'Second Life' for teens

Now there's a version for 13-to-17-year-olds, CNET reports in "'Second Life' for teens: 3D fun sans the brothels." Second Life is an MMORPG. Catchy acronym, huh? It stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and this one's true to its description, with more than 40,000 subscribers (logging an average of 20 hours/week) who together create this virtual world. "A lot of Second Lifers are making money selling [virtual] things that they've created in the game," the San Jose Mercury News game blog reports. But it can get sexually explicit, so creators Linden Lab has just opened Teen.SecondLife.com, where teenagers can "build the world the way they want it" and where "only authorized adults" are allowed, according to the game's page for parents. No brothels, no "metrosexual goblins." The forums are monitored and Linden Lab staff are always available to players via IM, the site says. However, parents may want to note that on its Terms of Service page, the company says it "cannot absolutely control whether minors gain access to the Service other than the Teen Grid … and makes no representation that users inside the Teen Grid [game] are not adults. Linden cannot ensure that other users will not provide … access to Content that parents … may find inappropriate…." For insights into all the communications tools associated with many online games, see this page. Here's an earlier CNET big-picture piece on virtual worlds. Play requires a one-time fee of $10, but it's about $10 a month to be able to "own land" in this world.