Heather,

Here's a new FTC study I ran into today that you might find relevant:

FTC Report Finds Sexually and Violently Explicit Content in Online Virtual Worlds Accessed by Minors - Recommends Best Practices to Shield Children and Teens

"The FTC surveyed 27 online virtual worlds – including those specifically intended for young children, worlds that appealed to teens, and worlds intended only for adults. The FTC found at least one instance of either sexually or violently explicit content in 19 of the 27 worlds. The FTC observed a heavy amount of explicit content in five of the virtual worlds studied, a moderate amount in four worlds, and only a low amount in the remaining 10 worlds in which explicit content was found. ...

The Commission makes five recommendations to virtual world operators to reduce the risk of youth exposure to explicit content:

- Use more effective age-screening mechanisms to prevent children from registering in adult virtual worlds;

- Use or enhance age-segregation techniques to make sure that people interact only with others in their age group;

- Re-examine language filters to ensure that they detect and eliminate messages that violate rules of behavior in virtual worlds;

- Provide more guidance to community enforcers in virtual worlds so they are better able to review and rate virtual world content, report potential underage users, and report any users who appear to be violating rules of behavior; and

- Employ a staff of specially trained moderators who are equipped to take swift action against rule violations.

The report recommends that parents and children become better educated about online virtual worlds, and affirms the FTC’s commitment to ensuring that parents have the information they need to make informed choices. A consumer alert, Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks, is available at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt038.shtm.

The Commission vote to approve the report was 4-0. The full text of the report can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/12/oecd-vwrpt.pdf."

-- BrianS - 10 Dec 2009