Leakage from SL -> Teen Grid

I find the subject of Teen Leakage intriguing. Do go on!

OMG!!! And I thought my mind was firmly planted in the gutter....

Sheeesh, Aimee...

I totally agree with this part and I had my 9 yr old son read the blog, he read and understood it perfectly... my son can also read an understand the newspaper... Don't under estimate the minds of the young...

However, on a side note, I commend you Cali, I hope all parents are watching over thier teen while they play SL... I dont think SL is a game for any under aged person un supervised.

I opened a teen account for my son yesterday. He is 12 years old. As with anything to do with kids, communication is the key. My son has been poking around on the internet since he was 10, under supervision of course. We always talk and he understands that n ot everyone on the internet my be honest and he is very well trained to never give out personal information suchs as name and address.

I was impressed with the teen grid. I was sitting next to him giving hinm a lesson on the building tools when a group of people came over to meet the newbie. They started giving lessons of thier own and before I knew it he was making his first SL friends. I then took a back seat and just took a glance every so often to see what new things he was learning.

I can trust my son, we communicate all the time. Even if a preditor was trying to lure my son into something, I am confident in his intellegence to not fall for such a thing. With that said, I do keep an eye on whats going on to be sure I could accept full responsibilty. I also do not go out of my way to protect him from seeing a pair of boobies or the human body. I have always found it silly that we teach children that the human body is a bad thing. I do not let him watch porn but I dont think its the end of the world if he got a glance at some well rounded, beautiful breast.

People really do under estimate a young teens intellegence. The internet has been around thier whole lives, they are trained from birth about strangers and preditors. As long as the parent is doing a good job at communicating, most kids will be safe.

What is preventing any SL user from reading the forums? I understand the barriers to posting, but reading? The forums are specifically for communication to and from members - and there is an announcements forum. No matter what environment I have been in, I have read the forums to keep abreast of what is happening - in TSO, in There, even in World of Warcraft. I think the forums, combined with the MOTD upon signin are more than sufficient for keeping people updated. I definitely would not want an email every time something is occuring. I find it disconcerting to criticize a company for lack of communication when LL is the most communicative I have ever seen a company be. If people choose to not stay informed, that is their choice.

I agree, Cristiano, that they are as communicative as I have ever seen any game company be. They bend over backwards to solicit input.

They can do better, though. This is no longer a small game, and they need to - in some ways - get out of their beta days and their beta ways.

Meanwhile, I was mainly on this thread to object to the idea that the original poster was being "jealous" to even question the procedure on this. These things shoud be questioned. And the fact that the whole deal was little known to the regulars on the boards, that fact alone, indicates that yes, they could have done a better job about getting the word out.

coco

Little known to the regulars on the board? The only person who seemed to have missed it was Hiro, and by his own admission he was sick.

I had the impression that it was little known to most of us. Your impression may differ.

coco

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It was announced in December of 2004, which is why you were probably unaware of it. Even so, that announcement actually has nothing to do with this thread at all really. The donation of content for the teen grid is a very different topic. Those items had to meet certain criteria regarding permissions, and the fact that the items would end up back on the main grid eventually when the account holders turn 18 and their accounts are transferred (complete with inventory). The tringo machine is not a piece of donated content that is available on the teen grid.

Tringo is an item owned by a liason. Whether they purchased it or it was donated is unclear. The Lindens do actually purchase a lot of content. As Tringo is exceptionally popular - the most popular any game has ever been in SL, by a huge margin, and it is an easy group activity that does not require a lot of instruction, it was a natural choice for their use as an activity on the teen grid. None of their use of this product is favoritism. Had they only let select people donate content to the grid or only the favored children be vendors on the grid, I would agree with you. This is nothing like that, and that has not occured, but you could not tell that from reading this thread.

Thanks for sharing Beau, that's a really cool story.

Maybe we should start referring to the teen versus 18+ as:

TEEN REGION: For players 13-17
CHILDISH REGION: For players 18 and up



-Flip

Second Life has been out of beta for over two years. How is it that Blizzard/World of Warcraft, with 2 million members, manages to use its website and forums, along with motd to keep players informed of what is going on? I'm sorry, I just don't find criticising a company on their communication skills when they are communicating to be very productive, especially when it is the fault of those choosing not to check out the communications from the company. If they send out mass emails and those aren't read, then what will your criticize them for? Not using forced popup messages?

Cristiano, I have witnessed LL's policy and behavior in things along this line and found them lacking. As in - definitely could use improvement. I get to do that. I might even be right.

I don't live to criticize things for the joy of criticizing them; nor does it mean that I hate those things I criticize. I have a friend who trusts me to be honest, and knows I love his work. I critique his work. And he does mine. It's a professional thing.

This - my critiquing LL - which includes not only praising them for things, but also criticizing them when and where I do - is the same sort of thing. I trust LL takes it in the same spirit.

coco

Nothing in your response shows how they are lacking - that is what I asked you, not why you criticize them.

It is lacking because: It is not good to make an announcement in December then say nothing until the grid is opened. It is also not good for a Linden to come in there with Tringo in her pocket.

It IS good for the teenagers to have Tringo. But to bring it in, you have to do it officially - do things right, in other words. Just as it IS good for us to have Snapzilla on the main page of the web site (and there is no other service comparable; just as there is no other "Tringo", it is not good just to haul off and do it. You have to get with the maker, not just up and use it, without even consulting the maker; and you have to make it all look like part of a fair process.

This - the Tringo dealie, and the bringing of content into the teen grid - is just one example of how this sort of thing hasn't been handled properly.

It is entirely too casual and off-hand for a game that is growing and is no longer in beta with 2k players.

coco

I actually agree in part with *both* Cris and Coco on this issue.

I personally cannot stand the fact that more do not take advantage of the forums. My only thought is that many people in SL are not common to the online "gaming" and therefore are not used to using the forums as their medium for the majority of infomation and announcements from both the host and the residents. I am forever doing searches that produce answers for those who are new to the boards and have questions.

I love helping, and I am grateful that at least some will ask questions even if they are not yet familiar with "search". But I still make it a main thing in my helping of new people (both when I was a mentor) and even now, of directing them to the website and forums for detailed and up to date answers for many questions.

With Coco I do agree that *some* of the biggest announcements are way too deep in the forums for most to find. If you are new to forums, it can be daunting to try and find out where these answers are. And sometimes people are too shy to ask. So some really do find out that something exists that they did not know was there, but they find out about it long long after the fact.

My solution would be: Continue to encourage new users to make use of the website and forums. Stress that it is the best way for them to stay up to date on SL. And for LL to make a *special* section for announcements that are "ongoing". Such as submitting pictures for the website, content for the teen grid, the ability to rent the vehicle sims, the ability to get video linden to video special events, etc.

I think that could help solve a lot of issues. My thoughts of course.

. And for LL to make a *special* section for announcements that are "ongoing". Such as submitting pictures for the website, content for the teen grid, the ability to rent the vehicle sims, the ability to get video linden to video special events, etc.

Really good idea!

coco

Give us your content, and don't make any sudden moves.

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Thanks, Blue. I think that special section for ongoing announcements - maybe you could call it "Announcements and Opportunities" - would be great!

coco

thanks Blue. If the word wasn't out, having you post that in this thread certainly will go a long way

Cool.. look forward to my submission of a 'heavy petting' bed!

I'm working on a "You're Not Leaving The House With That On Young Lady" outfit with Toast.

A subsection of the announcements forum for things that are ongoing. To keep such announcements from getting buried under things.

Yessss....sounds ideal. Currently there's no viable way to search for and find announcements that are for ongoing opportunities or issues.

I'll work on this.

Yay!! This will be wonderful! Thanks Pathfinder!

Appreciated by all I'm sure.

Couple of suggestions:

- MOTD announcements during load not to include a URL and instead point people to a place (eg. Forum>Announcement>Topic A).

- Donated content used by Lindens when interacting with those on the Teen Grid be clearly marked as donated whenever possible. So if a Tringo (or Quintzee or whatever) event is held by a Linden, a simple "Game donated by _____" be posted at the site.

Clearly marked as donated - good idea!

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: As this has unfolded, it was explained somewhere that the Tringo game was given to the Linden.

This means that (a) items were solicited and (b) the Tringo was given as a result of that solicitation.

This means that there was nothing amiss in the Linden's bringing in of the Tringo game to the teen grid, as I had feared earlier.

These changes to the forum discussed above by Pathfinder and Pendari (along with Csven's idea of labeling the items), should help immensely in avoiding misunderstandings in future, and a thread like this won't happen.

coco