So I'm a long-time RPOL player/member/whatever.

I'm currently in a game where the DM is looking for 1 or 2 players to round out the game, and hasn't had success finding them through the request channels. So he asked if we had any contacts that might be interested.

I sent an email to 3 friends who I've been gaming with for over 20 years, explaining the game, the game system, and a little about RPOL. They've all done play-by-post before, but none of them have been here on RPOL.

One of the three is truly excited about the game, logs on, creates an account, and then follows the game link that I gave them.

He is immediately met with the message that the game is rated 'adult' and that he needs to set his account to be able to view it.

Upon going to his account and requesting adult access, he's met with a message that states that since his account was just created, he needs to wait 2 WEEKS before he can request access to 'adult' games.

Why does this 2-week thing exist?  I don't remember anything of the kind ever being required back when I joined years ago.

This is deliberated discouraging a new player from joining - and I doubt he's the first.

It exists to prevent players who find themselves blocked from Adult games, for whatever reason, from simply creating a new account and jumping straight back into them.  Something which used to happen before the waiting period was introduced.

This waiting period was brought in last year, at the same time as the new automated age verification system was added to the site.

I'd suggest asking the GM to review whether or not he really wants the game to be adult, and if he does, maybe the first couple of weeks he could rein stuff in and then up the rating later?

There was a time when I used to run a lot of games as "adult" rather than "mature", even though the content never really warranted it.  It was something of a habit, at the time, and I just never got out of it.

Not a foolish question, and not a foolish answer.

Or, y'know, the GM could use you as an intermediary to help your friend get his character set up and ready to go so once the waiting period is over, he can jump right in.  Just because he can't join the game yet doesn't mean he can't get ready to do so, especially if he's excited about the prospect and likes what's going on with it.

Or work it out over rmail. Or turn off the adult tag for 2 weeks. It actually takes a bit to have something fall concretely into Adult territory. I'm yet to see a game where the intro threads or even the first 500-1000 posts can really be seen as adult. Things would have to escalate quickly for graphic sex and violence to be a thing.

Unless you are playing Exalted 5 minutes in and pedonecrobestiality can be on the table and a viable route to power.

Thanks for all of the responses.

I spoke with our DM, who has agreed to drop the flag for a couple weeks. Problem solved.

Not on RPoL.  On RPoL it's a viable route to game deletion and permanent bans for everybody involved.

Taboo in fantasy is always an interesting discussion. But we would probably be getting off track.

Ron with the new drop down age check system how does that work with adding the adult tag to preexisting games? Does the menu trigger on hitting the request to join button or is there like an invisible tag added to each account?

Word of the day, folks.  Word of the day.

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 9):

If you change an existing game to Adult, then the next time each current player tries to access the game, they will be asked to provide an age statement first.

For new applicants, the system will require an age statement as normal.

And, contrary to mildly popular belief, if a player is previously blocked from Adult games, the system will not allow them to remain in the newly uprated game, even if they were playing in it before it became Adult.

(We have had a few players who tried to persuade GMs to drop their Adult games to Mature so that they could join it, in the mistaken belief that when the rating was bumped up again they would be allowed to stay in it, because the system wouldn't lock an existing player out.  :p
This message was last edited by the user at 18:41, Tue 15 Nov 2016.

And this is why I don't play White Wolf/Onyx Path games, but that's a discussion for another time.

I may have sen that one and asked about for the adult reasoning - never heard back as I recall.