The FTC has told Congress that there is far too much sex an violence in virtual worlds and has recommended that it be made harder for them to get into. (While they're at it, they should make Congress harder to get into, too. sub.ed.)

According to a report with the catchy title “Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks” sexually or violently explicit content was found in 19 of the 27 virtual worlds, with five labeled as having a “heavy” amount of explicit content, four containing a “moderate” amount, while a “low” amount was found in 10 virtual worlds.

The FTC examined 27 virtual online worlds, including Second Life, Build A Bearville, IMVU, Neopets, Runescape, There and YoVille. Ironically Kid-oriented (designed for children ages 13 and under) virtual worlds fared a little better, with seven featuring no explicit content, six featuring a “low” amount and a single world labeled as having “moderate” explicit content. Having seen some of the kid orientated sites we have to come to the conclusion that the FTC report was compiled by a committee of perfectly ordinary, born again christians, nuns, retired colonels and other loonies.

The report also examined the ways in which virtual worlds designed for older teens or adults kept out younger children. It was found that “most” worlds used an age-screening mechanism tied to a birth date entered in the registration process and half of these worlds did not accept kids who re-registered on the same computer using a modified birth date.

The Commission provided five steps for virtual world operators to take in order to limit the exposure of kids to explicit content. Surprisingly having parents take responsibility and actually look at what their kid was playing was not even mentioned. The suggestions include ensuring that the age-screening mechanisms virtual world operators employ do not encourage underage registration. Making sure that age-segregation techniques help ensure that minors and adults interact only with their own age group and toughening language filters so that every character sounds like Ned Flanders, after all children never swear.

The government should provide greater guidance to community enforcers in online virtual worlds so that they are better equipped to self-police virtual worlds by reviewing and rating online content. Virtual worlds should also employing staff who are specially trained moderators.