Problems I've been considering

So, in my infinite teacher wisdom, it occurred to me that sending my students on a virtual mission might result in them trying things that...let's just say their parents might not want them doing. And I certainly don't want them doing those things either. Rather than test out for myself how easy it would be to accomplish x-rated feats, I decided to take to the internet and research the potential dangers. Here, I discuss my findings.

First of all, the drug culture does not seem to be as strong as the sex culture. This article claims that drugs are hard to come by, but are indeed for sale in SL. The article also mentioned that gambling was outlawed, something I personally hadn't even considered, but I can see why it was an issue.

Overall, though, it seems to me that sexual activity would be the major concern. One thing I can take comfort in is the fact that I now know from experience how hard it is to make an attractive avatar, and without a lot of money or SL programming skills, my students will not be turning into prostitutes. That doesn't necessarily stop them from visiting the sexually explicit areas of SL, though, if they're not afraid of lying to SL's age verification process. The blog Alphaville Herald provides a lot of news about mature content, and assures that while it is difficult to get through the age scans, people are providing registration information for personalities with accessible details, like Tupac or even Mohammad Atta, the terrorist.

In the end, I feel that my students will, for the majority, be well-shielded from any inappropriate content, and unless they work hard at it, they won't be accessing it either. However, the project will definitely require parental permission slips. I have been exploring other options too, and note that there is a teenager-friendly version of Second Life that I will also be looking into.

On an unrelated note, I also found this news item at the Alphaville Herald that just baffled me: "Second Life’s chicken farming community is facing a deadly new threat - a food decoy that distracts virtual chickens from their food trays, starving them to death over the course of several days. The threat of biological warfare marks the latest stage in an ongoing conflict between chicken farmers and anti-chicken residents. While a growing chicken farming community enjoys raising the birds, other residents feel chickens create lag and are willing to take matters into their own hands, despite an improved version of the sion chickens with reduced lag."

A chicken farming community? Biological warfare? I knew SL was complex, but honestly, its depths never cease to amaze me.