DISQUS

Gabe · 3 years ago

Children can see R-rated movies, provided their parents accompany them to the theater. SL might want to allow exceptions for adult supervised play. I would think that avoids both the liabilty and the parents' objections problem.

IMO, they really should return your money too.

dendrite · 3 years ago

That's asinine. Yes, the minor is publicly on SL, but the minor is also being publicly monitored by his father and other adults. There needs to be some room for interpretation. "Threat of lawsuit" is justifying some real jackassery in the policy department.

John Dowdell · 3 years ago

"We have to apologize to Linden Labs and appeal their decision and promise not to break the rules anymore."

You won't break *their* rules, and they won't break your rules, or else you wouldn't want to be their customer anymore anyway... that's the way it works out, right...?

Joe · 3 years ago

I'm really sorry you and your son got banned and wish that Second Life was mature enough to provide a place for you to work together online. However, all respect to Linden Labs for sticking to their guns and banning you, knowing full well what a public decision that would be. Also, all respect to you for blogging about it.

Robert Scoble · 3 years ago

Dendrite: it's not assinine. If I were in their shoes I'd ban me too. Sorry, a $30 million lawsuit is what's assinine.

Jack · 3 years ago

Well, I have no respect for Second Life for doing this, because it's a clear triumph of rules over good sense.

You should be teaching your son that rules are important... *when* the rules make sense. It's your kid, so no one can tell you how to raise him, but here's my advice:

I wouldn't grovel to Second Life to be let back in. That's endorsing a system which enforces rules blindly, in a way that penalizes legitimate use of their system. It's standard Big Company thinking that is more endemic of systems like the old Microsoft than what should be an innovator like Second Life.

As for your son, it's a good lesson that breaking rules has consequences, but you should also teach him to break dumb rules without getting caught. The world is more interesting when broken systems get subverted.

Richard Livsey · 3 years ago

In an ideal world, with parental consent the issue of a lawsuit should disappear. There should be some way of validating that a minor is playing with the permission of an adult. I just really dislike the idea of parents outsourcing parenting to companies.

PJ at Knowing Art · 3 years ago

Do you think your blog will ever be more popular in Second Life, or is text not as useful inside SL?

Jay Allen · 3 years ago

Yes, it's important to break dumb rules - when it matters. History has been redefined by people breaking dumb rules about race, sex, and class divisions.

But this? Sorry, but it's a video game. More than that, it's Second Life's private property. However dumb the rule may be, SL's dominion ought to be respected.

Jack · 3 years ago

If it were just some random game, I might agree with you. But their whole pitch is that it's your "Second Life". They certainly have the right to terminate Scoble's kid, but man, if I were a kid and wanted onto this service, I wouldn't hesitate to break the rules.

SL is kidding themselves if they think they can have a "world" which is segregated between people under 18 and over 18.

Imagine if they really do become wildly popular -- let's say 1-10 million users. How on earth will they ever scale the 'kid grid' into protecting people from obscene content? Will they hire hundreds of people to scan every pixel for signs of penises?

We as a society need to become less insane with the way we infantilize teenagers, and Second Life as a game needs to stop acting like Microsoft used to.

Chris Hanson · 3 years ago

There are record-keeping and access laws that Linden Labs must comply with for players in certain age brackets - CIPA and COPA. It's why so many online services of every stripe simply don't allow persons under 13 years of age to use them. There are also laws that Linden Labs must comply with for 13-18 year olds but they're a lot less stringent so far as I know.

For example, if they were to allow Patrick to use their service, they would also have to not only keep track of everything he does and creates but they would also have to allow it all to be removed upon his parent or guardian's request. Which is kind of a problem when you're dealing with a participatory world like Second Life, where he could have built something and sold it to someone.

They would also have to take measures to keep him out of and keep him from seeing "indecent" material unless he provides proof of age. That's true period, no matter his age; having two separate worlds makes doing so easy.

Linden can choose how they implement these kinds of rules but having to implement them is non-optional, at least for companies operating in the United States.

David Knighton · 3 years ago

That's the biggest load of B.S. I've every heard. Linden Labs is in no position to tout their "rules" about keeping kids out of the adult grid, especially after they just dropped the requirement for entering a credit card upon signing up for an account. They are a bunch of two-faced liars...on the one hand admonishing you for allowing your child to interact in-world as you supervised, while on the other wanting so badly to increase their memberships that they eliminated a major age verification tool. Certainly requiring a credit card wasn't fool-proof, but it's better than their alternative, which is NOTHING.

More and more the Lindens are behaving like malevolent deities over the SL metaverse, and in the end it's going to destroy it.

Carolus.Holman · 3 years ago

It just aint that interesting.

realestateceo · 3 years ago

Thats funny you got banned. Funny story. Have a happy forth and keep up the good blogging.

Phil

Jeremy Pepper · 3 years ago

Damn. There goes my SL plans of popping up wherever you are in the game.

Guess I'll have to follow Eric around.

Dmad · 3 years ago

You will apologize and appeal their decision? Right or wrong their rules are pretty clear. They have a right to enforce them. Those that don't like them can choose to not patronize SL. Why are you appealing? What makes you and your son more important than any other kid that may want to hang out in SL? Take your punishment and move on.

Angel · 3 years ago

I don't understand the comments criticizing Second Life. Their rules are clear and Scoble has even blogged about he and his son breaking them previously. Why the negativity towards SL? I think they should be commended for upholding their rules, even when someone as popular as Scoble is breaking them. Even he understands why he was banned.

Matt Gerlach · 3 years ago

I feel that as long as the parent is there, and knows what he is doing (you knew what he was doing), I think it is fine.

But, that parent must assume all risks and forfeit the right to "sue" them, if anything happens.

David Knighton · 3 years ago

The reason for criticizing SL is their duplicitous nature. They ban Scoble for breaking a rule, most likely because he's a high profile customer (and hey, won't the look good to the public concerned about child safety), while making it easier for any minor who wishes to break the rules with changes in registration policies. All this to up their membership numbers.

Either they believe in their own rules, or they just piously tout them so they look good to the public. Personally, I don't think they give a damn, so long as their membership numbers go up.

Dave Taylor · 3 years ago

Second Life is a separate entity, not a public work, and they can have whatever rules they want. When you sign up for an account, you agree to those rules. They can be whimsical, racist, agiest, whatever. Their game, their rules. You agreed to them, Robert, yet you flaunted -- in a very public venue -- your violation of those rules. You're clearly and overtly in the wrong and I can't imagine why they would feel any obligation to accept your "apology" and reinstate your account. Sorry, but there are lots and lots of MMORPGs and if SL is trying to separate out the under-18s, I'd blame our litigious society just as much as anything else.

What I find just as surprising is the wealth of criticism for SL in this comment thread: again, it's their game, their world, their service and they have whatever rules and regulations they want. If you accept them, then you're making an ethical commitment to be bound by them.

Just my $0.02 worth...

Jack Box · 3 years ago

"but you should also teach him to break dumb rules without getting caught. "

Good advice. Tell us whether you have broke any rules at Microsoft, or saw your boss broke any rules there:)

weiyen · 3 years ago

Personally I think that Linden Labs need to relax their rules a bit. I would agree if Patrick was on his own in SL that the ban should be in place, but when accompanied and supervised with an adult should be different.

I think SL (adult version) is dangerous when children go to places that are unsupervised, but when supervised by an adult, the adult can guide them. Perhaps the child can be "leashed"(mind the term) to the adult so they don't stray.

Its like little kids walking across the road. Its dangerous when the kid is by himself walking across a busy street. But with an adult its fine. The adult can even *carry* the kid.

Another thing. You were using Patrick to show a potential about SL, and its use of the multiverse (whatever you want to call it). Isn't Linden Labs burning its britches in a way by toasting someone that is promoting them?

Kraki · 3 years ago

I just have to say I think this is damn funny. I know if I was in there place I probably would have acted the same way. I think this is a good lesson to your son that while there are some laws that are easy to break, and many people do break I.E. the speed limit, when you do break it and get caught, you do have to own up for it as well.

Also I want to thank you for not being that guy thta gets all pissy because someone else did what they absolutely should have done.

Jon · 3 years ago

"I wouldn’t grovel to Second Life to be let back in. That’s endorsing a system which enforces rules blindly, in a way that penalizes legitimate use of their system."

And yet theres idiots who are suing Myspace for letting a 19 year old who lied about his age into an 18-years-and-younger section.

In a perfect world, Linden Labs would be able to not have these kind of rules and just let the people figure out whats best. But with people like that woman involved in the $30 million lawsuit against Myspace, they have to have those rules and enforce them.

Dmad · 3 years ago

@23. That would be a somewhat valid point if Scoble's kid were in there for the first time with the express purpose of showcasing SL. However, he'd been blatanly breaking their rules for months and Scoble was okay with... seemingly of the opinion that some rules only apply to everyone else but him and his family. Great example there, Scoble. Teach your kid arrogance at a young age. Gotta love it. However I do agree that SL was being someone opportunistic here. Surely they knew Scoble's kid had an account, given the amount of shilling Scoble has been doing for them.

curtisschweitzer · 3 years ago

I don't think that most people who disagree with Linden Labs decision think that the company doesn't have a right to ban anyone they please for breaking their rules. So their right to ban Scoble and mini is pretty clear.

Having said that, this is patently absurd, especially given the amount of cheerleading Scoble has done to promote SL. While Scoble's been warned before, banning him outright is obviously and unreasonable response, even though they clearly have the right. That Scoble is admitting his mistake and defending their position as owners and "lawmakers" of SL should give them pause- do they really want to ban someone willing to support their decision to ban him based on his minor violation of their rules?

Likewise, the 18 and over rule makes a lot of sense from a legal standpoint, but not really from any other. Does SL really think that the best way to control abuse on the system is simply to ban minors from using it at all? Like Scoble says, its $300 million lawsuits that are the most abusrd here- the willingness of people so shirk responsibility in the name of profit knows now bounds.

Either way, it looks like Scobles done the best he can to turn it into a learning experience, which is good, and probably the best response.

Kudos.

Alex · 3 years ago

The Teen Grid doesnt really suck. The reason nothing is good there is because no one is willing to work. It sounds to me like your son would be an incredible asset to the TG and actually bring stuff to it (yes I am on the TG, I am 17 almost 18). Feel free to email me if you want to know more about the TG.

dizzley · 3 years ago

Err... Patrick wasn't supervised. You say yourself that you were on stage at the time he was caught. I think that's good enough reason to pull you in for not keeping your side of a retail contract. They can't supervise him for you - and that would be the implicit role that SL would find themselves in.

They were right on the money here.

Tom · 3 years ago

Get a life Robert.

Brett Nordquist · 3 years ago

Second Life probably loves the idea of losing a popular blogger as a customer because they will gain far more publicity by banning you than by allowing you to bend the rules. People will now login just to see what's so "adult" about the place. Lame Lindon Labs. I have zero desire to join their game.

compartments · 3 years ago

When I clicked the title of this post I thought maybe this was a blog for a born again criminal or something. I just looked at the Second Life website and it's all news to me. Looks fun, but as a call girl I'm already living two lives. Just curious, does Second Life have a red light district?

Jeff Gatlin · 3 years ago

You've made the point that you, a parent, can take responsibility for what your child does on the internet. All you have to do now is convince every other parent in the world to do the same. Good luck.

thebizofknowledge · 3 years ago

I think Second Life did the right thing here. No, they're not going to stop every underage kid from playing, but at least they're showing that they won't tolerate it when they know about it.

Angel · 3 years ago

For those that think it's okay to have the child there if the parent is supervising, how exactly can that be enforced/verified by Second Life?

Sebastian Prooth · 3 years ago

I have never been able to get into Second Life, when I went in the new user experience was piss-poor. Although I understand the wisdom of banning your account, they have no right not to return your money, especially if it is something that will suddenly not exist once you're gone, technically they have had it returned and refund it. I do agree that they were in their *rights* to cancel your account but I think they are nitpicking in a big way. I didn't even know you have to be 18 to play Second Life, seems rediculous to me when you can buy horribly violent games at just about anyage (I have never known anyone to get carded buying a game) Pornographic magazines are just sitting on the shelf in the news agents, I know in America they are on the top, but they are still open and out, oh and you can join the military and die with parents permission in the USA at 16, so If you can't play second life, not sure what the hell is going on there. Sorry about the rant, but someone needs to inject some balance to this. Sorry to hear you were booted Robert and for other reasons, as you know, I will be in touch! -Sebastian Prooth of Seb's Random Thoughts at SEBRT.com

drmchsr0 · 3 years ago

Wot? MySpace isn't getting sued for being a ridiculously stupid idea and for violating every known law of good website design? Damn.

OK, I see both sides of the arguement. On one hand, Linden Labs has every right to enforce their ban, and on the other, Linden Labs just wants to gain a lot of popularity by kicking off some popular internet celebrity. I can see why Linden Labs banned poor Scoble, but well, at the very least, they could have refunded a percentage of the money. Even though a rule was broken, and well, LL has every right to do whatever it wishes, it does make good sense to refund a small amount of the money invested.

Stil, it's LL's call.

Eric Rice · 3 years ago

This is not a Linden issue. It's COPA. (Child Online Protection Act)
You don't have to like it, it's just the way it is. This ain't rocket science.

The main grid is for people 18 and up.
The teen grid is for people 13-18.

Aren't we all like smart math and programmer types? It's quite binary.
Doesn't mean we have to like it.
It's the rules.

20 GOTO 10
30 END

dendrite · 3 years ago

Robert: Everyone agrees the excessive litigiousness is the true problem. But here's the thing about SL's policy: It doesn't prevent them from getting sued. What it does do is permit them to get the case dismissed easily once they are sued (a certainty if they continue to grow.) MySpace's policies aren't as strict, but the lawsuit against them is about the money anyway and not protecting children. That case too would be dismissed if it went to court, but it won't and there will be a settlement. When's SL gets sued they will also settle out of court because its cheaper.

When there's an allegation of sexual assault on a minor, any judge will permit a civil suit involving the introducing party. The judge won't say "sorry this suit is not valid because SL's policies are *so* strict." That's what sucks - judges just don't understand who's culpable.

SL shouldn't enforce its policy so ardently since it doesn't really help them cover their ass. To recap: 1) A lawsuit is a certainty. 2) They'd win in court anyway, but it won't get that far. Thanks for reading.

taotakashi · 3 years ago

I guess they just need to enforce it when it's happening publically in front of their eyes. If they don't do that people might accuse them of doing nothing against the problem (maybe this even introduces some legal problems but I am far away from being a legal expert).

And yes, they might get sued but I doubt that this couldn't happen even before the opening of the registration.

Whether they get sued probably just depends on their size and how interesting it is based on that.

Nevertheless I hope you get access again.

wvmmrh · 3 years ago

BREAK DUMB RULES??? rules are rules..period.a rule being broken with the attitude that 'it's dumb'isn't acceptable..it's called 'breaking the rules' regardless of the situation.just like apartment complex rules. no hanging outside on the property between 10pm-6am..many think that rule is dumb.but people have also been evicted because they had that attitude more than once. rules are rules,regardless of whether someone thinks they're dumb or not.trying to have them changed is one thing,but breaking them to do so is idiotic and absurd and it doesn't change anything(except to get the person breaking the rules in trouble). the 'break a rule if you think it's dumb' is a 'ghetto' attitude in my opinion.

Chris · 3 years ago

I agree, if I was in Linden's position I'd do the same thing, however Linden shouldn't be in this position. It's insane that they're dividing up the teen and adult worlds because it'll make teens all the easier to target.

Decisions like this will be their downfall.

JAD · 3 years ago

Children always look up to their parents for guidance and directions. With what you did, won't that make him think twice about listening to you in the future?

Prokofy Neva · 3 years ago

Robert,

Linden Lab is famous for making selective prosecution of some prominent figures in order to make political points that are far larger than the immediate point made about a rule broken.

Linden Lab wants you to know that you and Microsoft and other big countries do not scare them, and they won't be afraid to go up against you in the creation of their 3-D streaming walled-garden world.

Even before the 6/6/6 open registration decision where they let in anybody even without presentation of a credit card, there were hundreds of kids signing up with their parents' cell phones, which they allow, so that we had teens on the adult grid and kids as young as 9 on the teen grid. After a huge uproar from the adult residents, LL then instituted this hardware hashmark stuff to try to manage griefers and keep out kids, but of course, any kid knows how to go to a neighbours' computer or another wireless at college or a public terminal or whatever they have to do to make the log-on appear different.

My son who is 13 and on the teen grid (which isn't lame at all, BTW) had his account suddenly closed, with no access to his goods or cash, including USD stored, for no reason and with no notification, as did the other kids in his group project. We tried for weeks to get clarity over why this had happened. Finally when my son called LL in person and finally reached someone "live," they immediately turned his account on again with no explanation -- evidently it had something to do with their belief that he might be straying to the adult grid. In fact, either they noticed the same IP address accessing from both my account and his, or something or the sort, and then simply arbitrarily undid their ban as arbitrarily as they had imposed it.

LL seems to be lurching around a lot unable to get a grip on their ostensible desire to "not be a game" and "be like the Internet" and open everything up, and their deeper desire to be like game gods and keep everything a walled garden.

So you and your son have been sent on quest, Robert. I suggest you skillskillskill and levelupleveluplevelup -- PSP is good, and reading books on architecture and the use of public spaces and marketing manuals are also recommended. If you haven't read "Snowcrash," now's the time, that will plus you up 100 points in Strategic SL.

Next, you're to make a dozen appeals to various levels of the NPCs in various departments at LL. Your lawyer can try to talk to their lawyer. Well, those are all the cheats and walk-throughs I want to give you now but let me give you two hints: 1) get on the "g4c circuit" and look for Pathfinder Linden and 2) publicly and generously contribute to a non-profit sim involved with health in SL.

best,

Prok

Ian Hughes · 3 years ago

Wow that is a real pity. I guess your personal brand made you a target. I will have to make sure my three year does not get to experience any of Second Life with my guidance. I will just have to let her randomly click mouse buttons and see where she ends up on the regular web.
It seems to me a bit harsh, but equally its their T's and C's.
It will be interesting as they move to the 'anyone can run a server' model over the next few years as to where the ownership of the account lives.
For instance woudl it be possible to run a family sim that your 'kids' cannot leave like the cornfield in SL. So as a family you could experience building and sharing things, but only the adults could go out and visit the rest of the world.
I hope they let you back when you have served your time.

/pd · 3 years ago

This will be a 'naked conversation' -- !!

"We did get a podcast out of it, cause I turned the microphone on and interviewed a variety of people hanging out in the hall, along with Beth"

Will you share ,please ? :)-

Elle · 3 years ago

Prok, Scobble quit Microsoft a coupple weeks ago. Just saying.

Prokofy Neva · 3 years ago

Um, Elle, I realize that he quit recently, because he has EXIT INTERVIEWS as blog entries right here on this blog, which yes, I'm capable of reading.

My point stands. He was *first* reprimanded while still an employee of Microsoft at an exhibit some time ago -- read the back pages of this blog. He is still associated with Microsoft in this end game he's in now -- he's going to be "the former Microsoft guy" for awhile still. They were and are *definitely* making a point.

"They want you to know that you and Microsoft and other big countries" -- that's what I wrote. The point is that prominent figures are prominent figures, currently with Microsoft, or in the past with Microsfot, they still love the attention. Instead of really taking care of griefers, they now have sent a huge chill through the Metaverse, especially for anybody trying to introduce the whole family to SL because they want to make sure everybody plays on their terms, and knows who is boss.

Dmad · 3 years ago

"If you are building music stars, can you build them by copying Elvis or the Beattles? No."

Dude, we've been over this hundreds of times. YES you can. The music industry is rife with successful examples. Hell, even Lennon patterned some his style after Elvis. Stop using this analogy because you don't know what you are talking about.

Robert Scoble · 3 years ago

If you can claim Lennon looks like Elvis, and is an exact copy, go ahead and do so. They look and sound dramatically different to me.

Robert Scoble · 3 years ago

/pd: John Furrier recorded the session. I'll let you know when it's up.

Shad · 3 years ago

Wow. A sizable number of comments stating that rules are rules and are not to be broken. If their authors celebrated the Independence Day - the anniversary of a considerably severe rule-breaking - why it was not hypocrisy?

Lynette · 3 years ago

No kids on the adult grid. Period. No exceptions, not ever.

Now I have to be stressed that the person I've been chatting with is really a 14 year old boy on his dad's account? Not cool.

For those of us that choose not to participate in adult activities with minors, **WE need a safe place too**

SL Lynette Radio

menk · 3 years ago

Most of the comments are moronic on this issue. You broke the rules and in a public venue no less. The fact your kid could demonstrate building in Second life shows that it was not the first time you let him in your account so this was just the most public rule breaking. You are booted. Good for Linden Labs.

As for all the whiners talking about kid access with 'Adult Supervision' being acceptable they are clearly clueless. How would anyone be able to validate that an adult was present.

The critical factor is that Second life has rules to protect users and protect the company from lawsuits and consequently not following these rules must have consequences.

Kelly Rued · 3 years ago

I'm not sure why SL cares about CIPA/COPA... they don't seem to worried that they are a US company operating servers full of unregulated casinos. ;p The trademark/copyright enfringements of some of the player-created content, etc. is another example... but in the end LL pushes all of the responsibility for all content in-world onto players themselves, so why not do the same for the age compliance issues?

And while I don't see them dropping to a free membership service as a hypocritical move in the face of an age restriction for that same service, I do question why they don't allow adult entertainment web sites to be affiliate partners. I was denied from the affiliate program in spite of my 'adult game site' not having any explicit content on it. I promote SL and refer a decent mix of people to try the service (most don't like it and don't stay in-world) and mostly emphasize the SL sex culture as a reason for visiting, so it is sad to see them distance themselves publicly from a key ingredient to their success. I don't know what SL would be without open expression of sexuality... possibly just a shopping mall, the 3D ebay. If it's really an 18 and up world, I don't see why they aren't comfortable being promoted by other sex games (like themselves) or by adult sites in general.

I'm not sure how long they'll go before SL will need to separate the M activities and sex out to its own grid anyways, with more security (to protect adult players... can you imagine when people start doing sting ops to catch 'internet predators' in SL? eeeeek). An LL rep at the Sex in Video Games Con said they really don't keep uniquely identifying information on SL residents. I think kicking out a dad and his son is really the *least* of their problems right now in terms of security and the law.

I also have no idea where the government stands on their "millions of USD" transactions seeing as how there should be sales and use taxes on all of that ecommerce, and most likely there is none. Also, as noted in this blog post, when you 'invest' in an SL business it's like investing in Monopoly Money... those credits can be deleted at the sole discretion of LL. Your business earnings (including collected tax, if anyone does that, lmao) might not have any real world value if you need to take them to court to recover lost earnings from your SL account. It's all very iffy.

Gay Crawford · 3 years ago

Sorry, I have to side with LL on this one... no kids on the adult grid means no kids.. they can't really go around making acceptions, and as an adult, I'd like to see them enforce this in whatever way they can. Although this was a "harmless" and supervised usage by the child, it was still a deliberate violation (not an "oops, I didn't know"). Whether or not LL was trying to make a point with someone specific is irrelevant, imho, as they can't really turn and look the other way when the rules are being obviously broken.

Shagg E · 3 years ago

Why does everyone think LL are a group of dictators? When you have a world that freeform, your going to have to be strict with it's inhabitants. At first, I thought it was insane that they ban people for, say, shooting other users accidentaly while screwing around with a scripted gun, but when you think about it, letting even one user off the hook would cause pure chaos. I fully support LL's decision, they are looking out for the well being of their customers. Good article, by the way.

Eep · 3 years ago

Your banning is ridiculous. If you would like to join the growing lawsuit against LL for various issues: land dispute, witholding inventory contents I created and have a right to, and other unjustified bannings, suspensions, etc, email me (via link on above website--see it for more info on my specific case so far). LL isn't god--even of their own domain--and are subject to laws in the society of which they are apart of: San Francisco, California, USA. They WILL be held accountable for their actions and cannot get away with these things.

Ravenis · 3 years ago

Okay a few things, one: It should be by parental consent and guidance an underage user can use Second Life because this is how everyother online game works, two: Unless our characters were forced to view and accept pornographic imagery from the start, I see no legal reason for any minors to be disallowed from the game if it's by parental consent, three: lawsuits filed in cases against websites and areas like that where the parent's sued for their child's alleged internet sexual incounters are hazey in the fact that the parent allowed the child to use the internet, allowed the child to access such sites knowing of it's content, and failed to prevent such activity with blocking of some sort. Aside from that, how strong are the bannings from Second Life? I understand there are possibilities of IP ban in internet areas but how strong could that really be, considering, SL Accounts are now fully free and to change your IP there are various ways including buying a new router or modem, simple to bypass I'm sure. Also, take note of when accounts became fully free for teen-grid and adult, I noticed a drop in teen-grid activity, and an increase in adult grid activity. Although this could relate to the acounts overall being free, but I think the drop may also relate to minors moving to the bigger better world. Interesting...

Eep · 3 years ago

My issue, specifically, Ravenis, is that I was unjustly banned from SL over FORUM posts. 1.5 years of work building and contributing to the SL community and I no longer have access to MY content which *I* have a RIGHT to. THAT is bullshit and I will sue Linden Lab over it if I have to.

bunchmya · 3 years ago

did he run around saying I'm 13 I'm 13... Btw, there is some sick sh*t that goes on in Second Life. I wouldn't let my son ten feet near Second Life adult, and hes 16. I stummbled accross a few strange and unusual happening since I came to second life. I still don't agree with the banning though... good luck.

ViroTek · 3 years ago

In my opinion, it should be alright for someone under 18 to play it anywhere just like anyone else, because if you really think about it, your son would be seeing all the same stuff if not worse just outside your front door. Some things just can't be kept hidden from a childs eyes, no matter where they are, unless you take music, televisions, and fun away from them. I think everyone should be welcome to it, and if they don't like that, then fix the game so there are filters to filter profanity, and fix it so people can't run around naked. If they want to complain about it, thats their problem for making the game as it is now. Second Life is meant to be a game to simulate real life situations, and if someone under 18 can't play, how will that help? I understand the rule to keep players atleast age 12, but 18 is a little to high. I've moved around a lot, been to a lot of schools, seen my share of things. And hell, what kid doesn't walk in on mom and dad doing the dirty once? XD If you really think about it, there should not be a rule that you have to be 18 to play in the adult world, because even in a childs world, there will always be one person who will reveal what goes on in the adult world, and besides that, even kids at age 9 will act like some adults. If you'd like to talk to me about this, feel free to message me on my MSN, or send an e-mail to ragedshadowdragon@hotmail.com ~~~ ViroTek Graphics & Friend.

ViroTek · 3 years ago

But if you really think about it, the teen grid would eventually end up just as bad as the adult area, if not worse considering the way most teens are. Swearing, sex, drugs, suicide, killing, stealing... All that will end up there, one way or another, along with much more.

Paul Fijma · 3 years ago

well if you watch the (always early in the evening) news you see more horrible things than possible in SL. so what are we actually talking about?

dr royal rife · 3 years ago

It's a crazy world we live in. Here it is now and did you know that over 70 years ago this guy named Royal Rife figured out how to eliminate cancer with electronic frequencies. Yeah - it was even verified at USC in 1934.

depressed kitty guy · 3 years ago

I was a second life resident up until a month ago...I'm 14 years old and I told someone my RL age (what a dumb thing to do on my part). I would tell people that I thought I knew well enough my RL age and they didn't report me..in fact those people became some of my best friends... I promised myself I wouldn't tell any more people about my RL age. I decided to make just one more friend and tell them my RL age if I got to know them. The next day I was logged out by an administrator...I automatically knew what was going on and logged into my alt and said one last goodbye to my friends(I was then logged out of my alt and had my I.P. blocked)...I miss all my friends(from SL) so much...but I know if I even try to get back on SL (by using proxies,a hacked client,etc.)I will get addicted to it again and could even witness something horrific as the rest of the people here have posted about(getting seperated from my only friends has already damaged me mentally , witnessing something sexual or horrific in SL could worsen my mental condition). I have realized that I deserved this for breaking the rules and that this was all my fault. Just goes to show you... if you break a rule...make sure no one finds out...

Jim · 3 years ago

The way I see it, how does Linden Labs KNOW if it is a kid or not a kid who is using the account? Because the account user says so? Do they, does anyone have a positive identification system for who is or isn't using an account? I started using BBS sites in the early '80's and the internet sometime in the mid '90's. My experience tells me that it is always prudent to deal with anyone online with the respect and care that you would naturally afford a child, a senior citizen or an officer of the law, because 99.99%of the time you never really KNOW who you are dealing with. So you are taking this huge chance that your behavior is grossly inappropriate if you treat anyone online assuming they are an adult or who they say they are or what they say they are.

Robert Scoble · 3 years ago

Jim: Linden Labs folks tell me that kids often times self identify themselves. As long as they are good at hiding their identities there's not much that Linden can do. But, my son was on stage at a conference. Pretty hard to hide his identity there.

John · 3 years ago

self identify themselves?

Philip · 3 years ago

SL is Stephenson's metaverse. It's Heinlein's "Golden Rule" habitat. Read "The cat who walks through walls".

Linden own it, and can do what they like. If you don't like it, you don't have to play in their space.

This isn't a democracy. They are the federal government, and the next election is...never, actually.

Until you leave SL and found an alternative somewhere else in cyberspace.

Toby Brace · 3 years ago

THE REAL REASON TO FEEL SICK ABOUT ALL THIS

We live in a world where children as young as toddlers sit at home with no supervision at all and play *games* where the *fun* consists of murdering other human beings, driving cars into people, beating other *contestants* into heaps of bloody shit.

But GOD FORBID THAT A CHILD SHOULD SEE A NAKED HUMAN BODY !!!!!!!

God bless Linden labs. I pray for their continued success.

Toby Brace · 3 years ago

and another thing..

The person above has suggested the perfect solution to the problem. LINKING. If a child were linked to an adult user in the same way as those little devices that toy attach to a toddlers wrist and then your own to keep them nearby, then an adult could show a kid the amazing aspects of SL and prevent them wandering off.
It's a great idea.
Scobleizer, I'm sorry to say this, but you are the victim of your own aroggance. Did you suppose that your status or popularity would exempt you from the age-rule?
you know why the rule is for a very good reason but you thought you could flout it. Why?

Jack Lucas · 3 years ago

Thing about Second Life is when you join you are offered a choice of Avatars. All have nice smiley WHITE faces, unless you want to pose as a Racoon.
And in the adult Horizons Resort, one character, Palad, says whenever the issue arises, we wishes the "furries" would stick to their own "community". He defends his views, but incites others to act. His girlfriend Felicity dismisses all Scots as "mean" and the few who have dared protest this RAMPANT RACISM have been arbitrarily thrown off the site by a defiant management

Astuto Fabre · 2 years ago

The money part is what pisses me off... I've lost over $600 to Second Life due to account bans. I've had 2 banned accounts so far: Yonny Zeno and Candy Hinkle and in each I have spent at least $300 over a period of a year each.

rickk everest · 2 years ago

Its a G A M E - if you spend $600 maybe you should have used it to get ahead in life, you know, the reason we were put on this earth for - I was about to download SL to see what it was like but after reading all this I think im going to go study to get some more REAL LIFE qualifications to append to my current ones, Do you really think you will be still playing this game in 10 years? I can imagine what you would look like from sitting at a computer for so long - the sun is shining, you cannot fly but you can make the most of your life without being pulled toward a computer screen.

Robert Scoble · 2 years ago

Rickk: I note that you are typing on a computer screen, talking about a virtual world. Are you going to be playing this game in 10 years? I imagine it's time for your walk right about now.

rickk everest · 2 years ago

yes but I am on here for maybe 10-20 minutes after work to check emails etc read tomshardware, basically saves buying computer mags or buying stamps, I don't jump into some virtual world full of 40-50 year olds with a virtual image of a mid 20s hip dude walking around in some fake world while my RL is not going anywhere.
Basically I would much rather spend my years doing the best here on planet earth, where I can touch and smell and feel more emotion than trying to make up for a maybe lesser life by entering a fake world - nothing beats waking up to a sunny day surrounded by your success.

rickk everest · 2 years ago

Ok I am a bit biased here as I have friends who have played games like this, quit their jobs and sit 8+ hours running around in some virtual world and firing off emotions when something in their game doesn't go how they want it, I have seen people turn into hermits and throw away chances and lose all their RL friends only to suffer serious depression when they get banned or get a bad rep in game and when they stop playing they find their own life is torn to pieces and all those years have been wasted on what?

rickk everest · 2 years ago

Sorry for so many posts but I am honestly interested in these types of games, well curious I should say.
For one, when you were banned, apart from the money you lost, honestly how many hours did you lose in your life over this game? and one more question, do you think the encounters with other human beings on this game is anywhere near real life encounters? I guess people would be more friendly but maybe because they have decided to go for this game and giving some effort into it - in real life your born and there without choice so people in RL wont be as friendly.
I am not trying to preach here but its something that could do bad for human kind if it became very popular.

rickk everest · 2 years ago

Maybe they should have made a virtual jail and made you stay there for 2 weeks with the rule if you didn't log in for 2 hours and roam around your cell you would be banned, you could sell virtual tattoos and lift virtual weights, maybe write an ebook about your prison experience and open a rehab when you get out.
On a serious note, every minute of your life here on earth is numbered, and its getting shorter everyday, I am only in my 20s and still don't think I will have enough time to see whats out there in this huge earth! This whole idea scares me, I love computers and think they are a huge benefit to todays world, They can do so much from teaching to making the business world more efficent, but when you start using your computer to live instead of using it to help your life... who else sees this as dangerous? It must really be doing damage mentally and changing our entire personality - there is a medical condition for people who have 2 personalities, but please correct me if im wrong, I am open to education and maybe even if I saw things from a players side it would help me understand this further, but for now this will be my last post but I would really like to hear more about a SL players view on this and will be chcking back - take care.

ican morphett · 2 years ago

I think you should get your money back at the very least.
I think that supervised play should be completely allowed because releases secondlife of all liability.

I too have a teen child that I love to run around second life with. He unfortunatly was playing very late one night without me but WAS in a pg area as I require him to be when he was sexually harrassed and also witnessed some jerk forcing oral sex on people and yellling out woooooooo. he came to get me and I shot the guy. As expected a linden showed up and his name was LIASON SPIKE LINDEN. He asked what happened then gave me a warning and said he would look into it. I said no problem but while I got you here can you tell me why $100 I transferred hasnt went into my actual account? He said contact support, I said I did. Then I ask if he happens to know why I only got $2000 for reffering someone when it says you get $2500, he obviously got annoyed with my perfectly reasonable questions and he freaking kicked me offline!! I went to linden and sent an email to support, then I tried to get all of my money out of my account(was cancelling it from poor customer service) Half way through withdrawing all my funds my account froze, then it said I did not have an account! It is gone, all the things I paid over $100-200 for, cars/lindens/land/house/boats/waterfalls/clothes/items I sold/guns/shields/building tools/and tons of gadgets..... including about $140 in US funds! I have sent numerous emails to both billing@suckylife and no-support@suckylife.com to no avail. This is completly wrong, at the most I should have recieved a temp ban and what would be more likely on most instances would be just banned from that sim. I must add that the person commiting the sexual acts on random people was from the UK and withing moments of me attacking him (UK)Liason Spike Linden just happened to show up and almost completely ignore the pervert while he stood just a few feet away, and completly focus on me the person who was wronged. Then to top it off my account was removed? Not the acts of an intelligent person... I know I got off the subject but random people are lindens and they can make mistakes and act in revenge just like any ordinary person... In my emails I clearly stated that I wanted to close mine and my wifes preffered account and wanted the money refunded. I will not play this game again, when one ignorant person can simply delete hundreds of dollars on a whim the entire system is in trouble. Not to mention I personally know that lindens have ordinary accounts they use to harrass people, then they can actually clean up the evidence! It is a fact, I would like to see any linden deny this happens (they probably know of 1-2 that were fired because of it!) Also lindens spend hours on the forum posting numerous favorable comments and completly attack any person complaining about one of secondlifes many problems... Check for yourself and wonder why would a random person that plays this game be so against another random person that experiences the same problems??? it wouldnt happen, instead its pissed off moronic programmers/lindens/support/techs that spend hours posting loud posts in favor of secondlife and discounting any legitimate post about a secondlife problem.....
The jig is up, cats out of the bag, an insider has spilled the beans.....

ican morphett · 2 years ago

I WILL NOT STOP POSTING THIS STORY UNTIL SOMETHING IS DONE ABOUT THIS ISSUE. I WILL NOT STOP EMAILING SUPPORT@SUCKASSLIFE, I WILL NOT STOP EMAILING BILLING@NOLIFE.COM, I WILL TELL SO MANY PEOPLE ABOUT THIS THAT SECONDLIFE WILL LOSE FUNDS AND THAT IS A FACT. YOU SIMPLY CANNOT TREAT EVERYONE LIKE THIS. I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT IN A WEEK AND A HALF TO MEET WITH FOX2 FOR A SEGMENT CALLED "YOUR CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET" I WILL BE SURE TO POST IT ON ALL OVER THE NET ONCE IT AIRS AND THEN LINK MANY SITES TO IT. YOUR TRULY, *KARMA*

A true resident · 2 years ago

Are you in the SL world or not?
Most of the reply here seems to be written by no real Resident or maybe new resident.
Underage resident in Second Life is a real problem.
Most of underage residents have no respect for other residents. They are in the world spamming other resident all day with a total unrespect, camping with multiple accounts, creating objects to stole all our money. Seriously you need to start to talk to other residents in world and see what happen.

I'm 100% with Linden Lab. No exception here. This place is for Adult and mature respectful Adult only. They need to increase the law in this virtual world because now it is a real bad chaotic world.

Underage have the Teen grid to practice communication and understand what is unrespect and what is the consequence of their acts.

ohi · 2 years ago

No rules = No risk of being sued

Let it be open to all ages as it used to be, let it be a public thing. Let the people take care of their issues. If someones child of 13+ sees a nekked picture then that's their doings. Therefore LL won't have to worry about being sued for a mass ammount of money :|

ohi · 2 years ago

At the end of the day, it's the community who build and upload such explicit things. They are the ones responsible for who takes ownership of such objects and who views what. Just like the real world. Shop owners are responsible of selling alchohol etc to people of a certain age. I think the same should apply in-world. Well that's my opinion anyway :)

ohi · 2 years ago

I know many underage players. I am sure there are many over-aged players on the teen grid too. Overaged players on the teen grid is a much more serious than underaged players being on the main grid. This is because those that choose to go ontot he teen grid when they are over-aged are trying to get to the younger people. The underaged people who enter the teen grid are not committing such acts.

Yaknamsayin'? :P

SpamBot · 2 years ago

hi, not read all of these posts, but I have one thing to add:

I am a parent with a young daughter, and she and her friends are interested in using virtual chat worlds at the moment. Recently, I tried to join one to accompany them, and then discovered that my account is 'adult only' and hers is 'kids only'.
Remember, 'kids' includes 17 year old boys, paedophiles pretending to be 13 year olds etc.
So now what to do? Do I pretend to be a child and risk future bannation, or does she pretend to be an adult?
Hmmmmm

ohi · 2 years ago

You get her to pretend to be an adult. There are no lawful consiquences for her to act as an aduklt, but for you to act as a younger is a crime.
Plus the adult grid is supposedly better :]

vulpes · 2 years ago

hey
how the hell did they cought your kid?
that means you were spied.
they hacked into your webcam and noticed your kid was working on your SL account.

you should be more careful, install a firewall, and go to police and tell them about this.

greetings from Mother Russia.

Robert Scoble · 2 years ago

Vulpes: he was using it in front of a huge audience of people at a conference. He wasn't being spied on.

Random Googler · 2 years ago

I'm under 18 (14) and got banned from Second Life last summer. I felt kind of bored in the Main Grid where I rarely met people at my age. So, I asked a Linden to transfer me to the Teen Grid. He said that my account should be transferred to the grid within a day or two and that he would put my account on hold until the process is done. A few days later on one bright morning, I decided to check out whether I've been transferred or not. What did I find when I tried to login? - "Second Life cannot be accessed from this computer." AKA "We've banned you for being a minor."

It's not that hard to avoid all the adventure-seeking sickos out there, you just have to be in the right places and talk to people you deem normal which is not that hard considering that there are thousands of people out there.

I kinda miss it but, no can do.

Mia Linden · 2 years ago

my account and my sisters account on secondlife have been banned, accounts deactivated

UNknown · 2 years ago

as i see it. to hell With Second life. they cant even keep the grid runing more then 60% for a day without assest server failing. causeing TP issues and more. I decided to say to hell with it and wait till i get my own grid up. make it private to friends and to hell with there rules.

Mattchicago cleanslate · 2 years ago

Dear Blogger,

Yeah my name is my secondlife screen name come say hi when you are able to get un-banned from secondlife. In my opinion half the people in secondlife are faking their age anyways (not really a verification system since they do have "free" accounts as well.

As for your situation well i belive that linden labs should be relaxed especially when their is a parent or legal guardian supervising the teen (kid) and you have fully authorized them to use your screen name and or account login. I have met many people in secondlife and i also as well promote independent artists and nightclub djays from my website (RL) into secondlife.

Residents can come to my MP3 Download Centers and download legal copies of mp3s from artists and djs we promote. Bringing legal music to secondlife has been interesting especially with trying to bipass certain platform (script) hickups and other things.

Good luck to your venture and getting your money back as well.

Peace
Matthew Nalett
Chicago Music Promotions
Aka Mattchicago cleanslate
CMP Music Preview & Download Center (secondlife)

Vasundhar · 2 years ago

Rules Rules and Rules ...
All rules are made to make the life easier,
or comfortable to live.

But if you think, they are preventing some one from growing intellectually ... well BREAK the rule and pave the way.

You will never invent if you follow the rule,

Let me tell you one Golden Rule,

"There aren't any! "

Bob Newbold · 2 years ago

Being banned sucks. I am on TSL and I was banned for something that I did not do. Does anyone have any suggestions for recourse? I'll do pretty much anything to get my account back.

Ivan Petrov · 2 years ago

Hi,
I just need some help.
One month ago Blizzard give me an unreasonable ban account. I write some email with deiscaimer but They just say "we can confirm that the evidence presented was correct". O.k. but I`m 100% sure in my innocent.
What I can do against BLizzard` lawlessness?

Bob Newbold · 2 years ago

Blizzard? They suck. So do jagex. And linden lab is like the mad banner.
Im gonna do something.

What realm where you in?
I was in smolderthorn. Character name: Sinclair.
I just quit though.
Todays my last day.

In all seriousness, you can do NOTHING other than file a lawsuit. And even then its just a waste of money.

Oozy Blister · 2 years ago

I have been banned from a number of places on SL and even disciplined by LL for minor infractions. I was a beginner and took my shirt off in a public place and couldn't figure out how to get it on, so my $20 US was completely wasted and not refunded. And you can't totally blame LL, its the snobby, whinny people that inhabit SL and feel so important by getting someone banned.

LL needs to realize that if you piss enough people off that it may come back to bite them. The bottom line is those against SL could make it quite a bad situation, use your imagination (and I'm not talking hacking or anything illegal)

seb · 2 years ago

How do i get unbanned same thing happen to me my acount is gone
???

David LaMorte · 1 year ago

Its too bad there isn't a way to build off-line so that Patrick could build and you could upload it.

Lindsay · 1 year ago

I'm a bit late to this discussion but I had the same thought as David above. My husband and I have accounts in SL and we have an 11 year old aspiring architect who loves to build things in Roller Coaster Tycoon and Google Sketch-up. He would have a ball building things in SL but we can't let him.

I think they need to enable the client so that you can log in to a special area where you aren't able to communicate with the rest of the world and just build things. Then our kid could use our account all he wanted and we could import his creations into our land or whatever... It would let us feel safe that he wasn't going somewhere he shouldn't be, and keep LL from having to worry about lawsuits and give kids who just want to use the excellent building tools a way to do that. I wonder why that would be so hard to implement.

jaackson · 1 year ago

My name is well never mind that, i am 15 and i was banned from adult second life( one of my friends ratted me out) nice friend if you ask me.. well anyways, i had a family on second life that loved me very much, and also i invested alot of money and time into it. when i got caught the guy that reported me(i wont say names) was a mentor. An sl mentor SO right after he reported me for being underage i immediatly got banned, and had to make a new account, after i made the new account. two days later my dad was mad and told me he couldnt get on sl, he said he was banned for age reasons.. they thought it was me.. i think this was un fair!

Another thing that LL pissed me off about was the fact that they let my dad back in, but not me, they wont even give me the chance of TEEN!
So im speading the word out to get people to get to mabye put a stop to banning kids for no reason..
I wasnt into the clubs or bars, or gambling thingys.. all i did was talk with my friends and build.. that pissed me off.

So if your thinking about letting your kid on Second life, think about teen instead of adult or ull have to go through what i did.. which was very heart breaking.

Bla Bla Bla · 1 year ago

I am 9, but thats not why I was Ejected from a land in the game and then Banned without any last word from the Ejector.
That admin is soooo nice.

Hackdot · 11 months ago

2 weeks ago i was banned for "Underage" Some person that hates me made a myspace with my username in the URL and the Linden staff beleives it me.... i gave my drivers card,state card, and a bank statement
2 weeks still and they won't unban me .... they do not have "confidents" (said by a linden staff) in me... i'm 36 years old ,3 kids,a wife and I'M a cop if people didnt have "confidents" in me i wouldent have my badge

The only reason why they won't unbann me is due to the fact i signed up with False info to hide my true "self" and they will not accept that fact...



now Sex, Gambling, and Violences in second life....

Sex: what would you rather have ur kid do?? pretend to have sex on secondlife or go into the real world and bang a "Hooker"... whats the harm in SL sex...

Gambling: Is it that bad??? i can go onto myspace and a dozen other sites to gamble... PFT..

and Violence: That is a extremly bad and broad statment.. there violents EVERYWHERE!! the street, the highway, every where EVEN in our own Homes.... ive been with second life for 2 years.. 2 YEARS ive seen less violence in that game than in real life... the fact is words do hurt but people will move on

Giving real life info out.... i didn't even sign up with real info what makes you think i will give my info on the game??? if you child is to "Dumb" or "Ill witted" to give out info he/she should not play


and lastly "to protect adults on second life" well Adult are suppose to be responsible.. never give out real life info... always try to test the person your with to check there real age... if adults can protect them selfs they won't me needed to be protected by Linden...

the fact is Second life is Safer than real life if we can't accept this fact Second life is doomed.. i know a whole bunch of "Underage" who play the adult grid.. is it that bad?? they follow the same rules (besides underage) and there probly the most mature people ive talked to in rl or sl


Sincerely Hackdot

Blazed · 10 months ago

YOU CAN move items from one grid to another.

i sell an ALLOWED and APPROVED product that will transfer content from one grid to another

Contact Blazed Undercity for more details.

Cjay · 10 months ago

Linden Lab's Sims can be set to PG or Mature, what does this really mean in a adult run system? is this just stupid or what. So i set the sim to PG... ah worthless, Linden labs has its head in its virtual azz and OPENSIM is going to crush secondlife. Linden labs has turned into some church group that thinks it knows best. The only thing that keeps secondlife going is its linden money. So they have the linden buck, but Opensim will turn to paypal and then we dont have to worry about LindenLabs stealing your money cause they can. it might only be 100 bucks for scobal but im not about to get ripped off by linden labs cause they have these do gooders that live by two standards and an agenda thats self serving.

check this · 7 months ago

no.. you go to patriotic nigras <--- google that, and they will give you immortality if u follow the steps, u cant be banned (computer banned) but you can still be account banned, they also have a copybot, so u can get all your nice things back with full permissions :)

Kenny · 6 months ago

Wow. I was banned recently as well. Turns out my 14 year old son accessed my account, created a couple of alts, and broke some rules. I've had an sl account in good standing and have been a performer inworld for over a year. Linden Labs response was to terminate my account and not even respond to my attempts to explain and try to get my account back. I lost money, my name...and now they've even somehow locked my computer out of SL. Even after a reformat of the hard drive I still can't get in. Unfair. In this day and age, things happen, and kids are curious and get into trouble. You'd think they could be a little more flexible down at Linden labs. By the way...anyone know how Linden locks a computer out of SL? I can buy a new comp I suppose, but that seems extreme. Any ways around this? Anyone?

Daniellle Triellis · 3 months ago

Amen My aunt got onto my PC and into my actual ACCOUNT AND used Copybot!!! They ban your I.P. address and your MAC code on your PC a new PC would be half the battle and even then LL keeps tabs on those three friends names they have you send in prior to perma-banning you. I rent my PC so i got a new one and it worked for one whole day and they found me logged me out and I.P. blocked me.They have done the same thing to me with just ignoring my pleas with them but at this point I would never want them as a perm fixture in my RL now.. I am thinking of writing up a mass letter with names of people wrongfully banned and the stories.. if you like email me @ danielle.triellis@hotmail.com.. lets tell LL they cannot boss us around forever and wrongfully ban people without backlash.

geniusthemaster · 6 months ago

hardrive serial changer plus macspoof plus start>run>cmd>enter>ipconfig /release + shutdown 5 minutes ALL + turn back on computer>start>run>cmd>enter>ipconfig?renew = unban
geniusthemaster

muffin · 6 months ago

I think children should not be on secondlife there are people in there wanting to take advantage of adults and children its not a childrens game adults feeling get hurt what would that do to a child supervised or not parents are not always around there kids.Now we know why cchildren get mess up by parents like your self ingoring rules thinking they right.

Ray · 5 months ago

can you get your account back if it says: "SecondLife cannot be accessed by this computer"?

Shuliah ; · 5 months ago

Im 17 , birthday July 23rd.
I recently got banned for being too young,
as if I'm nto mature enough already :l
They just couldn't wait a few extra weeks
until my birthday, they banned me !

Mircea · 5 months ago

imo Second Life is currently part of a cult regarding this. Everyone has opinions of what's right and wrong, but on SL the idea that it is dangerous / evil / whatever for kids to see certain content has gotten past the point of being an obsession or paranoia.

Last time I tried to talk against this on the Second Life forum and said it should be normal for all users to choose whether or not to enter after a clear warning, people reacted as if I encouraged some sort of terrorist or rapist movement (I was and still am shocked by the replies I got there a few years back when the convo took place).

In my opinion someone should sue LL for the way they treat people there, it is unacceptable! Sure, we aren't forced to use their services, but the way they treat some people has gotten past the point. Until this stops I only access SL periodically when needed to, I refuse to use such a service.

zomg no wai · 5 months ago

How'd patrick manage to get caught? It's not like linden labs can see him and see that he's underage. He'd literally have to tell them himself for them to notice.

WHOISSTRONGER · 5 months ago

Will you People just shut up! its not a big deal. Just go and play World of Warcraft...like me!

Mircea · 5 months ago

How he managed to get caught... I'm certain LL spies on every convo (both in-world and private IM) for such things, even if of course without admitting it. That and some of the people in SL pretend to be your friends and report you immediately if you tell them something suspicious about your age... pretty comparable to spies in a communist country, who listen that their neighbors don't say anything wrong and telephone the government if something sounds suspicious :P

Hydra_C · 3 months ago

Wow! I just did something that apparently didn't occur to some of you. I read the thread from the beginning. By doing that I learned exactly how Patrick got caught. No - it had nothing to do with "spies" or any other conspiracy by the Lindens. He was ON STAGE in RL with his father, who was doing a presentation about SL. At least one Linden was PRESENT and saw him do it.

Mircea · 3 months ago

Anyway on a separate note, I advice using OpenSim which is a wonderful open-source project that allows anyone to host grids and simulators from their computer and connect to them using the SL client. Not yet finished but in time will be... it's totally separate from LL so people can use Second Life there without having to worry about lunatics from Linden Lab (of course it's not the same grid, account or anything). OpenSim will always be free (both as in money and freedom) since it's open source and uses a free license... I personally find it the future of SL and virtual space. http://opensimulator.org/ and http://www.osgrid.org/ if anyone wants to play with it and use SL safely.

pakoalvarado · 2 months ago

I wanna have more information about this, cus I don´t speak English, if u can send me information in spanish or if you can traslate some of yours videos I´ll give you tanks! I seeing the videos in youtube!

Grettings from Monterrey, Mexico