Hey folks! Today we’re sharing some upcoming major updates to our public chat channels and silencing policy. We want Campus Chat, and the chat system in general, to be welcoming, useful, and safe for the wider PiMD community. To support that, we’re making some changes. Why We’re Making These Changes tl;dr PiMD is still social, flirty and expressive; we’re simply narrowing what belongs in public spaces to help the game continue growing. Public chat should help players connect, trade, find clubs, ask questions, and enjoy the game. Over time however, explicit sexual content in public channels has become more and more of a serious issue. To keep PiMD around, discoverable, and welcoming for the long run, public chat needs to meet a clearer standard. We want this community to stick around for a very long time, and we know you do too! Because of that, we’re moving public chat away from explicit content and toward channels that better support how people actually want to play PiMD. Chat Channel Changes To create a healthier, more functional, and welcoming environment, we are introducing three new dedicated chat spaces and retiring Pub Chat. NEW ✨ Exchange 🤝 Trading is a huge part of PiMD, but it often takes over Campus Chat. A dedicated trading channel should make trades easier to find without pushing general conversation off-screen. New ✨ Orientation 📝 We want our newest players to feel right at home. This channel will give new players a place to ask questions, learn the ropes, and get help from PiMD vets and OGs players. New ✨ Student Union 📢 Looking for a new crew or trying to get a party started? This channel is your new go-to spot for advertising clubs, promoting parties or other in-game events and recruiting heavy hitters. 🚫 Say Goodbye to Pub Chat While it was originally designed as an 18+ opt-in space, Pub Chat created an expectation that public chat could function as an adult/explicit space. This no longer works for PiMD under current platform expectations, and it has also made moderation less clear across public channels. Private DMs are different, but public channels can no longer be a place for explicit sexual content. As always, consent and respect still apply everywhere. Chat Conduct Changes The following changes are being made to how explicit/sexual content is handled in PiMD: Sexually explicit chat is NO LONGER PERMITTED in public channels. Public channels refer to Campus Chat, all Chat Channels, Usernames, Club Names, Club Descriptions, Walls, Profiles etc. anywhere that other players can see and read. Players who continue posting sexually explicit content in public chat will be silenced or face further account action. If we can confirm that alts are being used to evade moderation or continue serious violations, action may also be taken on related accounts, as well as main accounts. Mods and ATA staff will be using clearer guidance so public-chat moderation is more consistent and easier to understand. ATA's internal moderation processes will be updated to enforce these rules more consistently and strictly. Private, consensual DMs are not affected by these changes. Private messages still need to follow PiMD’s broader safety rules, including rules around consent, harassment, underage users, scams, threats, and abuse. If you receive unwanted sexual messages, please use the Block and Report tools. We are also working on updates to support platform age-check requirements and meet changing regulations in different regions. Our goal is to better prevent underage players from accessing social features where required, rather than relying only on account bans after harm has already happened. Public Chat Guidance Examples We know there will be tons of questions about what does and does not count as sexually explicit public chat. The examples below are meant to help players understand what is and isn’t appropriate in public chat. PLEASE NOTE The list below is not exhaustive, and moderation decisions may depend on the full message, surrounding context, repeated behaviour, and whether a player is using public chat for sexual solicitation or explicit sexual roleplay. 🚫 NOT ALLOWED IN PUBLIC CHAT (Campus Chat, all Chat Channels, Walls, Profiles etc.) The following types of content are NOT allowed in public channels: Descriptions of sex acts or explicit sexual roleplay Asking players to add, DM, follow, gift, hire, trade, or contact you for sexual chat or sexual content Advertising or requesting “spicy,” "naughty,” “dirty,” “NSFW,” “horny,” “18+,” “adult,” or similar DMs Public messages describing sexual body parts, arousal, sexual positions, fantasies, or other explicit sexual content Requests for nudes, sexual pictures, sexual videos, voice notes, calls, or off-platform contact for sexual purposes Offering nudes, sexual pictures, sexual videos, or adult content in exchange for gifts, bentos, stats, items, furniture, drops, money, or anything else Asking for a “sugar daddy,” “sugar mommy,” “paypig,” “findom,” or similar sexually framed arrangement Sexualized “looking for” posts, including “looking for a dom/sub,” “looking for master/pet,” or similar public kink solicitation Bypassing through the use of sexually explicit emojis/emojis with sexual connotations for e.g. 🍆💦, 🍆🍑, 🍑👅 etc. Publicly rating, ranking, or commenting on another player’s body, sexual attractiveness, or sexual desirability Sexual comments directed at specific players, avatars, usernames, profile pictures, dorms, pets, gifts, clubs, or club members Repeated sexual jokes, innuendo, or trolling after being warned to stop Attempts to bypass moderation using misspellings, emojis, spacing, numbers, acronyms, alternate languages, or coded phrases Asking for someone’s age, location, relationship status, or social handles in a sexual context Any sexual discussion involving or directed toward someone who says or appears to be underage Overtly sexual usernames, statuses, club names, wall posts, dorm names, pet names, or profile text visible in public areas ✅ ALLOWED IN PUBLIC CHAT The following types of content are generally allowed, as long as they are not sexual, harassing, or otherwise abusive: Non-explicit flirting Compliments that are not sexual Dating-adjacent social chat that stays appropriate for public chat Discussion about parties, dorms, clubs, avatars, pets, furniture, gifts, trades, tutors, and other gameplay topics Asking for help, club invites, new-player guidance, trades, prices, drops, gifts, or gameplay advice Light teasing or banter that does not target someone sexually Discussing romance, crushes, dating, couples, or relationships without explicit sexual content Saying you are looking for friends, clubmates, traders, RP partners, or people to chat with in the respective channel, as long as it is not framed sexually Mature jokes that are not sexual, graphic, harassing, or repeated after a warning 🟡 Usually Allowed, Unless the Context Becomes Explicit/Sexual Some phrases are not automatically violations on their own. Neutral phrases such as the ones below are fine unless they are paired with sexual wording, coded language, emojis, or solicitation. “Add me” “DM me” “Looking for RP” “Looking for a partner” “Who wants to chat?” “I’m bored” “Any cute people online?” “Rate my avatar” “Looking for a campus boyfriend/girlfriend” “Send gifts” “Trading bentos/items/furniture” “Join my club” “Mommy” / “Daddy” When in doubt, keep public chat appropriate for the broader community. Public channels are no longer the place for sexual solicitation, explicit sexual roleplay, or attempts to move your fellow players into explicit conversations. How These Changes Were Decided Upon These changes were not made lightly. We invested time discussing proposed changes with long-standing players, community leaders, and our mod team - folks who deeply understand how chat is used day to day. At the same time, we’ll be watching how these updates affect the community. While sexual/explicit chat is no longer allowed in public spaces, we are here to listen to constructive feedback about the channel structures as well as guidance on the new policy and changes, and are open to making adjustments there where needed. This is a meaningful change, but not a final update that can't be improved. Our goal is to move public chat in a healthier direction, learn from how the community uses these new spaces, and improve from there. We firmly believe these updates are going to make PiMD a much more stable, welcoming, and active game for both our long-time veterans and brand-new players. Thanks for helping us keep PiMD active, welcoming, and sustainable for the long run. FAQ PiMD avatars can be quite sexy, isn’t that a contradiction? While it’s an understandable question, we don’t feel that it is. We are advocates of the “Cosplay Is Not Consent” fan convention movement: “Cosplay is Not Consent” is a crucial movement and policy widely adopted within the convention community, emphasizing that wearing a costume—no matter how revealing, detailed, or suggestive—is never an invitation for unwanted physical contact, photography, or sexual harassment. Sexy avis does not mean public chat is an explicit/adult-content space. Why are you removing Pub? Pub being 18+ opt-in created the wrong expectation. Too many players treated it as an aggressively sexual space, and that behavior spilled into the wider public chat experience. Will I get immediately silenced if I accidentally post in the wrong channel? We know it takes time to build new habits! For the first 14 days following the update, we are implementing a probation period for channel placements. If you post in the wrong channel, our moderators will simply give you a friendly verbal redirection to move your post to the right spot. After this two-week grace period, repeatedly ignoring reminders and posting in the wrong channel will result in an official warning or a short silence for chat disruption. Note: There is no grace period for explicit NSFW content, which will be silenced immediately across all channels from day one. Newbies can just block or leave Pub. Why get rid of the whole channel? Blocking and opt-in channels help in some cases, but they do not solve the core issue. Public sexual content still affects platform review, reports, reviews, advertising, and how the game is perceived. We need public chat spaces to meet a higher standard overall. Why not just tell people to block / report instead of changing public chat? Block and Report are still important tools, but they are reactive. They help after someone has already had a bad experience. That does not solve the bigger problem of players entering public chat, immediately seeing sexual content, having a bad experience, and potentially deciding the game is not for them before they’ve gotten into it, or even after they have. Why not just ban players who break the rules? We already do, and will continue to do so, but individual moderation has not been enough to solve the issue. Public sexual content affects app store review, advertising, new player experience, and the long-term health of PiMD, so we need to make broader changes to public chat. Will I get silenced if my current username or profile text has a word that violates the new guidelines? We have a clear, multi-phase enforcement plan to help players transition to the new username standards: Phase 1 (The 2-Week Probation Period): If a mod spots an explicit name, the player will not be immediately silenced unless they are actively posting explicit content in chat. Instead, the mod issues an official warning informing the player that their name violates the new policy and they must send in a ticket to get it changed. Phase 2 (Post-Probation): If a player has been warned, given a reasonable window (e.g., 48 hours), and still refuses to change an explicit name, they are silenced until their name is changed by the ATA Staff. Why punish main accounts for alt behavior? Because moderation does not work if players can use throwaway accounts to break the rules with no real consequences. If someone uses a sacrificial alt to bypass these rules, harass players, solicit sexual chat, or test how far they can push moderation, we will treat that as the same player trying to avoid accountability. In those cases, their main account can also receive permanent action. Is RP still allowed? Yes. Looking for RP or RP partners is not automatically a violation. Explicit sexual roleplay, kink solicitation, or using public chat to move players into sexual RP is not allowed. Players can make clean rp requests in the Student Union chat. Are (sexy) DMs being banned? No. Private, consensual adult DMs are not the focus of these changes. However, harassment, non-consensual sexual messages, underage involvement, scams, threats, and other abuse remain bannable. Will players be silenced for saying things like “DM me,” “looking for RP,” or “rate my avi”?: Not automatically. Context matters. These phrases may be fine in normal social or gameplay conversation, but they may become actionable when combined with sexual wording, coded sexual language, repeated sexual context, targeted harassment, off-platform solicitation, or attempts to move players into sexual private chat. What if I think a silence or ban was wrong? Please contact support so the team can review it. We know consistency matters, and we’ll continue updating our guidance as these changes roll out. This game has always been adult-oriented/sexy/flirty. Why change now? PiMD can still have flirting, dating-adjacent chat, RP, and social fun. What’s changing is that explicit sexual solicitation and sexual roleplay can no longer happen in public channels. Platform expectations, regional regulations, and review standards have changed, and we need PiMD to adapt so the game can continue. Why are you trying to protect underage players if PiMD has always been 18+? Keeping under 18’s out of PiMD has always been an ongoing challenge, and now we must account for updated platform requirements and regional regulations for if underage people do make it in, including age-check requirements for social features. As before, if we discover that someone who claimed to be 18+ is underage, their account will be banned. Players can still bypass these new restrictions. What about that? Attempts to bypass moderation with misspellings, emojis, spacing, acronyms, coded phrases, or alternate languages may still be actioned when the intent is clear. The goal is not to chase specific words; it’s to address sexual solicitation and explicit sexual content in public spaces. ATA’s being too strict; everyone will be scared to chat. Rest assured that regular social chat is still allowed. Flirting, compliments, jokes, RP requests, dating-adjacent conversation, trading, club recruitment, and general chat are fine as long as they are not explicit, harassing, or used to solicit sexual conversations. If we've missed anything, please leave it in the comment section below and our team will do their best to get back to any questions with clarity 💛
@Muschi @Canaille @Lumi @Anna-Boo @Witchee @DonRainier @DinosAreTheOldestCars @Kefo @Jenny @Victoria @Nim @Madame_Pippi @Aesthete @Gutsu @Hawt @Eros @DarkSeraph @-Fs-TheHopefulFox
@CapedClown @skyyward-ace @Ch @Allie_Al_88 @Caitlin @_Yui @-Ahli-LovesMike @Amarilove @Les @-James- @IvryRose
Okay so I do like the concept, but I think doing it abrupt mid-day was the wrong move. You could have easily made a warning message on the app beforehand about it happening to prepare people. Let's also not forget the mass majority of people who do not/don't know how to use the forums. Good update, wrong execution.
idk anyone who's happy w these updates but, might wanna consider altering the speaker limit for a couple of the channels, or make them easier to get than just the spinner, because more channels but limited speakers makes messaging sm harder 😭
Ain't no reason to split it into so many different channels fr, thank god I can at least turn it off🙄 but now I can't collectively just lurk and see everything in campus
Pub being gone is great. And new stuff just for trading and other things is theoretically great. However now scrolling through 6 different chats now is a bit of a pain and makes it super easy to post in the wrong one.
Okay sure, but when are we getting an update that will actually be useful? Like fixing invites glitches, endless loadings, game crashing, etc... One channel would be enough imo, I dont see why we gotta have like 6 different channels...? The game will just get even more laggy. And people will still spam all the channels with everything anyway. Just saying..
You mean longer than this ? or like prior notice on several days like the party refresh announcement? Out of curiosity *
Have a day off, this is actually a meaningful update, and probably something they needed to do to keep the game available on apple and Google app stores.