me at 14: lmfaoooo all those “dont trust strangers on the internet” psa’s are sooooooo laaaaaame. like! i love talking to so many friends around the world about anime!!! i love rping!!!!!!!!!
me at 20: theres a deep and insidious culture within rp communities where the majority of folks who joined them as young teens were preyed on and abused by much older adults and i wish i had more guidance on how to avoid these situations as a child.
the people in your rp group are most likely older than you are. make sure that it is an established thing that you know their ages, or at least whether or not theyre 18+, AND that you’re a minor.
you do not have to give away any personal information that you don’t want to. the people you rp with might start to give out their names, where they live, and other personal details as you all get to know each other. if you’re pressured to giving out any personal info, you might want to reconsider your trust in them.
if it’s something impersonal like omegle where you’ll probably never talk to the other person again, be wary. you don’t know if that other person is 16 or 30. at some point probably ask out of character about their age, or just straight up say you’re a minor and see if they’re cool with it.
you do not have to rp sex scenes. especially with older people, and no matter what your IRL experience. i was pressured into smut rp when i was 15, with a person who was at least 21. i’d never even had my first kiss before at that point. don’t do it.
it’s okay to say no to scene ideas. no matter what they are, if you don’t want to do them then you don’t have to.
make sure that the people you rp with censor or tag explicit content. if they don’t, or if they make fun of you when you ask, that’s probably a big red flag.
censor your shit. everything from gore/violence to smut– if it would put the rating of a movie up to at least a PG-13, tag it.
if you don’t want to rp with kids, find a group that’s 18+. there’s a bunch out there.
if you DO rp with kids, remember that they are just teenagers. 17 year olds now were born in the year 2000. 16 year olds are still in high school. they don’t have the life experiences you do, and you need to take that into account.
do not make fun of people who don’t want to do a scene. don’t pressure people, and take care with how you prompt someone who’s a minor.
don’t rp sex scenes with minors. like. yall
if you see another adult pressuring a minor into doing smth, or if they’re just interacting with a minor in any weird way, privately message them and remind them. i was doing a smut scene with someone my age, and another rp partner seven years older than me was lurking in our private chatroom to watch it. nobody else said anything. don’t let that shit be normal.
i can’t think of more tips but tldr: communicate!!!!! keep each other safe!!!! god
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
