Category: News

I’m not the only one moving.

Ciaran Laval, long-time  friend and SL blogger, has moved as well – or at least his blog is in the process of moving, following what appears to be the shut-down of My 2nd Place.

To keep reading Ciaran’s blog – and it really is worth reading, you can now catch him in a place of his own. But give him time, he’s got a lot of archives to retrieve and post, as well as keeping up with new stuff.

Teen Second Life is officially no more.

What does this mean? Well, it means that those ages 13 to 15, and who are affiliated with an educational / sponsoring organisation will be able to access sims operated by the organisation;  16 and 17 year olds will be free to travel within PG-rated sims; some of those over 17 will continue to have major conniptions and possible fainting spells whenever the word “teenager” is whispered within their earshot – and the rest of us will go about the majority of our business just as we have always done.

To be sure, there are risks involved in having teenagers – or rather “minors”, to use the legal phrase – mixing with “adults” on the Main Grid, and Tateru Nino points them out very well; I still have concerns about the perceptions of those outside of SL as to what is going on with “minors” and “adults” apparently mixing so freely. But neither the risks nor the concerns of external perceptions are in any way a reason to come down so cuttingly on teens themselves – which is precisely what some residents have done.

Indeed, it is fair to stay that there have been many instances where the adult reaction has been nothing short of petulant, childish foot stomping, when all that is required is the implementation of a modicum of common sense on that part of adults the grid over.  As such, it has been fascinating to compare the degree of stroppiness shown by self-confessed “adults” in the forums with the sheer considered, thoughtful and mature posts made by teens themselves.

At the end of the day as I’ve mentioned, and given the numbers involved, unless someone from outside SL does get their pants in a paddy over the merger (the parents of Tateru’s “Little Suzy”, for example, or certain right-wing American senators who seem to have a  – if I might use the phrase I heard so vividly on the TV the other night – “serious weed up their ass” when it comes to SL) life on the Main Grid will continue much as before. No-one will be the subject of a witch hunt; the sky won’t fall in anywhere, and Chicken Little will start hunting for the next crisis that can be turned into a drama.

In the meantime, I’ll join the likes of Daniel Voyager (who has encapsulated a nice little history of the merger) and others in extending a welcome to the newest residents of Second Life.

Terrance Linden, talking to teen on the Teen Grid has confirmed that Teen Second Life will formally close on the 20th January 2011 – my thanks to Blaze Borgin for confirming this.

Doubtless as word seeps out on this matter we’ll see more childish foot stomping, naming-calling, bursts of hystrionics – at least from the adults on the official forums, where most of the adult reaction has been been downright childish. Certainly, many of those about to raise the ramparts, pull up the ladders and shoot fiery arrows at anyone they even suspect is a teenager would do well to reflect on the maturity shown by the likes of Blaze himself when posting on the matter.

I’m sure Blaze isn’t alone in showing this kind of mature objectivity, and it’s pretty much why I’ve continued to take the view that the merger is little more than a storm in a teacup, and that the majority of “grown ups” getting their pants in a paddy really should take a step back…and possibly a valium.

I still stand convinced that overall, the merger will have very little negative impact on the Grid as a whole. Let’s face it, it remains a fact that teens on anything other than PG sim are in violation of the ToS – so ARs remain in force, just as they always have.

And what, precisely, is the problem with adults showing restraint on PG sims? Let’s face it, the ToS and CS also make it clear that sexual acts, nudity and the like are a strict no-no on PG sim – and this has been the case since long before the merger was announced – so is it really that hard for adults to think about where they are and what they are doing and simply moderate their own behaviour just a little more?

Sure, there are some risks – I’ve posted on them myself. Perception is a big one, and in this, LL are taking something of a risk inasmuch as the level of intolerance adults within Second Life have frequently shown towards the “pesky kids” coming into the grid is, sadly, liable to be shared by some adults outside of SL. People of the same ilk as Mark Kirk (R. Illinois), who has already engaged in one anti-SL witch-hunt in his time. No matter what safeguards exist in-world (such as teens not being able to cross from PG to Mature sims on the mainland) do not negate the impression that SL is an “open door” to “innocent” teens being able to look-in on “naughtiness” and “sin”, simply because they can cam into Mature sims. And herein does lie something of a risk – not to individual residents per se, but to SL as a whole; that some of the self-righteous out in the big world will see a campaign in the making here.

But…that said…I’m not sure that even then the sky will totally fall in.

For my part, I’ll continue to see the arrival of teens as nothing major to fret about. The fact that new teen arrivals have apparently been coming onto the Main Grid since late December, rather than being directed solely to TSL seems to have escaped notice, and this has hardly caused any issues other than a few adult noses being put further out of joint. This could be because – as I’ve also posted elsewhere, SL simply won’t have the mass appeal to teenagers some within LL appear to believe, and as such, the teen-to-adult ratio in the main Grid will remain low.