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Second Life Blogs Teen Grid & Adult Grid to Merge?!
Posted 7/1/2009 9:34:14 PM by Slick Munro - [Show All My Posts] This rumor has been floating around for months, but the following piece of information recently appeared on a blog post from Linden Labs:
— If you haven't yet noticed, the industrious people on the Teen Grid have sent an entire region across the age gap for our amusement. The Region is named (appropriately) SL6B Teen. It has appended itself to the side of the main event, and can be reached by a causeway from SL6B Polaris. It's a lovely piece of work, and the Teens are undoubtedly the Future of Virtual Worlds. Come see how they are going to knock you off your pedestal, gramps.
If the two grids do merge (since the teens are the future of SL), I for one might not be sticking around much. Legally speaking, the rules of the grid will have to change. You can't have anything above a PG rating if you're going to allow minors and adults to mix.
I've read that some merchants are looking forward to the idea of having more teen consumers (read: frivolous spenders) come into the grid, but I'm not sure if they're considering the possible number of adults who would leave simply because they could no longer be adults.
And I'm not talking about X-rated stuff, either. I'm talking about excessive censorship all the way down to watching what we say, when we say it, and to whom we say it. Consider that in movies, certain obscenities are listed as different ratings. For instance, use the F-word once in a movie and you can get a PG-13 rating; use it twice and you then have to make the movie rated-R. If you want a PG grid for everyone, you can't use that word anywhere, anytime.
I, for one, won't feel like going to a club and knowing that the only thing I can discuss is math homework and Hannah Montana.
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Forward to Friend | Comments (6)
Readers Comments 1. From reading that statement, it just looks as though the teens are sending a sim over to exhibit their skills etc, not that they are merging. :) Posted at 2:56:04 AM on 7/2/2009 by David Jacobs | 2. If the teen grid merges, I'll be completely and utterly outraged. (NO TEENS ON MY GRID!) Posted at 4:34:18 AM on 7/2/2009 by Autumn Foxx | 3. The page your link refers to is gone now..... Posted at 5:32:01 AM on 7/2/2009 by *Mir*endel* | 4. teens are already in the adult side of SL. so why bother arguing the point? Posted at 6:14:48 AM on 7/2/2009 by nikki susanto | 5. Hope this works.. here is the link you had before..
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/events/blog/2009/07/01/second-life-birthday-news-review
I just read it.. I just hope this isn't the thin end of the wedge. After all LL seem to sneak things up on the blind side..
Are they now dipping a toe in the water to gauge peoples reactions to a 'mixed grid'? Let's hope not.
My region is currently listed as Mature... it may also be set to not allow anyone under-age to come in, this is something that will no doubt be needed there anyway... this will be after talking to a few people who will be involved with things in the region.
I also am not a favourite of age-play.. not my thing, no doubt it isn't yours either. There's something freaky about it, to me at least.
I am not comfortable with it at all.
So when my region is complete there will be notices telling people do's/don'ts etc, also there will be a level of 'policing' in the region to help people out etc.. as this will be an RP region, adult orientated that is, but I personally do not want 'kiddie' avvies to be in there, the main part of the region will be off limits to them.
I have a club with a store attached to it, in the region but that is another matter, so it looks like we will need to sort out guidelines in the near future.. as we all will no doubt.
So watch out.. Teens/kids coming your way soon? Let's hope not! Posted at 8:34:54 AM on 7/2/2009 by Rorrim | 6. Crispin: LOL
David: That’s what I’m hoping.
Autumn: I agree, and I’ll get to that with my reply to Nikki.
Mirendel, Rorrim: Many thanks. That was my fault. I didn’t realize it at the time but I doubled the “https://” section of the URL. It should work now.
Nikki: There’s a major legal reason to argue the point. I’m not denying that we have teens on the adult grid now, but they’re there by violating the terms-of-service agreement that they clicked on when signing up for SL. They’re there “unofficially.”
But -- and this is a big BUT -- if we merge them, Linden Labs will have to make major content alterations to the grid simply because minors (17 and under) will officially be on the grid. The possibility exists that the entire grid would have to -- legally speaking -- be rated PG, meaning that anything higher than that would have to be removed (censored/banned).
This is a point that has turned into a bit of a disagreement on some of the Xstreet forums right now. One side is focused on the legal aspect and the other side is arguing the social/maturity level. The thing is, only some of us have to worry about the social/maturity issue behind, because not everyone will be interacting with a teen at all given times.
However, everyone will be affected by the legal aspect of a changeover because additional rules and regulations will have to be put in place if Linden Labs wants to avoid any kind of lawsuit or possible violations of laws involving kids.
Consider this: Right now if a teenage girl or boy is propositioned by a 50-year-old man in the adult grid, it’s the teen’s fault for being there in the first place (even though the man would still have to answer for it, too). But, if the grids merge it means that Linden Labs has to be in charge of the rules of the whole grid since it would be an “official” merger. In that case, if that same 50-year-old man propositions a teen, there’s more onus on Linden Labs, as they indirectly “allowed” it to happen.
That is, of course, unless they put additional rules and regulations in place to prevent it and avoid litigation and bad press.
That’s where my concern comes in. It has nothing to do with their age, maturity, or whether they’re on the grid already. If they show up with LL’s permission, massive changes will occur because they’ll have to occur to keep the kids “safe.” Posted at 11:35:15 AM on 7/2/2009 by slick munro |
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