So I woke up early this morning and for some reason decided I’d post about the Teen Grid and its imminent demise. Now, I don’t usually get much right, but a scant 5 hours after my post, Terrence Linden announced, well, that Teens would be ‘welcome’ on the Main Grid.
(I’m not given to gloating, or not visible gloating anyways, but I just kind of felt like it tonight, it’s really rainy out is the reason).
Tateru and Lalo noted in the comments to my last post that the Teens were always using the same “grid”, although I can’t help noticing that the Lab itself uses the same terminology that I did, regardless of the reality that it was all one big mess of servers:
It has been several weeks since we announced that Teen Second Life, our Second Life grid for 13- to 17-year-olds, will be closing at the end of this year, and that we would be admitting 16- and 17-year-olds to the main grid. Today, we are excited to tell you that we will be able to continue serving all of the educational and not-for-profit communities of the Teen Grid, including those that serve 13- to 15-year-olds, without an interruption in service.
I speculated this morning that if such a move were to happen, it would include a pin-to-estate type feature and that one of the benefits would be that teachers could move more freely between the teen areas and the adult ones. Terrence confirms this approach:
The 13- to 15-year-old students affiliated with these organizations will be unable to visit any regions except those of their hosting organization, and those accounts will not have the ability to search the Grid or to purchase items from the Marketplace. Unlike on Teen Second Life, adults that work with these students will now be a part of the broader Second Life experience, allowing them to bring rich educational content to their students. The ability to invite organization-approved guest speakers and other approved members of the community to safely interact these students will further enhance their learning experience. For more details, see the Teen Second Life transition wiki page.
I’m disappointed, however, that students won’t be able to sell on the Marketplace (or purchase from it). I really think there would be something enriching to allow kids to make and sell stuff.
Regardless, and as Tateru and Lalo pointed out – well, um, what exactly is the difference between this and what was there before? The big closure of the Teen Grid has ended with, well, a Teen Section of the Grid, and the ability for adults to move back-and-forth, but I’m not entirely sure how this will look any different to what was there before.
OK, so I admit it. I’m not actually a genius. I simply had really good timing.
Shift-Cntrl-G on the viewer shows the various Grids that Linden Lab operates. Is not one of those the separate Teen Grid? Therefore both you and the Lab being correct in how the Teen Grid is referred to as “separate”? That was always my understanding – of course I could be wrong. Good call on all this btw. I for one am glad to see the Teen Grid being saved. I like the guidelines under which it is being merged with the Main Grid. A bit restrictive but understandable.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dusan Writer, Doubledown Tandino. Doubledown Tandino said: via @DusanWriter I’m a Genius! Teen Grid to Merge with Main Grid http://bit.ly/b435W7 [...]
10% of life is timing. The other 90% is showing up.
@Tinsel:
the “Teen Grid” has always been on AGNI, the “Main Grid” (you can even spot the sims on the regular map). IIRC, Tateru blogged about this in the past.
“Preview Grid” is also known as ADITI (that’s the name you would choose in the ctrl-shift-g menu). Other grids can’t usually be accessed at all by common SL users.
A lot of people, myself included, have been saying for years that this was inevitable. If SL is going to grow past a walled-garden phase, it needs to be more like the regular World Wide Web; there isn’t a Teen Web and a regular web. The fact that schools using openSim have been mixing them was a sign it would be more imminent.
On the other hand, it would be nice if Linden Lab was able to put in place better filtering and security tools in place to help protect kids.
“On the other hand, it would be nice if Linden Lab was able to put in place better filtering and security tools in place to help protect kids.”
lol..nice?…lol
nah were web2.0 ethical.. we let the USERS take the legal risks… and only fix the barn after the horses are out.. and already glue.
“If SL is going to grow past a walled-garden phase, it needs to be more like the regular World Wide Web”
I doubt that LL will get away with this so easily. But one thing for sure: Not LL will be the next big thing, but the hypergrid, a cluster of different VR worlds based on the same basical server and client software, run by different entities for the most different reasons and purposes, including cross-grid inventory transport. LL universial claim cannot work. It is too expensive to maintain, too vulnerable and causes way too many legal, social and economical problems to be balanced in a reasonable and commercially successful way.
Hypergrid is up and coming, and SL must either perform a quantum jump in technology (which they are not capable of) or redefine SL and it´s structure, maybe even quit displaying VR but regaining the lead from IBM, unity and OpenSim in server and client software development.