> After being invited to a chat session on IMVU, with my oldest son, I decided to do a little investigating on my own.
> I have learned one thing...keep your kids off of this site, and unless you like being "flamed" on a regular basis, don't go on yourself.
> This chat site is equal to a Web cancer, it is horrible.
> The site lures you in with its game play feel, and then you are systematically assaulted in every way to purchase this, and that.I was able to resist, it was difficult for me, and for kids,(especially teens) its an all absorbing torture of the mind, with enough money, they can have virtual sex online!
> I was shocked, and disgusted by the content on the average users page, it is unregulated filth.

I actually consider it pretty safe and I never get flamed. The only people I ever see bothered in a chat room are the starters who have bought no items on their own and only relied on the credits IMVU gave you when you first registered.

If you want to avoid sexual interactions, don't press "chat now" and don't get into an in-depths conversation with people who might have bad intentions; Use your intuition.

I find the public chats to be the safest place as room owners don't allow "noobs" or "cybering" or it will result in booting. If the room owner isn't there to supervise, you can be sure he/she will have at least one moderator there. I don't see much of cyber sex in public rooms, anyway..

This may be a bit stereo-typical, but usually the people with more advanced looking avatars are the ones who are more reserved.

Anyway, I think I wrote something similar on another forum, but I'll repeat it again. The moment you allow you or your child onto the internet, regardless of the website, is the moment you or your child is exposed to internet predators, trolls, pedophiles, 4chan, and a whole parade of disturbing things.

akita74723
" the biggest problem with our children and the dangers that can arise from the internet in general, is not the fault of the sites and companies. "

This is true only as long as a company in question is not in any shape, fashion, or form contributing to the exploitation of minors. IMVU exploits children by irresponsibly refusing to monitor the content on its servers ( Regardless of the content being provided by third party developers or not - IMVU is responsible for any and all content on its servers/clients. ), and leaving it to the hands of biased users. This has been a reoccurring issue that has been going on since they started their shoddy " flagging " system. The fact is content remains that is unfit for minors and exploitative. Of course IMVU can hide behind its system of requiring content to go through peer review, but peer review at this time ( And since its installation. ) does not work. There are thousands of products in the catalog that have not been through peer review and are still purchasable.
Parents have the responsibility to monitor what their children do and don't do on the Internet, but when a company behaves as unprofessionally, unethically, and unsatisfactory in terms of child safety it comes back to the company - its that simple.

the site does regulate its adult content pretty well as far as nc-17, and they are quick to suspend or even ban those for not complying.

IMVU does not regulate its adult content. It expects the users to regulate it. This is not the same thing as the company regulating it. In fact, it's the worse thing that it can do in terms of governing content.
Aside from that, the only people that IMVU is quick to suspend or ban is people who speak out against it and stand up to its policies and ignorance.

JustAnotherOpinion

" but nowadays it is pretty safe. "

No, it's not and this has been proven and pointed out not only on this thread but another. IMVU is *not* suitable for minors - especially not when it allows so many loopholes to exist that fly in the face of its policies.

It is true that it was possible to have virtual sex there. The operative word is WAS. It was NEVER possible without the AP though. As a developer I own the Access Pass and have experienced the limitations that have been made to it.

The " Access Pass " has been something that IMVU has chosen to hide behind and flaunt as an excuse for years. There's content that is far worse than " sexual " that is easily accessible without an Access Pass. Why? Loopholes in the content system, peer review system, and developers who don't play by the rules. This has been proven as well. IMVU can continue to hide behind the Access Pass if it wants to though. As long as it hides from the issues, and it chooses not to attend them it sends a very strong message to the community and those watching it.

Actually IMVU has lost a lot of paying customers due to their efforts in making their product safer for minors. Many people were boycotting them, it was long called the mickey mouse pass because anything you can buy with the AP now is 'only' NC-17.

IMVU lost a lot of paying customers because they chose to ignore the Adult Community, and banned anyone who pushed against its poor policies. IMVU never lost customers because they chose to make the Access Pass NC17. What was boycotted was their unethical and unprofessional way of doing things - which included ignoring the people who actually pay for the system and keeps it going.

Nothing rated R can pass on to the catalog due to a system called Peer Review. This is operated by users that have confirmated their age and are over 18.

This is why there's marijuana stickers accessible, right? The fact is Peer Review takes effect over time. Instead of items being forced to PASS Peer Review prior to entering the IMVU Catalog as it was suggested to IMVU, they chose to have Peer Review happen after the content was already in the catalog and fully accessible. This is another one of those areas where IMVU can say whatever it wants but the facts speak for themselves.

By the way, what I've experienced about flaming is that it's very often the new users who are trying this out for fun and hit the chat now button who start bullying around, not the experienced users who've put time and effort in their avatars and profiles.

And now you're experiencing words from one of the people who wrote the IMVU Virtual Content Policy. Not everyone who speaks out against IMVU, its behavior, its ethics, its professionalism, or its indifference in regards to safety issues are trolls or new users. There's been people who were with IMVU in Alpha who spoke out again IMVU during the Great Castration... Many of us are still speaking out. I'm never going to stop speaking out against IMVU as long as it continues to behave the same way it has for years. Unprofessionally, unethically, and irresponsibly. Of course people can choose to ignore me if they'd like, but it won't change the facts as they exist. If my words and perspective help adults and parents keep a wary eye open going into IMVU then I have succeeded with my intent.

The access pass can only be purchased with a credit card, which is proof of legal age.

A credit card is not a legal proof of age, and credit cards/debit cards are accessible to teenagers today. While IMVU made a decent attempt at Age Verification and keeping the Access Pass out of the hands of minors, there's more work to be done. Ultimately on this issue, it comes back to the parents.

On many of the things you've said I agree with, but there are a lot of issues that exist in IMVU that should keep anyone from stepping up to be a cheerleader for the system. IMVU needs to address its issues, redouble its efforts in child safety, and listen to what its community as a whole has to say - not just the cheerleaders who rub its ego. IMVU has done that enough these last few years. If they want to remain relevant in the future while other companies are surpassing them then they need to start paying attention, and listening to the community and not the fat suits feeding their own greed.

LordSoulFire

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Edited by LordSoulFire at 08/01/2010 8:17 PM PDT for typos/Grammar... It's been a long day.

Hello,
i stumbled across this site and it amazes me to read some of the things posted in this thread. i have been a member and developer on IMVU since 2005.
I have also tried various other sorts of chat clients and programs such as second life. i also have a myspace, facebook and twitter account.
i can understand and even sympathize with you to some extent on the problems you speak of. but i also agree with others replies to on these sites and they are designed and set up for people to just have fun. you can enter a virtual world with these programs where you can do or be whatever you can imagine. they can be a great place to meet people and they can also be used in the worst of ways when it comes to predators and our young children. but wherever you go, whatever you do, there will always be someone lurking to do something unmentionable.
honestly, to the parents that are horrified with a site like this, it is astonishing that there is a forum thread about how you dont like it, or dont approve. seriously how hard is it to unplug a computer, put parental controls on it, make sure your credit cards are not accessible to your child... the biggest problem with our children and the dangers that can arise from the internet in general, is not the fault of the sites and companies. no, that responsibility rests on our shoulders, the parents. watch your children better and take a bigger part in their lives, and most of this would not be an issue.
back to IMVU, the site does regulate its adult content pretty well as far as nc-17, and they are quick to suspend or even ban those for not complying. IMVU also has an option to flag anyone or any product that may be a problem.
in conclusion, i do agree that there are things that could be improved upon to protect our young ones, but it should start from the home.

want to hear my truth, not releseing any personal info or contact info.... really honestly im 16 i use imvu alot, since my area there is noone around, virtual sex, depends what u count it as i say cybering would be what u mean, and ignore past comments alot of people includeing myself have done and continue to do that, realiseing imvu in my perspective i dont see people as avatars they usually post pics of themselves and whatnot., and you can connect with them on yahoo and other things if you like, i see your problem with predators and sexual content, but i dont complain nor see how this affects anyone negatively besides prudent parents, and 12 year olds do come on imvu alot not suppose to, but if u where me you would see my side of the story, and yes the access pass altho im not suppose to have it i do, giveing out my avatar info would be stupidity at this point, yet i dont see the problem with this, no my parents are not keeping a close eye, yet i pretty much kno everything there is to kno about sex so it does not bother me least bit, my dads a pot head and my mother is always gone away and when she comes back i just get pushed around, i have nowhere to leave to since it is a tiny town and my computer is almost dead, i buy no credits from them not there money its my own, and i have alot of friends on imvu includeing a girlfriend who lives all the way across the world, she is beutifull, i might not have spelled corecctly but besides the point. and the internet predator issue theres an easy solution if you plan to meet someone ask for webcam chat first, voice chat is available on imvu, and the problem about teenagers talking to older adults, i have a best friend hes over 40 and his girlfriend who he met on imvu a few months after i met him recently they met and it turned out great they are starting a family... she is pregnant, and most teenagers that use this are emo as myself, its not the site that turned them this way, its before the fact and this was one of the places to turn, and flameing i dont get flamed, yes if you lose a girl on imvu who u honestly had feelings for then there is going to be sadness, in rl it would have been worse, meeting someone people say isnt safe, exept i have my house is well armed and the webcam chat solution would solve that, i dont plan to meet anyone, ive so far had 2 friends who met in rl and one of them is married to the girl he met online. safer then myspace i think there pretty much the same minus the products, im starting to become a developer for products, suggestive themes for the access pass one of my last friends was 10 and he had the access pass, he was disgusted by it, and honestly this is just a picture on a screen or virtual avatars, and i dont see what the whole protection from sexual content is about with parents i see alot on the internet, yes i look up porn occasionally, whos to judge im sure you all have and with the access pass i dont see much of a change, the only reason you shouldent see that is if you are not mature enough to not be completely disgusted, really when i see something sexual online or on imvu i dont run from the chat, i feel nothing to be disgusted about its just a virtual naked avatar. i got the access pass along with name registration not to see these things exept i dident feel like paying the monthly fee to make public chat rooms so i got these two things to save me money, let me explain access pass + name registration = 2 public rooms made by you with only 1 payment , when vip means monthly payments that allow you 2 public rooms, also there are other reasons but that concerns my friends and i would rather not share that. so dont let ur kids have access pass, vip on the other hand is fine, also if u dont want ur kids to play, just ask urself is this really sexual? is online porn worse? can they not find porn in a local convinient store? and if you dont want your child to see a strappless virtual bikini, then mabey u need to get urself checked out, also its a chat room like myspace, facebook, yahoo, second life, and all those others. that was a story about imvu and seeing how some people on it break the rules and if those rules arent broken then ur safe as can be, me myself, 1 rule broken. but im mature enough to handle it, do i feel i did something wrong? yes. but im happy to tell you my side of the story now do whatever you want to do and be happy and stop stressing

Your kids shouldn't even be on IMVU. IMVU is for adults. There is even an age limit on the site. Therefor your child must have lied to imvu by saying that they were of age, when in fact they were not. This isn't like facebook or myspace where anyone can get an account. IMVU is not intened for the access of children. It is surely is not "luring" in your children.

Any time i see a topic like this my response is always the same.... unplug your children from the innerweb nanny and try real to be a real parent. If your children are looking at you then you know what type of porn they are seeing at any given moment. So to sum up if you are watching your kids instead of your kids watching you play a game.... they shouldn't see anything inappropriate.

I see what you all are saying, but I don't feel that IMVU is the worst thing on the internet. In fact, if your teenager knows how to be smart about online interactions, they will be perfectly fine.