No kids in the real SL, EVER!

Okay, head's a little cooler. Let's say a seperate grid is made. Let's say minors were flagged. I still think it's a horrible, world-ending idea.

My concerns ...

1. Minors who don't enter their age (you made it open to all, all one needs is a credit card), slipping into the mature grid and having cyber sex with adults. Imagine a 14 year old prostituting themselves here (But she said she was 18 *rolls eyes*). News coverage would be guaranteed.

2. More of gaming GOM and IGE. People taking advantage of minors for money. More annoying ways our Linden money will be fleeced from us. Be it thru hacking into accounts or what not.

3. More griefing. More baby-sitting.

4. Not all of them will have the mental skills to master the tools in SL. We adults can barely get it sometimes, what more them? Lack of creative output leads to number 3.

5. More situations where free items are sold. Or the items designers sell are being resold at a higher price. More ways of exploiting bugs will be used and gamed. I made content for the Sims game. Kids don't get that you shouldn't distribute other people's creations as if their own. And even if they do, some still don't care. Hell, someone might even pretend to be a minor just to get away with doing stupid things.

6. Censorship. And not the free speech kind. Just plain, stupid, conservatism. "Proper attire, inappropriate language, no suggestive content, no verbal abuse (Giving some brat a lecture)." Some soccer mom howling because her 8 year old saw a tit.

7. Where the hell would I fit in? I suspect the Mainland might become all PG for the minors. And we just have the private sims as Mature areas. Why else give the estate owners improved land options. Or remind us how cheap land auctions are PER SIM? But I don't want to be a resident on a private sims. I HAVE LAND. But nooo ... my PG location might washed down into some sterile PC shithole for a bunch of kids to throw squeaky dildos around. Lovely.

8. Prejudice. Take me for an example. I was indifferent to children. Now if they're going to ruin SL, I just plain hate them.

9. If the Lindens make an opposite grid, their attention is further depleted from fixing the THE PRESENT GRID.

10. Check the BBS on the Sims 2 or any Teen game. Children are ungrateful, whiny customers.

That's some of it. Call me paranoid. If it happens, I'm out of here, because I'm not buying my own bloody sim. Which's something I think's encouraged as a work around once the minors come in.

Bleh, the fact that El Presidente even brought it up gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Just say if it's happening or not already. Preferrably BEFORE I pay up another tier for the month.

KIDS NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

And I say that as a mom.

Linden Labs, the market is not worth the headache, the possible legal mess, nor allienating your current market base.

BTW.. there is a reason THERE tanked... and that the Sims are moving towards sex... SEX sells.

Surreal

Keep them out!!!
give them a toy and a happy meal and send them on their way.

Last thing we need is to allow kids here.
we allready have kids secretly playing and they are mostly causing problems.

And the lindens cant afford to spend time on developing a kids only area or anything. They still dont have a game manual or anything. Imagine how confused parents will be with this game when actual computer nerds like myself have no idea what half the crap in the settings are for.
lol

If there's a god in heaven, there will be no children in SL. I'm sorry, but the children are what have ruined many other games for me. We have enough immaturity from some of the adults in game, without having to deal with children. IF the Linden's insist on it, then please do as stated above, create a whole new grid for them. While I try to keep the profanity to a minimum even among the adult set, sometimes the occasional blue word crosses my pixelated lips. 'sides, if kids are roaming free, I can't dance nekkid no more.

Absa-freakin'-lutely NO!

I don't see what the base concerns are about have a kid-ONLY grid that is seperate from our current sims.

If SL is going to replace the Internet, trying to stop kids from coming in is like trying to limit kids on the Internet.

What we can do is, early on, seperate them and monitor them so that when the eventual deluge of minors joins, they won't be sneaking into mature sims; they'll have their own content.

I'm not here to baby-sit and play daddy.

Create a new grid for minors. Most of the IMs to Lindens from <18 age persons will be about resident disputes. Keep Lindens out of that because there are far better things to do, and employ current SL residents (perhaps Mentors) to act as mediators and go-to people for the new grid. Can pay in L$.

I couldn't even begin to imagine how you would handle a dispute between 12 year olds.

I dunno I say hand the brats over to a Domme, they'll train em right...

You will notice changes in your child soon..

1. Mistress and Master sound cooler than mom and dad

2. no back-talk

3. they will expect punishment

4. THIS IS A HORRIBLE IDEA

===========

Seperate grid... Oh yeah adults cant play nice together, lets create SLLOTF (Second Life Lord of the Flies)

if you thinks kids are pristine angels then you dont have em... they are ALL monsters! They wont play nice together, that's why there are things such as nannies, teachers and baby sitters....

I am also vehemently opposed to minors in SL! A separate grid for minors, however, wouldn't bother me in the least.

I wonder how many Liasons it would take to control a grid of minors??? LL thinks they have disciplinary problems now? They ain't seen nothing yet!

I have no desire to play with children, and I definitely won't pay to do so.

If LL wants to create a seperate grid or seperate game where minors are welcome, then more power to them, but the 18+ policy is part of the reason why I chose SL over other games out there.

I don't have children, I don't want children, I don't really like children, and I don't want to have to cyber-sit anyone else's or censor myself for their benefit.

No thanks.

Thankfully I never gotten the chance to try There.. *whipes forehead*

(edit for gah.. spelling).

This is not an accurate comparison. Many parents allow their kids access to the Internet for legitimate purposes. If those parents then choose not to monitor their kids usage, or use parental control software.. more fool them.

SL is a closed world, a paid for game.... I do not want content driven by an underage market. I do not want to deal with the under 18 crowd. Bad enough having to deal with the emotionally stunted over 18s.

The current policy is excellent. If a kids parents do not monitor their credit cards sufficiently to ensure that their kids are not joining SL, well then, let them deal with the consequences.

NO KIDS UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES

Heavy machine gun?

I don't really know why you all are so concerned about miners. They are integral part of the economy here and without them things would soon fall apart. From you, that noob making your first iron ball to those who build cars and clubs requiring steel to make their creations, miners are vital!

Whats next? Discriminating against lumberjacks? Who would make all those .5 blocks of wood?

Nay I say! Keep the miners in the game! Keep the lights on!

Wait, what? Minors? Rugrats? Yardapes? Oh hell no!

That's what a seperate grid would entail.

Is SL really an under 18 year old game?

I thought they were all console gamers, first person shooters and sneaking looks at porn on their parents computer...

basically all the stuff that would just get them into trouble in SL....

I dont believe it would be a good audience to target, Philip, I suggest you wait on this one a long time until SL is truly large and diverse enough to offer children more than what is currently here...

It's not a stable market group to begin with....

I dont think SL is mature enough to handle the immature crowd yet....

And, yes, if they are allowed in, Im stocking up on heavy machineguns.

I think this is an extremly BAD idea.....

Let me say that again...

BAD IDEA!

It is impossible to relay in text alone how totally against this I am... My nephew is more mature than most people I know, and yet I still wouldn't want him playing SL until he is 18..

I don't want SL to become the next T.V. -- an automated babysitter for bad parents.. If I wanted to be responsible for kids I'D HAVE MY OWN! I sure as shit don't want to be babysitting others sproglings - and I certainly don't want to have to put up with censorship because someones lil unsupervised rug monster was tramatized by the sight of boobies.

Siggy.

I love kids...as long as they are someone elses and I don't have to deal with them

It had to happen sooner or later...unfortunately they have way too much expendable income not to tap into the market. Unfortunately for us this will eventually be the end of the world as we know it.

Hopefully LL realizes the future problems they will encounter and will make a whole grid only for children.
but the likelyhood of that happening is slim to none.

[/B]

there is limited anonymity in SL. LL has your CC number, your name, your address. charges can be pressed against people who behave in a criminal manner, including cases of gross harassment and indescent behaviour towards children.

This is different from today how? ^_^;;

Seriously I would worry more about the kids than the rest of us... I wouldn't want to see LL open to that kind of liability! My vote would be not yet...

Yes, my dear friend, but prosecuting those who have committed gross harassment and indecent behavior toward children doesn't erase the years of psychological scars it may cause for said children. Admittedly, that's a bit dramatic, but the point is valid. Why take the chance? I am sure there are many talented minors out there, let them show off their talents on a separate grid. Combining minors with adults is a very bad idea.

Oh boy, where to begin...

First off, thanks to Ferran for making me aware of this issue, I was at work during the town hall and I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to miss this thread.

Secondly, I have to ask the people that are pro minors, whichs includes LL AND the residents that think this is a good idea, are you masochists? LL is already understaffed. We have asked for more liaisons as it is and have been told it's nor economically feasible to hire a bunch at this point in time. This is a company with UNDER 30 employees. We still have broken TPs, and several other broken functions. Yet here we go, not only would we appease the new function whiners at the expense of bug fixing, we would add other problems of EPIC proportions.

You think we have exploiters and griefers now? I played UO, EQ, AC, MCO, TSO, and There, that is where we will be headed. I don't need to remind anyone of the problems in TSO with underaged prostitution, and that game is set up so that minors cant even hardly talk to adults. I hear people suggesting a seperate grid; what about Teamspeak? Yahoo, etc? They can still talk to people on the main grid, offer their services and wait for the *adult* to come visit for whatever reasons, the worst being sex.

Kids get bored. What happens when they get bored? They look for excitement. Usually by pushing the boundaries, plainly and simply, getting into trouble.

There are dozens of other online outlets that accept kids. Can we just have ONE that isn't? ONE? Is that too much to ask? Yet people would have those of us who don't want to deal with kids in our virtual lives do just that. In a thread a while back one minor proponent went as far as to say that the parents should be able to decide if lil Johnny or Jane are mature enough to play SL. Bullshit. On that same token , then why aren't parents allowed to say their kid can drive a car at 14, or operate heavy machinery at 16? Or drink alcohol outside of their private residence? There are WAY too many parents that simply refuse to accept that their kid(s) may do something wrong and that have a false sense of what their kid is ready for. That is why society has implemented age limit laws, because parents simply lack the objectivity to make those decisions.

Why is LL talking about this NOW, after SL is going on 2 years old? Do they see dollar signs? We already have a sustained 30% growth rate, is this about greed? If it is I will say this; kids are a short term bet, as I said above they get bored. I doubt many would stay long and I just don't think that it's worth it to do so just because a few may. Simply stated, it's WAY more trouble than it's worth, and SL will just become another TSO or There, and I will quit. I mean that. One of the biggest reasons I chose SL over There was because it is 18+ and I don't have to worry about kids, and I left TSO because of it.

I have to ask those in favor of a seperate grid why they want this? How does it benefit you? How will it benefit SL? Kids will find ways, mark my words to get around the seperate grid issue. I guarantee it.