child avatars - where to report.

I have seen a couple of child avatars in my short time in SL. There was nothing sexual going on, they were just tagging along with their virtual parents in stores. I will admit, I got creeped out both times. Maybe it's because of a lack of understanding as to why people want to play as a child avatar.

Well I have the opposite feeling, why ppl like to play as adult being so fun play as kid avatar.

I tried to wear my biggie shape today... I couldn't believe how amazingly discomforting it was. (O_O) How silly does that sound? (^_^)

because kids have a freedom and innocence and are expected to try to have fun... you don't have to think about things like work, deadlines, and other adult responsibilites. you get to relive being a kid with all the good and very little of the bad... it's not for everyone, but those are a few solid reasons to play a kid.

We run a free sex area @ Devilfish and the amount of child avs that try to get in there sickens me...

All have 'over 18' on their profiles along with things about how they like to roleplay unleash their inner child etc..

Now why would an inner child want nookie in a gay sex pit... x_x

Play an adult avi if you wanna do that kinda thing.

I ban them all! I don't care what age they are...

Hi Brick

Yes, I felt exactly that way when I was new(ish) to SL and saw child AVs. I think that reaction is perfectly natural when one doesn't really understand what's happening.

But after a while I discovered how powerful roleplaying can be in such a deeply immersive environment as SL. This holds true whether your character is a child or a medieval knight or a fairy or a lost soul in some post-apocalyptic city. You become that character and lose yourself within them and the scene. This is difficult to explain and I'm not doing a very good job, but I have to say that the effect surprised me a lot. It goes pretty deep.

While I have never been a child in SL I feel that I can understand why people do it. It's an opportuinity to relive that lost age of innocence, imagination and wonder. Like I say though. I've never roleplayed a child so this is me guessing; I hope others who do will possibly add to this and put me right if I have missed the point.

Anyway, before SL I could not have understood how powerful this could be - never having been involved in any kind of online roleplay environment before. But to me, it is one of the great wonders of SL.

And you absolutely should! If you're running an adults-only venue, then certainly no one in a child avatar should be there, and you are absolutely correct to ban them from coming there as a child and trying to have sex.

I am assuming, of course, that they are actually trying to get into the areas that have the adult poseballs, and not just walking down the road, perhaps unaware of what is going on inside.

But if they know what goes on in there, and are actively trying to go in with a child avvie? By all means, ban them and abuse report them too. It's Players like that who screw it up for the innocent "kids".

Here's a question about child avatars. What if they go into a store that sells sex beds and such, and see a fully clothed couple trying a bed out? Anyone got any views on that situation?

Thanks for explaining some reasons why people pretend to be a child avatar. : )

I have never been a very sociable person in game. I don't go out of my way to meet new people, nor do i visit clubs ect. I joined this place with a lady I met in another online world (There.com) and this is an extension of our relationship until we meet in RL.

Thinking about it, it maybe the whole "roleplay" part in general that I just don't understand. I play in SL as myself. A 30 year old bloke from London who enjoys the building and texturing side of Second Life. And spending time with a lady whos company I love.

To each their own I believe is the phrase. I have nothing against people that want to roleplay, who am I to judge people I don't know? I just know, out of all the various characters I have happened upon since I joined, it was the child avatars that freaked me out the most.

Sorry for rambling lol : )

At least the kid won't have to ask "Where do babies come from?".

I posted a link earlier in this thread, with some of the top reasons I know for playin' a child avvie. Maybe dat'll help 'splain it for ya, too



I build (a lot) and do a lot of the creative stuff. It's one of the things I really enjoy here. But I also enjoy jes bein a kid an not worrying about prim drift, too. Room for it all, really.



Dat's a big part of it. It can also be a lot like an episode of the old "Twilight Zone" called "Kick The Can," where a bunch of old folks play a kids' game, and regain their youth. Oh ya, an it's also fun an stuff, too.



Well... first off, I can't say I've ever been in a store dat sells those kinda beds. I guess if I did come across dat, I'd jes TP out.



What she said. Makes me wonder, though, if there was a kid place there before, or someting like that. It's always a joy to use old LMs and find out what... interesting... places they've become. :-/



Dat should be trus in all situations, not jes kids. If only everybuggy through dat way an did't AR the slightest thing, ya know?



Oh, I know! On those rare occassions I end up in a big shape (being ruthed, or the other day when I hadda be a bigger ballerina for a project), it's heck to try an walk about an be dat tall.

Mari

I really don't understand why someone would be creeped or freaked out. I have a child avvy for when I have to make child sized animations and I've found it to be quite fun to walk around as a little kid.

I'm creeped out by little kids RL too, so don't take offense.

Snitch!

Why must some people feel they need to take it upon themselves to save the world?

If it's got nothing to do with you, don't butt in you're not the sheriff in sl. It's not your business what others do. And for the most part this person you saw might be older then you.

They do have rp groups. Big difference between rl and sl you know.

it definitely means under 12 inches of penis length preferred!

Got it answered .

Wow, what a poor trolling attempt. (S)he's been in SL for almost a year, and (s)he doesn't know how to report someone? I don't think so.

The point is not that the girl was in a child form, or that she was in a nudist group, the point is the concern for the person that is a child and is in Adult SL at all. There are so many perverts in the world and SL is a place that probaby 40% of people are using for cyber sexual activity. Not to mention how many little 12 year old girls are stupid enough to go meet up with a pervert they met on the internet...we hear about it all too often on the news.

I can understand your concern and I do think that cases like this should be reported just for the simple fact that little girls do not need to be in SL at all. They should use the teen grid instead. I run a sexually oriented business and if a child avatar walks into my club, I will eject and ban then immediately without a word about it.

Now, an adult that chooses to look like a child sometimes is a totally different thing, but do you really think an adult would join a group for under 12 year olds?

Lesse, why be a kid. Without reposting Marianne's essay. (Do you still have your photo books from your exhibit for sale in the grid?)

If you're in SL, you really need to find a place. I hear so many people who disappear quickly because they wander around and never find their place. The kid community is a place to be. Even without the kid part people are very nice and it's a place where you don't need to worry about the usual sex advances and that kind of thing. I know that's an appeal for a lot of the adult avies that are part of it as well as the kids.

What makes someone want to be a kid? Well, it's fun! You get to be silly. You can play dumb games. A lot of the same stuff that makes being a parent (RL or SL) fun. For me it's an easy character to get into. I can leave all my problems somewhere else and life is just very very simple. I want to have fun. I love my mom and dad. I have friends to play with.

You can tell really dumb jokes and everybody knows they're dumb and you just laugh and there's a second level of humor because people know somewhere that you're not really a kid and get the joke too. Sometimes you can make simple observations that would sound really corny if you were an adult avie, but work if you're a kid avie and an really make somebody's day or cheer them up. And there's a lot of very simple love, very unconditional. There's other stuff, you will usually get a long recitation of bad real life childhoods--enough that it kind of gets boring to listen to sometimes cause everyone has a story. There are reasons people want to go back and relive their childhoods.

Someone asked what if a child avie was in a store with adult beds. Well, like Marianne said probably it used to be their friends house or a kids store or just a store that sold other stuff. Just use common sense. "Not sure this is the kind of store you should be in Katie" would be fine, I'm headed for the door anyway! But a lot of times we are in stores that sell adult stuff to buy other things--shopping for dances there is usually horizontal dances somewhere else in the store.

On kid avies that has adult stuff in their profile (not yucky kid-adult stuff but general adult stuff) sometimes people use the same avie both kid and adult. A lot of them don't even think of the implications because they came after the ban on sexual ageplay and can't imagine people would do stuff like that. (If people really wanted to do adult stuff like that, they'd probably know about the rules and not have it so obvious.)

You'd be surprised how many reports don't even go to LL, they just go to the estate owner. I tried to report someone once and got an IM from the estate owner telling me they couldn't do anything.

I have been in for over a year and I wouldnt have a clue. Reporting someone is just not something that I would want to do.

If a child avatar is on the adult grid then i think they should be removed,simpley because of all the bad press SL has been getting in the UK.
Yes its a virtual world but i dont see why if at all a grown person needs to be a child and for that matter people adopting child avis on sl now that to me is very strange and hard to comprehend.
Most of them are probably just trying to get your lindens well get a job thats what i say.
Just thought that i would also add that when they say being a kid avi is fun then you have got issues because if my RL 13 year old daughter happend to be on sl i know for a fact that most kids just wanna act old but i would never allow her to go on sl untill she was old enough so what im saying is that those people who say bieng a kid is fun so is being an adult just because most sl residents are in thier 30s or more doesnt mean they have to act like a fossil just because they have an adult Avi.

Child or not, what's important is that we jump to conclusions and over-react. It's the only way to make SL a better place.

The press stories in the UK have been sensationalist, subjective and badly researched. Why can't a grown person be a child in SL without the misguided assumption that it's for sexual reasons?

Nobody under 18 should be on the grid. Therefore, anyone over 18 should be able to make the decision to have a monster avatar, a furry avatar, a musclebound steroidal freak avatar, a barbie doll avatar or a child avatar. Isn't SL meant to be a place of fantasy?

I have been a resident for a year all im saying is that if say the press or any other body sees child avi's then they are not going to say "wow second life is great you can be a kid and play on swings n stuff" now are they it will end up being bad press witch means that less people will join sl because they will be put off.
That is why linden lab have a teen grid for kids and an adult grid for adults the way it should be.
Please note im not trying to upset anyone im just voicing my opinion.

Cheers joddy