Digital Parenting and Safety Blog

My daughter Lexie has an IMVU and it's okay to me.. She is only 11 but It's fine. She also plays Sims and she is a cute smartie.

Mom!!! You don't need to tell everyone in the world I have an IMVU account!!! Or Sims!!! Please Mom, or I will burn your breakfast.

My daughter was 8 when she stared playing imvu i think imvu can some what help your child meet new people and become friends with

As an IMVU user I am both appalled and dismayed at your poor research. I understand concerns that YOUR children may be exposed to content you feel inappropriate, which is no one's business but your own, however it's not your place to pass judgment on the program based on it's potential effect on a child.  
 
For one, the program is NOT advertised as " just another fun place for teens to interact and have fun," in fact, it's not marketed towards the teenage demographic at all. Additionally your complaint that "there is no chat filter to prevent them from being exposed to profanity or sexually explicit conversation" completely misses the mark. Any video game that enables interaction between users states that "Interactions are not rated by the ESRB," meaning that the game's creators/developers are not responsible for what third parties, e.g. other users say while using their program, and furthermore IMVU is NOT a video game, it has more in common with Yahoo Messenger than it does Skyrim. Yahoo does not inherently prevent kids from sending personal information to other users, yet this is not the fault of the Yahoo INC., if it occurs, but rather neglectful parenting. 
 
The fact that you believe "virtually all" female avatars to be "buxom" and "scanty" proves that you spent little to no time researching the program its self and absolutely no time interacting with the program yourself. To use my personal experiance my avatar wears almost exclusively multi-layered dresses that extend no shorter than lower thigh and are quite demure.  
 
As to your concern that "their [other user's] IMVU homepage ... is unmonitored for age-inappropriate content" this is false. Anyone who does not have the Access Pass, which enables adult content, is not capable of purchasing mature content to place on their home page, and anyone without the Access Pass is not capable of viewing mature on others' homepages. Additionally, anyone who places mature content on their profile without setting an AP filter in front of it can be subject to punitive action including, but not limited to, account termination.  
 
The IMVU program its self imposes limits on how much "virtual flesh" can be displayed without ownership of an Access Pass, as well as what music can be played in chats, and what images can be displayed on users' homepages. Any avatar image can be deleted by staff and the owning user punished if it is found to be violating the MCG, or Minimum Coverage Guidelines; which for the record is anything more revealing than any bikini available in any department store across the Western World. 
 
In closing the statements contained in this "review" are both poorly researched, as well as borderline libelous, and the product not of a "freelance writer" but that of an over concerned soccer mom with less than a college freshman's understanding of basic journalistic concepts. 

So IMVU is bad?

I don't find it bad that some parents/guardians allow their children under thirteen to go on social networking sites like these, as long as they are monitored by any guardian/parent over eighteen. The usual age of users all around IMVU are spanning from fourteen to forty, fifty or sixty. Instant Messaging Virtual Universe is made up of all kinds of ages. I am currently nine years of age, going on to ten on the twenty-eighth of December. I enjoy communicating with other users. Please though parents or guardians, be careful of what your children may do/say on social networking sites.

iWAS 9 WHEN I PLAY IMVU

I was 9 when i play IMVU my parent don t mind

I play IMVU and iam 13 yeah some of the things you can buy are a LiL bit you know well the pics of the items at lest but imvu is fun you make awsome firends and meet alot of people who may have the same problems as you do in life . People cant jude you on how you look and They fall in love with who you are you IF a 50 year old man wants to play a game like this well its kinda wrong but than again there is no rlue that says he cant. THE ONLY REASON Y I THINK KIDS UNDER 30 should NOT be playing IMVU is because of the things ppl say and what they do what some ask you and stuff some ppl tell you, you cant spell but thats ok because games like IMVU help kids around my age learn how to spell words that are more complex :D im not the best speller but im close LOL any way yeah i think imvu should not allow The ppl who make the clothes ( VIP ) to put pics because i really don't want boobs and butts ik it gets attion but its not called for rather than that ITS GOOD!!!

SORRY WAS TYPING TO FAST TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN AND YEAH not under 30 under 13

How can I convince my mom to let me play? I'm 11. And my cousins play it and I want to play it with them. Please help!

I am the Moderator of Imvu.I think the avatars SHOULD NOT SAY:Boobs,boobies,or do you like my boobies!

I don't think it's appropiot and it's risky. It cost me this week 700 euro because he was tempted to buy credits and they get hooked on this sid.My son is 9 years old!!

The only sensical comment about this blog entry was made by Annaboom. Just saying.

I started playing IMVU when I turned 11 and I'm 14 now, still playing.. I loved it, without it I really wouldn't have any of the English skills I have today. When I was on IMVU I was horrible at English and didn't care about it but when I was confronted about it I realised that I needed better English, so I did make an extreme effort to type better. It encouraged me to make an effort in my sentences and grammar.  
 
Secondly, it teaches you to think about what you say. People on IMVU aren't afraid of expressing their views on you and usually it's because you were bad-mouthing them but IMVU taught me to watch and think about what I say before I say it. 
 
Thirdly, it helped me interract.  
 
IMVU isn't as bad as everyone says it is, it's not full of slutty female avatars and half naked male avatars. 90% of IMVU is full of mature teenagers who know what they're doing when they log on every day. This is my 4th year playing IMVU and I love the website, no other better one in my opinion.

I have a couple accounts on IMVU and believe me when I tell you, I don't believe anyone under the age of 17-18 should be opening accounts on there. It is NOT a site/game/chat program you want your minors on. 30% of the people on IMVU are sick minded, eg. the Australian girl who got murdered by her stepmom, yep her father met the new mother on IMVU and there was talk about a killing between the people on IMVU and wham 2 days later the little girl was killed by the same person planning out the murdre on IMVU. 
 
Then on another hand, there is a girl/boy, we don't know exactly if it's female or male, who runs around from one roleplay family to the next and when you advise him/her something is inappropriate, she then goes around stating that the guy are trying to rape her and that they are molesting their real life kids. I am in the process of trying to get this person off IMVU all together. 
 
So to answer your question, IMVU is NOT the place for minors to be spending their time on.

Imvu is a site ment for teens but even i believe 13 is young to start playing. I am 17 and i love imvu, my bff is studing abroad but because of long distence it is hard to talk so we started an imvu. I have learned 3 languges it helps kids learn other caultures.