child avatars - where to report.

Thanks! I'm also a part time kid, I just had to after seeing how much fun being a kid in SL is....and I love the stuff Robin creates for kids. (And I love Mari's stuff, too-the only proper plants I have in my SL garden...)

Yep, I really like the eyes Robin recently released and you should see the music box Mari just completed.

I know Mari is plotting to over throw the grid with SL kids.

why care?
busybody sticky-beak.

I was reluctant to buy into this discussion yet again, but this is such a poorly-conceived argument that it can't go unchallenged. Penny, I don't know how many 12 year olds you know, but the ones I know are all busting a gut to be perceived as older. Many moons ago, when I was that age, I too delighted in the fact that I was frequently mistaken for being over 16.

No self-respecting adolescent is going to come on the adult grid and portray themselves as being their own age - the whole point for them is to act older. They're certainly not going to go to the trouble of changing their appearance to look young - that's the province of role-playing adults. Look for the avs that resemble Bratz dolls or testosterone-fuelled super-heroes and you'll stand a better chance of hitting on a RL juvenile.

As for adults not joining a group for under 12 year olds: in a role-play environment, you might as well ask why an adult would join a group for dragons...

Re. the original post - leave well alone - there's already enough vigilantism in SL.

I think you are the BS one. If you cruise the sex related spots - you will find people having sex, what a surprise! You will not see the other non-sex related spots and the many residents enjoying them at the very same time that you spend crusing the sex areas.

Gotta agree with Daniel above. If you stop LOOKING for sex, you'll stop finding it.

Irate Holier-Than-Thou: "OMG!!! Look at all this porn on the internet!!!"
Common Sense Joe: "Where did you find it?"
Irate Holier-Than-Thou: "On this porn site after searching for porn with the Google search."

============================

As for the OP; People, you can stop now. The OP replied a few pages back. Thanked everyone for their input and agreed that this wasn't an ARable offense. Was just a knee-jerk reaction to protect kids, but was joined with a does of common sense to ask about it before going off the deep end.

~Jessy

You can find people having sex in sex-related areas?

Wow.

I never would have guessed.

Nah, I don't really think it's vigilantism to think that a child avi shouldn't be a part of a nudist group...it's just my opinion..

but as I said, I woudln't report someone when you don't know what their business is..but if a child avi came into my club, I would eject them because there is no way that they accidentally stumbled upon it (the way it's set up). I would hate for any of my customers to think that I allow children into the club..I don't care how old they are in real life, just another side of the role play.

Ah, sorry Pen if you thought that last comment was directed at you - it was intended for the author of the original post who, as Jess has rightly pointed out, has already agreed that theirs was a knee-jerk reaction.

I respect absolutely your right to eject kid avis from your club - my point was simply that they're highly unlikely to be actual juveniles. If they've managed to worm their way onto the adult grid in the first place, they're not going to look like kids, nor join groups that might give their age away.

On the nudity issue, I come from a very liberal family where the naked body was no big deal at any age so there we'll have to agree to differ. The RL nudist groups are certainly not mostly made up of swingers, are keenly aware of their image and are not at all the iniquitous dens of vice that non-naturists suggest. As for the kids, the last thing we wanted to imagine was the wrinklies getting it on - and we didn't have to, because just like at home, they kept it behind closed doors.

Of course, the 'reality' in SL may be very different.

I think I see whence some of the misunderstandings arise: it's about the different ways folks use SL, mapping identity, accounts, and avatars. Some of us have several alt accounts with similar avatars; others have multiple accounts with very different avatars; both of these groups may not automatically appreciate that there are others who want to be able to use different avatars for different occasions but have business responsibilities that demand that they use the same account for all the avatars. Now, we could suggest that it would reduce confusion if such accounts hid all groups that wouldn't be appropriate for every single one of their alternate avatars, but that's dismissing practical business considerations to the supposed benefit of pretty abstract and subjective interpretation of appearances. (Besides being none of our damned business.)

I don't mean to put people into a catagory and sterotype, but I must say that I have spent a few years in and out of going to hippy hallow in austin texas (for those of you who don't know, it's one of the only nudist places in the united states). I met plenty of people who seemed to just be naturalists. I was invited to a nudist party that was 4 days long.. all day was pretty normal, everyone chatting, drinking beer and having a good inocent time, then I swear on all that's holy that when it got dark, everyone was in their tents getting it on...lol (and not just with their partners). And there's this beach on the gulf coast in texas that people like to call the nude beach (it's not really legal but they do it anyway) and every time I ever was there, there were so many people screwing it was unbelieveable. I'm not a hater, I don't look down on anyone that's a nudist or a swinger. All I'm saying is that I've never seen a nudist colony of any kind that didn't become a sex colony when it got dark.

Ah yes... I've been to Hippie Hollow myself. As well as to Rooster Rock Park in Oregon. There's actually quite a few nude beaches and nudist colonies in the USA. But like Hippie Hollow, if you don't know where they are or how to get there, you'd never suspect the place was there. I don't do the Nudist bit very often myself, but I've visited nude beaches a few times, as well as sharing hot tubs "California style" with casual acquaintances, in the nude.

But as you noted, when the Nudists did have sex, they went to their tents, or their boats... they weren't doing THAT out in the open where all and sundry could see.

Out in the open? That was all very tame. Nothing you couldn't get a glimpse of in a PG-13 movie. And I NEVER heard of a single one of them doing anything untoward with their kids. Doing so would risk getting their playgrounds shut down, as well as being just plain wrong.

To me, the big telling point with a child avvie in 'proximity' to a sex site is what they are doing. Yesterday my child form was riding her bicycle outside a castle, and I know that in that castle there are several sex beds. But I wasn't going anywhere near those beds, and I wasn't chatting up grown-ups for sex. I was riding my pink bike in a pretty place.

A child avvie certainly might lag out and inadvertently pass into an adult area. So you do the same as any adult venue in RL does. You politely escort them back to the door, and on their way. If you caught them REPEATEDLY trying to sneak in and see the dirty movie, then you warn them to desist or you'll call the cops (or AR them, in this case).

Adult venue pops up next door to your home in SL? Well, it happens sometimes in RL, too. Don't cross the fence. Go somewhere else to play in your child form. Consider moving to a better neighborhood. Pretty much the same options as in RL.

the telling point is what the nudists/naturalist kids do after dark

granted some have a looser definition of what adult means (puberty vs a set age), but as a general rule (for safety, fear of the law, and moral grounds) sex between people that are of legal age, and those who aren't is VERY taboo.

This is the first type of online roleplay or chat community which I have been in (at over 8 years chatting) that has allowed child avatars regardless of whether or not the person behind the screen was an adult in real. There is a reason for this policy on the chat sites I had previously been a part of. It's not really about the child avs theirself but about the sick adults who will come online and see child appearing avs in a supposedly adult based venue and have it shore up their sick mentality that a child can consent to doing what they want sexually. It lends credence in their mind to the idea that a child can be sexually active or around sexually oriented activity or material and not be harmed by it and that they are capable of making such adult choices about their participation or proximity to such materials.

As it was explained to me, the chat site owners in the past had been approached by federal agents who were undercover in the chat rooms (and don't for a moment believe they are not especially nowadays) asking for their cooperation in giving pedophiles one less place to shore up their real world views. While we may preach on about repression and creative expression all we want, the reality is that there are dangerous people out there who would take this expression of creativity as an excuse to commit atrocities in real life against the helpless.

As to the argument that people are just wanting to immerse theirself in being a child again, then the BEST way to do that is to go and play being a child where they are expected to be under the same constraints to their behavior and live with the same rules as a true underaged person would be. On here, that is the teen grid. What they get here on the adult grid is NOT a true "childhood" experience since they are not going to be held to those same sorts of restrictions as to their behavior a real child would and are able to follow their own judgement totally as an adult behind the screen.

While we may all like to recall only the idealized, carefree parts of being underaged, we need to also remember that childhood is a time of having every single aspect of your life regulated, sometimes to their frustration and confusion. To have the "whole experience" of being a child you would need to incorporate these aspects of childhood into the experience as well as the playful and carefree ones. And that you just will not get on the adult grid where the moment someone tells you no about something you as an adult behind the screen think they should be able to do, you can immediately change your avatar's age and appearance and/or simply leave the situation and interaction to one more to your choosing. On the teen grid you have to face and deal with the restrictions wherever you go or what you wish was the case otherwise just as in real life.

Really? I've seen many others. I have a couple more years on you, too.



I kinda doubt SL would take kindly to my application to be on the teen grid. IRL I'm *kinda* old for it, by a couple years or so. I kinda doubt I'd wanna be there, too, and am pretty sure the folks on the TG would not want me, neither.

But I can also tell you dun know too much about the kids on here, too. A lot of us do have our own restrictions. I have parents, an they have their own rules. I've gone to school in world, an school has it's rules too. Likewise, I'll be at Winter camp next week -- more rules.

Mari

This works in exactly the same way the Linden PopGun causes mass-murderers.

While RL kids are often pretty offensive , they do have some redeeming qualities. RL violence is always an abomination and will lead to the annihilation of the species. Which one would you rather see RP'd in SL?

it takes two to tango, as someone who has a child Av (among many others) I can tell you it's quite possible to NEVER be in adult areas as a child, and there ARE restrictions on behavior, just like RL with the threat of being banned permanently, and reported to local authorites. and just like RL, you can do anything you want.... as long as you don't get caught, as many RL underage will happily tell you, and demonstrate daily.

nevermind that people such as myself aren't looking for a 'true' childhood experience, but a happier one free from the negatives, which can and do include overbearing rules of behavior and safety that we as adults already know and practice. it's a form of utopian roleplay, and don't think for a second that I wouldn't report some perv that tries anything with me, as would most who play children.

shall we ban prim sheep or sheep av's because a few people abuse them in virtual bestiality? come to that, all of Sl represents a fantasy land of "not true experience", perhaps we should ban SL from being used on any computer? one step farther, we should ban the use of computers because they CAN be used for illegal activity...

really now?

the simple truth is if you look for trouble, you're bound to find it. solution, don't go looking for it, avoid those that do, and be aware that it may come looking for you, and avoid it too.

So this "protector of children" wants to move adults with child avs to the teen grid?! Who wants to have the honor of ARing this first-time posting name? Or speculate on who its main av is?

Okies,....

The Teen Grid is for REAL Teens, not SL RP kiddies.

Try to keep up dear.

Please!

*shakes head*

By that same logic, we should ban all games involving killing people, unless you're role-playing being in the armed forces, because otherwise it's illegal and having it in a game just glorifies it and makes the people that do it feel normal.

Oh and those games where you an steal cars? We gotta ban them too - makes it look right to steal things. Can't have that.

Oh wait - flying - in SL I can throw myself off a building and don't kill myself. That could be dangerous - some deranged person could believe that SL is RL and try to do it in RL and kill themselves.

I think the rules that LL have put out in terms of what is allowed is very fair and allows people to enjoy a "second childhood" without it being something they feel badly about. Why do people want to do it? Why do they want to be nekos, starship troopers, dogs, vampires? My advice would be not to ask why, but instead enjoy the diversity that the human mind can come up with.

Report them to me, I would like to meet them...

Graph......... you rock!

I get the feeling you will be deeply disturbed the first time you see me inworld with my /cake/ title on. Maybe we'll meet at the FC hangout someday. (^_^)y

And, please, don't think that all SL is only about "mature" content. I mostly spend over 4 hours each day online and rarely happen upon anything that fits the mold of "mature". I almost never-ever wear a biggie shape. And I have my ways of dealing with creeps, stalkers, and pick-up lines... (>.> ... (<.< ... (^_^)

Since when was SL just a chat site? Most of my SL time is spent chatting, but is also spent learning to be creative with prims and scripts and beating people over the head with my PikoPiko hammer. (^_^)

BEST Answer yet!!


The only thing I miss about being a kid is having no bills, no responsibilities other than going to school and having Mom & Dad pay for everything!

Mines too -- though I prob'ly need to spend more time with my PikoPiko hammer.

Mari
(Who, really, can't wait for Winter camp next week)