by Pia Klaar
Pictures courtesy of Daniel Voyager

People are flocking to virtual worlds for a multitude of reasons-to make friends, hang out, and earn a living, play games, and conduct business. I recently profiled a Second Life young adult who had "bridged" over to the world of Second Life Main Grid.

The presence of virtual worlds is not new. The first virtual worlds were text-based games created in the late 1970s. In the early 2000s, virtual places like Second Life, Habbo Hotel, and World of Warcraft appeared and the number of World 0 users increased from a few thousands to tens of millions. This trend to log onto a virtual space to make friends, hang out, take classes or earn a living will continue to expand in numbers over the next decades. Second Life is one of those World 0 environments that will continue to attract people.

One part of Second Life that is a mystery to many is the Teen Second Life, a version of Second Life reserved for teenagers. It is a place where teens get to have a virtual space within Second Life. It was officially opened to the public in 2005 for people aged 13-17 to play Second Life. On January 1, 2006, Teen Second Life's operating hours were increased to 24 hours a day, whereas it was previously open only from noon to 10pm Pacific Time.

The number of sims as well as the number of residents on Teen Second Life are very small compared to the Main Grid. For that reason, the teens often feel like a close-knit community and often establish close ties with each other. Over the years, numerous educational institutions have set up islands there. Islands on the Teen Grid such as Global Kids and Eye4You Alliance have helped teens focus their skills by creating activities that develop their leadership skills on global issues, communication skills, as well as skills in creating. Barry Joseph, from GlobalKids sums this up when he writes:

"What we find in Teen Second Life is a group of young people who, by the very nature of being there, are learning to take responsibility for their own environment. They literally create the world around them. They create the textures that they walk across. They create the objects, the clothes that they wear.

(GlobalKids: http://www.globalkids.org/)