Newgrounds (http://www.newgrounds.com)

common sense media says

Graphic Flash portal strictly for fans and older teens.


parents & educators say
  • 40% say sexual content is an issue
  • 32% say there are positive messages

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this clearinghouse for Flash content posts uncensored, unedited user-generated content and is for enthusiasts only. The site's legal terms stipulate that kids 13-17 are supposed to have parental permission to join the site, and anyone under 18 is banned (in theory) from looking at the Adult Features section, but there's no real safeguard to ensure those rules are followed.

Educational value: The high education value here for Flash enthusiasts is perhaps negated for under-18 users by the amount of violence and sexual content.
Positive messages: On the plus side, the critiques and comments members offer each other about their work appear generally constructive, helpful, and well-informed. Negatively, some of what's commented upon isn't even close to appropriate for teens. The forums are so extensive that content there is extremely varied and unpredictable.
Violence: Some of the most popular Flash content submitted by members contains gun and other weapon violence and glorification of war, terrorism, and general social meltdown. The site does rate some submitted content with a "Mature" rating for violent content, and you can read the author's as well as viewers' comments before viewing many of them.
Sex: Particularly in the Adult Features section (for which users are supposed to be 18 to view, but need only click a button to access) there are a lot of sexually explicit images and raunchy humor. By the site's own admission, some humor is "for perverted grown-ups only."
Language: With thousands of posts on hundreds of forums, there's so much content here that it's impossible to monitor language. The forum rules states there's a ban on "racist, sexist, homophobic" language.
Consumerism: Ads for other Web sites and games. Online store for promotional products like T-shirts.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Forums run the gamut, including one called "The Stoner's Club" organized by The Pope of Dope and another for tobacco smokers.

More on Newgrounds

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about why excessive violence in movies, games, and images can be harmful for young viewers. Discuss what level of violence your family is comfortable with. Also, talk about the honor system. If a site says you have to be 18 to view certain features but all you have to do is click a button stating you are 18 (even if you're not) what stops you from doing so? What are some positive reasons for following such guidelines? Teen: What do you think about restrictions like that?

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Newgrounds.com definitely lives up to its motto of having "Everything by everyone." Unfortunately, "everything" means a lot of images and conversations that many parents won't want their teens exposed to. But once kids are on this site, there's little stopping the onslaught of content -- the good, bad, and ugly -- from coming their way.

Hundreds of submissions are uploaded daily and much of it is high-quality stuff. The content is so vast inboth Flash submissions and on the forums and clubs that it's anyone'sguess what young Flash enthusiasts will come across. If Flash-lovingteens really want to view the appropriate portions of the site, parentsmay need to dig here with them to avoid the content land mines.


This review was written by Dana Villamagna
 
 

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What parents & educators say

11
Based on 25 parent & educator reviews:
  • 40% say sexual content is an issue
  • 32% say there are positive messages

Most useful reviews by all members

TakedaIesyu
teen, 16 years old
 
Ehhhhhh...
The site really depends on how you feel with your kids' maturity. If you think that a 15 year old is mature enough to play games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, tell them it's cool, but remind them to stay away from the "adult" and "unrated" games. Violence:*laughs* Oh ahahahaha! that's a good one! That's a real good one! *pause* You-you're joking, right? *pause, then sigh* Who here knows about the Madness series? The name descries it well: Mad Violence. In a single short animation, the "protagonist" kills off 30 people (32 if you count some zombies that appeared). Included is a person who looks a LOT like Jesus Christ. This can easily offend Christians. Oh, and did I mention Thing-Thing? It's from Crazy Monkey Games, a site infamous of creating and sponsoring bloody and gory games. Thing-Thing is no exception. The game Thing-Thing Arena 3 is EXTREMELY graphic, especially during Zombie Survival. You earn achievements for many things, such as "Kill 150 Enemies in a single game" and "Kill 50 People using the Glock G18". To sum it up, the game's tag line: "Don't just kill your enemies: kill them with style." And these two are the stereotypical violent games on Newgrounds... Sexual content: "The page you are about to access contains material that is unsuitable for minors. You must be 18 or older to proceed." That's what appears when you click the "Mature" portal on the site. Click "Yes, I'm 18 or older", and you're suddenly treated like you're visiting the Playboy website. The portal is chock-full of pornography, hentai and real-life. If you don't know what hentai is, then don't look for it. Not out of curiosity. Not out of lust-seeking. Never. Trust me. Other flash submissions contain sexual humor, such as the music video "No porn on Wii" and other such things, one of which depict a "clown" hitting his erect penis and later ejaculating. And it was rated M (Mature), not A (Adults Only) Speaking of which, the rating system is usually a good way of distinguishing the difference between pornographic things and non pornographic materials. The case of the "clown" is an excellent example of one that escapes the A rating. Another would be the game "Hippolyta" in which the character is fully naked, but she wears paint so the vagina and one of her breasts are covered. Rated T. Yep, T, as in for Teens/Adolescents 12+. Language/Drinking, Drugs, or (scratch the or) AND Smoking: I will spend very little time on this. One, because there is little to tell, and two, because I'm running out of steam. Language problems are too high to talk about. Just understand that there is no, repeat NO bad word that escapes Newgrounds unused. Even the terrible word, unused by men because any woman who hears it will abhor the user of it for the next 50 years, and unused by women because the name itself is an abomination. It starts with a c. Yep, it was used. not in one, but in MULTIPLE submissions. Drugs, Drink-you know what I mean!: BIG problem. It is far too common in these submissions. I'm outta juice, so I'll just say that the problem with User Content is, well the whole site is from Users, so, uhhh...Yeah.

 
some really funny stuff

 
Very fun. Must be done in parent vision.
This is so totally awesome. Its my favorite website, but it does have a LOT of innapropriatte things in it. Such as in a game, you can see real naked women, but by theirselves. You can set a 18+ content blocker. In some sections, you can find some stuff very very semi educational. A parent should be at guard too. A game called "alien hominid" is 13+ and has blood splashes in it, but the blood dissapears, and sertain body parts. A game called "chainsaw the children" is 17+, and you play as "dad" cutting children with a chainsaw, and chopping them. A game called " Love Hina dating sim RPG " is a game where you play as a boy, impressing girls to date with him. bad words That are very high can be heard. The adult sections is usually porn. there are game ratings E, 13+, 17+, and adult. 30% is E 50% is 10+ 16% is 17+ 4% is adult

 
XXX
Some games are rated 18+ for sexual content. Anyone can access this content without having an account. It would be better if you had to make an account to view certain things, but still anyone can say they are 18. It's really ashame too, the site has potential.

ultra.kill4
teen, 14 years old
 
Like youtube, just be careful.
All videos contain ratings from everyone to adult, so its not that hard to avoid the bad things. When your careless though, you can run into some awfull things.

R.G.
adult
 
Fine when you're a young adult, but not suitable for teenagers
The dress ups are what have caused me a lot of trouble; they're easy to access and not age appropriate at all. I think you should have to be at least 17+ to access this site - and if you've got kids block it until they're old enough. However, this site does have some good features, and I have found more than one decent dress-ups, if not normal.

SubterranianHo ...
teen, 17 years old
 
Amazing website houses good and bad, but the careful, trustworthy kid should be able to handle it.
This site has been cleaned up a lot from way back when, but that doesn't mean it's clean. As far as movies go, the ratings are accurate and the ones rated E are pretty much equivalent to G and mild PG movies- and there is some GREAT stuff on there- wonderful animation most of the time and it is often the breeding ground for many youtube sensations. The same goes for the art section. The music part of Newgrounds is slightly less safe because there's no censored lyrics and no warning of them- but usually there are none, much of the music is great, and all of it is free for download and totally legal.

 
Everything by everyone
Everything for everyone. I let my 6 year old browse it.

hamstergurl09
teen, 17 years old
 
When They Said "Everything by Everyone," They Weren't Kidding.
I don't mind Newgrounds. I watch cartoons on the site sometimes. The only problem is it can be very unpredictable. There is everything from innocent dress up games to hentai and gore. However, everything has a rating, so you should easily be able to tell what's okay for certain age groups to watch. But do keep in mind, this website is not intended for anybody under at least 13.

Mama_Jazzy07
parent of 11 and 18 year old
 
This website isn't good for any teen thats including 19yr olds.
My 18 year old son has been using this Darn website for the past 3 years. I Strongly recommend that if any parents are ok with this website use, that you run daily virus protection checks. A lot of the links on the website cause the user to redirect away from the current page, and many are LOADED with hidden viruses. Because of my sons poor decisions it has cost my husband and I quite a bit of money to repair a damaged hard drive! Mind you this has happened 3 times! he is currently band from any type of computer use outside of school work. I also agree that the adult user content is definitely easy for under aged children to get into, and most of all everyone knows that porn sites or advertisements can contain multiple damaging viruses!

ButterflyNM14
teen, 14 years old
 
Great site for teens exploring flash and music.
It's a great site. Especially because they have RATINGS on what would be appropriate for kids. Mature tweens can handle everything about it. And the web design is great, the community is nice, and it's safe. Everything you do (almost) can be private. And it really gets your music and flash animations out there (if you submit.)

tbonesam
kid, 12 years old
 
Good for kids
At least be 8 or older to play on this site the games can be sort of violent at times but come on it has age ratings kids should know how to go around the site so HA! the creator of the site put the age ratings for kids that go on the site!!!!!!!

YouLostTheGame
parent of 9 year old
 
Great educational value. The whole site promotes internet safety and wholesome family values, especially in the Boards. Everyone is so nice and helpful to new users, and people rarely get flamed. If they do, one of the nice, respectful Moderators such as EyeLovePoozy is there to set things straight with a positive attitude. I highly recommend this site for children, and parents should certainly allow children of all ages on it.

Ace-57
parent of 4 and 8 year old
 
Awesome!
Great for kids. My kids beat it all day long.

jray80066
kid, 11 years old
 
my review
thers adult content games are ok and bad games good for 10+ but. saftey a problem theres a thing like any other website that u may get the popup for a rouge antivirus it will infect your computer and its hard get off but theres now ways get it off

AidanGuy
kid, 10 years old
 
There are some mature content that is rated wrong.
This website has good games but there are some mature content. For Example: A submission called b**bs bubbles "A word" edition

 
Be careful. But a great site.
Hahaha....ah....Newgrounds.... I absolutely love this site. And honestly, it has some great movies and games. However, there are ratings for everything, and I'll just say it, there's cartoon porn on this site and other very iffy material. Its really meant for older kids...there are rating systems for videos, from everyone to Adult. Kids should definitely avoid the "adult" rated movies. They really are very adult. Not really a great site for kids, its just to easy to run into stuff you don't mean to on accident.

Pirate fan
parent of 18 year old
 
Pretty Good
I like this website, but there is some bad things. Thus to make up for that they put ratings on every game art and video. If dont trust your kids ask them what they want to see then watch it and chose from there.

mikeq36
adult
 
Parental supervision
This website has a rating system that actually works very well. Some of the content is completely inappropriate and even pornographic. None the less, most of it appeals to a variety of ages. Definately a site to visit with parental supervision or a fair amount of trust on the parent's part that their offspring will watch out for inappropriate material.

 
People, instead of looking for the easy way out, DO SOME ACTUAL PARENTING! I know it cuts into your free time, but you still had the kid and it's YOUR responsibility to make sure what they watch is OK, not some "experts". If you would look at the site YOURSELF, instead of reading idiotic reviews by even more idiotic unfit-to-have-kids parents who have onthing better to do than badmouth a site which, unlike many others, actually has RATINGS on its content! Has nobody noticed this!?! Seriously, do some research before you condemn a great site to a lifetime of having ads for a site that talks crap about it! Really though, can you find another free site that has rated content for all ages? I thought not. This is someone who, unlike all of you, has some BRAINS!

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About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age