Can anyone offer any information about language censorship in online children's games? I can think of the following possibilities right off the top of my head... 1. Canned phrases - IIRC, this was used in Disney's ToonTown. No risk of abuse, but limits the player an awful lot. 2. Filters - Gives freedom, but can be abused by simple tricks like "1337-speak", and doesn't prevent verbal abuse that doesn't involve censored words. 3. Moderated chat - Gives the player freedom, and there's no way they can work around the censorship. Unfortunately, reliable moderaters aren't free. Are there any methods I've forgotten? What have people found works/doesn't work in games that they've played/made? Thanks, Josh

"Censorship is censorship" is of course true, and most of the time I would avoid it at all costs. This game I'm working on now, though, is meant to have online play for 6-14's, so I'll do what I must. I read the GS article on Toontown ( http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040128/goslin_01.shtml , if anyone's interested), and I like what they've done there. Does anyone know of any drawbacks to that system?