No kids in the real SL, EVER!

Seperate grid or not at all. If there are people that want to mix with kids, then allow adults to enter the other grid if they so choose (like if their kids play). I'd have no problem with that, and no interest in going there myself. Under no circumstances do I want them in the current grid or able to interact with me in any way.

Let the adults have our OWN playground for once!

In reality, when you look at it... Even with a grid for kids, they'll still be in the 'real' world. They'll become curious of what's in the 'adults world' and try to get into it... Create a new account, enter a fake birthdate and they'll be in. IF LL starts requiring ID's, they'll figure out some way to persuade their parents into sending it to LL.

There's no air-tight plan that'll keep minors out of SL.

NO not a good idea at all!

ROFL that was good

WTF this is a joke, right?

Events
Clube Elite Jr.
Aces joints for Jr's.
Damp Spot
Wenchie baby sits your teens for the next hour

If that's not enough to frighten you nothing is

IM: Hey, how much do charge for babysitting?
You: $10,000 Lindens
IM: OK, T'porting my kid now..


'K kid, here's your smoke, your and your six-pack. c'mon hurry up, we're goin to the tittie bar - oh you'll need to wear this...' (drops inventory object)

'What's that?'

'Your T-Shirt'

'Whats it say?'

'Says f*ck the milk, where's the whiskey tit - hurry up, these girls charge by the hour'

Can a linden or SOMEONE come in here and say.. this really is an early april fools joke?

Maybe it's a horror story! *gasp* October 1st.

You can, but not with most of them. There is always going to be "the one precocious child / the one adult that is so immature they act like a kid" anecdote that people will use to justify why kids should be allowed to go to R-rated movies unsupervised, etc. The trouble is that so many kids are not mature enough to be here.

So, I hear people saying, okay, let's have a totally separate grid for them. Unfortunately, this may not be enough. A lot of parents out there are too lazy to police what their kids do on the net. I have heard about 13-year-olds who have private computers in their own rooms. HAHAHAHAHA. Right. The parent of such a child either A) has a lot of trust or B) expects the entirety of the Internet to be designed around preventing them from having to do any monitoring of what their kids are getting into online. In either case, they will blame LL if they walk into their kids' room, and the kid is in SL and there is porn on the screen, or worse.

So LL might have to nerf the hell out of it, i.e. no llSetText(), no notecards, no llSay(), no textures except a predefined set, no building (which sort of negates the advantage of being here in the first place,) and the only chat possible is through dropdowns that say things like "Hello!" and "How are you today?" and so forth. (In other words, the SL version of Disney's Toon Town Online or whatever it's called.)

In a perfect world, parents would uniformly take responsibility for monitoring what their kids do online, but that is not the state of things today, and I would hate to see LL's resources getting drained by having to look after a bunch of juveniles (for reasons already covered in this thread.)

Definitely NOT a good idea...

Siggy... you charge too little for babysitting...
But yeah, basically how it'd be.

Club Dwell Jr.
Plywood Pallace Casino For kids
A lot of users who feel it's a bad idea either pulling their accounts or their tier in retaliation.
LL would likely fold within a week under the legal pressure the first time a parent catches their kid on SL Jr.
Cause one day the parent will enter Jr's room and see Jr at a place for mommies and daddies who love each other for play money. (since GOM would probobly be smart enough not to allow minor flagged characters link with accounts)

No kids in SL, I do not think that they should be allowed, this world is far to complex for them to understand. I have no kids, but I would not want my SL. Even thou there are PG sims, their a items in those sims that I do not think that kids should be allowed in.

If they are to be let in make it a totally seperate grid that only they can log into and no one else can, them make it so that they can not log into the grid that we are currently on

BUT MY ANSWER IS NO KIDS IN SL!!!!

I believe the emotional and personality level of each person can differ greatly, this too applies to children, one child may be more mature than one adult, one adult may be more mature than one child.

However, with the above being said, I still do not think children under 18 should be allowed in SL.

There is the greatest example I can think of how SL would be effected. Theres some very smart and talented children in There, some more talented than some adults in There. However, they are a small percentage.

I know adults in There, who wherever they go, they feel the need to watch themselves unless they are in the middle of the ocean. A large portion of the time they feel they are babysitting, even if the children are mature. Theres the aspect of "If it was my child, I would not want them to hear what I would normally say" or other such simular thoughts.

Then there are adults who take advantage of the children and who aren't the best influences on them.

And thats just a small point of a reason not to allow children in.

While children could largely use SL as a building and learning expireince, instead of allowing dosmetic households to have children log-in, why not only allow schools if they wished? In a class room a child is much less likely to get into trouble or to be solicited, and they can still learn and have fun. I would do this of course in a private sim or grid.

The trouble with having domestic children log into even a seperate grid from our current one, is that then you have to higher staff to act as babysitters, and while that may not be as troubling to some, you also then have to watch out for sexual or other predators.

Flagging children also make them easy targets for sexual or other predators.

I also think that we already have enough immature adults.

Once again, I say No to children in SL.

Oh ye of little faith.

The Lindens aren't doing this anytime soon, and here's why: they're good at math.

Consider the following:
1. What is the difference in disposible income between the average SLer and the average 15 year old? $10 "pay-once" accounts don't exactly pay the bills.
2. How much time would it take to set up some kind of system by which minors could be restricted to a select few sims?
3. How much would it cost to have a 24-hour Liason presence with a greater emphasis on policing the areas minors were allowed to be?
4. How much more "hand-holding" would be necessary? Sure, one late-night Liason would probably cut it, but during prime time, would there need to be two or three where now one might suffice?
5. Compare SL to the average MMOG. What are some of the major differences in conduct between the two? What kind of an effect would a shift towards a more "MMOG-ish" culture have on RETAINING the existing SL userbase?

It just doesn't make financial sense to let minors in SL. Few kids have money to spend on SL, plus they're stupid. I'm confident that at SOME point it'll happen, when the investment is deemed to be worth it, but that point is definitely not today.

A noticable percentage of parents demand that schools ban books the parents have never even read, up to and including protesting, hiring lawyers, and costing schools money by dragging them through the courts.

Can you imagine the media and legal backlash the first time one of those same (or similar) parents sees (or even hears rumors of) their kids buying a golden-shower-enabled penis attachment? Pfft. LL would be crucified as perverts and the corruptors of our innocent little angels.

Even on a seperate grid, there's nothing stopping the more clever kids from creating the same items the adults make on the existing grid, with the same building tools provided by SL. I've seen my 12 year old nephew play computer games and spank the arses of people 3 times his age without putting down his juicy juice, and I don't believe for a minute that kids around his same age couldn't pick up scripting and building almost as easily as adults do, and that's being conservative.

I simply don't think this is a door LL should be opening.

Unfortunastely it does make finacial sense. Kids aged 12-17 have more disposabl;e income than any other age group. LL is a business and they already know where the money is and if they want to grow to large proportions they will have to go after this age group.

Whereas the adults will spend the big money on land tiers and such LL will probably move to a monthly fee ensuring those children keep money coming in.

If you wanna see exactly how much financial sense it makes just check out figures for Everquest. I played EQ for 4 years and although there were a lot of adults there were just as many if not more children. Fortunately for EQ there is a structure involved that keeps people busy leveling and working towards goals.

I'm not for kids in world at all but it will happen otherwise at some point SL will become extinct.

Kids are sneaking in now.

Why don't we take the initiative and provide them seperate content not connected to our sims where they can go.

This is only going to be a growing problem, whether LL endorses kids or not.

NO KIDS. Definately, no kids.



Eh. Kids have been having tinysex on MUSHes for years. Not much you can do about that. Threw me for a loop the first time I found out about it, but - at least it's safe sex

Let me start off by saying… minors are here. If you think they aren’t you’re an idiot. I’ve seen minors post. I’ve seen minors make incredible content, amazing scripts, vulgar attachments, just about every thing the 18+ folks have made. I’ve had “good conversations” & really freakin bad conversations in world with minors. I’ve been exposed to it (not by choice mind you) & I have never reported anyone for it though… why? I can’t help but feel bad that *I’m* the one who would be responsible for denying them access to SL… not to mention what if I’m wrong? If I knew they would only be banished to the kiddie grid “where they belong”, I most definitely would feel more at easy reporting someone as a minor.

Definitely no “tagging”, It’s just a horrible idea. The fact that SL is supposed to be 18+ is one factor that drew me & I’m sure a lot of others here. Users WILL leave if they try to integrate the two.

I do think a separate kiddie grid is a good idea but, there should be limited contact between the two grids. Main grid users would need to log out of the main grid in order to log into the kiddie grid. No permanent resident on the kiddie grid can gain access or have direct contact with the main grid period. Highest priority would be just that keeping minors off of the main grid & on their kiddie grid.

I also like the idea of LL hiring “baby sitters”. Right now there aren’t any really good ways to make good L$ unless you do something *ahem* risqué/unethical. Hell I’d volunteer to do a baby sitting shift. There would have to be a lot of rules, regulations & restrictions to really make it all work though.

One thing that I think should go is IM chat. It would make it easier for “baby sitters” to monitor suspicious behavior & would ensure Second Life wouldn’t degenerate into what TSO & There have become.

Now another issue is nudity. First of all I think the kiddie avatars should have a set undershirt & underpants that cannot be taken off… also some of the sliders should be set to different parameters than we currently have. The really tricky part would be monitoring uploaded & created material for anything objectionable. Perhaps “baby sitters” could to return/delete all copies of said item if it is shown in public & they disapprove of it.

I’m not sure about the transfer of content between main grid users & kiddie grid users… there are too many scenarios & it could have a major impact on our economy depending on what exactly they do there.

In any event it would involve a lot of planning to determine to best way to set this all up.

Also, LL would have to have to choose these baby sitters very wisely because they would need to give them the ability to handle unpleasant matters efficiently. Having set guidelines for them to abide by & maintain good communication with them is crucial. If it’s done right everyone would be able to do the things they need to do.

OKAY!!!

You seperate grid theorists......

Im about to shoot a hole in your idea.... Its a big hole... good luck patching it.....



Pretend I REALLY LOVE Children and by love I mean LOVE!!!!

Ok now how do you stop me from making an alt an violating little timmy and suzie????

Great thanks...


There, see its a really dumb idea...


So drop the second server theories... drop ANY support for having kids even as a periphery in an ADULT enviornment...


HEY!!!! Lets make a daycare section at strip clubs and pool halls too!! Yeah this could go into the real world too

Damn you guys are smart...

Nick, Yeah minors are here now.....

BUT WHO IS LIABLE IF IT IS WRITTEN THAT THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED?

Ferran, BREATHE

They are here now. They will keep coming. These two things are not preventable unless we have fingerprint / retinal registering and scanning and that will NOT fly if SL is going worldwide.

So, given what we know, we have a few choices:
1. Ignore this fact, and keep trying to kick them out. More and more this will become expensive to do and more and more profit potential will be lost.
2. Give them some seperate content with the same "No going in the main grid unless you're 18+" rule as we currently have.

So really we don't have a choice. We have to do 2. The thing is that the real thing that brings kids in is a desire to play a game. If content for minors is provided with protection in place, then:
1. We can dissuade them from going to adult sims because they'll have their own content.
2. We can shape the way the Internet deals with minors, because it is a legitimate, large-scale problem.
3. We can open up young minds to the positive ideals of Second Life - things like creativity (rather than watching TV), diversity (as the world mixes here), social interaction (rather than single player video games). These are definitely big benefits.

Will minors get through anyway? Yes. Will the number be significantly less? Yes! Does this have to be done immediately? Eh, it can probably wait 6-12 months.

In summary, if we DON'T create a seperate minors grid, then we are ignoring the problem. If we want to take some proactive action and prevent ourselves from having an underground railroad of minors sneaking in, we should plan to take some action and make a seperate grid.

@Nikki - very well thought out post.

you mean between drinks?? =P

Oooh, I think it would be GREAT to have kids in SL. I mean there is already so much sex in SL, maybe they should add what can come after that. Ya, grab a set of sex balls and make a kid. Have a pregnancy animation and out pops a little scripted bundle of joy that really moves and makes baby noises and shoots a particle stream of piss on you when you change it's diapers. The you watch it grow up and go to school and all the way to becomming an adult. That is such a good.....what? Oh, oops.

You mean having children play SL. OMG, no. No, no. I'm definately against that. Bad idea for many reasons.