Three Days Later…

Although I may not be able to get on SL, I’m still staying in touch with my friends. My friends told me that the reception for the teens was great! I said some time ago that because there are so few teens on TG, I wondered why adults were so worried about them being on MG. So, three days after the Merge, do you feel that the teens joining MG was as bad as you thought it would be?

Also, I would like to ask my teen friends a similar question: have you felt welcomed by most adults, not welcomed by most adults, or do you feel that the adults are indifferent?

I suppose all the sims that were formerly TG could be called “TG” just for the sake of them having a continent name, like how the MG Mainland continent is called Sansara.

The End of an Era

According to a friend of mine, the Grid Merge will happen at 2AM SL Time tomorrow (Friday, the 21st). So, expect the Merge to be completed by sometime between 7AM and Noon (SL Time) tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I would have been playing SL for 745 days. Over the little more than two years that I’ve been playing SL, I have experienced the best and worst TG has to offer, from wonderful memories to menacing drama. I can say that my many experiences in SL, regardless of whether they were good or bad, have made me a better person. I have met some great people who soon became some of the best friends I could’ve ever hoped to have. Likewise, I have met some of the stupidest, most evil, most douchebaggy people I have ever met. I am so glad that I made FFU (The Free Furries’ Union). It soon became the hangout for my friends, and soon after became a sanctuary for those furries who wanted to avoid the chaos of the mainstream groups. Thanks to FFU, I have developed priceless skills and a stern mind. Through trial and error, the covenant I created was developed into the base of FFU. During the following months, I intend to refine my Photoshop and sculpting skills so that when I turn 16, I will possess the knowledge that will enable me to make my avatars better than ever before.

FFU’s sister group, FotN (Furries of the Night, owned by Midnight Firecaster) will be acting as FFU MG until I turn 16 because she will be transferred during the Merge.

(I meant to post this last night, but stuff ended up happening >.<)

LL delays Grid Merge

Oh, joy. </sarcasm>

Terrence Linden said on his Twitter that the Merge has been postponed until mid-late January. According to Terrence, LL did not manage to get what they wanted to get done over the holidays.

Hopefully one of these days LL will finish the Merge!

 

 

The Merge

It is now only a matter of time until the Merge happens. The Merge may be finalized in only a matter of hours now.

E-Mail from Linden Labs to Teens about the Merge

Preparing for Teen Second Life Closure  Dear Resident, As we have messaged on our blogs, Teen Second Life will be closing in early January. While our 16 and 17 year old Residents will be transferred to Second Life’s Main Grid at this time, we will be placing accounts held by 13-15 year old Residents into a special hold status until they turn 16. Please also find additional information here. We want to make sure that all of our Residents are prepared for the move, and while there are no actions necessary regarding your move to the status mentioned above, we do recommend that you take appropriate actions regarding your account balances and land holdings. Specifically, prior to January we recommend that you: Cash out all L$ balances Sell, or give up, any land holdings Cancel any recurring billing relationships that you have with Linden Lab (e.g., premiums) Upon your 16th birthday, your account will be automatically enabled with no further action required. All of your inventory, friends and groups will still be attached to your account when you regain access to Second Life. Thank you for your understanding during this transition, and we look forward to seeing all of you in Second Life in the future! Best, Linden Lab Customer Service Team

Of course, the e-mail doesn’t really say anything we don’t already know, but I’m glad LL decided to send the e-mail out. 🙂

Terrence Linden’s Meeting with Teens at Club Eutopia

Terrence’s meeting with the teens at Club Eutopia yesterday addressed a number of questions and confusions regarding the Merge, which is, as was said, to happen in the first week of January in 2011.

Here’s some key points of the meeting:

• The Merge will be completed sometime during the first week of January in 2011.
• 16-17 year olds will transfer while 13-15 year olds who are not involved in an Instution will be held back.
• These 13-15 year old accounts will be frozen until they turn 16.
• Friends, groups, land, money, and everything in your inventory will be preserved.
• 13-15 year olds should cash out L$ and get rid of their land because they won’t be able to pay for it.
• Teens will not be labeled in any way or form.
• G-rated sims make up about 15% of the Grid, and 80% of these G-rated sims do NOT border Mature/Adult sims.
• Teens do not need to worry about age verification or transferring because all of that will be taken care of by LL.
• Adults will be able to communicate and do everything with teens, including go to the TG sims.
• Teens will be able to access XStreet, but will not be able to access Mature content.
• The massive amount of copybotted stuff on TG will be dealt with through DMCAs/ARs.

The Grid Merge: New info

I decided to e-mail Terrence Linden, asking him if 13-15 year olds who own land will be grandfathered in and allowed to be on PG/“G” sims like the 16-17 year olds. His response was that there will be no grandfathering.

It’s good to know this because I was wondering for quite some time just what would happen to 13-15 year old land owners.

 

 

 

Official Close Date for the Teen Grid

Terrence Linden posted on his Twitter that the official close date for the Teen Grid is December 31, 2010. Therefore, LL has 4 months, if not longer, to figure out how to accommodate things for 13, 14, and 15 year olds.

It remains to be seen what LL will do for 13, 14, and 15 year olds who own land on the TG and/or have major influence on the TG.

Philip Linden announces the Grid Merge at SLCC 2010 (Finally!)

At long last, Linden Labs, or more specifically Philip Linden, has announced that they will merge the grids sometime in the near future. This means that in the next few months, preparations on both sides – MG and TG – will be made in order to accommodate the influx of teens from TG. The Grid Merge has been a subject that LL has beaten the bush around for several years, but at long last the TG has been heard, and LL knows about what’s going on here, and how the copybotters have been leeching off of the MG for months, maybe even years. However, over the next few months, it is imperative that we all keep a level head and refrain from letting our imaginations go crazy. Already many people have fussed over the false idea that “LL is going to destroy the TG”. This is not true, as LL is well aware of the fact that this could lead to some lawsuits. Keep in mind that The Grid Merge will take several weeks to complete, but in the meantime if you have any questions, feel free to contact Terrence Linden, Arwyn Quandry, Daniel Voyager, Artemis Kangjon, myself, and anyone else who is keep an intensive watch over what LL will be releasing about The Grid Merge.
For those of you who want sound-safe proof of this, here it is, a letter from Terrence Linden to the Residents of SL:

Hi all,

Philip just finished his keynote address at SLCC 2010, and during his talk
he discussed our future plans for Teen Second Life. Some time over the
coming months, we will be closing Teen Second Life as a standalone product,
while at the same time lowering the minimum age for the Main Grid to 16+
while we work on creating adequate solutions to serve the younger
demographic as well.

There is a tremendous amount of great work currently on the Teen Grid.
Incorporating this energy and innovation into the Main Grid in a safe,
secure way is very important to us, and we want to ensure that it is done
well.

There will be plenty of questions that come up regarding our decision, and I
want to establish a clear communication channel, and to ensure that the
educational community has someone to speak with. I will try to answer the
questions that I can in a timely fashion, and will have much ongoing
dialogue with the community around this topic. I will also be setting up
time inworld to discuss this with Teen Grid users, and will be in touch with
details around that.

I am Terrence Linden inworld, and my email address is terrence at lindenlab.com.
Please do not hesitate to reach out! I’m hear to listen and to help! I
look forward to speaking with you and, for some of you, meeting you for the
first time!

Best,
Terrence

This is great news for those of us who have advocated the importance of The Grid Merge, mainly because it means that we have been heard, and that LL knows what’s going on on TG and how it affects them. However, many people on TG have been running around like headless chickens, letting their imagination get the better of them. Please, if you are reading this and are a teen, do not panic! Relax and rest assured that LL wouldn’t allow any intentional problems caused by this.

Artemis Kangjon has started a blog that has any information that pertains to The Grid Merge. Here is a link to his blog if you want to see it so you will be updated: http://slgridmerge.tumblr.com/

If you have any questions, PLEASE, don’t hesitate to ask! I will gladly help Artemis Kangjon and Terrence Linden answer questions regarding and pertaining to The Grid Merge, but keep in mind that I will not know everything. If you have a question that you want me to asnwer, you may IM me in-world, leave your question as a comment on this post, or send it to me as an e-mail to my G-Mail Address, which is foxdog.pawpad@gmail.com

Here are some key points:

•The Grid Merge WILL NOT happen this week. Expect it to happen in November.  Hopefully, you will be notified of this many weeks prior to The Grid Merge, so don’t worry!

•TG Residents who are 16 and 17 years old will be  transferred to the MG. As aforementioned, hopefully you will be notified prior to them transferring you.

•TG Residents who are 13, 14, and 15 years old will be put on hold until LL can accommodate the setting for them.

•Similar to transferring when you’re 18, you keep all of your stuff – your account, your name, your L$, your objects, so on and so forth, except this time the list will include your friends and groups and your land!

•Nothing will intentionally be deleted. Everything will be kept as-is. The only thing  you need to do on your part is that, if you are the one who is paying for a group’s land, that you may want to move the land from the group’s ownership to yourself so that the land’s ownership will be safely transferred.

•The Ratings will be changed to accommodate teens and educators alike.

•If you do not own land, then relax and be patient. Going around starting drama over your misunderstanding of Philip Linden’s speech is silly. LL is not going to delete the TG. They are going to make it so that you will be able to access the MG, and vice-versa for adults.

The perks of The Grid Merge:

•Copybotters will immediately be banhammered to dust.

•Obviously, you will have access to a LOT more content, and therefore more inspiration for your work!

•You will have access to years worth of building techniques, which is especially good for Teen Content Creators.

•If you have a parent, or parents on the MG who are skilled in something, they could help you!

•Since you’re keeping all of your friends and groups, you already have a foothold in the MG!

•As Arwyn Quandry said, “I believe that a transferred teen makes one of the best observers of the MG.  While a new resident can be a good observer, they’re too burdened down by learning how to walk and fly and talk to really take in the new world.  A teen already has the skills and more – they might be an accomplished builder or scripter, they might have been a TSLebrity of sorts.  They understand how to buy and sell $L and rez a prim, so when they encounter the Main Grid, they’re not so much involved in learning the basics as they are in learning the culture.”

•You will have access to XStreetSL, which means that you’ll have a lot of the MG’s Content right at your fingertips – whether it be free or expensive, most of it is there in XStreetSL.

•You will have access to a lot of fun and intriguing sims!

•You will be able to visit Former TGers on MG.

•And last, but certainly not least, if you know where to go and what you’re looking for, you’ll have lots of fun!

(More info to be posted as I find out about it)

The Land-Whores of The Teen Grid

Figuratively speaking, of course.

Many, many times while I have owned my land, many people have attempted to get it from me. Several times by false entreaty, many times by bribery, and once by fake identity. It is truly and utterly disgraceful that these so-called “Land-Whores” should waster their time by bothering themselves to ask me for something they shall never get. I have worked long hours, days, and even months to perfect the builds of my land. I will never throw out that much progress unless I had entirely lost it. Moreover, there is a gracious amount of land for sale on the Teen Grid due to the horrors that they, themselves – the copybotters and their hypocrite minions – have enacted upon it. It’s amazing that they haven’t decided to go after those pieces of land. Oh, no. They have to go try and reap land from sensible people like me who hold a solid amount of land, just the amount that they like and no more and no less. People like me who want to make a nice place on the Teen Grid. People like me who want nothing to do with those Land-Whores. Rather, people like me who almost despise Land-Whores. Armies on the Teen Grid are notorious for their habit of stealing land and giving no compensation or any respectful means of such. I await the day that I can say “No”, have “No, this land is not for sale” on my profile, and “This land is not for sale” in the land description and be left alone and never be asked by these Land-Whores again.