teens and under aged children on the main grid

There has become an issue of under aged children and teens on the main grid. This comes from the fact parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles or cousins and other adults are letting these children play with thier avitars. I have know for a fact of several that do this and so one never knows who is playing thier avitar. I have even seen teens in uncompromized positions with other adult aviatars knowing full well who is behind the aviatar that is doing this dastardly deed.
not sure what can be done about it. But this is just to let all know this is happening on the main grid. so the question is
Do you know who is behind that AV you are associating with? If you are doing something in an adult compromizing way, are you sure it is an adult behind that avitar?
Just something to think about.

not like this is any different than what already happens on the internet anyways.

Linden lab can't really stop this problem alone. They tried a lot of things, and even supplied a grid for them untill they become of age, but it isnt enough i guess... So what else can they do? Now if the entire world used social security numbers it would be simple.

I don't understand why the prevalence of something should indicate a course of action or, in this case, no action. It's fine to be realistic in acknowledging the size of a problem but what is your point? That we shouldn't be concerned or give consideration to an issue because it's not a problem which is exclusively ours?

Well, what do you propose that is both 100% accurate, and doesn't violate the TOS or a person's rights?

For all the reasons you have indicated, I'm not suggesting I have a quick fix or an easy solution. Ignoring it under the guise of everybody else is doing it seems a bit of a rationization and maybe acceptance. Something being common does not make it okay, does it?

Not at all. But LL is limited in what they can do. Other players even moreso. As it stands, LL is doing all they legally can. They ask for your information and have you verify your age via Credit Card or Cell Phone. Afterwards, you have a name and password to enter SL. It is against TOS to give out the password or have someone else use your account.

But it is impossible to stop someone from letting another use their account ot telling someone their password. You just cannot stop that, no matter what. The only solution I can possibly see, is requiring a web-cam be aimed at the person behind the keyboard for anyone to see to verify who is actually playing. That obvious cannot be done, because it would be a *masive* invasion of privacy. Ignoring that simple fact, it would change the nature of SL and many people would stop playing.

A situation like this really falls upon the responsibility of those who give out their password to a minor. They made the decision, so it is their fault if the minor encounters adult content. If all possible objectionable content was removed because of the potential possibility that the other AV had a minor behind the keyboard, then we'd just have the Teen grid all over again.

To put it simply, the problem exists because it cannot be prevented, not because of inaction.

What do SSNs have to do with it?

And nowadays, you have to get your new baby an SSN just to get them on your own health insurance.

Your ssn can verify your age. sorry but these days you can buy prepaid debit cards that work the same as credit cards so age verification is out the door there. as for cell phones you can also be underage and have a cell phone so again there goes that age verification. to be honest there isn't really anything that can be done except to be careful of who you are involved with :/

The first thing to remember is that in SL we have NO rights whatsoever, except those that LL grant us in the ToS, and if you don't like 'em, don't play.

It really is that simple.

Whatever we may feel that we are entitled to in reality does not, never has done, and never will apply in Second Life.

Lewis

Sad, but true.


And then what of those who cosign a cellphone for their kids, or kids who have check cards that the internet views as just another visa?

They could, in the future, ask you to fax a copy of your drivers license.. but i can see that turning away a lot of new folks, and creating a lot of work for the LL folks. And keeping them from FIXING BUGS *COUGH*

**edit
Yay! Post 100!

Not to mention that many of the teens who are playing in SL are masquerading as older relatives and have access to that sort of documentation.

Oh this is silly, LL has gone all out to try and put up barriers for teens to interact with adults on its adult only grid. There are huge problems which LL can't do much about:

1) International player base where being an "adult" is sometimes considered different than what LL does. In the UK you get to the age of 16 and you pretty much are an adult. It doesn't make it right, but how do you explain to the 16 year old that they cant be considered an adult, let alone stop them doing what they want?

2) Social reasons such as parents both working and leaving their "young adult" at home alone with the freedom to do whatever they want. You can bet in many cases parents may still be at home but dont monitor what their children are doing on the PC. Parents/guardians have a big responsibility but how can LL force them to live up to it? They can't change society.

3) Education, which is something that is trying to be addressed here in the UK. Children are still individuals with a mind of their own, and so even against parents wishes or legal restrictions they do things they perhaps shouldn't and find themselves in a difficult possition. Here the in the UK they are trying to education children (and parents) to help deal with and avoid these situations. Still, its an International playerbase so this won't be happening in all countries.

4) Outside communication. Despite it perhaps being against the rules, its fairly easy to exchange email addresses or Yahoo ID's, once people meet and exchange this information, theres nothing LL can do to stop it going further.

LL are doing a really good job IMHO, if other companies went to the same efforts then the problem as a whole would be reduced by a degree. Still, all those 4 problems (and probably more) are going to be there.

You know.. there are some things going on in this game that I dont think I'm old enough to see... and probably will never be. lol
If I had children there would be NO WAY IN HELL that I'd let them play on the main grid. When my nephews come to visit I won't even log into game, instead I let them play my offline SIMS game, where I know they'll be ok.

I do know of a parent who plays this game and has created accounts for their young teenaged kids to play along to. They aren't logging into someone elses account, they have their own individual accounts to play on the main grid. I have serious issues with this. But, what can you really do?

Some folks start threads on the forums, bashing LL, and anyone who thinks different, then hax0r the thread for drama, or in its absence (AAHAHAHA!) bitch and moan about the current SL version, demanding a rollback to SL 1.2.

The best thing you can do is do an abuse report and keep a copy of the conversation where the avatar's text in question, refers to it's user as being a minor. Click the "send AR" button, and let LL do the rest. You've done your part netizen!

Then you help a n00b get pwnd, a pro get his wings, and everyone's happy till the next "OMFG!! CUT STIPPENDS LOL!" or "OMGZ! LL SUKS CUZ I LAG!" thread.

Unfortunately this is the parent's fault and not LL's. I know a handful of people who I don't think are over 18, but I've no reason to believe they are being harmed by playing on the main grid (though of course I don't follow them so wouldn't know for sure!).

It's the same as people buying GTA for their kids, and worse if they then complain about how grotesque the game is and how it's horrible that children are playing OMG!

Unless LL requires everyone to play the game using biometric keyboards/mice with an retina scanning camera on their monitors then I don't think this is going to be definite. And even then there's no stopping a really determined rich kid getting an eye-transplant and skin-graft

What about some sort of test? We could make everybody spell words like "Avatar" or "Compromising" and if they don't pass, we can assume they're "underaged" , and remove "their" accounts. Just somthing to think about.

And cuz there are some Parents ect use the internet as a baby siting tool ... which is sad ....

I have never even told my daughter about the Teen Grid in here and ... and had taken her internet privilages aways from her at shcool ...

cuz she was getting into some way bad stuff thier too ...

EDIT: Then we wonder whats wrong with our kids ...and how come so many are so out of control ..

i feel Sociity as a whole is going down the tubes ....
BTW!!! my Daughter hates the V-Chip i had turned on on the tv too .

Are you saying the aviatar should have been compromised?

Just out of curiosity .... what would be the definition of an over age child? Just asking, since it seems there is a separate definition of under age children.

Can't comment on the rest of the post .. got stuck there in the first sentence.

They claim it is, but do not act on it. An... er... the very well known land baroness let her friend use her account once, I even talked to her while she was doing it, then contacted a Linden. The Linden said that it was there because if someone had items stolen, then LL would not be responsible for paying them back.

I guess it's sort of like, if I exploit a script and get items free from JEVN, and then give the items back, I get punished. But if someone exploits a scripts and steals about 20k from me, nothing happens to them. Also how some people are allowed to post mature links, then a Linden claims it's mature content, and removes the link. Then another poster posts one, and a Linden claims that since it is not up when you view the thread, it is allowed. Also if someone posts a meet-up thread (SLCC) in the general, it does not get moved because they are "higher status?" *sighs*

But that would leave out most Americans and George bush for sure!

hehe im all for having 2 grids

one for those who pass an IQ test

and One for those who dont

=pPpp

It strikes me that the only real solution to sharing passwords in this way is to report it to LL. If it is against the TOS to share your password, and the OP thinks that this has happened its her duty to report it. Her responsibility to do something about it.

It's possible also that LL should not be turning a blind eye to "safe" or adult/consensual password sharing also. Everyone knows about the famous example the OP posted about the famous realtor.

By letting that go on (as innocuous as it is), LL undermines their own position.

No im saying simply this: its naive to think teens and younger wont be on the adult grid. Anymore than its naive to assume they wont make it to R and X and even XXX sites. Anyone who doesnt keep this in mind while being on the net ... well Im just saying that SL is no different than the net. Its a great warning, but I would think most people realize that not only are most people in SL not who they say they are, theres a lot of children playing adults.