Teen Second Life

Teen Second Life was a version of Second Life reserved for teenagers, running on the so-called "Teen Grid." It was officially opened to the public on February 14, 2005 for people aged 13–17 to use Second Life, without entering false information to participate in Second Life (reserved for people aged 18 and over). On January 1, 2006, Teen Second Life's operating hours were increased to 24 hours a day, whereas it was previously open only from noon to 10 pm Pacific Time.

Teen Second Life
Developer(s)Linden Research, Inc
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
ReleaseFebruary 14, 2005

On August 14, 2010, during the sixth annual Second Life Community Convention in Boston, Philip Rosedale announced the impending closure of the Teen Grid, scheduled for December 31.[1][2] He attributed the decision to close the grid to the confusion of handling development and improvement of both the Main Grid and the Teen Grid. See Also

On January 21, 2011 Linden Lab transferred accounts, inventory and land held by residents 16 and older. People who were under 16 were put on hold till their 16th birthday, when they were transferred into the regular Second Life. Any Land still owned by anyone under 16 was auctioned off. Terrence Linden advised people who are 16 to sell their land and cash the linden dollars out to real dollars. People who were 16 and 17 could only access general content until they turned 18 and could access mature content.

Access

Teen Second Life has closed and can no longer be accessed. Linden Lab did, however, import the "Teen Grid Mainland" so people can see what Teen Second Life once was. The main grid was 18+ but because of the Teen Second Life closure, Linden Lab has allowed 16- and 17-year-olds onto the main grid, but restricted them to PG regions only. People aged 13–15 are allowed onto the main grid only via a school project or other related program. There is a protest group on the main grid named Teen Grid Supporters (c) who sometimes go around the mainland getting the "Lindens" attention. The group's aim is to get Linden Lab to reopen Teen Second Life.

Age
  • Teen Second Life users were transferred to Second Life once they turned 18, taking all content and private islands with them.
  • Underage users found to be violating the Terms of Service by accessing Second Life were either transferred to Teen Second Life or restricted from accessing either area entirely. In the case of transfer, all inventory was erased in an effort to prevent Mature content being transferred to Teen Second Life.
  • Overage users found to be violating the Terms of Service by accessing Teen Second Life faced banning from all areas of Second Life (website, TSL and SL)
  • Open Registration was implemented, but quickly removed for Teen Second Life, to increase security against users over age 18 from entering Teen Second Life.
  • Adults were allowed on Teen Second Life on a limited basis, provided they pass a criminal background check. Up to this point, these adults, called approved adults, have all been educators or non-profits. They are required to stay in adult owned islands and may not join teen created groups, nor can they under any circumstances visit the mainland of Teen Second Life. See more in the Educators Working with Teens section of this page.(now any adult can visit the PG continent of Second Life)

Land
  • Teen Second Life is significantly smaller in the size of its userbase, the amount of land and concurrent Resident population at any given time.
  • The Teen Grid is a fraction of the size of the Adult Grid, and has significantly fewer Resident-owned estates.[3]

As of January 2, 2010, the Teen Grid had 93 Mainland regions, 7 resident-owned estates, and 97 educational/project estates.

Content
  • The Teen Community Standards prohibit mature content, including strong language, strong graphic violence and nudity.[4]
  • As well as social spaces, education groups are exploring the potential of Teen Second Life as a learning space. See section below.
  • Teen Second Life has a few small 'military' groups, organized to stage various wars in the Teen Grid's few combat sims. Members of these groups comprise a significant portion of the overall population.
  • In regular Second Life, you are able to have graphic sex, but the TOS limit this to adult rated regions where teens have no access (though many try, risking getting their accounts suspended or banned to do so).

Economy
  • Teen Second Life has somewhat different economy compared to Second Life. Land prices and in-world object prices are known to be different, as the average income for the people that play these grids differs.
  • LindeX (The Linden Lab endorsed trading service), however, takes from the same pool of Linden Dollars (L$) for both Second Life and Teen Second Life.
  • Teen Second Life economy revolves around avatars, accessories, weapons, armies, scripts, and land barons (Residents who squat land in order to resell it, usually at an inflated price). The majority of Teen Second Life's residents are basic accounts without weekly stipends, so the L$ has slightly, nearly significant, more value on Teen Second Life than on Second Life, but due to lesser demand on content, content can be bought for significantly less than on Second Life (Comparing sources such as Second Life economy and Teen Second Life economy + Content). For example, a "Second Life-quality" car with similar features can cost L$100 (100 Linden Dollars) on Teen Second Life, while it may cost up to L$1,000 (1,000 Linden Dollars) on Second Life.

Performance

Teen Second Life shares asset server space with Second Life, and both are equally affected by unusually heavy concurrency or database issues.

Educational projects

Linden Lab allows educators to enter Teen Second Life to set up projects on islands they buy or by participating in Campus:TSL, a Linden Lab run program that provides free land to middle school and secondary educators on a short-term basis.

The educational projects in Teen Second Life fall into two categories; those that are accessible to all residents of Teen Second Life (public projects), and those accessible to teens associated with a particular project in 'real life' (private projects). These private projects are most often inaccessible to Teen Second Life residents.

Public projects
  • Global Kids Island – a place for teen residents to learn about important social and world issues. It was created and is run by Global Kids, a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to developing youth to become global citizens and community leaders. Global Kids was the first educational organization to enter Teen Second Life, opening an island in March 2006 when it hosted a digital media essay contest, created the SL version of the Save Darfur charity wristband campaign, and brought in a real world photo exhibit from students it worked with in Brooklyn, NY. In the summer of 2006, it held Camp GK, a four-week intensive program where Teen Second Life residents engaged in workshops on foreign policy and human rights issues. In the fall of 2006, it partnered with UNICEF to host the World Fit For Children Festival, and invited media scholar Henry Jenkins to give a lecture/dance party where he spoke about media and learning. In the academic year of 2006, a real world machinima program, the Virtual Video Project, and a real-world gaming program, Playing 4 Keeps, both using TSL, were launched in New York City schools as after school programs. These projects were Global Kids' first uses of Teen Second Life with students in a face to face educational setting.

References
  1. Denise Harrison (September 1, 2010). "The End of the Virtual World". THE Journal.
  2. Pixeleen Mistral (August 14, 2010). "Teen Grid Closing – Philip Linden Red Eyed". The Alphaville Herald.
  3. "Map of Second Life". Linden Lab. May 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  4. "Teen Second Life Community Standards". Linden Lab. Archived from the original on 2006-12-01. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
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