Teen Grid: A sad state of affairs

Katharine Berry’s departure form the Teen Grid should really alert all of us to the sad state of the Teen Grid. I think confining talents like hers to a sadly unmaintained teen ghetto until they are disgusted of Second Life for good tells us the Teen grid is no more than a handy excuse for the rest of us to sidestep age control and content rating discussions (see my blog entry Age and Treachery).

Wow, it sounds somewhat familiar; they're suffering from many of the same problems we lament on the main grid, just on a smaller scale.

Thanks for posting this! I can really see the larger issue of TG's existence from both sides. As an adult, I can certainly see the dangers that exist for teens on the internet as a whole. At the same time, TG doesn't really seemed to have solved the problem of teens having access to what SL can offer, because it's a wholly separate experience.

One more reason why I'm glad that I'm not a teenager.

I really can't stand that the teens are some second class citizens, all because of our illusions of 'save the children of the world from teh evils!'. Right. Since when does 'teenager' = 'idiot'. Most teens I've encountered with main grid experience, seem to have the same eye-rolling contempt as the rest of us at the goofy behavior that *adults* exhibit.

What's fundamentally irritating to me above all, is that their ENTIRE SOCIAL EXISTENCE ENDS the second they turn 18.

Any product they've purchased on TG? If a LL update happens that breaks the product, are they able to get support? No, because they are magically 'adults' overnight.

The other thing is the vaporization of buddy lists. Today, you are 17 and you have a nice big healthy buddy list. Tomorrow you are 18, goodbye, kaput, RIP. All gone.

Naturally, it's not that bad, these people are smart enough to use the 398429230429 other means of having normal human conversation. There are some builders who have done some great work on the teen grid, and work outside of LL to get it to us on the main grid. In fact, some teens who sneak on to the main grid do it because of product availability.

Maybe it's a Scared American Thing, I don't know. There are predators in every aspect of life (the real issue, not some polygonal boob), and when that gets brought up, somehow, we transform teens into these babbling and useless bundles of carbon that somehow don't matter until the math is right, who need our protection every step of the way.

Ridiculous.

I sympathize with many of the points in this article (and props to moo for writing it), but I’d like to respond to a few charges leveled against Linden Lab that I think are unfair.

First, Lindens (including a developer or two) hold regular office hours on Teen Grid. Sometimes teens show up, most of the time they don’t. But Lindens make themselves available to teens and teen feedback.

Second, having even one Linden (say, Blue) dedicated solely to Teen Grid works out to a way higher ratio of Lindens to Residents than exists on Main Grid. If you take into consideration that Claudia Linden is almost entirely dedicated to creating the All Ages Area (yes, I said All Ages Area), that makes two Lindens whose major work focuses almost exclusively on making teens happier than they currently are.

If you include in your evaluation of Linden presence on Teen Grid the number of Lindens who have offices on Teen Grid, frequently hang out on Teen Grid, shop on Teen Grid, have teens on their friends lists, and just generally care about Teen Grid, it works out to an overwhelming amount of Linden participation vs. at best marginal Main Grid Linden participation.

Third, every quarter, Linden Lab invites at least one teen to Second Life Views, the LL-run focus group. Given that there are less than 15 attendees per session, again the proportion is skewed in favor of teens. Katharine Berry herself was invited to attend Views and at terrible expense to LL. I’m sure Everett will hurt me for saying this but it needs to be said, Kath’s attendance costs were 19% of the total amount spent on that Views session, which again, is terribly disproportionate if one considers the numbers. What does that mean? LL isn’t just paying lip-service to teens. LL is forking over money, and in some cases, lots of it to gain crucial teen feedback.

Fourth, teens still benefit from a Linden Answers section on the official SL forums where MG Residents haven’t had that possibility for a long, long time.

Fifth, Hamilton Linden, Linden Lab’s Director of Developer Operations, has turned his attention to performance and stability (lag included) in a big way. Those issues are not TG specific. We all suffer from them.

Sixth, registration sucks. Linden Lab knows it. Linden Lab is working on it. Want proof? Papal has been fixed!!!! Yes, I agree that it took too long. Yes, I agree that more stuff should get fixed. Yes, LL is working on it.

Many of the issues stated in this article are totally legit. Many of the issues also apply to Main Grid. Many of the accusations are unfairly leveled against LL. It’s important not to totalize our evaluations of Teen Grid. Yes, it’s not ideal. Yes, LL cares about that uncomfortable reality. Yes, LL is trying to fix many of the more dire problems that plague teens. Yes, keep laying on the pressure so that more stuff gets fixed, but also keep in mind that LL really is trying, especially Blue and Claudia. Teen Grid is in good hands. And I no longer work for LL, so I have no vested interest in defending it's policies re Teen Grid. Just trying to set the record straight.

Moo, Thank you for providing such an excellent overview of the event and the issues raised by the teens. For those interested in learning more about what the teen residents are saying, or what Alex had to say himself about the event, please go to http://www.HolyMeatballs.org
Barry Joseph
Global Kids

sounds like most of their concerns mirror those we had on the regular grid when it was much smaller.

I question why adults are allowed on the teen grid at all.