Why do people not report underage operating on the grid?

I agree, if the parent is allowing the child to access a game that is 18+ then that parent is responsible and should be ARd along with the child as well of course as the perv.

you know those info hubs are cespools for pedos.

To be totally honest though, I have never talked to anyone who admitted being underage.. actually the youngest I have spoken to is 22... strange huh

Actually, the "perv" should be reported to the police by LL, who will have chat records and so forth on file. The only possible mitigation might be that he didn't realize he WAS talking to a real child, which would, I suspect, mean that it wasn't an RL legal matter in many countries. But that might be clear from the chat logs.

And Mum and Dad need a serious talking to by a representative of the local child protection agency.

Is there some sort of huge epidemic of RL children having virtual sex in SL, the RL details of which are widely known to many other residents who decide not to report?

I've been here for 2 and a half years, and I have yet to meet anyone who has told me that they are under 18 in real life. In fact, maybe four or five people I've met in SL have told me their RL age ever.

I confess that I have met an RL child; a 10 year old being "supervised" by her parents. It was a casual meeting, there was no evident sex involved at all, and it was pretty early on in my time in SL, so I didn't do anything about it; at the time, it seemed to me that if she was there with her parents, it was ok.

Now, I would AR in her in a flash. A real child IS at risk in SL; what's more, he or she is walking hazard for others who don't realize that this is a real child.

ETA: To clarify, the child I met wasn't using a child avatar, as the parents were trying to hide her actual age; she was, more or less, representing a teenager though.

I've faced a stream of underagers. Given I used to be full time kid AV and now I still stick with a little adult cutsie shape. I tend to earn their trust far too soon and they get all open about age and stuff. (>_<

It's been quiet lately, but, just last summer I found myself writing up an age AR probably every other week if not more. (>_<

I have also met many in here almost one a week youngest was 8. ONe girl was after a "master" she was 15 when i informed the guy she was a child he said hell i dont care she acts more mature than most in here. I reported both he was never removed.

I do not look like a small adult or a child but i seem to get them soon confessing they are kids in RL

Yes.

The appearance of the avatar is highly relevant when it comes to a sexual situation.

https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2007/11/14/clarification-of-policy-disallowing-ageplay

Well, I don't AR this out of the blue, and before I file an AR I ensure there is sufficient evidence the g-team have something to work on. Otherwise it would be griefing the AR-ed party.

...my understanding of the procedure followed by the g-tema when someone is AR-ed for being underage is to suspend the account and the party being AR-ed must produce evidence they are of legal age to be in SL before the account is resumed. The immediate suspension can therefore be misused to grief someone.

There is an indication there exist a link of recruitment in Infohubs from underage person to child avatar. From there to become pray for pedos, the path is relatively short.

As someone else pointed out in the forums, is is easier for a child masquerading as a child (avatar) than as a grown up; particularly when the child is under 14-15 years simply because it is closer to their RL experience and they don't have to "role play" as much. Over this age they usually don't want to be kid avatars, but be seen as grown ups.

We have seen a disturbing amount of underage activity out of the 2 Bay City Infohubs. I don't know if this is the case for other infohubs too. It might be the Bay City hubs get a disproportionate share of such traffic because newcomers get sent there first due to some weirdness in traffic distribution logic for the hubs.

We have seen kids down to age 9 venturing out from the infohubs. If asked about age they usually will state their RL age or DoB as if they are unaware SL is for 18+. First suspicion is often hearing them speak in voice.

I have to say that I a problem with underage AR's (heck, with AR's in general, I wrote maybe 2 in 32 months). First, it's really hard to actually know without a doubt the RL age behind an avatar. Even if they tell you that they are under 18, they actually might be older (and just pushing their RP too far or trying to play games with others minds, not realizing that this can be the end of their account). I actually had that happen before. It even could be a misunderstanding based on the many different first languages spoken by the residents from all over the world.

Also, as Gavin wrote, AR's (especially underage AR's) can be used as griefing tool too easily. This brings me to the other reason of my problem with AR's: I don't trust the G-Team much - and I don't trust it's leader at all. Often enough I get the feeling that instead of being protected by the G-Team, residents need to be protected FROM the G-Team.

Oh, and one final point about RL underage avatars: I knew about exactly one of these in my soon to be 3 years in SL. He was 16 when we met, and I did not AR him. Why? Because he only was at his home, and only online to have what he didn't have in RL at all: friends and family. Removing him from that in my eyes would have done more harm than good. So, if I ever again stumble over an underage avatar, I again will make my decision about AR or not AR based on the individual facts and not on the number "18".

there is an immense difference between simply being "totally frank" and "absolute mis-comprehension of what is said", though it's difficult to tell if it's done purposely or is simply a natural state. one would have to hope it to be the latter or it would show particularly egregious form, thus calling into question the validity of any statements, frank or otherwise.

What?????
"he only was at his home, and only online to have what he didn't have in RL at all: friends and family. " how did he meet these family and friends if he was only ever at his home? Could he not have made friends in the teen grid?
Would not these friends been better for him ?
So your saying this boy had no family life was it his parents did not care for him or he had none ( but he has access to a comp and the net )

Smells like teen spirit.

where does this indication come from? and what do child avatars have to do with pedophiles? this is a very serius accusation even worse then saying all child -avatars are sexual ageplayers


they would have to be pretty stupid because the child avatar comunety is even faster at ARing someone who admits to being underage in RL


you appear to have far more then average incounters with underaged persons, personaly I find it a bit strange but what sickens me to no end is that you are very eager to link it to child avatars, it looks like a crusade.

Out of respect for him and his privacy I won't go any deeper - so you either have to believe me or not that not kicking him out of the MG was the better decision. Not the best, that would have been to improve his RL situation, but the best available for us.

I don't know if the story in the OP is true, or if the details are all accurate. I will say it seems to me that the real life parent was not 'supervising' very well if the kid took a teleport from a total stranger.

And that's why real life kids should not be operating the keyboard and mouse.

I can't help but think of Megan Meier any time I think about real kids and real adults mixing online.

Out of respect for the rest of us and the TOS to which you have agreed to play by you should of told him to go to the teen grid. I am sorry there is no reason for a kid to be in the adult gird. Were you supervising him all the time he was in SL? Were you watching his IMs? If you know this kid in RL then get him help there but in SL sorry its not the place for a child ( sorry 16 is still a child).

I have nowhere agreed to play police for LL. No, he was not always supervised. He was trusted. Now he is over 18, he did get help in RL (one reason for that was the encouragement he got from his friends on the MG - something he most likely would not have got on TG).

Personally, I don't rate the maturity of a person on a number. For me, numbers are guidelines that don't take away the need to do some own thinking.

Might as well get used to them or hangour on adult land instead because the main cintinents will all be PG and teen accessible one day.
And not much point AR'ng them while LL continue to allow infinate anoymous free alt accounts.

Is it? Sex is legal at 16 in many countries, including the UK, and yet child sex in those countries is illegal. The number 18 isn't the be all and end all of everything.

Linden Lab does.



Since when does physical or legal ability to 'have sex' equal maturity?

I won't even try to argue whether it should be legal at 16 or not - icky topic, and doesn't really belong here.

As long as I'm not on their payroll, I don't really care. I'm not their police force.

It doesn't - and age 18 doesn't either. But I didn't post about maturity - I posted about the statement that "16 is still a child".

I know that but your qualifying factor, at least the only factor you mentioned, was sexual activity.