Server Suggestion Safeguarding Policy

[Tetra]

Suggestion Title: Safeguarding Policy
Suggestion Description: As we are all aware the internet is not the safest nor nice place. Considering a large population of the server are under the age of 18 I believe we need to take a stronger stance on safeguarding.

I have seen another server (SEE LINK) https://riverside-roleplay.com/forums/index.php?threads/safeguarding-policy.5642/#post-35425

Who are taking a very strong stance on safeguarding and are even banning players if being on the server is not in there best intreast (seperate to minging for example easily swayed ectera) aswell as making a stance to not allow anyone under the age of 13 to be on the server agian for safeguarding reasons.

Why should this be added?:
Since the majoirty of our server is under 18 we need a stronger stance on safeguarding

What negatives could this have?:
NA -

What problem would this suggestion solve?: Safeguarding

 

[Ellie]

I’m not really sure what you’re basing this on, or what you’re trying to say with this suggestion. Do you mean that you’d like them to be more transparent with the community about safeguarding?

Our Community Managers and Senior Administration dedicate a great deal of time to addressing safeguarding issues within this community, and we have zero tolerance for any behavior, even remotely inappropriate toward minors. They have repeatedly proven their commitment to keeping this community friendly, welcoming, and safe for everyone.

We’ve banned users as young as six years old from the server for their own safety, and we’ve also banned those who are unable to behave appropriately. It works both ways. Sadly, we can't control what people do or how they act online in general, but we can control how they act and what they do within this community, which has resulted in several CWB's and permanent removals.

 

[JuanBonita]

From what i can tell you are suggesting banned under 13s - as efan said im sure admins would rather ban paedophiles than kids having fun

 

[Acerius]

Have you actually engaged with the safeguarding process at all to have come to this conclusion?

I believe I've made two-three reports covering both predatory behaviour and extreme bullying, which were addressed swiftly and to a very high standard. Just because there isn't an explicit safeguarding policy that is plastered everywhere doesn't mean it isn't being dealt with. There's a report form and the Community Managers - alongside Senior Administration - deal with them as needed.

Your suggestion also doesn't actually provide anything of substance - what do you mean by a 'stronger stance'? If it's to place an age requirement on people who join the community, how do you expect it to actually be policed, and do you think placing such a requirement would actually do anything to prevent those who mean to do harm or groom minors? Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

There are a number of people behind the scenes who are involved in the safeguarding process within Senior Administration and Community Management who do have real-life experience in dealing with safeguarding, and those who fed into the processes early development when it was decided there needed to be a separate process several years ago. I think this is honestly just wild conjecture with no real foundation.

EDIT: I would also argue that Riverside isn't as reliable of a benchmark for anything as it's made out to be, when I can comfortably count their active player base on both hands.

FURTHER EDIT: Also, what most people might consider to be a safeguarding issue, most likely isn't, and is simply something that's unsavoury blown out of proportion.

 

[kerzify]

I’m confused how you’ve proposed this for an addition to the server like it’s not something that the Community Managers are actively acting upon behind closed doors.

Baring in mind that Perpheads has completely no room for any sort of this behaviour within the community. I can see that you’ve highlighted specifically that people under the age of 13 shouldn’t be playing the server however that’s quite an interesting take considering ages from 13-17 are also considered minors regardless.

Introducing age restrictions on who can play Perpheads isn’t the correct way to tackle this, it would be unfair to those younger players who simply want to enjoy the game like the rest of us did. If any inappropriate or harmful behaviour does occur, it will be handled properly through the existing moderation and community management.

 

[Eistee von Aldi]

When I was 13 kids was doing crimes and drugs and literally getting blackout drunk, like hospital drunk. I think they are safer here.

 

[peeps]

As someone who has helped on multiple safeguarding issues previously, our process and stance is probably the strongest on gmod. In fact I have a good working relationship with the folks over at Riverside and they have multiple times commented on our excellent position on toxicity, discrimination, and issues regarding safeguarding. And at the time of speaking to them, they were looking to rework some of their rules and processes to better match ours.

 

[Tetra]

here are a number of people behind the scenes who are involved in the safeguarding process within Senior Administration and Community Management who do have real-life experience in dealing with safeguarding, and those who fed into the processes early development when it was decided there needed to be a separate process several years ago. I think this is honestly just wild conjecture with no real foundation.

And I agree.

I am simply asking as the majoirty of our players are under 18 we have a policy on paper. I dont think this is an unresonable request as the majoirty of places that has interactions with people under age have a policy in place.
(Specifically the first 2 bits)
Even something as simple as

• Adult–Minor Interactions: Aim for majority of Adult to Minor communication to take place in public, server‑monitored channels.
• Direct Messages: DMs between adults and minors are only allowed for strictly server‑related matters.
• Zero Tolerance: Any form of grooming, exploitation, or inappropriate behaviour—such as engaging in or discussing sexual acts, sexualising minors, or joking about paedophilia—is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate action.
• False allegations: Equally, falsely accusing others of predatory behaviour (e.g., calling someone a paedophile without good reason) will be taken seriously and is also not permitted.
• Respect Privacy: Do not share anyone’s personal data without verifiable consent.

And I agree perpheads is prob one of the best for this sort of thing. Seems silly but all I am asking for is guidance that can be given to both adult and minor players about how to protect everyone and themselfs from potental safeguarding issues.

(I am not suggesting we ban under 13's it was simply something I saw)

 

[Tetra]

Also for context I also have experience with safeguarding on an almost daily baisis in work.

This suggestion has come from an increasing trend of safeguarding issues resulting from online multiplayer games (GMOD, SECOND LIFE ECTERA) That I have noticed in my role

 

[rogue]

I appreciate concerns in relation to our safeguarding system as we're always trying to find ways to make it better.

I think the main benefits of our system is:

• it's accessible by anybody
• it's forwarded to a very small team of people who are closely tied and can work together well
• we already have 1.2, 1.5 and 2.8 covered in our server rules
• there are no strict definitions as to make it as easy as possible for anybody to write concerns of any spectrum: no matter how big or small, not just restricted to certain definitions

Steams TOS already states that you cannot create a Steam account if you are under the age of 13 which is a rule we generally follow if we were to find out that they are not that age.

Ultimately we don't tend to follow any specific region's laws as we feel like we can judge situations in ours and the affected parties best interests; as well as safeguarding laws differing from country to country.

We also must respect our playerbase in return: we will never try to find out the age of an individual if they don't want to tell us; we will never search up socials or external information to try and find out things. Our safeguarding is strictly contained within our community and is really up to what people want to disclose.

If you've any more questions or comments about our safeguarding system just reply to this thread

 

[WATER BEAN]

bro im a minor and its not hard just dont message with a 20 year old when your 12 like wtf

 

[Nova.]

bro im a minor and its not hard just dont message with a 20 year old when your 12 like wtf

Shouldn't it be the other way around? Don't message a 12 year old when you're 20

 

[Mini]

Adult–Minor Interactions: Aim for majority of Adult to Minor communication to take place in public, server‑monitored channels.

This literally cannot be monitored or tracked, really. Perp doesn't have access to everyone's private messages and accounts.

Direct Messages: DMs between adults and minors are only allowed for strictly server‑related matters.

Same as above, this literally cannot be effectively monitored or tracked, without one party disclosing the contents of the chat.

Zero Tolerance: Any form of grooming, exploitation, or inappropriate behaviour—such as engaging in or discussing sexual acts, sexualising minors, or joking about paedophilia—is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate action.

This is, has always been and always will be in action as it is, pretty much common sense... don't be a nonce

False allegations: Equally, falsely accusing others of predatory behaviour (e.g., calling someone a paedophile without good reason) will be taken seriously and is also not permitted.

Slander kinda covers this already along with disrespectful behaviour and causing problems, depending on the context. This can also be hard to properly enforce on a broader level, and as it currently stands, is enforced on a case by case basis which works well.

Respect Privacy: Do not share anyone’s personal data without verifiable consent.

Again, this is and has always been enforced with pretty hefty bans, the majority of them being CWBs

I literally don't know what you were thinking when you made this post, but you've basically just outlined a bunch of things that are already heavily enforced, and a lot of time is spent doing these things. It's very rare that someone in the community who is grooming or exploiting minors doesn't get caught, and usually they are caught quite early on. You can't really compare PERPHeads to any other community in the safeguarding sense, as PERPHeads do a lot more than what I've seen most other communities do. I'd even argue that PERPHeads does more for safeguarding than some people whose main job it is to safeguard minors irl.

 

[Scrabuz]

As someone who actually deals with safeguarding issues on a regular basis as part of my job: PH not only does more than any other gaming community not run by a massive company but also works faster and more efficiently than some of the organizations and authorities I work with. I’ve had the unfortunate displeasure of having to go through safeguarding referrals before and can promise you that you’d be utterly surprised by how serious any and all of those concerns are taken and how fast they are taken care of. Please do us all a favour and inform yourself about these topics before asking ChatGPT to spit out some bullet points for you. Every single one of those points, like @Mini said, is either already a thing or not feasible.

 

[SomeUser]

My friend im not trying to judge your proformance in your job, as you probs do great, however Theres probs alot more that goes on behind the scenes that we are not privie too, If im being completely honest, I feel like the points made have already been addressed, so what would you change as in this case I feel like community side of things are alot more locked down and not you know like letting pedos and stuff run around, I can personally say that @rogue has been brill whenever i have issues safegaurding / non safegaurding, also looking at the replys the sentiment echos that you have outlied things that already are features, just because YOU cant see it dont me its not there