Teen Second Life

Infobox VG
title = Teen Second Life
developer = Linden Lab
publisher = Linden Lab
designer = Linden Lab
engine = Proprietary, Free software/open sourcecite web
url=http://lindenlab.com/press/releases/01_08_07
title=Linden Lab To Open Source Second Life Software
publisher=Linden Lab
date=January 8, 2007
accessdate = 2007-01-08|] cite web
url=http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/01/08/embracing-the-inevitable/
title=Embracing the Inevitable
author=Phoenix Linden
|date=January 8, 2007
accessdate = 2007-01-08|]
version =Main Client1.18.3.5 (Windows)
1.18.3.5 (Mac OS X)
1.18.3.5 (Linux alpha)cite web
url=http://secondlife.com/community/linux-alpha.php
title=Community: Linux Client Alpha
publisher=Linden Lab
accessdate = 2006-11-24
]

Beta Grid
1.18.4.0 (Windows)
1.18.4.0 (Mac OS X)
1.18.4.0 (Linux Alpha Client)

released = 2003
genre = MMO, Virtual World (Shooter, Racing, Puzzle, RPG, and Sports in several in-world games.)
modes = Multiplayer (online only)
ratings = Teen Only
platforms = Mac OS X (10.3.9 or higher)
Windows
*Windows 2000 SP4
*Windows XP SP 2
*Soon to support Windows Vista
Linux i686
media = Download
requirements =
Broadband Internet access256 MB RAM (Win, Linux)
512 MB RAM (Mac)

50 MB - 1000 MB HD space for Disk Cache

800 MHz x86 CPU or better (Win, Linux)
1 GHz G4 or better/Intel Core Processor (Mac)

nVidia GeForce 2, GeForce4 MX or better

ATI Radeon Radeon 8500, Radeon 9250 or better
input = Keyboard, Mouse

"Teen Second Life" is a version of "Second Life" reserved for teenagers, running on the so-called "Teen Grid." It was officially opened to the public on February 14th, 2005 for people aged 13-17 to play "Second Life", without entering false information to participate in Second Life (reserved for people aged 18 and over).On January 1, 2006, Teen Second Life's operating hours were increased to 24 hours a day, whereas it was previously open only from noon to 10pm Pacific Time.

Differences

Second Life and the Teen Second Life are different in several ways:

Access

Registering in Teen Second Life is free for the first Basic account. Currently, to register for Teen Second Life you are required to provide identity verification via either a North American SMS enabled phone or a Paypal account.

Age

* Teen Second Life users are transferred to Second Life once they turn 18, taking all content and private islands with them.
* Underage users found to be violating the Terms of Service by accessing Second Life may either be transferred to Teen Second Life or be restricted from accessing either area entirely. In the case of transfer, all inventory is erased in an effort to prevent Mature content being transferred to Teen Second Life.
* Overage users found to be violating the Terms of Service by accessing Teen Second Life face banning from all areas of Second Life (website, TSL and SL) and their identifying information may be provided to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.citeweb
url=http://teen.secondlife.com/footer/tos
title=Teen Second Life Terms of Service
publisher=Linden Lab
accessdate=2006-11-24
]
* Open Registration was implemented, but quickly removed for Teen Second Life, to increase security against users over age 18 from entering Teen Second Life.
* Adults are allowed on Teen Second Life on a limited basis, provided they pass a criminal background check. Up to this point, these adults, called approved adults, have all been educators or non-profits. They are required to stay in adult owned islands and may not join teen created groups, nor can they under any circumstances visit the mainland of Teen Second Life. See more in the Educators Working with Teens section of this page.

Demographics

* Teen Second Life, unlike Second Life, is comprised primarily of residents from the United States and Canada, due in part to restrictions intended to deter adult registration.
* The average Teen Second Life resident is male and 16 years old.
* Teen Second Life residents invest less money, or Linden Dollars, on land than their Second Life counterparts.
* The average Teen Second Life resident spends more time inworld than the average Second Life resident by roughly 25%. Teen Second Life concurrency tends to be affected significantly by the school calendar.

Land

* Teen Second Life is significantly smaller in the size of its userbase, the amount of land and concurrent Resident population at any given time.
* Teen Second Life is a fraction of the size of the Adult Grid (63 Mainland sims), and has significantly fewer Resident-owned estates (12 of them). There are more "project" sims (80) than Mainland and private estate sims combined. citeweb
url=http://www.tslurl.com
title=Map of Teen Second Life
publisher=SL Maps
date=May 6, 2007
accessdate=2007-05-06
] citeweb
url=http://www.slurl.com
title=Map of Second Life
publisher=Linden Lab
date=May 6, 2007
accessdate=2007-05-06
]

Content

* The Teen Community Standards prohibit mature content, including strong language, graphic violence and nudity.citeweb
url=http://teen.secondlife.com/footer/cs
title=Teen Second Life Community Standards
publisher=Linden Lab
accessdate=2006-11-24
]
* As well as social spaces, education groups are exploring the potential of Teen Second Life as a learning space. See section below.
* Teen Second Life also has a large military population, similar and different from the main Second Life grid.

Economy

* Teen Second Life has somewhat different economy compared to Second Life. Land prices and in-world object prices are known to be different, as the average income for the people that play these grids differs.
* LindeX (The Linden Lab endorsed trading service), however, takes from the same pool of Linden Dollars (L$) for both Second Life and Teen Second Life.
* Teen Second Life economy revolves around avatars, accessories, weapons, armies, scripts, and land barons (Residents who squat land in order to resell it, usually at an inflated price). The majority of Teen Second Life's residents are basic accounts without weekly stipends, so the L$ has slightly, nearly significant, more value on Teen Second Life than on Second Life, but due to lesser demand on content, content can be bought for significantly less than on Second Life (Comparing sources such as Second Life economy and Teen Second Life economy + Content). For example, a "Second Life-quality" car with similar features can cost L$400 (400 Linden Dollars) on Teen Second Life, while it may cost up to L$10,000 (10,000 Linden Dollars, or 10k) on Second Life.

Performance

Teen Second Life shares asset server space with Second Life, and both are equally affected by unusually heavy concurrency or database issues.

Teen Second Life Educational Projects

Linden Lab allows educators to enter Teen Second Life to set up projects on islands they buy or by participating in [http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Campus:_TSL Campus:TSL] , a Linden Lab run program that provides free land to middle school and secondary educators on a short term basis.

The educational projects in Teen Second Life fall into two categories; those that are accessible to all residents of Teen Second Life (public projects), and those accessible to teens associated with a particular project in 'real life' (private projects). These private projects are most often inaccessible to Teen Second Life residents.

Public Projects

* [http://holymeatballs.org Global Kids] - Global Kids Island in Teen Second Life is a place for teen residents to learn about important social and world issues. It was created and is run by [http://www.globalkids.org Global Kids] , a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to developing youth to become global citizens and community leaders. Global Kids was the first educational organization to enter Teen Second Life, opening an island in March 2006 when it hosted a digital media essay contest, created the SL version of the Save Darfur charity wristband campaign, and brought in a real world photo exhibit from students it worked with in Brooklyn, NY. In the summer of 2006, it held Camp GK, a four week intensive program where Teen Second Life residents engaged in workshops on foreign policy and human rights issues. In the Fall of 2006, it partnered with UNICEF to host the World Fit For Children Festival, and invited media scholar Henry Jenkins to give a lecture/dance party where he spoke about media and learning. In the academic year of 2006, a real world machinima program, the Virtual Video Project, and a real-world gaming program, Playing 4 Keeps, both using TSL, were launched in New York City schools as after school programs. These projects were Global Kids' first uses of Teen Second Life with students in a face to face educational setting.
* [http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info/ Eye4YouAlliance] A partnership with the [http://www.plcmc.org Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County] and the [http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com Alliance Library System] to give opportunities to teens to create and collaborate through library services offered in Second Life. *Note-this blog moved from [http://www.virtualteenlibrary.blogspot.com here]
* [http://www.britishcouncil.org British Council Isle] - The idea behind this project is to create a 3D virtual self-access center aimed principally at learners of English, and also to offer an engaging inter-cultural space for English language learners and native speaking teens to meet. Its principle aim is not to teach English, but to encourage globally-based language learners and existing Teen Second Life residents to come to the island to practice English. The project, not yet public as of July 2007, will be providing a wide range of materials for students as well as games, quests, and treasure hunts based on linguistic clues. In short, the British Council Isle will be both an iconic virtual representation of Great Britain, and a rich setting in which learners of English can further their learning of the language and culture of the UK as well as raising awareness of visitors to the work and opportunities provided by the British Council.
* [http://www.newhopesl.org New Hope Fellowship] A non-denominational online church that originated in Teen Second Life, making it the only initiative started in the virtual world itself. It was made to grow and connect the Christian community as well as to reach out to teens who may use Teen Second Life as an escape from their real world problems. Originally it was known as GLOBAL Ministries, but was changed so to prevent confusion between itself and the Global Kids organization. Currently plans are being made to purchase a virtual private island.

Private Projects

* The UK Open University's [http://www.schome.ac.uk 'Schome'] project is one of a limited number of educational explorations. Their first three month pilot in Spring 2007 found that there was strong evidence that the students who had engaged within the closed 'Schome Park' island enhanced their knowledge age skills, and the environment offered affordances that other media lack. [cite news |first=Peter |last=Twining |title=The schome-NAGTY Teen Second Life Pilot: Final Report—a summary of key findings and lessons learnt |url=http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/getfile.cfm?documentfileid=11344 |date=May 2007 |accessdate = 2007-06-07 ] The original 'SchomePark' pilot island has been re-landscaped and redesigned in the light of what was learnt and was relaunched in June 2007 as 'SPii'.
* [http://edboostisland.blogspot.com/ EdBoost] A Campus: TSL project where students script the contents of the island and adults teach computer programming.
* [http://zoomlab.org/kc/ Kids Connect Island] - Kids Connect is a series of workshops for young people in multiple locations, teaching them to connect and work together via performance, storytelling and collaboration by both theatrical and digital means. In the pilot program in summer 2006, participants connected and created with other students in New York and Amsterdam via video streaming and on Kids Connect Island in the Teen Second Life. Guided by artists and educators from theater and new media, they learned skills like VJ-ing, [http://playbackschool.org Playback Theatre] , digital storytelling, and 3D modelling. In teen SL, they met and collaborated to build a hybrid city combining aspects of both New York and Amsterdam. Within that common space, they created a performance that occurred both live and online simultaneously.
* [http://pacificrimx.wordpress.com/ Pacific Rim Exchange] - PacRim X is a collaborative project between two school districts, one in California, and one in Japan. The project is private and only open to exchange students from the two school districts, and their teachers.
* [http://rampoislands.blogspot.com/ Suffern Middle School] A virtual presence for education at Suffern Middle School, Suffern, NY.
* [http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/index.php/Second_Life_Development Ohio University VITAL Lab Second Life projects] A number of Second Life projects for high schools and middle schools.
* [http://projectcabrillo.blogspot.com Project Cabrillo] Project Cabrillo's goal is twofold: use SL to display 8th grade Digital Art students' work from Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Bryce 3D as well as Second Life constructions. It will also use SL to explore the virtual environment with a focus on social interaction and presentation of the self in relation to real world situations.
* [http://globalvirtual.blogspot.com Global Citizenship in a Virtual World] - a project in Virginia to bring middle schoolers into Second Life to create exhibits and interact with other teens from around the world about pressing global issues.

See also

* "Second Life"

External links

* [http://teen.secondlife.com/ "Teen Second Life": A Virtual World for Teens] – Official website

References