Minors are not allowed into Second Life, and that is a good thing. Also when we are not busy with sexual or violent activities it is nice to know that the other person you are interacting with is of mature age.
Almost every parent would agree: Kids should stay out of a place as Second Life. Besides a small exception with regards to the former teen grid, this is also the case. You have to be 18 before entering Second Life. A good thing…
Age verification is not obligated. With age verification you provide Linden Labs some proof that you are indeed of mature age. If you don’t do this area’s that have explicit adult content will stay closed for you.
These area’s are not only stongly pornographic or utterly violent area’s. Also a lot of very modest area’s will remain closed for you when you choose not to verify.
The age verification system is crappy, needlessly complicated and absolutely ineffective, but one thing is arranged very well: Your privacy. The age verification is not done by Linden Labs itself but by a specialized and certified company, at the end the only information that they keep on file is that you did succesfully verify your age. They have to comply to strict laws protecting your privacy, also when you are not an US citizen.
Quite clear? Right. So, to cause some confusion there is one exception on all this. Some minors <b>are allowed</b> in Second Life. The inhabitants of the former teen grid (a separate second life for teens) are now allowed into the maingrid, but only in some G-rated area’s…yet another good reason to avoid G-rated area’s all together.
Maturity rating
Each location in Second Life has a maturity rating. There are three levels of rating:
- General – a.k.a. PG
- Moderate – a.k.a. Mature
- Adult
The Adult area’s are blocked for people of whom Linden Labs has no extra indication that they are of mature age. You could provide that information on 3 ways:
- Getting payment info on file (by far the most easy way)
- Getting a premium account. (premium accounts cost money)
- Getting age verified. (use the clumsy age verification system and hope the best)
One of those 3 is enough. You can choose which one yourself.
Quite clear? Right. So, to cause some confusion there is one exception on all this. The owner of a location can set a setting which states that only age verified adults can enter. Some moderate and adult area’s have done that. Those who used one of the other methods still cannot get in. Ignore this..the method with the payment info is by far the most easy way to get your access to adult regions arranged. You can do without those few insignificant places of which the owner clicked the wrong checkbox.
Let’s have a look at the 3 methods of age verification…but afterwards keep on reading..the reason many struggle with this subject is that they don’t know they afterwards still have to make a setting in their viewer. (The designer of all this great stuff seems to have made the logical assumption that you go through all this verification stuff..but then not want to use it. Yeah, well, I know, but on the other hand he still managed to get a job as designer, so it must somehow be making sense.)
1. The most easy way : Payment info..
You are entitled to visit adult areas when you are either Age Verified, a Premium member or have Payment info on file. Having payment info on file does not mean you need to buy anything, but you do provide Linden Labs with your credit card details. You don’t actually have to use it. For that you either need a credit card or a verified Paypal account. Log into your account on the Second Life website , click on the payment information link and enter the details of your credit card or the E-mail address related to your Paypal accout. And you are done. (With Paypal: Only verified Paypal accounts will get you into adult area’s)
Again: Having your info on file is enough. You do not have to use it, or buy L$ with it..
2. Premium members can get into adult areas too
Most of us use a free Second Life account. You could also go for a premium account. Those cost money, but come with certain advantages, one being that they give access to adult area’s.
Normally you wouldn’t start paying for a premium account just to get into adult area’s but they also come with other advantages. And in case you would be a 25 y.o. student in Belarus without a credit card or a passport, it might be the only way. The age verification system described below might be not doing a fine job on approving your Belarussian ID-card.
Many people from the developing countries complain about the age verification system. On westeners it does do better but still there seem to be lots of problems.
3. Get yourself age verified
Getting “age verified” using the Age Verification system is rather easy..in theory.
Log into your account on the Second Life website , click on the age verification link and enter some form of valid ID. Press the OK button and hope for the best.
Linden Labs has hired a firm that is certified to verify if the ID you enter does exist. They try to check – or better said guess – if the information is valid and belongs to an adult. They do not check if you are the person belong with that ID. You also do not have to state that you are that person, and in their FAQ they cleary point out that they do not care if you are or are not that person.
Yes. Any kid can do that. I know. I also didn’t make up the system. Just telling you how it works.
Many complain that perfect valid ID’s get disapproved for no reason. So, if you have bad luck, it doesn’t work for you. Often it works just fine. When you have bad luck and your driving license does not get accepted, try your passport.
Again.. any valid ID would do fine, it doesn’t have to be yours. For Europeans the system work more crappy than for Americans as the company Linden Labs hired to verify you doesn’t have all that databases with social security numbers and so of all Europeans. They more or less just guess if your data is right.
This company, Aristotle, gets there data from private industry & public resources, this means it is incomplete and very easy to get around, you just need to know where to get valid information.
The system keeps on telling your ID is not valid: Choose help, submit a ticket, choose account issue as the sort of problem and then Manual Age Verification. They will ask for a scanned copy of your document. It works..You will get an answer and often rather quick.
Done ! (almost)
You got it, on one of those 3 ways. Be a little patient, sometimes you need to wait a bit or close your viewer and log in again. It is only the 21st century, don’t expect simple things to happen at once.
The bad news is you can still not go to adult rated area’s, the good news is that it is only a few clicks more.
You got a setting somewhere that says you don’t wish to go to adult places. You have to change that. Here is how, in case you don’t know if you use viewer 2 or viewer 1, you are using viewer 2.
Viewer 2
Within Second Life choose in the menu Me the item Preferences, then the General tab and there you see a drop down box titled “I want to access content rated”, here choose “General, Moderate, Adult” and click the OK button.
Viewer 1 / Phoenix:
Within Second Life, choose in the menu Edit, the item Preferences. If not already selected, choose General in the tabs on the left side. One of the fields is titled “I want to access content rated”. Here you choose “PG, Mature and Adult”. Click OK and you are done.
Now you can go everywhere again… uncensored, unbothered. Meanwhile of course you also understood the supreme logic of this system. You can go to adult places now, but that doesn’t mean you can also search for adult places.
I promise it is the last thing you have to do. Open the search, in both viewers and you see checkboxes with the 3 levels of maturity. Check them all..you only have to do that once. (As I understood this got changed meanwhile in viewer2..if my info is correct you will see the checkbox already checked)
this is how it looks like in viewer 2.
and this is how it looks like in viewer 1/Emerald
Uhmmm…
Yes. I know. I had to pee three times when writing this, and I cannot explain why. All this works a bit absurd and seems pretty useless. I hope it is at least clear what to do now. Just follow the steps without thinking and without being judgmental towards those who made up all this. It is only a few minutes work.
As thousands of others would agree to..It is worth the little extra effort also when you are not interested in sex and violence.
The best thing to do is to follow the advice my shoes gave me this morning: Just do it!