Teens on the Main Grid: pre-emptive discussions

You can, and you will, in just a short while more. I'm sure if you've been reading these threads, you've seen *all* the reasons adults don't want to interact with teens, the very least of which is having nothing in common.

I'm not disagreeing with that, and I have made friends on the main grid. My question is why is it that one day I'm hanging out with my friends, and the next day I turn 18 and boom, my "birthday present" is to have my account put "on hold" for a week and subsequently shipped off to a place where the friends I was just hanging out with can't come for another (time until they turn 18.)

The fact Ovaltine is no one is complaining about not having things in common with the under 18 people. We are all afraid of what this will do to our grid. As someone posted earlier, all you need is an under 18 person say "Hey. Konu said this to me..." to their parents and my RL world becomes a nightmare. I may not even know who this person is but just like in RL, be accused of something is sometimes just as bad as if you actually did it. I personally have no issue with the teens coming to the Main Grid. But, for the safety of both parties (adults and teens), there needs to be a way for everyone to know that "Jane Doe" is a teen.

We all know there are teens on the Main grid right now. With no real age verification, anyone can lie and get on the grid. It is only a little comforting to know that if something was to come back on me, I have the grounds of "Well, they lied about being 18... who's to say they aren't lying about this!"

Will I leave SL? No. Will I be alot more careful? Hell yes.

Well that's why I voted for "Yes, as long as I can identify who is a teenager, I don't mind." If teens come to the main grid then of course they'll need to have some kind of "Hey I'm a Teen" sign above their head. And if they don't, then the "They lied about being 18" safety net still applies.

How would the "Hey they lied about being over 18" apply if all ages (13+) are allowed on the main grid? Right now, anyone who is on the Main Grid is considered to be at least 18 years old in RL. If they lower that to 13, then that goes out the window.

Example conversation with no way to tell 18+:
ME: Hi. How old are you?
THEM: I am 19
ME: Oh... ok.
THEM: Want to have sex?

So, you go off and do the nasty and THEN find out she's really 14 when the police come banging on your door.

Example conversation with a tag of Adult/Teen:
ME: Hi. How old are you?
Them: I am 19
/me checks profile and sees they are a teen/under 18
ME: Really. that's funny. It says you are under 18.
THEM: Oh, that must be a mistake

And yes, I bet we will hear alot of "mistakes" on that. The fact here is, if they are over 18, you just helped them by letting them know there was an error. If they are under 18, you just told her that "Hey. I know you aren't 19."

Because (as if it need to be explained) there has to be a cut off point *somewhere*, and 18 is what it is decreed. If it were 17, 16, or 33 and a third, there'd be some point at which the same thing would happen.

That's life. There are rules and laws here in Grown Up Land - even more than you have to deal with as a kid because it's *you* who's accountable now.

Not all fun and games being one of us deviants on the Big Kids' Grid, you know.

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Aes

If middle aged has a connection to "middle of life", which I suspect it does not, then a middle aged person is closer to 37-40.5 than to 50. Life expectancy and all.

I have no point. I'm just starring at the second half of my life. In a half decade.

Ok, I'll respond more directly: ""I don't want to interact with teens on SL," I say, then don't. But why should that mean I can't?" - if there was some way to determine who was or was not a teenager, then it seems, based on this thread, that some people (39.08%)would be more willing to accept teens in SL. And interact, or not, with that knowledge.

Because you're an adult now. The Teen Grid is a place for children, not adults.

The entire point of having a place where parents can be relatively sure their children are not being stalked by adults is lost of you break down that wall and either let children onto the main grid, or adults onto the Teen Grid.

In order to ensure such an environment, a line has to be drawn somewhere. That line is 18 years old. This may inconvenience you a little, but it's there to protect both you and your friends.

Truth be told, 18 is the age when a person goes from being a child (Dependant) to being an adult. Well, at least in the US where LL is located. At 18 you can vote and join the military. But, turning 18 brings in a new issue... your old friends are now illegal in the eyes of the law.

Ok, what you're saying is that, as it stands now, you can reasonably assume that anyone you see on the main grid is over 18. So if you did "do the nasty" with someone on MG, and you later find out they were 14 or whatever, you can say "Well, they lied about being 18 in order to get on the main grid. Not my fault."

What I'm saying is that, if you let everyone (13+) on the main grid, anyone under 18 would be required to identify themselves as such to LL and therefore be given some type of "Teen Resident" identifier. Then what you have is essentially the same scenario as above. You would be able to reasonably assume that anyone you see on the main grid, who doesn't have a "Teen Resident" sign over their head, is over 18. So if you did "do the nasty" with someone on MG who didn't have a "Teen Resident" sign over their head, and later you find out they were 14 or whatever, you can say "Well, they lied about being 18 in order to get on the main grid without a "Teen Resident" sign over their head. Not my fault."

Ooooooooooooohhhhhhhh. Now i get it. Though you do realize before they do anything like this they will implement some kind of age verification. I have no problem giving my RL information to LL to prove I am over 18 as long as it's kept private. That last part opens up an whole new can of worms on the issue.

The whole idea of merging the grids is going to open up a can of worms, but that's not to say it can't be done. Of course there are a lot of details that need to be worked out. I think too many people have this idea that "merging the grids" is synonymous with "teens can go anywhere they want and you can't tell who's a teen and who's not", but really, that's how it is now. Merging the grids, if they did it right, I think would solve a lot of problems.

Which if history proves correct, LL will do it the wrong way and all hell will break loose. lol

It would cause a whole lot more *worse* problems than any it solved, in my opinion.

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Aes

I would be very annoyed if the grids merge as i have had several encounters with teens in SL already but i could report them and have them removed.
WHat creeped me out was some time ago in a gorean sim I met a guy who seemed lost. He asked if i could help him learn gor and i said ok. He would hang around my home talking and seemed real nice but shy. Over time he got things for me and placed them in the house like a bed ,a spa cuddle rugs and clothing. He said this was to thank me for all my help.
I was not interested in him in any way other than as a friend but one day i come in to a message telling me he loved me and wanted to get to know me more, this gave me the creeps and i told him i was not looking for that if he was well he should go looking for somone else next time i log on he tells me he likes older women and he is 16 in RL.
I reported him and banned and muted him.
I wonder what may of happened if i was taken in by his kindness and well used the items he got for me which ireturned by the way

I have absolutely no desire to have a bunch of teens around me in SL. Teens already have an overwhelming number of places they can go and be - well, teens. SL is not one of them. Currently (at least, as designed), SL is the ONLY place adults have where we can do pretty much whome-- I mean, whatever we want without worrying about who may be watching. I have kids at home in RL, so I see SL as a means of escaping that reality, even if only temporarily. The LAST thing I want to have to do is babysit anyone else's urchins!

And when you turn 21, your birthday present will be the ability to go into a bar and order a drink, while your friends who you were just outside with who are 20 or younger will have to wait for you outside. Sometimes that's just the way it is.

And supposing he'd been a precocious and pausible 15 yr old with a good vocabulary, so an adult might enjoy talking to him, but after being turned down for anything more got vindictive and, in revenge, reported you for trying to seduce him. Or the same thing by a girl with an older man. Anyone here think LL would ask for evidence first and investigate discreetly, thoroughly and *fairly* before acting? Not known for it are they?

Or maybe the adult would get instantly banned, labelled as a pervert and reported to RL authorities with all the fallout THAT would bring?

Here's another thing: If Teens have needed such careful protection so far on their own grid, that only properly vetted Linden representatives have been allowed there as adults - then how come they'd now be deemed safe to roam around on a merged Grid when they'd be in contact with not only everyone already here, but also the unsavoury predators that might well *also* now arrive in numbers if it's to be known as a place where kids are to be found?

Things don't add up.
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Aes

Hear, hear!
I no longer have offspring at home but count me as another who does NOT want to share my relaxation online with a gaggle of other people's kids. For me, the fact that it's kid free is one of the best things about SL.

--
Aes

I think both Bradley and Argent have made some very succinct and cogent points on desires for and against.


I don't think that's life, I think that's fear, and I have no intention of being ruled by it. Your experience obviously differs, and you see it as a clear and present danger to you personally. I see it as possible, but infinitely unlikely to happen to me and mine.

then again I don't intend to hang out in heavily teen populated areas, although knowing some of their creation skills, I may end up there anyway.

I'm sure there will be plenty of place incorporated teens won't be able to go, and they are places I already spend a great deal of my time, for me it's less than a non-issue (positives of new talents incomming being offset by grid rearrangement/adjustment balancing nicely for me)

PS @Elora:
well she's right, boys ARE icky, at any age (apologies to those worthy of conversation), but if you think they're bad, throw in some catty teenage girls.... ah high school, how fondly I don't remember thee (ok, so that's just personal preference)

No.....*it's life* that people are not necessarily going to agree with me which is what I meant. I don't feel it as fear as much as distaste, and a refusal to put myself in certain positions, unnecessarily.

you do realize, that the same questionable content offer you outlined could occur right now with little modification. I hesitate to type this, but given that there are childlike prim representations, and all sorts of adult oriented statuary, your risk of this happening is far greater now given numbers, than the addition of teens to the grid.

I'm not saying that to try and convince you to leave, as either situation is distasteful, but rather point out that you may have elevated the risk.

regardless. your choices are your own, whether I agree with the reasoning or not. I wish you and any others that leave because of the merge the best of luck in your other ventures. Me I'm hanging around until I don't feel like it any more.

I'm hoping that if teens do come onto the main grid we get a minimum of six months notice. I really am not comfortable with the thought of renting land to teens, not so much because they're teens, but because my current tenants do engage in pixel humping and I don't think this is a suitable environment for kids.

Ah, but now, the liability is 'not' mine, to keep minors off the grid, it is LL's, because SL is at this time structured that way. So again, as Konu mentioned earlier, anyone you interact with today, you can assume is of legal age. If they aren't and they lied, it's on them, not you. However once they are here, willy nilly, with the blessings of the Linden gods, whole different story. So 'today' the scenario doesn't bother me. I have a legal leg to stand on, should it happen. Tomorrow, when the teens are here with everyone's blessing, I do not have a legal leg to stand on. It makes a difference to me. I also wish you well and certainly hope that you are right about it being unlikely that anything would happen to you or yours. Take care.

So, curious, what will getting 6 months notice do?