Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

The worst thing that can happen to teens who like to disrupt group activities within GK is that they are kicked out of the program (in my six years I have only had to do that once). In TSL, one way to cause a problem is to literally slow activities down to a crawl by creating lag. The more people and objects occupying the same real world server space, the more work the server has to perform to keep viewing the same space, at the same time. If someone creates too many objects at once, on purpose, severe lag will occur. And that's what happened today.

Now, unlike in person where I can walk up to a teen and drag him out of the room, I can't do that in TSL during lag. It's worse than walking through molasses. It's more like swimming in jello wearing a garbage bag, backwards. As such I couldn't find the culprit to eject them. I DO have an option if I find them - to ejected them from the space and/or eject & ban. I ejected one person who was shooting people, but the lag kicked in before I could hit ban.

However, in situations like this when suddenly everything in SL feels chaotic and unmanageable, the teens keep their calm and knew what to do. First, two teens identified an invisible box that was producing rude behavior. As it was invisible they "touched it", creating a stream of light from them to the box, so I could delete it (as visitors they have no power to delete objects not their own). Then a number of teens called in the Lindens. I was so befuddled I never even saw them arrive - but like the cavalry they rode up, cleared out the culprit, and rode off.

It means a lot to me to see the teens turn so quickly to a Linden for help. It means they know how to protect themselves. When they find someone they think is an adult, they call a Linden (a threat I have often received until I am heard out). If someone is being insulting or physically abusive to someone else, which is against the TOA (terms of agreement) they call the Lindens. If someone is disrupting a GK activity, they call a Linden.

The Lindens act like sheriffs in this wild west environment, but it would be impossible for them to police it all. The safety, that exists, to the extent that it does, is only possible because of the collaboration between the empowered, responsible teens who raise appropriate alarms and the Lindens who fairly and transparently exercise their powers.

I wish more teens turned to thoughtful and appropriate authority figures for help at the slightest hint of trouble that is beyond their resources to control.

A few teens offered to police the event next time, half jokingly. One suggested we turn off the ability to run personal scripts, which makes sense. However, one thought did cross my mind. Clearly the disruptive teens were there for no other purpose than to make trouble. They did not deserve to be invited to participate in such an activity. So perhaps, moving forward, now that all TSL residents have had a chance to get to know us, we should change the Global Kids group.

Previously anyone could join up, for free, unmoderated, to be listed and contacted for events like this. Perhaps its time to close the door. Perhaps it is time to require new residents to get a reference, from either a current member (who presumably knows what being part of Global Kids Island is all about) or from a Linden (to prevent a cliché from keeping someone out). This way, we can signal that we are not for everyone and everyone is not for us. And we can grow more organically, based on the contacts we have already formed. GK Island would still be open to all but only those in the official group could participate in the main activities, be it a workshop, an award ceremony, or something else.

Something to ponder...