Online safety on Wolf Territories Grid: our statement

There has been a lot of talk about the Online Safety Act and what it means for Wolf Territories. Here is exactly what we have done, why, and what it means for you.

Why the Online Safety Act exists

The Act exists because children were being harmed online, and some of them lost their lives.

In 2017, Molly Russell died. She was 14. In the months before, she had viewed a great deal of self-harm and suicide-related content on social media. In 2022 the coroner at her inquest found that she died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content. He said the material she had seen should not have been available for a child to see. It was the first time a UK coroner had found that online content contributed to a child’s death.

Molly’s family, along with other bereaved families and children’s charities, campaigned for a law to make online services take children’s safety seriously. The Online Safety Act became law in 2023. Its duties have applied to services like ours since 2025: first to deal with illegal content, then to protect children from the most harmful content, including pornography and content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.

That is why we take it seriously. Wolf Territories is open to everyone aged 15 and over, so young people are here with us. We want them to be safe.

What it means for us

Wolf Territories is run from the UK, so the UK Online Safety Act 2023 applies to us. The law requires services that allow pornographic content to keep it away from children using a proper age check. A date of birth typed into a form is not enough under the law.

Our grid is open to everyone aged 15 and over. So we had two choices: ban adult sexual content everywhere, or keep it in one clearly marked place behind a real age check. We chose the second, so adults can still have adult content, and nobody else has to be checked.

For most people, nothing changes. If you don’t go to Adult Content regions, you will never be asked to show ID.

The four region types

Every region has one of four types. The type tells you what to expect there.

General: everyone 15 and over

Everyday social life, games and mild cartoon combat. No sexual content, no nudity, no graphic violence.

Moderate: everyone 15 and over

Mature themes, moderate violence and horror, swearing, and non-sexual partial nudity such as swimwear. Nothing sexual.

Adult: 18 and over

Strong violence and horror, strong language and adult themes. No pornographic or sexual content. Accounts whose date of birth shows they are under 18 can’t enter. No ID check is needed.

Adult Content: adults who have passed an age check

The only place where sexual content between adult avatars is allowed.

• The age check is done once, and it’s free. You do it on the website under Control panel > Verify my age: a photo ID and a live selfie, checked by Stripe.
• We never see or keep your ID. Stripe does the check and only tells us whether you passed.
• Nobody gets in without the check. That includes region owners and our own staff.
• Visitors from other grids can’t enter Adult Content regions. We have no way to check their age. They are welcome everywhere else.
• Owners who want Adult Content regions pass the same age check and pay £10 a month or £120 a year. That covers all their regions and pays for the extra moderation and checks that come with them.

What is never allowed, anywhere

These are banned on every region, Adult Content included:

• anything illegal;
• any sexual content involving child or child-like avatars;
• sexual content from AI (light, friendly flirting with AI characters is fine);
• content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.

Sexual content is allowed only in Adult Content regions. It is not allowed in Adult regions, private regions, homes, profiles, groups or messages.

Adult items

Adult clothing, animations and furniture are marked as adult items. Anyone may buy them and keep them in their inventory. Only adults who have passed the age check can wear or use them, and only on Adult Content regions.

Your date of birth

• You must be 15 or over to use Wolf Territories.
• Everyone who joins gives their date of birth. If your account was made before we started asking, please add your date of birth once.
• We ask when you log in until you do. You can choose Not now and carry on playing.
• Please enter your real-life date of birth, not your avatar’s.
• If we find an account belongs to someone aged 14 or under, we will close it.
• Giving a false date of birth breaks our terms and can get your account locked.

Reporting and complaints

If you see something that shouldn’t be there, report it in-world or on the website and we will deal with it. If you think a decision about you was wrong (your age, a refused age check, or being refused entry), raise a support ticket and we will look at it again.

Why we’re doing it this way

We would rather keep Wolf Territories open, friendly and free to explore for everyone aged 15 and over than lock the whole grid behind ID checks. Keeping adult content in one checked place is how we do that while following the law.

Full details, including how to report something and how to appeal, are on our Online Safety page.

Paul (Lone Wolf)
Wolf Territories Grid