[arg_discuss] ARGs for children?

[Brian Clark]

>Speaking of curtains and magic circles, have any of you done an ARG

>intended for an audience under 14 years old?


Wendy,

In the US at least, I don't advise it. The laws are very complex -- the
"Child Online Protection Act" (frequently abbreviated COPA).

Key COPA provision: if you utilize any technique online that provides an
avenue by which children could end up making personally identifiable
information available to others and they are 14 or under ... you need a
signed permission sheet from their parents.

In practice: child-focused development tends to avoid direct "community"
models -- if you let kids chat or BBS with each other, they could end up
saying something that is natural but violates COPA (like "I'm Susie Bradshaw
and I live in Tuscan, AZ. Where do you live?")

That presents a challenge to the typical collaborative models that ARGs rely
on. You see people trying "magnetic word" chat (where you can only drag
particular words into a chat bubble, never individual letters). You see
people experimenting with "massively single player" or with models that
require less collaboration. 

Raises the question, "Would it still be an ARG if you couldn't really talk
to the other players or know anything about their real lives?"


Brian