Why exactly was Five Nights at Freddy's banned?

GuchuDaMaker

I understand that some games were inappropriate for kids.
But why ban a whole franchise just because a few games went overboard?
I would like to express my creativity in a FNAF game! It should not be blocked. Yet I can still get to it. All I have to do is find a studio by searching up “Five Nights at Freddy's scratch” or something similar into the google search bar. I know that jump scares are banned, but they aren't even inherently scary. Sure, they make you jump but that's it. At the very least only ban the ones that are ACTUALLY inappropriate than the ones that don't scare children. I watched a kid under the age of 7 play fnaf 1, which is in my opinion the second scariest, and not be traumatized at all. Scary games are not traumatizing. I do not know why Scratch seems to think they are.

(Some complaints are Sarcastic and shouldn't be taken seriously)

k7e

Five Nights at Freddy's projects are not completely banned, they are just rated NFE. For more information, see this announcement.

GuchuDaMaker

k7e wrote:
Five Nights at Freddy's projects are not completely banned, they are just rated NFE. For more information, see this announcement.

My bad

ajskateboarder

k7e wrote:
Five Nights at Freddy's projects are not completely banned, they are just rated NFE. For more information, see this announcement.

The announcement says that FNAF projects will be unshared, not rated NFE, I believe

k7e

ajskateboarder wrote:
k7e wrote:
Five Nights at Freddy's projects are not completely banned, they are just rated NFE. For more information, see this announcement.
The announcement says that FNAF projects will be unshared, not rated NFE, I believe

I've heard that projects based on inappropriate franchises get rated NFE. I'm sure that FNAF would be considered an “inappropriate franchise” given the fact that the Scratch Team made an entire announcement about it.

WindowsAdmin

One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though

Sliverus

ajskateboarder wrote:
The announcement says that FNAF projects will be unshared, not rated NFE, I believe

Try searching FNAF. It doesn't appear in search results.

Also, I'm not sure whether the topic owner knows what NFE means. It stands for Not For Everyone. Basically, this means that your project can stay on the site, but it will not appear in search results because it has content that might possibly be inappropriate for Scratch (like FNAF).

WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though

It's not quite like that. Parents had complained about their kids not feeling safe on Scratch, and users started leaving. Scratch needs users active in order to survive as a website, and there weren't nearly as many users then as there are now, so this was a major issue.

donotforgetmycode

ajskateboarder wrote:
k7e wrote:
Five Nights at Freddy's projects are not completely banned, they are just rated NFE. For more information, see this announcement.
The announcement says that FNAF projects will be unshared, not rated NFE, I believe

not all of them:

Will all Five Nights at Freddy’s and similar content be unshared?
No. We’ll only unshare content that violates our Community Guidelines. For example: An emulation of or conversation about Five Nights at Freddy’s containing any of the elements described above is not okay.

Last edited by donotforgetmycode (Sept. 28, 2023 12:48:24)

billybob37493

I mean this is kinda ridiculous

WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though

I mean thats kinda ridiculous just because one person didnt like it doesnt mean it should be banned off of the entire website

Sliverus

billybob37493 wrote:
I mean this is kinda ridiculous
WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though
I mean thats kinda ridiculous just because one person didnt like it doesnt mean it should be banned off of the entire website

That quote you quoted was a misunderstanding or exaggeration. Actually, there were tons of complaints about the franchise beforehand. Lots of kids were leaving the site because they didn't feel comfortable looking for projects anymore.

billybob37493

Sliverus wrote:
billybob37493 wrote:
I mean this is kinda ridiculous
WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though
I mean thats kinda ridiculous just because one person didnt like it doesnt mean it should be banned off of the entire website
That quote you quoted was a misunderstanding or exaggeration. Actually, there were tons of complaints about the franchise beforehand. Lots of kids were leaving the site because they didn't feel comfortable looking for projects anymore.

yea but still if someone doesnt like FNAF projects then they should just ignore them

Sliverus

billybob37493 wrote:
yea but still if someone doesnt like FNAF projects then they should just ignore them

Easier said than done. They said they were even afraid of browsing for projects because these kinds of projects were everywhere.

Also, parents were getting concerned because their kids were getting nightmares, and a number of people were beginning to block Scratch. If this would've continued on, it would've been detrimental to the site.

You can see that starting on 2015, when the announcement was made, the rate that active users started appearing on Scratch went up significantly. (I don't mean the number of active users; I mean the rate at which more users started coming to Scratch.) I think the FNAF issue might have been part of it.

Last edited by Sliverus (Sept. 28, 2023 16:08:49)

blablablahello

billybob37493 wrote:
Sliverus wrote:
billybob37493 wrote:
I mean this is kinda ridiculous
WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though
I mean thats kinda ridiculous just because one person didnt like it doesnt mean it should be banned off of the entire website
That quote you quoted was a misunderstanding or exaggeration. Actually, there were tons of complaints about the franchise beforehand. Lots of kids were leaving the site because they didn't feel comfortable looking for projects anymore.
yea but still if someone doesnt like FNAF projects then they should just ignore them

the same argument can techinically be said for other content such as blood and gore, however, I do believe we can all agree that as sane human beings, gore should not be found on a children's website (same with adult content as well)

billybob37493

Sliverus wrote:
billybob37493 wrote:
yea but still if someone doesnt like FNAF projects then they should just ignore them
Easier said than done. They said they were even afraid of browsing for projects because these kinds of projects were everywhere.

Also, parents were getting concerned because their kids were getting nightmares, and a number of people were beginning to block Scratch. If this would've continued on, it would've been detrimental to the site.

You can see that starting on 2015, when the announcement was made, the rate that active users started appearing on Scratch went up significantly. (I don't mean the number of active users; I mean the rate at which more users started coming to Scratch.) I think the FNAF issue might have been part of it.

blablablahello wrote:
billybob37493 wrote:
Sliverus wrote:
billybob37493 wrote:
I mean this is kinda ridiculous
WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though
I mean thats kinda ridiculous just because one person didnt like it doesnt mean it should be banned off of the entire website
That quote you quoted was a misunderstanding or exaggeration. Actually, there were tons of complaints about the franchise beforehand. Lots of kids were leaving the site because they didn't feel comfortable looking for projects anymore.
yea but still if someone doesnt like FNAF projects then they should just ignore them
the same argument can techinically be said for other content such as blood and gore, however, I do believe we can all agree that as sane human beings, gore should not be found on a children's website (same with adult content as well)

well ig thats fair

GuchuDaMaker

Y'all I aint stupid. I know what NFE means. And I do not mean it was entirely banned either. I mean it in the fact that it was shadow-banned. I shouldn't have to go to a new tab to find fnaf on Scratch.

amogus1123

GuchuDaMaker wrote:
Y'all I aint stupid. I know what NFE means. And I do not mean it was entirely banned either. I mean it in the fact that it was shadow-banned. I shouldn't have to go to a new tab to find fnaf on Scratch.

When you wait a month to respond:

GuchuDaMaker

I personally think there should be age ratings on this website. Anything above 13+ would not be allowed. Five Nights at Freddy's does not traumatize children. Even so, those children should have enough brain power to know that a game isn't good for them. I do not agree with anyone under 8 using this platform. I have seen far too many 13+ projects on this website. So either completely stop those projects or ask for kids age. This will allow them to hide certain projects that are not okay for kids.

ciitrine

GuchuDaMaker wrote:
I personally think there should be age ratings on this website. Anything above 13+ would not be allowed. Five Nights at Freddy's does not traumatize children. Even so, those children should have enough brain power to know that a game isn't good for them. I do not agree with anyone under 8 using this platform. I have seen far too many 13+ projects on this website. So either completely stop those projects or ask for kids age. This will allow them to hide certain projects that are not okay for kids.

thats rejected

from TOLORS wrote:
7.2 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 be helpful. Potential restrictions from entering the website (such as a warning, or requiring a parent to answer math equations) would not necessarily stop an underage child from entering the 13+ website.

This suggestion extends to age-restricting anything on Scratch, such as viewing specific projects or accessing specific Scratch features. As a general rule, Scratch is for all ages, and content shared on the Scratch website should be appropriate for all ages.

Last edited by ciitrine (Oct. 29, 2023 14:05:06)

roofogato

WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though

Yesh it's stupid. now FNAF is NFE and people complain ALLLL about it

anyways, it's allowed, but in an “appropriate” manner (because apparently fear isnt an appropriate emotion…)

Barney_at_Bonels83

WindowsAdmin wrote:
One kid played scratch fnaf games. Then he got jumpscared and then he was scared forever so the parents sued Scratch (WHY????) and now all of them are now nfe. Have no idea if that is true or not but it's something like that. Completely agree with you though

I refuse to believe that they sued scratch. It was just a compliant. FNaF is not a game for little kids, So there is a reason for it to be banned.

Discuss Scratch