Open Chat Update: My Thoughts

Ah, that fateful day when KI took away the Open Chat from the kiddies...I remember it like it was 10 hours ago...

The change: all accounts must be actively subscribed to maintain the Open Chat feature. 

I'm not really one for big reactions, but I will say: we've had this coming for a long time. It started when under-18s got Open Chat, continued with the potty-mounthin', and it ends now. 

Being guilty myself, since I do have Open Chat for PvP purposes, I guess by writing this post, I'm a hypocrite. But it's like real life: there's always one kid in the class that makes everyone get after-school detensions because he decided to be a smart-alec. In this case, it was that small population who just couldn't resist keeping their bad words to themselves.

I was protesting this update at first, but now I'm starting to see reason. 

KI did this because there were way too many underaged Open-Chatters (I'm guilty too). That might have been okay, but the teens and kiddies brought their...colorful vocabulary to the Commons, the Arena, etc. I can only imagine how many Foul Language Reports KI had to sort through. 

And so they changed it. Now, the young population of Wizard101 has to keep a subscription if they want their Open Chat still. Meaning? You have no valid reason to keep it once your sub ran out, thus preventing a lot of the younger population from getting Open Chat:
Kid: Can I renew my subscription?
Dad: Why?
Kid: So I can type whatever words I feel like to negatively affect people.
Dad: Sure!
Yeah, that definitely won't convince any reasonable parent. 

So don't be mad at KI, or send any angry letters you'll later regret.

As some of the #twizards said: this is a game, not a chat service. If I lived a year and a half in this game with Menu Chat, you can live a few months with Text Chat. Not getting Open Chat is absolutely no reason to quit the game. 

Finally, I'd like to apologize to all the above-18s of the Spiral. I'm wagering not many of you have bad-mouthed someone recently, correct? So this update is like a double-edged sword for you guys. It's too bad your lot has to suffer along with us :-/

Jessica