups would rather break tos instead of using the tools they have. Take it from a minor who wants to stay safe. :)
I understand your frustration and agree with some of your points (mostly the ToS part).
I personally don’t have any 18+ cert and don’t want to do it for privacy reason and towards WithPersona. However, it’s not the case for other people. One thing i heard the most is that people don’t want to buy vrc+ just to make this cert. Another thing i heard is that for some country there is no way to do so cause they are outside the power of the company.
I am in no way a professional and this is only my humble opinion. But , i strongly agree that they should not ask people DOBs and not doing weird things in public.
I honestly have no idea how to resolve this problem. However i hope I’ve been able to give an alternative thought on why.
PS: Groups names can sometimes be an indicator of what kind of approach they will have towards you.
These reasons are as fair as they get. Third parties aren’t the most trustworthy, and people who live in unsupported regions can’t really be helped. Having to buy vrc+(and thus, another subscription to worry about) for verification ASAP also does add some discouragement, since it’s being implied all users will be able to sooner or later once its beta testing is over. But at least that means one day this will be an issue of the past.
I genuinely wonder why asking for DOBs is something that’s just normalized across the board, even outside of worlds that aren’t 18+. Last week I randomly had a mod of a world I was in ask for mine seemingly unprompted since I hadn’t interacted with anyone yet, nor had I ever been asked my age in the instances I’ve joined. I told them my actual DOB, given that there’d be no use in lying because of my bio. They then replied with “Note taken…” in a pretty snarky tone, as if they were up to something, and walked away. Doesn’t help that seconds before that interaction, 2 other, regular users came up to me to ask a very inappropriate question, and then started laughing because my reluctance to answer immediately “[had] to [make me] a minor”. So somehow being under 18 makes someone more of a problem rather than their actions or intentions, according to that world. Nonetheless, I left the world without hesitation, not wanting to know what the mod team wanted to do with me. Along with being scared off vrc for a few days, I probably won’t be joining another instance of that world on my own accord for a good while, all because of those 30 seconds I had to experience. If the mod just pulled me away and informed me on whatever caused them to want my age, I think I would’ve been fine with that.
Don’t get me wrong on this point. I’m not against a third-party company to do that verification. I would even say i recommend it. My point is more of how they stored data, how long, and how protected they are. I let you do your own research on the topic but for me a SOC2(security operation center 2) certification is not enough to handle since it contains high risk information but anyway.
For this the most probable reason would be simply because 18+ cert is fairly new. Before it, people had to find the best way to handle verification of someone’s age as they can. Don’t get me wrong on this, it does not excuse the fact that it is still is done.
I feel sad for you that some users made your experience bad as you explained. In that case i highly suggest to get into instances that are not made by a group. like that you can enjoy the world without having people asking DOBS. The other way is to read group’s bios since if this is a “18+ group” you can see it and avoid them.
I unfortunately don’t see any other way to handle this situations…