Minors have been accessing the main grid for years now. Only now it will be "legal" for them to access the PG-only areas. Mature and Adult-Only areas will still be restricted.

I realize that. Thing is, before the new policy the liability wasn't as great. It's the "fake ID" excuse that liquor stores use *. Now minors are legal, even as such things like fight sims seem to go the reverse route and go all adult due to violence.

The blog forum has many other viewpoints, yet it all points to the risk liability to SL and the non-minors outweigh the rewards of closing the teen grid to cut costs.


* http://www.legalmatch.com/law-libra.....to-minors.html
under "But the kid showed me a fake ID"

Liability I feel should be in the control of and hands of those producing the content, the sim owners and object creators. One can still set a region to Adults-Only or set even specific parcels to require adult verification, payment info on file, or even charge people to buy a "ticket" to enter the area.

I disagree with you comparison. Before the change, a club would have their region set as "mature" or even "PG" giving a false statement about what's involved in the region. They may say that since the town says only adults are allowed then everyone must be an adult, but they never check ID and instead point to the town's welcome sign that says "Adults only". Before the change, people would blame LL for the minors getting onto the main grid saying it's LL's responsibility to make sure that minors don't get on the main grid, while LL's argument has always been that the land owners should be utilizing the tools they've already been given to do this. LL would remove minors when discovered or move them to the teen grid, but they have always made it clear that its the users' responsibility.

This change only makes it so now land owners must do the equivalent of checking ID (requiring adult verification) and marking themselves as appropriately adult when desired or required (many sex clubs and brothels would only set their lands/regions as "mature" even though it is required that it be set Adult due to the activity), all the land owners are bitching about is not that minors will get into their land (which land owners allowed due to their not utilizing basic checks) but that they can no longer hold LL responsible. If a minor now passes the Adult Verification system and manages to get onto Adult-only land; this is the equivalent of a minor presenting a fake (but believable) ID in a liquor store.

Is liability greater for the land owners? Possibly. If they had been using the features and safety nets they should have been using already then the risk is not much greater for them. If they were incorrectly having adult activities on Mature or PG rated land and/or did not set such land to require adult verification, then yes the liability is much greater due to their own lack of personal responsibility. Is the liability less for LL? Much less now that it's up to the land owners to be responsible for their own land.

It's all theory until the hammer comes down. If and when the hammer does fall, it doesn't care what you do or do not believe.

Even worse, how many people on the main grid even know about the new lowered age policy? Many folks don't pay attention to SL politics, and many rude awakenings are possible.