Second Life Teen Grid to Merge with Main Grid?

Another major concern has come to my attention today as news of a future merge between main and teen grids is discussed for Second Life.

Is this a safe thing to do? I think it really puts young teens at risk! Adults have enjoyed their peace of mind as well, knowing the freedom to flirt and play is not at risk. 

Educators and parents should be allowed to join thier teens on the teen grid, but teens should NOT be allowed in the adult grid. It puts them and the adults at risk by allowing teens to become easier access for pedofiles, and adults could be prosecuted if they unknowingly flirt with a minor who pretends to be older.

If Linden Labs wants to avoid massive legal lawsuits from angry parents they will not merge grids, thats my opinion for what it is worth.

This is the specific part as quoted from a recent Metanomics interview with Phillip Rosedale. Read the entire intrview at; http://www.metanomics.net/archive011909

“ROBERT BLOOMFIELD: Okay. This hour just totally flies by. We have time for one more question. This one comes from Daniel Voyager, who actually was a resident of the Teen Grid, but is no longer a teen and is too old to be in that grid. He has shifted over now to the main Second Life grid. Daniel, welcome to Second Life. His question is, well, it’s more of a comment: Linden Lab doesn’t seem to be doing anything these days for the Teen Grid or stop signups outside the U.S., not doing resident events or advertising the Teen Grid effectively. So what are your plans with the Teen Grid at this point?

PHILIP ROSEDALE: Generally, I think that the future of Second Life needs to be one where people of all ages can use Second Life together, and that’s the direction that we’re taking in our planning and our work. I think that the educational opportunities for Second Life are so great for all ages that we need to make it as available as we possibly can to people. If you look at what we’ve done with the Teen Grid, I think we’ve done a good job, as a small company, of being inclusive and creating an environment in which teenagers were able to use Second Life, I think, perhaps earlier than, I don’t know, we might have been able to. We pushed hard to get that working.

But, if you look at the problems with having a teenaged area, which is itself so isolated from the rest of the World, they’re substantial. There’s an inability for educators to easily interact with people in there because we’ve made it an exclusively teen only area. Parents can’t join their kids in Second Life so problems like that are ones that we think are pretty fundamental and need to be fixed. We need to stop creating isolated areas that are age specific and, instead, look at how we can make the overall experience appropriately safe and controlled for everybody. So that’s the general direction that we’re taking there.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD: Do you expect any official action or public notice on this anytime soon? And is the idea am I hearing you right that it would basically be to allow people of any age to come into at least some parts of Second Life? Is that what I’m hearing?

PHILIP ROSEDALE: Definitely. From my perspective, our long term strategy is that but I won’t make any specific “this is what’s coming next and that’s where you can expect it,” in that regard. We’re still working on how to do that and what to do next.  “