I thought this game was for 13+?

[Nowe]

[FinalJump]

As stated above me, COPPA is in effect on every website and the ones that it isn't 'active' on are ones in compliance to the Exceptions list stated on the link I gave a few pages back.

There is no choice over having and not having COPPA, only whether you'd like to tailor the experience to legally support under-13 users, or to harbor only those 13 and above.

[Lady_Alizarin]

I quote you

"What are you a lawyer"

I would say you began with the direspect first hon lol

You think that's disrespectful? I was merely curious about where he/she gets all this leagal knowledge. I wanted to know if he/she was a real lawyer, or if they are just someone who does alot of research on leagal stuff on their spare time.

No, I'm not a lawyer but if you're looking for any sort of credentials the most I can offer you is I took a study in a career school for law enforcement. We studied on laws, gained some tactical knowledge officers use every day, and took a field trip out to a state police academy for a day. Worst personal experience of my life. Was done in a very military fashion. Most of the kids who graduated my class with me went to the military under the Navy, National Reserves, Army and other branches or subcategories. But as for where my understanding comes from it's by simply retaining a knowledge on laws once I've read them and being able to source my material, which is fairly general and anybody can do it if they have the desire.

No, I am not a lawyer, lawyers defend people from the law and that's a little different than what I'm doing, and to bring in a good debate I don't need to be anything you'd find in a criminal court besides a juror.

And he/she gave me an answer. Thank you, Final Jump.
So Final Jump, I think if you are really concerned for these under age users on this website, you should consider speaking with the head administrators. They are always open to hearing people's opinions. Try speaking with Raz or Red... Raz has more authority, so you might want to try him.

[shusuke]

No one should even have to do such a thing as contacting an administrator.

COPPA is a LAW. You cannot dance around it or ignore it as if it is not there.

Not following it is breaking it and therefore can land you in some pretty deep crap.

[Nowe]

No one should even have to do such a thing as contacting an administrator.

COPPA is a LAW. You cannot dance around it or ignore it as if it is not there.

Not following it is breaking it and therefore can land you in some pretty deep crap.

So much This ^

FH has a very large memberbase a smaller game might have been able to get away with it but seeing how many play FH let alone have accounts would be enough for the COPPA not to turn a blind eye.

[WhiteLightHeart]

I'm saying, ban all users you see openly stating being younger than 13 until their 13th birthday or approximate time frame they would achieve that, and investigate all claims of knowing so-and-so who is underaged.

Where is your authority to say whether or not we should ban otherwise innocent users in our community?

Here's a problem with your logic, though, if you're really wanting to play technical. Present as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 may be, if you actually read into the COPPA details, and you'll see that FeralHeart is not breaking this law.

1.) This law is in accord with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an American institution.
Because of this, any children below the age of 13, that are NOT American, are not affected by this law. FeralHeart is hosted in Europe (functionally hosted in Germany, paid for and remotely hosted in Great Britain), and therefore is also not an American website. American staff (like myself) may work for it, but according to Title XIII, Section 1302., subsection 2A of the law, the name (or "Operator") whom collects and maintains the information is Razmirz, our server master. Again, he is in Great Britain, and is therefore also not directly under this law, nor is FeralHeart. KovuLKD, the game's creator (while he is not present), is also exempt from this, since he is in Singapore.
By this logic alone, American children are the only ones affected by this law.
That's not the end of it, though.

2.) The COPPA is here for the protection of children and their identifiable information, in accordance to the website Operator(s).
According to Title XIII, Section 1302, subsections 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E of the COPPA, the identifiable information is specified as (A) a first and last name; (B) a home or other physical address including street name and name of a city or town; (C) an e-mail address; (D) a telephone number; (E) a Social Security number.
FeralHeart's Operator (Razmirz) does not harbor, collect or maintain any of the information listed here, except for each account's email, which is automatically hidden from view on the forum when registering for FeralHeart. It is not shared with any other parties, is not used for commercial use, and may only be made visible by the active willingness of this user.
Because of this, no identifiable information is shared by the operator of this site.

3.) The COPPA requires "Verifiable Parental Consent" for shared information, but see the point in white text above to prove where FeralHeart is exempt from this.
"

The term "verifiable parental consent" means any reasonable effort (taking into consideration available technology), including a request for authorization for future collection, use, and disclosure described in the notice, to ensure that a parent of a child receives notice of the operator's personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices, and authorizes the collection, use, and disclosure, as applicable, of personal information and the subsequent use of that information before that information is collected from that child.

-Title XIII, Section 1302, subsection 9 of the COPPA.

Again, FeralHeart's operators do not distribute personal, identifiable information from underaged users, nor any users, thus removing the need for direct parental consent for an underaged American user to contact the website's operator in order to play the game or use our services.

5.) Speaking of services, FeralHeart is a free, non-profit game. The operator (Razmirz) uses his money to pay for the server to run, and no other currency is used for the functioning of this game, and does not in turn directly affect its users, of age or underage according to the COPPA.
Also explicitly stated in Title XIII, Section 1302, subsection 2B, the COPPA "does not include any nonprofit entity."
A non-profit entity like FeralHeart is also exempt from this.

6.) FeralHeart is not directed at "children"
According to Title XIII, Section 1302, subsection 1, the term "Child" is anyone [American] under the age of 13.
Keeping this in mind, in Title XII, Section 1302, subsection 10 shows that this law is for websites that are specifically targeted at children [under the age of 13].
FeralHeart is aimed at the ages 13+, therefore NOT children by terms of the COPPA, and therefore NOT under this law.
"Children" under 13 may be able to come here, but we do not target them, and therefore are not a website for "children," by terms of the COPPA.

7.) Read your laws before you start throwing them at us. We are not in violation of the COPPA, and neither are our "underaged" users.[/color

Now that I'm done playing lawyer, let's have some real-talk about this.

As some of you pointed out, there are dangers with kids being online.
That's been taught to us since we were little, and we understand that no community is perfectly safe. FeralHeart is no exception.

One point was made that FH needs more moderators to keep it safe. While it is true that we are always searching for new staff, it is a logical impossibility that even if we had 100 staff members, that they would be able to catch EVERY rule-breaker, EVERY moment of EVERY day, even if they were PAID to do so, which we are not. (Look at WolfQuest, look at any paid or non-paid online community. Nothing is perfect). Not that pay makes it any less important to us-- if it did, we wouldn't be here at all.

The simple fact is that we cannot ultimately have complete, utter control over the human nature with rules and laws, with officers and judges and ban sentences galore.

Even with these, we cannot always protect our members, every second of every day. We strive to, and those members who are in a good mindset for its well-being will report misbehavior when they can-- but it is not a 100% guarantee.

How can we protect them, then? How? Are we being responsible with this fact, and our actions regarding it?
Again, we bring up the fact that FeralHeart is aimed for the ages of 13+.

According to our terms and conditions, by making an account here on FH, you are agreeing that 1.) You have read game rules and will abide by them, or you will lose your privilege to play, and 2.) You are 13+ years of age, or otherwise have permission from a parent/legal guardian in order to play, and are aware of the content in the game, as well as the possibility of rule-breakers finding their way into the game and being inappropriate.

If you are 13 or below here, it is assumed your parents are aware. However, this is not our responsibility to know (not to mention, we can't always know for every single user who joins the game!), since the game is targeted at the ages 13+. It sounds harsh, but this is in our terms and conditions, and you agreed to these when you joined.

Should someone misbehave in the game, and a parent comes up to Razmirz, saying "I'm gonna sue you, because MY CHILD saw someone pretending RAPE someone in YOUR game!"
This is a horrible thing to see, but it is protection against the staff from legal action-- we cannot always control this, and it is unrealistic to expect this.

So, if we can't control it... Maybe we should just shut the game down, right? (Wrong.)
If this were the case, then this includes almost every online game with chat capabilities.

If a parent does insist on this, though, then it is stated in our terms and conditions that we can prevent this underaged child from viewing and playing the game by restricting their access (banning) until they are 13. This is ONLY if the parent states that they do not give permission for their child to play, and therefore will be handled as such.

If you are here, it is assumed you are 13+, or have parental permission to play a game otherwise not suited for you (such as any child entering a PG13 movie, but with their parents).

This does NOT mean we don't care for our users, and their safety.
To think otherwise would be absurd.
When users misbehave, if we don't catch it, you know who can help?
You, right there.
Sitting at your computer.
The staff is working hard each day to protect this community, but it's not always enough, and this is a fact that I've stated over and over.
Whether you're a child, a teen, an adult, no matter your walk of life, if you're here on FeralHeart, we're here to protect you in our bounds. If someone is being inappropriate, bullying, or even going so far as to be an internet predator (I have not personally seen this myself, but it IS possible, as Final Jump stated), REPORT IT to us.

If we are given evidence that someone is behaving in this way, no matter the user, we will see to it that a user like this is restricted from the game and/or by any means necessary to prevent further communication.

This is not something "just for kids under the age of 13," this is for our entire community. It's not irresponsible, it's for everyone's safety here.

/rant over

Put simply, the internet is as wonderful as it is dangerous, just like real world.

FeralHeart is no different, but we are breaking No laws by allowing someone younger than our target age to partake in our community. It is not a matter of literacy, maturity, or even whether or not it is lawful. It is a matter of users enjoying our game, while the staff and those noble enough to report misbehavior to stave off those who choose to make it a worse place through rule-breaking.

From what I've seen here in the comments from the original question, I believe this topic has been twisted into something more like a free-for-all "Should we ban all 12-year-olds from the game?!?!" debate.

The answer is No, and there is no need for further discussion of it here. I'll be locking this thread, now, but feel free to message a staff member if you have further concerns.