Hello folks!
There has been some understandable confusion surrounding PIMD’s recent age-rating changes in the app stores. Some players have interpreted the change as PIMD shifting toward a younger audience or inviting minors into its adult social community.
We want to be transparent about why the rating is changing, how our age-gating/restricting system will work, and the protections being put in place.
tl;dr
The most important point is this:
PIMD is not opening its adult social spaces to minors.
As you may have seen, the app-store download age rating for PIMD has changed to 13+. We want to explain the reasons behind these changes and clarify any questions and concerns about what it means for the game.
PIMD’s full social experience will remain for players aged 18 and older. Players identified as aged 13-17 will instead receive a
heavily restricted, non-social experience where they cannot communicate with other players. As before, players under 13 cannot play.
For players identified as aged 13-17, the following features are disabled:
- Direct messages
- Wall messages
- Viewing or sending messages in public chat
- Viewing or sending messages in club chat
- Friends lists and friend requests
- Trading and gifting
- Custom profile text
- Other direct player-to-player social interaction
These players may still be able to upgrade, complete available quests, join clubs and participate in parties, but
they will not be able to communicate with other players and other players will not be able to communicate with them.
Content that is inappropriate for under 18s will also be
hidden, censored or skipped. For example, sexier avatars and items will be restricted to use placeholder images, while quests containing social requirements will be unavailable or automatically skipped.
Why is the app-store age rating changing?
App-store age ratings help determine who can find and download an app, but they do not guarantee the real age of every person who downloads an app or creates an account.
Since age reporting was introduced a few weeks ago and PIMD still had a 16+/17+ app-store rating, we found that more than 3% of new PIMD accounts reported being 13-17. This shows that app-store download restrictions alone are not enough; identifying younger players AND limiting their access provides stronger protection for them.
Mature app-store age ratings are also increasingly limiting app availability, discoverability and access to featuring opportunities on the app stores. That makes it harder for the adults we actually want to reach to discover PIMD. To keep campus lively for years to come, PIMD needs to continue welcoming new adult players into the community.
Age ratings, age-assurance systems and youth-access rules are also changing quickly across different platforms and countries. Introducing a durable age-gating framework helps us adapt to future requirements without disrupting access to the game.
Does this mean PIMD will be targeted to teenagers?
No.
We are
not changing our marketing to target players aged 13-17, and we are not repositioning PIMD as a teenage social game. PIMD’s marketing and product direction will remain focused on its adult social community.
Will everyone be placed into the correct experience automatically?
Not always. The app stores will not provide us with an age signal for every single account that's made.
Where Apple or Google identifies a player as aged 13-17, we can place that account into the restricted experience automatically.
Where no age signal is available, we will continue to rely on:
- Age information provided by players
- Account-review processes
- Reports from players who have a strong reason to believe an account belongs to someone underage
Players should continue reporting accounts they reasonably believe belong to minors but still have unrestricted social access. Those accounts can then be reviewed and restricted appropriately.
Providing false age information or attempting to bypass these restrictions will result in the account being socially restricted or permanently banned. Where possible, we may also restrict the device itself so players cannot simply start a new account and regain social access.
The system isn't perfect (none exists) and won't identify every single underage player or prevent every bypass attempt, but this is a stronger system than relying on an app-store rating alone, and we will continue to improve our systems over time.
How does this affect player privacy?
Privacy laws and platform requirements can require information belonging to younger users to be handled differently.
Knowing an account’s age range allows us to apply the appropriate privacy settings, data-handling rules and gameplay restrictions. We will use age information to provide the correct experience, apply age-appropriate privacy and data-handling rules, protect players and meet our legal and platform obligations.
Will adults and younger players be mixed together?
PIMD will apply different access levels and social restrictions based on age:
Players under 13 cannot play and will be removed from the game.
Players aged 13-17 can only access the heavily restricted, non-social experience (see restrictions above).
Players aged 18 and older can access the full social experience.
Players aged 13-17 may still appear within certain gameplay systems, such as clubs or parties, where required for the game to function.
However, they will not be able to communicate or otherwise participate in PIMD’s player-to-player social environment.
The goal is to prevent younger players from interacting inside PIMD’s adult social spaces and to prevent adult players from unknowingly socializing with minors.
Will the rating be 13+ everywhere?
The exact rating may vary between Apple, Google and different countries or regions because each platform uses its own rating system and regional rules.
We expect PIMD to receive a 13+ minimum download rating in most regions. Some platforms or regions may assign a higher rating.
Regardless of the rating displayed by an app store, PIMD’s full player-to-player social experience will remain restricted to adults.
Are the recent chat and username moderation changes part of this?
No.
The recent moderation of sexual usernames, sexual conduct and public chat is separate from the restricted experience for players aged 13-17.
Those issues were already affecting the experience for new adult players. Overtly sexual usernames, conversations and behaviour have been a recurring source of negative feedback through Discord, app-store reviews and other player feedback channels.
We have also had consistent problems during app-store reviews when reviewers could immediately see extensive public sexual content, potentially delaying or blocking scheduled game updates.
These moderation changes are about making PIMD safer, more welcoming and more sustainable for adult players, while maintaining a predictable relationship with Apple and Google. They are not being introduced because players aged 13-17 will have access to the restricted experience.
Will the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy be updated?
Yes.
We are working on updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy documents that will account for these changes and several other updates.
The final wording is still being developed and will require legal review, but the updated documents will explain:
- The different age-based experiences
- How age information may be obtained and used
- The privacy protections applied to younger players
- The restrictions applying to each account type
- The consequences of providing false age information or bypassing restrictions
We will provide an update when all is ready.
In Closing
We understand that changes involving age access can raise serious concerns, and we want to be clear about where we stand.
PIMD will remain an adult-focused social game, and protecting that community remains a priority.
These changes are designed to better identify younger players, limit what they can access, and prevent them from participating in PIMD’s adult social spaces. We will continue reviewing how these protections work in practice and make adjustments where needed.
Thank you to everyone who has raised thoughtful questions and concerns. We hope this provides clearer context around what is changing and, just as importantly, what is not.
#harmful for kids.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
COMMUNITY SPENDING BLACKOUT
Keep playing the game.
Do NOT buy Extra Credits.
(I'd rather not, but if they don't take this seriously and don't up the rating to 18+, I damn will). Like hell nah... This game is NOT for teens especially since it's a clear dating-lite communications app with sexual content that was always targeted at adults and it has no fully PG version of it (unlike VR Chat and Second Life who actively separate PG and Adult spaces and who have PG versions that have fully functional gameplay, which doesn't incentivise kids to actively try to access an adult version just to be able to communicate with other players for gameplay). What they did is not only terrible design that puts kids in more danger, it's just morally terrible as well... I already reported the game to the Google Play store for the rating not being appropriate as it is. Hopefully more players do the same.
I think I've said everything I wanted to say about this issue at this point.