I don't think this will be super hard to implement because when making an account you already get asked for date and year of birth and although not public I believe it is linked and stored to your account so that the ST knows.

6.2 A 13+ version of the Scratch website or age-restricted content
Scratch is designed for ages 8 to 16, but any content shared on the website must be appropriate for all ages. Dividing the community by making a separate, age-restricted website would not really be helpful. Potential restrictions from entering the website (such as a warning, or requiring a parent to answer math equations) would not necessarily stop a child from entering the 13+ website.

I just read this but I think my post defeats the arguments the ST gave here. also, my way of age restriction works differently then described here


WHY I THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA:

since scratch is for every age you can't make games that have too much fighting in it, or other age restricted stuff (this defeats the purpose of scratch that you can make anything)

I am 15 (almost 16) and would love to make a game that would be 12+ and share it, but I can't because scratch is for all ages

Also, it would increase safety. for example, I have played a game on scratch were someone commits suicide although this does not affect me by much for a little kid this could be traumatizing. It is impossible for the ST to make sure every game is okay for everyone, I think the number of non-okay games would be halved if the creators them self could select their own game as 12+ (of course the ST could correct the required age if they don't agree with it)

scratch would, in a way, be more for everyone because games that would otherwise be deleted can now be selected as 12+ making me and other 12+-year-olds still be able to play it. I would even get more enjoyment out of these games then all age games.


WHY I THINK THIS MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA (and arguments against that):

Kids could lie about their age. have every new account fill in 2 emails (their own and their parents) check that these are two different emails then send the kid an email to confirm their account and the parents an email to confirm the given age (you can even confirm the parent is 18+ by letting them make a payment of 0.00) all old accounts can just go with the given age since it doesn't make sense to lie because there where no restrictions if you are younger.

Scratch is not for everyone any more since kids can't play certain games. they wouldn't be able to play them without this feature because the game would get deleted (it is more for everyone because older people can now play this game instead of no-one)



HOW IT WOULD WORK:

On every project, the creator can select how old someone must be to see this project. The creator would do this on the project page in a menu next to description and credits, they can select 0, 6, 9, or 12, next to these options are descriptions of when this age should be selected (like: contains blood) it will also be made clear that if ANY of those descriptions met your project the box should be selected and that you must select the highest of the met age requirements must be selected.

If anyone of the ST sees the project and doesn't agree with the age requirements they can select a new age requirement and send the creator a warning and explanation why the selected age requirement wasn't right. too much of these warnings, of course, mean consequences


if you support let me know
if you don't support let me know with arguments so I can edit this post.

6.2 A 13+ version of the Scratch website or age-restricted content
Scratch is designed for ages 8 to 16, but any content shared on the website must be appropriate for all ages. Dividing the community by making a separate, age-restricted website would not really be helpful. Potential restrictions from entering the website (such as a warning, or requiring a parent to answer math equations) would not necessarily stop a child from entering the 13+ website.

I just read this but I think my post defeats the arguments the ST gave here. also, my way of age restriction works differently the described here

jorrit200 wrote:

Also, it would increase safety. for example, I have played a game on scratch were someone commits suicide although this does not affect me by much for a little kid this could be traumatizing. It is impossible for the ST to make sure every game is okay for everyone, I think the number of non-okay games would be halved if the creators them self could select their own game as 12+ (of course the ST could correct the required age if they don't agree with it)

If you saw a game on Scratch where someone commits suicide, you should have reported it.
Also, I don't get how the number of “non-okay” games would halved if they were allowed. Surely they would increase?

jorrit200 wrote:

since scratch is for every age you can't make games that have too much fighting in it, or other age restricted stuff (this defeats the purpose of scratch that you can make anything)

You can still make anything with Scratch. You just can't uploaded. Scratch the tool and Scratch the website are different.

jorrit200 wrote:

scratch would, in a way, be more for everyone because games that would otherwise be deleted can now be selected as 12+ making me and other 12+-year-olds still be able to play it. I would even get more enjoyment out of these games then all age games.

That would be the opposite of for everyone. If a group of people can't see the content, that means it's not for them and, therefore, not for everyone. Scratch projects are supposed to be for everyone in the sense that anyone can view and interact with them.

jorrit200 wrote:

Kids could lie about their age. have every new account fill in 2 emails (their own and their parents) check that these are two different emails then send the kid an email to confirm their account and the parents an email to confirm the given age (you can even confirm the parent is 18+ by letting them make a payment of 0.00) all old accounts can just go with the given age since it doesn't make sense to lie because there where no restrictions if you are younger.

That would drive a looooooooot of people away from Scratch. Parents wouldn't feel safe entering their credit card information on some website. Imagine if a teacher that wanted to teach Scratch and create accounts for their students had to insert their credit card information for every account?

jorrit200 wrote:

Scratch is not for everyone any more since kids can't play certain games. they wouldn't be able to play them without this feature because the game would get deleted (it is more for everyone because older people can now play this game instead of no-one)

It would be less for everyone since now you are excluding a certain age group instead of everyone.



I don't like these suggestion posts that try to loophole around rejected ideas. If a 13+ website is rejected, then obviously 13+ projects on Scratch are also rejected. The point is that Scratch is a learning tool first and a community second. It is made for schools. Schools don't want their students to see or make inappropriate projects, so Scratch doesn't allow them to be shared. It only makes sense.

I think you missed part of the rejected suggestion.

Rejected Suggestions wrote:

6.2 A 13+ version of the Scratch website or age-restricted content
Scratch is designed for ages 8 to 16, but any content shared on the website must be appropriate for all ages. Dividing the community by making a separate, age-restricted website would not really be helpful. Potential restrictions from entering the website (such as a warning, or requiring a parent to answer math equations) would not necessarily stop a child from entering the 13+ website.

This suggestion extends to age-restricting anything on Scratch, such as viewing NFE (Not For Everyone) projects. To summarize once again, Scratch is designed for all ages, period.

I think @Paddle2See's reasoning on this post is a good explanation of why age-restricted content would not (and should not) be allowed on Scratch.

I completely agree with you- I do find that because Scratch emphasizes the usage of its site with younger kids, the guidelines are very strict. However, the DOB can easily be faked. I understand what you have said but Fupicat makes good points. No Support

I think that scratch should be appropriate for everyone because that's what it was made to be for, if you want games that have more mature cintent in them you should learn a programming language that you can share your projects as files

i understand where you're coming from, but scratch is strictly family-friendly–that's kind of the point. if you want to use the scratch coding environment to make a 13+ game and share it with a different community more suited for that, then by all means go ahead, but keeping the scratch community all-ages helps create a more welcoming environment.

Undecided. I do agree that there should be some way to upload, view, comment on, etc with a coding tool like Scratch without requiring them to be suitable for everybody, I do agree that there is a problem with how we could confirm someone's age if this feature would happen.