age verification

hey im asking a question on behalf of one of my sl friend. my friend is under 18 and has been playing on sl for a while now and really likes it but when the age verification comes in he wont really be able to do anything cool any more, my question is when he turns 18 would he be able to change his age to his actual one and then verify his age properly or will his account just be banned. the main reason its so complicated is that hes actually put money into the game with one of those pre paid visa card. so id be really great full if some one could help.

*i wasn't sure where to post this so i just put it here ^^

Hi Jono - the minimum age requirement for SL is 18; as I understand it, without age verification, one cannot access a sim that has it set up (someone correct me as I am probably wrong), but will be able to wander the rest of the grid wherever age verification is not in force... but for someone that is underage, should they be discovered, or AR'd by someone, the chances are they'd be booted out.

What would happen when he turns 18, gets age verified and found to be a SL veteran, is anyone's guess. I wouldn't like to speculate.

Relax.
Age Verification (IDV) does not verify age.
It just verifies that the details submitted online (anonymously) to the verification company refer to an entity that is probably alive and that might be over 18.

It's just a slightly more longwinded lie than the lie told by your friend when they claimed to be of age on signup.

Your friend should not do this of course.
Neither should all the other kids who will rush to verify somebody's details when IDV gets implemented.

perhaps just silly, but not without reason: under 18 is not allowed to be on the main grid.

The implication of your question is that your friend will be prevented from doing "cool" things like engage in pixel sex with adults or wander through areas in which explicit adult activities are on display.

I hope to hell he is banned. It's exactly this kind of situation that has created the nightmare of Age Verification and that creates liability for residents.

You forgot to put "friend" in quotes.

hmmm. well putting aside the whole "he shouldn't be here if he is under age" thing. I'm not sure what would happen. I can't imagine LL checking through everyone and finding out someone has changed their date, but then on the chance that he did get caught, the result would be anybody's guess.

Oh what a tangled web we weave......

Since your friend will soon be 18, I think the best approach would be for him/her to come clean and ask to be transfered to the teen grid - and give their correct age.

They can then legitimately age verify when they are 18 and can join main grid, which will not be in the far distant future.

I believe L$ balances are transfered between teen and main grid - not sure about inventory though, but I think there was a recent thread about what happens when you graduate from teen to main grid.

The money you have in-world shouldn't be a problem - since you can give it to another avatar (you may even be able to withdraw it in real USD to your credit card, too).

So the obvious way round it is to create a new av after you reach 18, age-verify that av, then give all your money and stuff to that new av and don't bother logging in with the old one.

The downside is that some of your stuff is no transfer, so you'll lose that.

As for telling LL that you lied about your age and can you go onto the Teen Grid and then transfer normally, well if you tell LL that they'll *have* to ban you is my guess, so I really think it would be easier for you and them if you don't say anything. You're going to be 18 soon, so if in the words of South Park "your fragile lil mind has been warped" by all the pixel-sex you've already seen in Second Life, well there ya go - the damage is done

When IDV goes into effect, if ever, underage accts will be the first to be verified

LL don't ban teens found on MG - they just move them to TG (provided they have not done anything else that they can be banned for.)

Did your friend not claim to be at least 18 years old at sign up?

As far as I am aware this requirement was never waved.

If so he lied to get into Second Life in the first place.

Your friend's current logging into Second Life is just as wrong now as when Age Verification comes.

Some potential good news for your friend though .. From what people say the Age/ID verification doesn't check the details against those you originally provided Linden Lab at Sign Up. So when your friend is old enough to verify it *might* go without a hitch ..

Assuming nothing changes (or has changed).

Do they require those teens to go through the Teen Grid Verification process?

That was still the question I had from the recent thread on AR'ing someone claiming to be underage. I would be concerned that someone would claim to be underage to get to the Teen Grid.

It's been said before.
One prime reason that there are (so many?) teens on the Main Grid is that apparently it's really difficult to get on the Teen Grid.
All the teens here did not necessarily come in search of pixel sex.

Very true. But we do have a question about that.

A "teen" caught on the main grid is sent to the teen grid

is that "teen" still subjected to the same teen verification process?

If not, why not?

Very true.

They have to verify their account/identity in a way that shows their age (one way or another) before the account is released and assigned to the proper age-group as far as I know.

Blue Linden is probably the best person to ask for an authorative answer .

"We" don't know.
I suspect that they would be subject to the same process as anyone else trying to join the teen grid.

I remember seeing post here to the effect that LL will shoot first and ask questions later if there is a strong indication that someone on the main grid is underage.
The situation is that they are banned from the main grid until they can prove that they are of age.
They are banned simply on "deep suspicion". It can not be assumed that they are therefore underage. Apparently a more solid proof is required for that.

Only LL can answer this, but it would be surprising to see them answer in this thread.

Just out of curiosity, if an underage person is in SL, but then comes of age, and then LL somehow finds out they were underage.. can they do anything? WOULD they? Random thoughts

what I never understand is that in the UK teenagers can have sex legally at 16 and some parts of Europe younger, but in SL it's illegal for them to have pixel sex until they are 18, isn't pixel sex safer?

I guess this is another US law?

Yep. SL has to follow US law, and that happens to be one of them.

The US has an actual law that states your not allowed to indulge in pixel sex on virtual worlds, unless your 18 or over?

No (Well, maybe. Dunno), it has laws that say when under 18 you can't view pornographic material, have sexual contact of various kinds, and so on so forth. Pixel sex, I would think, usually constitutes both pornographic material and (some) form of sexual contact though perhaps not. I'd say that it's likely mostly the pornographic bit that gets them, though it is a slippery slope in general.

I hope so - well it could be a bit alarming if not.