Let's talk about Movie Star Planet

[mamazee]

Tell me what you know! I usually nix all of these requests, but this really does appear to be something ALL of her friends are doing, and it is a major part of the social scene in our area.

(It's a web site thing.)

Does anyone know anything about it? Have any opinions? Have kids who use it?

It seems at least on the surface horrible. A neighbor told me it has chat rooms but a really aggressive filter that doesn't allow the word "he'll" as in "He'll be home later" because of it's similarity to "Hell."

I'm having trouble saying no when I hear kids talking about it whenever we're out around kids in the area.

Just about a year ago I posted a similar thread about how I would not let her be on a site that's something like this, but that one seemed worse since the idea behind that game was to get guys to take you out, buy you lots of drinks, and then buy you presents. You were supposed to dress as "hot" as possible to attract as many guys and get as many presents as possible.

This Movie Star Planet game however, is apparently just dressing up and making movies, so it doesn't seem to be as horrible a concept as the last one she asked about.

It is made for kids from 8 to 14, and my daughter is 10.

Give me your thoughts to help me make a decision. I'm having a hard time with this. Thanks.

[mamazee]

The underlying issues deserve some discussion as well.

At what age do you start to let them do stuff you don't think is great, but isn't really harmful?

How do you give up control? By the time she's 18, I should not be in control of her, and that needs to be a gradual process, not something that happens overnight. When does she get to make these kinds of decisions?

She's a good kid. I trust her to not do anything stupid or crazy. How much should my trust count for?

I guess the underlying issue is autonomy. At some point she should be able to read books/watch movies/play computer games I don't like. How do I let go, and what is appropriate to let go about at what age?

[meemee]

mamazee i too have a 10 year old. while she and i have never heard of moviestar games she does play similar type of game on facebook. i personally have found facebook 'safer' to administer (she DOES have her own account which is not the legal way to go) because she loves the chat feature and i can restrict who she has on her page. she is under a pseudo name and cant be found by a search engine. chatting is how she stays in touch with her out of state friends and cousins. and they have been invaluable in helping her sort through issues she didnt want to talk to me about - but she needed an immediate answer.

 i just posted a new thread about autonomy and control. same issue that i am struggling over right now. more so coz dd is demanding that from me now.