Is There Room for Innocence in Home?
by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer
Regardless of what most American children may have been exposed to on television, at the movies, or even in the schoolyard at recess, there is a certain innocence or naiveté during the teenage and younger years. There just aren’t enough years in our lives yet to have had many experiences. At least, this is true for most of us during this age range; as we all know, experience educates. The human brain isn’t even fully developed during this time. The part of the brain associated with “thinking skills,” and that restrains risky behavior, is not fully developed until the age of 25, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study.
Speaking frankly, innocence isn’t just the lack of one certain kind of experience or knowledge, as many people seem to assume; there are many kinds of innocence. It’s one kind of innocence – the unawareness of how the world can work — that leads to children making numerous mistakes in Home and the internet in general. Some more serious than others. These mistakes are often based on trusting others and then providing them with personal information, unfortunately. This information can range from PSN account information — such as email address and password — to Facebook account information and/or pictures, or even real names and addresses. Very serious and sometimes dangerous situations can develop because of these mistakes. One of the most serious is the child-predator adult preying on innocent and unsuspecting children.
Most parents try to protect their children in many ways; they “baby-proof” their houses with every device they can buy when the children are very young; they hold their hands to keep them from running into danger when they’re toddlers; they warn them about the risks of even speaking to strangers when they start school. But that’s all in the real world. Many parents aren’t warning their children about dangers on the internet, where it’s easy for children to feel safe when they really aren’t. Some parents may not know of the dangers, and others may assume that no real harm can come to their child while they are safe in their bedrooms or family rooms at home. It can take a tragedy to bring this awareness to people.
People on the internet, where there is a certain amount of anonymity, can and do easily lie about any number of things. Some are lying about their age, or their gender, or their marital status, or their location, but predators are lying about their intent. Of course, in these cases, no one, not even a child, would provide information to a stranger if they knew the truth about them. However, many of these vultures are experts are what they do, as a predator knows its prey.
So how can this youthful innocence be protected in Home?
Different ideas have been suggested for a solution to this mixing of ages on Home, such as separating Home into two sections. One would be for those from ages 13-17 and another for those 18 and over. To keep the ages separated, a credit card in the name of the account holder would be required for those in the 18 and over group. Of course, children may have access to their parent’s credit cards – known or unknown to the parents – which would allow them into the adult area, anyway. Also, the 13-17 environment might make children feel more safe without real reason, because the major flaw in this plan is that nothing will stop some adults from making fake underage accounts. Letting predator adults into an underage area is just like letting them shoot fish in a barrel.
Another solution has been suggested to keep all of Home 18 and over, with proof of age required in one form or another. Of course, there would be a loss of revenue from those under the age requirement, and it is unknown whether this is a significant portion of the income Sony derives from Home. A major concern about this solution is the fear that Home will deteriorate into an X-rated site, where decent people will not be interested in coming to spend time and money. Whatever you may think about what IS allowed on Home at this time, it’s hasn’t truly gone that far – at least not yet. And, hopefully, never.
Many people have simply stated there should be more parental input into where their children spend their time and who they talk to while on the internet. While this may be true, it’s not actually a solution, as there is no way to contact all parents and tell them about the dangers of Home or the internet. Even knowledgeable parents with an understanding of game ratings, may not realize what’s possible for their children to see and hear in Home. Basically, although Home is “packaged” with the PS3, there is no information given to parents about the content of Home. Maybe there should be. Cigarettes come with warning labels, don’t they?
There are those who believe that at least some responsibility lies with Sony, and I’m one of those people. The minimum age limit for Home in North America is 13, and it’s 16 for the European Home. I’m assuming Japan Home and Asia Home have lower age limits, also. I believe that as long as Sony allows children to go into Home, and claims that Home is “family friendly”, they need to watch over what they allow developers to sell and what they allow users to say and do to other users. They need to enforce their own Terms of Service — strictly and swiftly.
Of course, this is not a perfect solution – nothing is. The moderators can’t be everywhere at once, especially in all the private spaces, where a predator is most likely to lure an unsuspecting innocent.
Even though no solution is perfect, the best solution may be the most unlikely: we simply need need to watch over and watch out for each other. As a start, newcomers to Home should be advised about the dangers. Then they should be offered a chance to join a club – not a fam – with regular activities. Other activities in Home, such as developer events, game nights, and different get-togethers should be encouraged, especially by the Home Guides. The hundreds of games available in Home should be widely advertised, and people should be encouraged to participate in them, perhaps with small rewards for reaching certain hallmarks. In general, although Home is touted as a social MMO, there should be few public spaces where there are no activities and people looking for something to do, such as trolling others. One reason that Central Plaza was a success and the Hub is a failure is that there were things to do in Central Plaza.
However, all this seems so very unlikely to happen.
So maybe the true answer is no: there isn’t any room for innocence in Home. Because, truthfully, those who come with innocence will not stay that way for long.
May 24th, 2014 by Kassadee Marie | 4 comments
Home is endlessly entertaining to this California girl. Kassadee has been in Home for about four years, and loves almost everything about it (with a few notable exceptions). She spends way too much money there, and perhaps too much time... Someday she will travel the world and write about the people she meets and the places she sees.
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awesome article sweetie! I can think of no one better than you to have written this. I find your innocence in endearing and charming. Innocence is a fragile yet valuable thing. Innocence is also often mis-labeled as just being naïve. I like to define and innocence as a lack of corruption or evil. I choose to believe that anyone can maintain their innocence if they filter out corrupt and evil influences. I would never label you as naïve but I probably admire your innocence. I like to believe I still have innocence in me.
Whether or not innocence has a place in Home? I think it does. Maintaining that innocence and Home is the big trick. That rests and coping skills of the young or old that possess that valuable quality known as innocence.
You have experienced things on Home that have been unsettling. Things that might have exposed you to things that you would rather not have to know or deal with. But, as far as I can see, you have the forethought to not let them change who you are or corrupt or infect your beautiful innocence, and that is just one of the many reasons I adore you!
Use a voice dictation program to write what is above.. meh… it needs to train more. Just didn’t want anyone to think i was drunk when I wrote it…lol…hick…jk
Nice article Kass. There is actually a solution that might work for this if they ever decide to do anything about it. It would require the separation of the ages as suggested, but in order to access either of them a special card with a code on it would be required to access it. In other words you would have to go to a Gamestop or Best Buy lets say and prove your age before being able to get the coded card to enter. This way those who are too old wouldnt be able to get cards for the younger area and visa versa.
In the case of kids their parents would be required to come into the store with them to get the card with the code. This would eliminate a lot of the problems I think.
The problem is kids on psn have master accounts to play games like modern warfare. Which means they have already got round the age restrictions. Sony don’t help this when you know that you can’t change an under 18 sub account to a master account. The way some other MMO’s get around age and even regional issues is by if you not supposed to see it then basically you cant. So if your underage and something is deemed too mature for you. You just can’t see it. So if it was an outfit the avatar would revert to a default set of clothes in any underage view. Same with regional issues as well. If it’s not fit for your region you can’t see it. The block system also turns the avatar into a shadow so you know it’s there but it has no actions or speech ability.
I think a one off payment to use over 18 functions on home would be the best way to control it.