How do you feel about a possible Teen Grid/Main Grid merger? Do you want to play SL with people under 18? Do you think this will have positive effects for current SL residents or negative effects?
[poll id=”25″]
About Post Author
Teens on the Main Grid
I’m a bit wary about merging and making the grid available to all ages. Concerns about censorship come to mind and would things feel that more restricted. I already invested $ to own a private sim where I can make things in peace with no worries of someone dropping in and going net-nanny on my creative whims.
I have a feeling it may happen though. And when it does, I think I’ll restrict my movements in the grid to Adult or Moderate places. But even then, just the thought of encountering children on a regular basis in SL drains me. Not fun.
I could see why a lot of people wouldnt want people under 18 on the main grid..but I’d love to show my brother around sl..he’d love ozimals and a few other things it would offer…not all of us are into just the SL sex scene and I think it would be better for parents and their children to play together instead of seperately. Another virtual chat thats similiar to SL but not as good (imvu) mixes teens and adults. It has its flaws but I think its nice that you could chat as a family etc.
Tori do you really think junior wants to “play’ with mom and dad on the grid.
I dont think a 16 year old wants to “play’ with an adult watching over them.
Given the level of maturity I see from most people in SL, I thought I was already playing SL with people under 18.
I know! It’s disappointing when I run into a whiny player who turns out to be twice my age.
@ Tori:
I don’t think that was the question. Teens coming/merging with the Adult grid is a bad idea in all forms.
1) It would cause even more griefing
2) Most places would shut thier sims down to Age verified only
3) Sim owners would close off to general public and only offer group access
4) Exploring other sims would cause even more lag, simply because (and no offense to anyone), when adults tell children “not” to do something, they do “it”.
My Comments:
As a sim owner. I would shut mine down to Age virified only AND Group Access ONLY. As I don’t feel that my paid sim, I must put up with childish garbage.
On the other hand, it would help the adult grid economy, but tbh, that would be about it.
If you know anything about sims and how and what to look for, even adults can’t come to respect other sim owners’ sims! Mega scripted shoes & boots with NO MOD so you cannot take the scripts out. Mega scripted hair that you can take scripts out, but most do not.
All the breedables that people JUST have to have kills a sim (physics and scripted).
yes.. what’s cute or pretty, causes lag.
Once sim owners with mega scripted sims, learn how to use thier sims to their advatage and some creators being selfish, then it will become a better place to explore. Until then. We all have to do out part. Stop wearing meaga scripted things and then complain about the lag! D’oH!
Not a lashing, just my comments.
Jacob
Not just scripts cause lag…too many prims, sculpties, and mega prims can also. I get that you dont like scripted animals. Everyone likes different things. I own ozimal bunnies and they do not create as much lag as people try to say. A lot of men (assuming your male since your name is jacob) dont think they are worth the portion of lag (not as much as you’d think) for cuteness…just us “silly” girls would lag for the sake of cuteness…My bunnies are not just cuteness for me they are my business and they way I earn Linden. To say that teens would grief more..it could happen but I’ve met MANY adults that act terrible, and “children” are a lot smarter then most adults give them credit for. If you dont want greifers, turn off rez/scripts. That will stop a good portion of them. If I were to bring my brother to SL (if the grids merged) I’d watch over him and make sure he wouldnt cause problems. Some parents might like to bring their kids into sl and see all amazing that are suitable for them (theme parks, clothing stores, ozimals, games etc) theres a lot to SL other then just “adult” things. I for one dont go to adult sims offen because I’m not in sl for slexing really. I for one like my primmy jewelry, scripty bunnies, etc. I know that when I’m going to a laggy place (a fair, hunt, certain stores) etc to prim down and de-hud/script and still lag because a lot of avi’s in one place lag regardless of what they are wearing. But tbh I pay a good amount (same as any renter/sim owner) to do what I please on my land. I dont tell you what to do on our land because I dont own your land or pay your rent. If someone would pay my weekly tier then they do have say over what is on my land. I dont think its about being selfish. If you pay for it with money you bought or worked for you have the right to have what you want on your land. If you dont like lag then dont go to laggy places or quit complaining and just wait to rez.
Enough said.
I was a teen on the main grid for a while before I actually did realize I wasn’t allowed there LOL.
Let’s blame my English skills or whatever – I didn’t understand what could be so horrible on the main grid.
What I saw on SL back then was nothing from what I’ve seen elsewhere. Now this is an American platform and I’ve learnt that Americans tend to be way more sensitive and conservative than Swedes. (Not all, I know, but hey, many?)
I don’t think there’re any risks with merging them together now, not all adult stuff has moved to Zindra but the majority has and the special clubs which were the worst in my opinion.
People shouldn’t be so narrow minded and I don’t think that teens would create lots of problems such as griefing – I know we adults handle that perfectly well ourselves. In general I’m for gender and age mixing as it gives interesting results, fun conversations and both has something to gain/learn from the other
Unfortunately, a lot of people on SL are narrow minded.
Especially the ones who assume ALL teens are immature.
Adults are immature too.
There’s already teens on the main grid, what difference what it make? It just shows that some people don’t like the truth in their faces. Especially those who use SL to escape their boring lives.
I think merging the grids is a great move. They should have never restricted the content on the teen grid to just teen grid content. If teen grid residents had access to some main grid merchants, the teen grid could have thrived. I think this move overall is good for everyone. I’m not babysitting other folks kids though.
I’m an ex-TG resident.
The Teen Grid is terrible. It started on a good basis but it was so badly taken care of that it became a bad place for teens to be. LL doesn’t have the time or resources to devote to having two grids.
I can’t wait to see a lot of my friends again and am totally for it. My only real issue with it is that so many 13 to 15 year olds are going to be booted, and those include some people I know and like.
Sorry for the mini rant here haha.
For legal reasons, I don’t think teens should have unrestricted access to the main grid (not that 90% of them don’t already play here), but something really needs to be done about teens in second life. Very few teens actually play on the teen grid. The max concurrent user count is probably around 300-500 avatars, and not going up.
I’ve been on secondlife for about 5 years now, and the first 2 and a half years were spent on the teen grid… *shudders*… For content creators the teen grid is an absolute nightmare. There are very few residents, and most teens don’t have a way to purchase linden, so they depend on other teens to rip content from here and send it around on full permissions. (yay freebies) A lot of the items for sale are stolen too, because there’s no good way to them to be caught.
I think some people would be surprised by what designers are currently teens or were underage when they opened their stores here. I feel like reporting them would be some form of unfair punishment. I just wish there was a legal way for them to participate over here without giving them unrestricted access to the grid and its all its adult rated glory.
OH, I hadn’t gotten the whole story when I posted this. Is it really certain that LL is letting them on the grid? because its been discussed so many times, and Philip has brought things up like this before in the past but nothing’s changed.
Also this huge influx of noobs, spammers, and griefers everyone seems to be predicting doesn’t exist. There are almost no teen grid residents. The chances of even running into a former teen gridder is slim to none.
“According to Linden Lab statistics, Teen grid avatars make up less than one percent of active Second Life users.”
Like Lashy, I’d only be concerned about censorship/legal issues. I wonder how all this will even be accomplished?
“I think some people would be surprised by what designers are currently teens or were underage when they opened their stores here.”
Sometimes you can tell just by looking at a person’s store. There’s a very stark difference in mentality, use of color, design, etc. I honestly think younger players have a ton to offer as far as clothing ideas and we would ultimately benefit, but for safety concerns I hope the Lindens make sure they can’t get into places where they shouldn’t be.
Totally against. SL is one of the few online places I have that don’t have to deal with 13 year olds acting, well, their age. Don’t like ’em on Facebook, but at least I can avoid them there.
Very no.
There are already plenty of teens on the MG. Its not hard for most to use their parents information to age verify, and there are many that don’t even bother with that.
I worry about the general release of teens into the MG, because there are a lot of nasty people on the MG that would love to take advantage of them.
I also worry because the majority of the most annoying people I know are underaged.
However, there was a lot of innovation on TG, and a lot of the best scripting I’ve come across were talented teens that moved onto the MG. It could be amazing to have some of their pure talent coming through.
No kids…oh please no kids. With some of the things I see scouring the grid, the main grid is not the place for them.
Hello everyone-
So I’m a current TG user, and I for one am completely against the merge. I come on this site for inspirations for my designs and I try to learn from MG sites. I saw this blog post and decided to comment.
Anyway, from our understanding on TG, TG will close and people 16+ will move to MG. Not 13+. I’m 16 in 2 months, so if this in fact did occur, I would be transferring. I do not want to go off TG, and a lot of my friends don’t want to leave either. We like our small community of users. Thats not to say that a lot of people are not extremely happy about the move for various reasons. I for one am not happy about it because I wanted to improve my design and creation skills on TG before I moved to MG. I also like being able to relax and know that I’m with people my age. MG is big and full of people (of course) 18+. This is a bit intimidating in my opinion. I see how many adults don’t want us to come for reasons like maturity and such, but I believe that the teens that are in fact immature, can be dealt with quite easily by asking them to stop, or just by talking to them in a mature fashion. Thats not to say that that will work for everyone, but it works for me. Being someone who likes to conduct myself in a mature fashion, I know that there are trolls and such on TG, but a lot of us are mature and strive for success on TG. I just wanted to say that if this in fact happens, everyone should try to give TG residents a chance, because I don’t want to be judged for being under 18, and being placed in the “stupid kid” category.
Thank you listening, I’d like to hear your responses if you want (:
I’ll be sure to respond.
-Morgan
I really dont have a problem so much with 16yr olds being there, I dont think they will cause anymore problems than the immature 18+ residents, what I am concerned about is the parents of those 16yr olds who never take responsibility for what their teens do. Those parents that will wig out if they find out one of their darlings cammed in on someone on my sim having a “private moment”. The parents will of course blame LL or me not themselves for making sure their kids stayed in the areas they were supposed to..I dont think LL or the residents should have to police or babysit for parents who are irresponsible yet expect us to ensure their darlings stay pure. If LL can absolutely ensure the 16-17 year olds wont have access to the mature or adult areas then fine, but I have a feeling this is just a lawsuit in the making from some parent who will want to sue SL for corrupting their little darling that became a SL escort to raise money.
Also I do have concerns over the adults their that might prey on the underage kids. I know some under 18years olds are alreadyon the grid but at least now LL has a legal leg to stand on. LL can now say it was only for adults , but with the additions of teens LL will have to explain and defend why a kid allowed on the grid was able to get in restricted areas etc.
I could go on forever about this topic lol
I don’t think it will be to much of an issue to have teens on the maingrid, but it would be a great if there would be like a mandatory ID, such as * Underaged Resident * or so in their profiles.
But that could cause issues as well with some pervy adults who may target underaged residents into some not so harmless convo and ban hammers would be put in effect for teens and adults.
But generally speaking… I don’t mind at all.
I’m struggling with an irritating 18 year old male RP’er where I Rp at the moment.
In my Rl workplace, we have several males from 18-20 years old and well, they’re difficult to work with as their focus in life, their ‘life’ in general, is so often things that are … I duno, once you’ve been through it, you’ve been through it and its boring? Fad like?
I don’t want to have to deal with people LESS mature than 18 year olds, I really dont even want to deal with 18 year olds!
There are SO many games, places etc for under 18’s, I don’t understand why we cannot just stay seperate!
Let’s make that “I don’t want to play with children under 18 under LL’s idea of supervision”, because I do believe in LL that they will manage to make this merge as painful as possible for everyone who’s involved. Perhaps not even intentionally trying their worst, but since you can easily say that they did nothing but lie when people asked if a grid merge was on the horizont, they simply cannot be trusted in this regard.
I see this as a bad idea not for griefing or how teens may come across ‘slex’. I see this as the first step to restricting what I can do as a non-teen. With the assumption that their are no teens on the main grid we can actually use our inherent rights to things like free speech. I’ve been a tester for MMO’s for over 15 years, any ‘general access’ MMO’s get restricted. language filters because god forbid someone would swear, content filters because all sorts of topics aren’t ‘fit’ for teens (an american view mostly), and other crap. I’ve worked at a school in the US to, and I’ve seen what we are tasked to not talk about, do, or hear without reporting. ‘Slex’ is the smallest portion.
Right now of course their are teens in SL, but as long as LL can say ‘we restrict them from being here’ they aren’t forced by the censors to do much of anything. Merging the grids would mean having to deal with the fact that censorship is required by law when they are allowed in. I really doubt LL will find some way to make censors happy in PG areas and not in Mature or adult areas. I’m anti-censorship in the first place, but the US is a Nanny State and their never seems to be a way to fix that once it’s started.
I was developing for Blue Mars, but the censorship there drove me away. Every item made had to be approved before it could be sold in world or even just used in world. Alot of that is from their 13+ stance. Way to many devs not making clothing or skins were happy with those restrictions, but they really don’t get it. It had language filters to and tons and tons of bugs on both developer and user sides. I don’t want to see SL become BM.
I completely agree in this respect. I have absolutely no problem really with teens being in the MG. I certainly remember what i got into on the net when i was a teen, and the way some adults act now…well…no worse than what everyone is fearing from teens. I am more worried about what LL will start implementing for censorship cause we have to coddle the teens who probably know more about adult stuff than many adults i know. Look at the debacle with Zindra, though i can’t be sure how strict LL is actually being with stores that maybe should have moved to Zindra and haven’t yet, but that was all done without the thought of teens, so i hate to see what new restrictions and stuff they will come up with now that they are making it legal for teens to be in SL and aren’t just pretending that the age verification was working to keep them out.
I am 16, and a current designer in teengrid.
I for one would love to escape the walls of teengrid. As a designer, I would love to explore maingrid and learn how people make things with so much detail, like I see on Juicybomb. In my opinion, as my goal is to get into a graphics design program in college in the future, and second life helps me sharpen my skills, and techniques, I think joining maingrid with teens would benifit teenagers who are actually into design and have goals such as graphics design and 3-d modeling. We can learn how adults, who probably have been using the programs we use such as blender and photoshop, make amazing things, and help us. So we get better in the future.
I’ve been a part of a group organization, promoting creation of content and anti copybotting in teengrid. Its depressing, seeing beautiful hair from maingrid and people stealing it because we have no access to it. Personally I don’t wear copybotted stuff because Its an insult to the designer to be stolen from and that object worn by anyone, for free. I’ve had Kids steal from me. And I’m in teengrid.
Trolls are unaviodable in any website, and not just second life, other games on the internet there are trolls, there are trolls on youtube, facebook, myspace, trolls on online gaming, online chatrooms, ect. Its just going to happen, if your an adult or not. Teens aren’t the only trolls. I’ve met quite a few 30 year olds who like to pick on people because it’s “Funny”.
I understand that “Slex” as adults call it is an issue and people are worried about adult content getting in the hands of teens or legal issues with talking to teens and not as many freedoms as you may wish. Unfortunately, teenagers have alrady been introduced to “Slex”. I’ve had many teens who are new come up to me and ask me and a few people standing around, how to do it with someone. I say you can’t. Thats a lie teens can. Other teens say, “Oh here” and give them a sex bed. tell them to go to the sandbox. and say good luck and pat them on the back. If adults are mainly worried about censoring the kiddies like they’ve been saying, they might as well just censor every foul word that comes out of a teens mouth and find everything in their inventories, and remove it and make it so we can only say “Hello, how are you” “yes” “no” like Disney’s Toontown Online. (If you’ve played ever you’d understand what I mean. You have no detail in what your saying you can only choose the default sentances) I personally am against “Slex” for the reason, I’m just not into that kind of thing, guess its because I’m young and I’m not into pixel people and dogs having sex. But hey thats just me.
But hey think of it this way, if you have joined any other virtual community website, game, ect. Most likely you have interacted with a teenager. No, Linden labs is not thinking of throwing 13 year old middle schoolers into the big Maingrid pool. (personally I would love to get away from 13 year olds also <3). You've probably met a decent 16 year old teenager or 17 year old teenager in those games also. Most internet websites, people cyber, such as typing wise and kids get a hold of bad stuff they shouldn't, . Think of it this way. Lindens aren't complete idiots, they aren't throwing you 13-15 year olds . They are throwing you 16 and 17 year olds who don't even make up most of teengrid. Your not getting the entire teengrid but just a portion of it. I for one would love to go to maingrid for the opprotunities in learning and design. It would help me learn as would, a few other designers I know from teengrid.
I would love to have my few friends under the age of 16 come with if this happens, but again the way they've been acting towards this entire situation, as adults, I'm not sure either are mature enough. But thats just me.
Also if you don't want to talk to teens if the grids merge, ask the person your talking to if they are a teen and if they say yes, ignore them, then stay in your age verified adult + mature sims.
Thank you very much for your time,
Killie.
I, myself, am a resident on the Teen Grid. My mom however plays the Main Grid and I have seen it and must say I cannot wait to transfer. I have never supported copybotting and never wore items. I think that many of you are stereotyping us “teenagers” as immature, brats who take this game for granted. However, I do know of MANY people on the teen grid who embrace it and use it to their advantage.
For example, we have a program going around Teen Grid called “The Endeavor” to welcome new players into the game and teaching them the basic building, designing and scripting skills to help them thrive in the game. If you guys would just appreciate the teens that DO act mature, I think the merge is a good idea. I think that it will open new doors for designers. (As for myself, I am a designer.) I also think that the copybotting rate will go down since the grid is so big and most things are copybotted from the Main Grid anyways.
As for the 16 and over, I’m SURE there will be people from TG that aren’t old enough but will still make an account to access the Main Grid. As for that aspect, I think that maybe they should have parents permission or parent proof. Some kind of contract that the parents will have to read over, and agree to. For example, they must agree to the teen seeing explicit things on the Main Grid since there are many things on MG not suitable for teens. That’s just my opinion and I think the merge, for right now, is a nice idea.
now if there was a way to truly assure a contract like you speak of was valid and if the parents agreed to take full responsibility for anything their little darlings might see or do, I would have no problem at all with 16-17 year olds being there. My concerns are more about the irresponsible whining parents and the censorship they would try to enforce over the whole grid. Also many of the residents on my sim are not age verified and dont want to be because they dont want LL having their RL info. They like anonymity. If I have to be forced to only have age verified that may cause some of my residents to leave.
On another note dont kid yourself that only restricting them to a pg grid will keep them away from any slex or other stuff. I am sure even on the teen grid they have text cyber like a sex phone line would have. I think the key is that the parents need to realize that a huge portion of their darlings are having oral sex in RL and that a cartoon avie doing anything is the least of their problems , but there again it all comes down to parents taking responsiblity for their kids and not expecting others to keep them safe.
Teens on the main grid can only be a good thing for the fashion industry in SL. My 17 yr old is already saving up to get to the stores in the Japanese sims.
I’m also a teen grid resident! You may know me from forum posts. Since I’ve spent the past five days basically talking to everyone about the merge, what I will say is simply this:
1. Merge= good idea in general. TG sucks. Too much content theft and stagnancy.
2. Age restrictions = seems half baked. Obviously it’s 16+ for legal reasons but it is really not smart on LL’s part. Every 13, 14 and 15 year old will just make an account on MG to be with the friends LL is rippin away from them.
3. STEREOTYPE BASHING HERE
4. Don’t worry! We’ll only be in PG sims. You can all run away to M and A sims if that is so frightening, but how much self censorship do you expect to do on sims already rated PG?
Im a teen and ill admit i use the teen grid and the adult grid even tho im not supposed to,but what most of you are saying is true. Playing on teen grid i notice all i see on there is spam and d**k’s everywhere. To move all that over to the adult grid is unfair to those who want a getaway from the teen grid.
First of all, all of you adults take this game way too seriously. You obviously have no real life so you go to second life to have virtual sex since you can’t get laid in real life. And to the adults that say “theres things that are too innapropriate for teens to see on the main grid” seriously? we all know what a penis is we’re not 6 years old. Yeah theres sex on second life for those who cant get it in real life, i dont need a game to have sex. And most teens ARENT IMMATURE. the adults are the immature ones for creating all the disgusting crap in second life. Us teens arent desparate for sex. i mean really just call a hooker and let her do her job. teens see second life as a GAME while adults see it as a new LIFE. you were the cause to make your first life suck so stop trying to find an escape and actually make it better.
noo I dont wanna play with 18 year or younger.. 🙂
I don’t want teenagers on Second Life.
First off, Meagan, I believe you’re a strong example of exactly why we shouldn’t merge. There can be many reasons why one might see Second Life as a new beginning. I can think of several phobias, for example, as well as other issues one might have. Second Life can be a learning experience. Besides, most people do use ‘games’ as an ‘escape. Please, stop the hostility, improve your grammar and punctuation, and people might want teenagers on the Main Grid.
I’m going to forgo everything about teenagers and their personalities. First off, not everyone is going to like everybody. Second off, there are some mature teens. Third off, I know several in their forties as well as their twenties that are just as annoying. However, I really don’t think we should bring the teens out into the open. They’re going to be on the Main Grid probably anyways. However, I don’t want to have a lot of them breaking up things and then going, “You take this too seriously! It’s just a game!!111oneoneone!!!!”
Yes, they’d be good for the economy. They’d give many designers a few more sales. However, they might also end up restricting things. Now, I’m not talking about ‘slex’ and all their items and whathaveyou. I’m talking about speech and possibly Mummy and Daddy making it where Linden Labs sides with the teen instead of the adult in any altercation.
I’d really like to not age-verify and run away to adult sims just to get away from people. I don’t like anyone having too much of my information. I don’t trust people. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to just enjoy a nice outing with a friend without worrying that there’s going to be a teenager around whose parents you might offend. Also, like it’s been pointed out, there’s likely going to be a lot of 13 year olds signing up to the Main Grid. Not that there couldn’t be before, but I like the idea in my head that I won’t have to deal with them. I am not in favor of anything that sends more of them my way.
Moreover, if they make it where I have to do scripted chat in a PG sim, well that’s just the end of it. I don’t want to have to go to a mature sim to have my own discussion just because someone may curse or say something sexual that might, again, offend the parents.
So, all in all, it’s not so much having them here as what restrictions Linden Labs may impose.