Bad news of the day: They're thinking of merging the Teen Grid into the main one

This is my escape from rl, I will be pissed if this means all adult content slowly gets removed from sl. On top of that now I have to be even more careful in fear of finger pointing that could happen. This is just bad.

I could understand the decision of merging the teen and main grids, along with implementing Disney standards in Second Life, if Linden Lab decided there was no profit in the "virtual marketplace" of Second Life, and that their customer target was now educational institutions with soft money to spend.

This direction, however, does not mesh with the recent acquisition of XStreetSL and OnRez. If they want their virtual marketplace, they need to let people buy and sell the bread-and-butter of the current SL economy- sex.

If they think they can have the mature content and teen content coexist and be separate, that is a fool's dream. They cannot even police the difference between Mature and PG in-world now. They had better figure out the easier task of enforcing the Mature and PG content classifications before taking on the larger task of letting teens into a world of XXX content and somehow keeping the teens safe from it.

Besides, doesn't Habbo Hotel already do the 3D virtual world that is teen-safe but usable by adults too?

Almost every child I have ever know was far worse during the 10-17 age time than when they were toddlers.

If you believe this then you may not be paranoid enough and are living in a fantasy world before this country started going crazy over every single accusation made by a child. I work for a police department and see a lot about the sexual assault cases that come in. The false accusations do happen and they have been on a steep rise in the past 15 years.

LOL

Just think of all the slimy "therapists" who will be getting people to bring up repressed SL memories...............Holy McLinden Preschool Batman!!!!!

... *facepalm* @ thread

LittleMe, I'm just glad I don't live in your country, if it's that bad.

well if they merge grids, you ,might as well be.

LL will act like they do now on underage ars, ban first so the parental units can't scream at them for not being proactive

This is a very BAD BAD idea, have you lost your minds, we do not want 13 year olds or anyone under the age of 18 in there. Unless you find a special way of tagging them and stop them from going into sex motels and other adult places. You might get a few irrate parents yelling at you cursing and screaming and Major Lawsuits for contributing to the delequency of a minor/s. Would you want your 13 to 18 year old son or daughter having wild sex or become teen prostitues?

Of course who wouldn't.

But by allowing Teens into the main grid all "sexual" content would have to be eliminated because parents will sue that their kids are permitted on a game/platform with this content.

That's just an illusion.

www.pleasureplanet.com

You must be 18 and your avatar cannot appear to be under 18.

maybe thats the plan ...
if they have xstreet too .. how much easier to purge the xxx content

/me thinks of all the times she has went to help island and all the info hubs and getting all the IM's for teh sexo*
it's not gonna be us that is gonna bring the hammer down on us..it's gonna be a lot of IM's in the pg areas that we have always gotten in the past..
a lot of NPIOF not giving a care because really SL is nothing to a lot that just get here for certain things or hear things in the media..

i cringe at the first report of some reporter making famous that teens are now in the adult side of the grid..

Good reasons why kids aren't allowed on the main grid are explained here:

http://teen.secondlife.com/parents

"Why Can't my Teen be on the Second Life® World for Adults?

The Second Life world for adults is an exciting and attractive place, and some teens may be tempted to try to access it. However, the adult Second Life world is just that: adult. It is not intended for minors, and some of the content is geared toward mature users over 18 years of age. Linden Lab is committed to providing a secure environment for teen residents in Teen Second Life; to that end, violators of the adults-only policy of Second Life may face suspension and permanent ban from Second Life. "

Unfortunately, it is that bad. Our government cannot manage to become involved in anything without handling it poorly. Therefore, quite a few years back, someone did a study that indicated there was too much child abuse going on that was either not getting reported (usually due to various fears) or was being ignored when reported. Combine that with a few deaths due to abuse, when reports had been made, and our government decided that we must always assume the child's statement is correct until such time as someone can prove it wrong. Teachers and athletic coaches get accused of sexual abuse if they tick a student off -- or even if a high school girl has a crush on her teacher and he rightly rebuffs her. Parents even get brought up on charges, sometimes for a single slap and sometimes for nothing at all. That is part of what led to the era we are in where, in some cases, parents are afraid to actually parent their children. The children have been given too much power.

BTW this is what was said

thats pretty plain and clear..if they are not opening the teen grid up for adults then it's coming to this one and it's gonna be bye bye creativity..
i saw this coming a while ago and still cannot believe it's coming..
if it does go to disney /Sony Home style i guess other open source grids or something is gonna be the option..cause i'm not gonna have a bunch of kids running around me like they were let outside to play for the first time or doing the hey babies..
screw this

A new age of stricter Internet regulations are coming (sooner than we think) and I would assume that LL would want to be ready before it happens. From some of the sensational news stories I've read recently involving SL, my guess is that they are starting to worry about future lawsuits involving avatar shenanigans inworld & out.

I know when i first came to SL i was shocked there was sex and cant even imagine how this could effect or corrupt a child that doesnt have the opportunities i do in real life. Not to meantion all those preditors that now have free range of so many innocent and interested minors!!!!

Hell no does second life want the cops to close there site....and why have teens on adult sims when this is a EXCAPE from children to some and sex to some ...what is second life smoking ...I SAY NO ....I KNOW I DONT WANT PROTECTIVE JUSTICE AFTER ME...

I will add my vote to the protest against this. This is a horribly bad idea. I'm sure there are enough teen pretenders getting involved on the main/adult grid without making it open season.

OK, what's this page actually about?

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/DuoGrid

The site it links to is broken, and doesn't appear to be owned by LL.

Study rejects Internet sex predator stereotype

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1560642020080218

I think it is a horrible idea to merge the teen and main grid. I cannot even list all the reasons it is a bad idea. Not that I have anything against children, I was one once. But that was some time ago, farther than I care to remember.

Playing with under the legal age teens is asking for disaster and SL puts us at risk by mixing the grids. I was just considering purchasing some land till now. Also, we risk the chance of entrapment by people posing as children. It is done elsewhere on the web, it will be done here as well. It is not a problem for me really, because my time in SL is not spent pursuing virtual sex or any activity as such, but I do not want children/teens in the sims I frequent. I am an adult and I do not want to mingle with underage teens. Maybe they should create a family grid where everything is PG, but keep kids out of the main grid.

As for those who pursue a more "adult" lifestyle, why should they be put at risk because there are children roaming the grid? I cannot really speak coherently this makes me so angry. Angry enough to abandon my inventory and seek another virtual world if it happens.

Sindy how laughable! Of course they are going to say "linden policy is............." doesnt mean there are not a few renegades that are abusing the system and do as they please.
Take for example the linden who was fired when it became known he was banning accounts, spying etc etc because his allegiance was with a well known "grid police" group not linden labs. Another example unnamed linden (who wasnt fired) spying on other lindens private chat for "lols" and accessing peoples accounts for no reason other than for "something to do" or to get information for their "friends". OR when told that there were UNDERAGE residents who were part of the mentor program, the response was "there is no proof" or "you left the ARing too long to be looked into", when everyone knows all chat (inworld and private) has been kept for atleast 3mths but more likely NEVER been deleted.
OR how about the ones who have been removed from world as underage and it takes 3 months to age verify because LL doesnt like the person? How about people who are targeted because of their apparent alignment with Linden hated groups eg Woodbury and PN? People have been banned without cause on numerous occasions. So do not think that you are ever safe from an unjust banning. (Me thinks I shall be banned soon, because of this rant o.0)

There will be people who will be wrongly accused (of being pedos), there always is and those who continually abuse the system YET miracle of miracles still remain on the grid.

The ARing system is arbitrary at best.

AND what about voice? How is that going to be monitored?
As far as i know and understand voice is NOT logged. So a private voice chat could be suss and it could not be suss, only those who are hearing the conversation will actually know. The "kid" could AR someone who said to them in voice "you're a ratbag and you should move along" then be banned from the area. Then the kid in retaliation could AR that person and say such and such just talked dirty to me wanted me to show me nude pics of myself they were harassing me, so based on that AND with no proof the "adult" would be banned, simply because Linden Labs HAVE to look like they are monitoring the minor and adult interactions and thus protecting the children.

Thus proving the original thought posted previously that you can be accused and be innocent but will always been seen as guilty.

TBH I have no problem with a small part of the grid being like an area where both grids can meet, families meeting up and hanging out, although I for one WOULD NEVER hang out with my kids in world simply because this is my time and I dont wanna share what i do on the grid with them. Not that I do anything pervy but if i wanted to go to a sex sim and hang out and have it listed in my profile I should be able to...not have to modify it because my kids might see, or I enter a PG area.
I cant see many families really wanting to interact online (Although I do know of families owning sims and their underage kids are inworld building and selling and they do hang out) ...........simply because SL allows us to live out a fantasy world and although I love my treasures very much I dont want them spying on me thanx all the same.
In RL I cant even go to the toilet, have a shower or make a phone call without someone wanting to have a conversation with me and know what I am doing who I am talking to etc etc, I dont want that in world. I dont want to have to ban my tiddlie peeps from my land when I want adult convo with mates, and this is what will happen all over the grid, having to ban or alternatively modify EVERYTHING and everyone to conform with PG ratings.
I know there are mature sims and PG sims and you can make the land age verified BUT how many people playing SL 1. actually are paying clients 2. age verified. So limiting sims to age verified ONLY or paying residents ONLY will severely restrict sales, and shopping malls will not want to do this, and thus will have to modify the items being sold to conform to PG ratings.
Anyway I for one (even a year ago when it was first mentioned to me of a grid merger) do not support the teen grid merging with the adult grid for economical reasons, social reasons and also reasons that the kidlets will be targets of pedos NO DOUBT about that.
I refuse to continue paying my monthly account as a paying resident and will sell land as I dont want to play with the kiddies NOR do I want to modify my "adult" behaviour.
Overall I can see that nothing good will come of the merger......................... for the real adults, I can see that a full grid merger will be awesome for the teens as i have heard its pretty much in decay, more so than ours.