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

Altho there is no official word of if/when/why/how the Teen grid will be merged with the Main grid... but it will happen.

This year, next year, whatever. It is the path the Mighty M wants to follow.

It doesn't have to be a move anyone who's currently on the grid right now cares for or finds fair. Ask Early Adopters how LL considered them when making new and improved policies. Ask the people who followed Phillip Rosedale's example and created slot machines for SL.

The Teen grid is currently an expensive ghost town sucking at LL's resources. It is ultimately the most profitable solution for LL to concentrate on running a single grid.

And Profit is King in our Brave New World.

How will they get around all the adult content currently on the grid? One would imagine the same way they dealt with all the gambling.

I know you are right. Any complaining I do is merely out of the disappointment I will feel at no longer enjoying SL, no longer looking forward to *my* SL, and eventually leaving and finding something else to do. I know it will happen and no amount of posting on a forum or any other resident complaints either, will change it. So guess for me, that means I better enjoy myself now while it lasts.

There have been a number of other Virtual Worlds that have not been able to compete with SL- perhaps this is just what they need to finally be a viable alternative. It would of course be another long long road to get to where SL is now.

I've been catching up on responses since my posting as well as trying to read more of the previous 60 some pages before I first posted. I see "teen grid is a ghost town", "teens can't do educational things", "teens won't ruin SL", and so forth.

Well, why is it a ghost town on the Teen Grid? Why haven't the teens tried to do something to make it more interesting for themselves? If they are bored and want "adult" things - TOO BAD - THEY AREN'T ADULTS THEY ARE CHILDREN.

Educational things - yeah right - they don't want to go to school in real life and if they do go to school in real life, they don't study and they are more interested in texting from cell phones and trying to find ways to get online.

My solution has always been - PARENTS TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS, BE A PARENT, AND QUIT LETTING THE COMPUTER ELECTRONICALLY BABYSIT YOUR CHILDREN (yes, teens are children - people are children until they become an adult). Of course, the parents that would yell the loudest if their little precious was caught with her virtual pants down with some adult are the ones who are getting their own freak on and not parenting their children.

I've seen it happen on IMVU and I would hate to see SL become another kiddified IMVU. SL has so much to offer adults on the main grid. Turn it into teenville and adults will be less likely to spent time and money on the main grid and just find another venue in order to escape having to be a babysitter.

And, I saw others mention - babysitting - if I'm going to have to be responsible for babysitting other people's kids on SL then I demand a paycheck to the tune of about 50 real life dollars per hour in order to babysit the teenagers that the parents haven't done their jobs for.

*LOL!!* /me does the SL 'double nod'.....twice.

A profit that I'm willing to bet won't happen should they merge the grids. I say that as someone who for the last year and a half has watched imvu play favorites with the non paying teenage users over the big spending adults. If you care for proof on this pie contact me in world with another way to reach you and I will show you loads of what they have pulled. I am a holder of the access pass there which once was a great thing to have now it's the source of the ultimate joke. If LL merges the grids I see second life being just like them maybe worse.

A failed ghost town seems to be a poor model for profitability.

Running a profitable single grid logically means unplugging the failed grid, not turning the main grid into the failure.

Teen Grid concurrency 600 users.
Main Grid concurrency 70,000+ users.

Which number would you rather lose?

Happily I have not been keeping up with this thread but has anything changed since post 461 when I pointed out that no-one is planning on doing this at all?

I lost track of this threat a while back. No one has shown a link where LL says this is what they are doing/thinking.

this

Yeah I remember that from awhile back. Anything new being said driving the thought process? Has someone heard from a Linden saying "Yes, we are seriously thinking about this" within the last week or 2?

I re-emphasize... I have serious doubts that kids are going to be interested in educational opportunities here.

Of course not. They are LL. They have given no idication they are seriously considering it That's exactly why it quite possible. If they ever say they are going to do it, then we know it will probably never happen.

/352/72/304420/3.html#post2304241

M. Linden:
"@8 -- the future of Teen Second Life and whether/when it will merge with the main grid: I feel that a single grid is much better than multiple grids (and Philip does too) but a lot of work would have to happen in order to merge them and make it workable and comfortable for all. The exec team has been considering our options (including merging the grids) and when we are ready to share a roadmap, we'll get the word out. Nothing to report now."
1/27/09

This is starting to sound more and more like what IMVU did... change the policy, then push someone else's idea of morals down our throats. I will be the first one to say loudly and clearly so there is no ambiguity in my intent... I DO NOT WANT TO SHARE THE ADULT GRID WITH CHILDREN. I come to the main adult grid of SL so I wont have to deal with them. Over the two years I have been with Second Life, I have spend probably thousands of dollars building my second life. I do not want Second Life to do what IMVU did, and gut my inventory just because you want to include children on the main grid. Unless you are prepared to refund me every single penny I have spent with your company to make a second life here.

Linden Labs, as a part of your Terms of Service, you distance yourselves from for what an individual does here, while holding them responsible for their actions. That is fine. An individual should be responsible for his or her own actions, however, you can not merge these grids then claim no responsibility for the resulting jump in ARs involving minors, be it that they are intruding themselves into sex related matters, presenting themselves as older than they actually are, or being preyed upon by internet predators. By merging the grid you are making it easier for these types of things to happen, and you can not turn a blind eye and claim no responsibility for incidents you allowed to happen by merging the grids. Just as each and every individual has an obligation to behave themselves here in Second Life, you as the service provider bear a certain responsibility, whether you admit to it or not. As it is now, teens DO get on the main grid through deception and outright fraud, representing themselves as adults which they are not. Instead of making it easier for a child to insinuate themselves into an adult world, why dont you better use that energy to secure the adult grid against intrusions by minors?

I left IMVU because without warning, one day I logged on and about half my inventory was just gone. Items I bought and paid for. Wiped out because someone decided to impress their morals on the masses.

I'm pretty sure you dont want to be referred to as LIMVU LABS, but that is exactly what is going to happen if you do this. Listen to your customers. It is the adults here that pour the money into your pockets hand over fist. They come to Second Life because you allow adults to be adults and have adult fun. You merge the grids, and I'd bet your bottom line would drop through the floor. Within a year you wouldnt have a company because so many adults, who are by and large the biggest source of funds for your company, will say to hell with this, and just leave.

You want to have a grid where kids can go to be educated? Fine. Take the teen grid and make it the education grid, but leave the adult grid alone.

I'm not sure if I posted this here or not. If I repeat myself, many apologies!

The sky is not falling. Yet. Just because the powers that be had the idea of merging Teen/Main grid as a long term goal, does not mean it will happen tomorrow, or next year, or even the year after that. A merger has it's pros and cons, and some of those cons may be legal liability for Linden Labs if some teen who is "officially" allowed to access the Main runs into adult only content and suddenly their PARENTS start screaming lawsuit. But I think what Linden Labs is aiming for, is for Second Life to be a medium like the Internet is a medium. Where users have their private domains and are responsible for the content of said domains, the way web page owners are in the internet. Meaning, Second Life would be "the internet" and users access it with the viewer aka browser.

Now that said, I think Linden Labs is in for more trouble than they are anticipating, because there is no singular "owner" of the internet, LL is the known "owner" of Second Life and could be held accountable for it's content, despite disclaimers to the contrary. I don't think LL will try to erase adult content from the Main Grid, otherwise it will be just like the Teen Grid so what would be the point? But I think it will try to push the onus of any potential lawsuit or legal thorny issue onto the individuals using SL.

I foresee several issues in the future if the two grids merge. One, access to a singular Grid may mean Account creation could become harder. There could be new stipulations to creating new accounts, possibly new global programed restrictions on non-verified accounts in what they are able to access In World. Example if your account is not verified, you might not be able to enter any sim/region set to Mature. Ultimately what could happen in Worst Case, is we get all the problems of Both Grids lumped together in the same Grid, Best Case scenario, we get some of the better qualities of both Grids combined in one Grid. Now we all know some problems WILL arise if grids merge. System/programing problems as two separate grids become one are inevitable.

I think SL isn't on the verge of merge though. It's STILL trying to get it's age verification junk sorted out. That was supposed to go LIVE last summer, and it is so far NOT in effect as yet. So my philosophy is not fear food poisoning from the potential chicken stew when the chicken hasn't yet been caught, killed, plucked, and stuffed in the stew pot.

Bliss Crimson, Main Grid

added story extra:

A man sentenced for crimes against the crown is before the king for a judgement of execution. "Oh my King, " beseeches the man, "Stay my execution and I will perform a wonder among wonders. I will teach your finest stallion to speak as a man speaks!" Intrigued, the King decrees the man has one year to perform this miracle, and if he does not succeed he shall be immediately executed. As the condemned man is lead away towards the stables, his guard notices how peaceful and happy the man seems. "Why are you so happy?" the guard demands, "In one year you will surely be executed."

"Why should I not be happy?" the man replied to the guard. "I was to be executed today, but I am alive. And in a year much may happen. In a year, the king could die. Or I could die of some completely unrelated incident. As well... " he smiled at the guard opened the gates of the stable, "Who can say? Perhaps the horse will learn how to speak."

humble bows
Bliss

its just crazy.

I had friends on the teen grid that I haven't seen since I turned 18. Now they're introducing the possibility that I'll be able to see them again. Remind me again why this is "bad news."

Because everything that makes the Adult grid an Adult grid WILL BE GONE! Or most of it anyway. A few people in this thread have made very good arguments. If children are allowed on the adults grids, there will be parents complaining about what their children might see on our grid. While many of those complaints will be to seperate the two grids again, a few of them will be to take the stuff off the adult grid.

This invasion will mean very bad things for everyone who has spent their well-earned money and time making things not welcomed on the teen grid. If these grids get merged, that will be gone.

And if everything isn't gone, there will be a lot of "Age Verification" thingies hopping up all around our grid. I already hate those things!

This is just a bad idea. I sense very horrible things coming if this happens. Very horrible things. It won't be the Second Life we love anymore.

Obviously "merging the grids" doesn't mean "teens can go anywhere they want." It just means they won't be completely separated, i.e. people who turn 18 being completely cut off from pretty much everyone they know.

Many wont age verify coz they cant. Most who stay will do what myself and my partner do anyway - stay close to their home and just converse and "play" together. It'll be an isolated world. I dont think teens will mean to harm adults. In fact, if it was organized properly with lack of paranoia it could really pull this place together. But it wont. It's just gonna be islands shutting out anyone who isnt trusted. Huge issues concerning camera controls. Vigilantes will be checking out everyone for nudity and nipple-raging and invisible penii.
It's a real shame.

daniels dream of 'keeping sl safe together' is becoming a reality!

If that means what I'm thinking guess I'll be taking my money elsewhere as it sounds like second life will be no longer enjoyable for adults and no I'm not just referring to content.

I dont think teens will make a big difference to sl. At first I did, but thunking it through, changing sl for the sake of a few hundred teens is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's the teens who will have to adapt or become desensitized to adults fooling with each other thousands of metres above them in sky boxes.

Anyway, for couples who want to adopt in sl, they can easily adopt REAL teens now and all the child avs may have real children as their "siblings" - it could make for an interesting dynamic.

*This* should be named the undying thread.