Age Verification can't come soon enough!

This is hard to talk about. I have a friend who I've known in SL for three years.. I don't wanna name him, so lets just call him Billy. He's one of my closest friends in SL, we go to the Mall together, hang out at the beach, sometimes we just explore together. He taught me how to make prims in SL and link them. He showed me a place where you can buy horses and even ride a bull! We have long conversations and always IM each other as soon as we log on. I've long since learned to ask his advice before I enter into any important relationship decisions.. he's even interested in what I liked and didn't like about all the boyfriends I've had in the last three years, he's really sweet and caring. I can type and type at him for hours and he never complains. He's a great listener too.

The thing is, how well do you really know someone you meet in SL? We all assume that the person behind the AV is pretty similar IRL. Personality shines through, right? If someone is a guy playing a girl or something then there are always clues, thats what I always assumed. I've heard of people being taken in and one day finding out that the AV they knew, isn't really like that IRL.

Call me naive, maybe, but I've always assumed that all the AVs I've met in the last three years were pretty much the same IRL. Sure, some of them looked a little weird, but I see people like that hanging in the Mall IRL. I did wonder why there were so many cute girls playing SL and none of them seemed to look as plain as me.

I heard about Roleplaying, but to me that's what I do when I res my expensive car (that I don't own IRL), or manage my own house. I didn't think anyone would basically lie about themselves in SL.

Which brings me back to "Billy". Sure, I always thought he was a little short, but I didn't think anything of it. We'd be out shopping, or we'd be sitting on the beach watching the sun set, and it didn't seem to matter. We discussed politics and swapped stories about our real lives (and now I wonder how many of his stories were true) and I never had any clue that something was wrong. He'd even be willing to talk about girly things that guys usually don't talk to me about, like how I love to wear a dress on a hot summer evening, how I color coordinate my smalls with my outfit before I go out, and how I choose which scented shower gel to use. He's always taken an interest in me.

I even txted him a photo of me from my cellphone to show him I look pretty similar IRL, he never sent one back, but I kept this photo of him in SL, if I did this right:
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb271/LornaLanguish/billy1.jpg
but hey, I was brought up not to go on looks, he always seemed a sweet, mature, guy.

But then, yesterday. My friend IMed me and said she didn't think Billy was actually 38 like he'd told me, and that maybe he wasn't even 18. She said he'd told her that himself. I was shocked, and refused to consider it. I told my friend, I've never met anyone under 25 who could recite the poems of Wilfrid Owen, or who knew who the 7th President of the USA was. She said, "Lorna hun, um.. google??? doh!" and suddenly I had this sick feeling in my tummy, and began to have doubts. Surely this guy I'd known for three years couldn't turn out to be less than half his age?? No way! But I had to be sure. And I was racking my brains - had I ever kissed him in-game? Was I going to go to jail?

Finally, after it seemed forever, he logged into SL, and I immediately IMed him and demanded an explanation for what my friend had told him. I demanded to know who he was really, and proof of his age, and a photo so I could be sure of what he really looked like. Ok, maybe I jumped on him a bit, so that wasn't likely to get the most polite response, but I was upset. At first he just said "???" so I ended up flat out accusing him of being under 18 and demanded proof and pictures.

And this was his reply. I've read it three times now, and I don't actually see a denial of the accusation, so as much as it breaks my heart, I have to say my friends claims have now made me somewhat suspicious:



As you can see, his cute accent comes across in his messages, but he explained about that - his parents are from Transylvania or something, thats why he sometimes does strange things. Shows how paranoid this has made me, now I'm even wondering if all that's even true either!

Please prevent anyone else being as confused as I feel right now, and implement Age Verification immediately to prevent any doubts like I have from happening to anyone else.

Take Care,
Lorna.

Age verification isnt really going to help with this, tho at least you'll know you've been duped by an adult.

Hey up I'm suspicious of Lorna now, anyone who can do the L33T txt talk thing that well can't be over 18!

...but I didn't write that...

I would never, ever consider a relationship "SL only". You just don't know.

I met my current partner in SL, and yes we spoke outside of SL (yahoo chat and eventually skype) before swapping pictures and agreeing to meet - we are only about 3 hours apart geographically real life.

It worked out, and we've been together nearly 5 months now - but spending time in SL is to us something that is an enhancement to our relationship for the times when we can't be physically together (no, I haven't moved yet!). But we don't "pixel bump" in SL, and I never would because you really don't know what is behind the computer until you meet them in real life.

It's a very difficult thing to be able to decide without knowing either of you ... but from that 'l33t' response, I would be very surprised if the individual you have had a 'relationship' with was over 15.

If the thing he likes most about you is your 'hot boobies' on your pixellated self.. that's really not much of a relationship is it? Kids tend to concentrate on 'physical' aspects of a person (after all, it's still new to them) and personality is, almost, irrelevant.

Could I ask you how old you are? You say he claims to be 38... I'm 34 in real life and don't talk that way; back when I was at the age to use 'l33tsp34k' like that (annoying as it is), Google was a mail-in service.

Broccoli

You're my hero... *snif*

I'm in awe

Now come on, that's not fair. Hot Boobies are like Kryptonite to a hetrosexual male from mid teens till ...well forever!

Why does the quote in the OP say "Originally Posted by Haxxorz Scriptkiddy"?

Something not quite right about this story.

Sometimes you can even meet them IRL and still not really know whats is behind the computer screen.

Relationships of ANY kind are tricky, moreso in SL maybe, but IRL too.

NO amount of verification is ever going to change that.

if your relationship with him was as nice and as innocent as you say, why do you even care if he under 18? it wasnt romantic or sexual, he helped you out with this and that, was always a friend...

This one is really reeling them in.

LOL!

They obviously have not seen Lorna's other post.

/327/65/184531/1.html

LOL! Lorna, you rock!

I talked to 'billy' last nite and he sent me this photo, swears its the 'real deal'



http://www.cs.brown.edu/~bcz/pics-5-10-01/duh.2.jpg

It's Pippin!!!!!

Awww, that explains everything!!

LOL -

This ones more Sarcasm then Satire - which is funny since this one got more beleivers than the other one.

Yes 'leg puller' Lorna definitely puts allot of time and effort into her (or his) posts. Most enjoyable

I'm sorry - a 38 year old man who types like that? Good christ what is the world coming to?

I'm going on record calling BS on this entire story.

EDIT:

Actually, I guess I'm going on record as having egg on face. Can't believe I was that gullible.

LOL

wow.

Just... wow.

Im laughing so hard i have a tummy ache lol

No wonder Dreamz thought people would believe him.

Of course I knew that wasn't his real name, I didn't get a choice about my name either and had to choose a surname from a list, I assume it was the same for him too.

As I explained, "Billy" told me his parents were from Transylvania, thats why his writing and behaviour was sometimes eccentric.

Its okay Zaphod, it WAS a pretty sneaky post.

But that Picture hehe