Comments on: Please Give the Kids Commerce: Second Life and the Teen Grid

By: Vivienne

Vivienne — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:08:59 +0000

Honestly, Dusan, what do you want to teach the kids by letting them buy and sell stuff in SL? That Linden Lab collects about estimated 120 Million dollars a year in fees and tiers – for almost no return? While the ones contributing content, which they are depraved ownership of, can be happy to cover the expenses, not to mention the time they work on stuff? That the consumer cannot use stuff elsewhere but only in SL, even when allowed by the creator? SL is not an “economy”, it´s a giant rip off, a ponzo scheme run by Linden Lab Inc. looking like an economy at best. Okay, if someone STILL wants to participate, by being fully aware of this, cause Sl is the only robber game in twon, it´s a respectable desision. Luckily Edu will move to elswhere, where the environment is much more commerce friendly in the RL sense than in SL. So there is a chance that kids will REALLY learn about COMMERCE and CREATIVITY and not about how to rip off and get ripped off.

By: Gwyneth Llewelyn

Gwyneth Llewelyn — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:33:23 +0000

What a weird world we live in. I used to work when I was 14 and nobody would arrest me for that, lol — no, I was not being “oppressed”, I was just exercising my right to participate in the economy and get some extra cash to buy shiny things without begging my parents for money

Anyway, times change, and I suppose that kids have to be super-protected from predators and other unruly elements that have popped up in the 21st century but for some reason have been able to avoid bad press in earlier centuries…

What all that has to do with limiting the teens’ ability to buy and sell content in SL completely baffles me! What are they worried about, that Adult content gets sold flagged as General and that kids get over-excited about seeing things they shouldn’t?…

Oh well. I think I’m too old. And that means I’m less conservative

By: Prokofy

Prokofy — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:31:29 +0000

I don’t see how COPPA can be spun around to prevent a teen from selling something himself. Haven’t they ever heard of lemonade stands?! Of course teens should have access to the Marketplace, just not the adult content parts of it.

By: Tateru Nino

Tateru Nino — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:16:21 +0000

As far as I know, the same basic separation tech still applies (for the 13-15 teens) – with a minimum of tweaks to allow the monitoring and management of the teens is being handed off to sponsor organisations. AFAIK, essentially, the code and functionality is *almost* unaltered.

By: Zero Calael

Zero Calael — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:31:28 +0000

I’m not sure how the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) might apply in this situation, but I know that the feds (namely, the FTC) have been discussing expanding online protections for children in general.

Could it be that LL’s restrictions on selling are responsive to some element of COPPA, specifically that children would be required to divulge identifying information in order to market their products?

By: Tweets that mention Dusan Writer’s Metaverse » Please Give the Kids Commerce: Second Life and the Teen Grid -- Topsy.com

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:01:36 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dusan Writer and betterverse, Russell Holt. Russell Holt said: Dusan Writer’s Metaverse » Please Give the Kids Commerce: Second Life and the Teen Grid: http://bit.ly/dAFlhq [...]

By: rikomatic

rikomatic — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:34:35 +0000

I’m going to guess that LL just hasn’t figured out how to implement this with all the right protections and legal stuff. Presumably they WANT those teens buying and selling stuff to stimulate the economy.

Adding thousands of new users to the MG and not giving them away to participate in the economy just makes no business sense.

Entrepreneurship, charitable giving, fundraising drives, tip jars, etc are a big part of both grids, and should be maintained for the teens IMO.