I haven’t been on the Sandbox islands since December or January. I explored the islands until I saw how cluttered it was on the Sandbox islands. The sandbox islands are cluttered not with tons of prims and freebies for sale, but with warning signs about no shooting or no selling. The sandbox rules are getting enforced so much that even the floors have words that say “No Shooting” or “No Selling.” This was kind of shocking that the Lindens have gone this far to try to stop this. The most that would be expected is a Linden telling a person not to break the sandbox rules. This is great that they are enforcing this rule and they seem serious about this.
Even though they’re enforcing this, people are still breaking the rules. I’ve seen some freebie cars being sold off for $30. I was also shot by someone with a popgun That isn’t as bad as getting shot with an RPG. While people are selling freebies and trapping other fellow TSL residents, the sandboxes are bombarded with these things:
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I was able to talk to one of Teen Second Life’s residents, Owl Patel. Here’s the interview:

TSA: How do you feel about this recent change to the sandbox?
Owl Patel: Well, its certainly laggier. Can’t do much about that. As more people join SL, the sandboxes are naturally going to swell.
TSA: Do you think it was right for the Lindens to do this?
Owl Patel: Yeah, I do. The Lindens have had problems regulating this in the past. Whatever works, you know?
TSA: Do you think this change was due to the rise of people who aren’t aware of the rules or what to do?
Owl Patel: Well, yes and no. You’ve got new people who don’t know what to do, but you’ve also got long term griefers.. the people who log in to SL, and immediately whip out a gun to make people miserable. The bigger problem is going to be newer people, but if they use SL like that, they usually filter out on their own.
TSA: Do you think the Tutorial Islands affect how people work or use the sandbox?
Owl Patel: Yeah, I do. The tutorial island deffinately needs updating.. it basically says: “Build wherever you want, do whatever you want! Your world, your imagination!” And this easily reflects on the sandbox, as I can see it being one of the first places to go.
TSA: Do you think a Linden should monitor the sandbox to make sure no one is breaking the rules?
Owl Patel: Well, this would have a very parental feel to it, and I don’t think that’s what TSL residents want. What the Lindens need to do is overdo it on pushing using the report feature, and of course, plastering the rules on the ground helps.
TSA: Alright thanks for accepting this interview.
Owl Patel: You’re quite welcome.

I stayed on the sandbox for about 30 minutes until I left. Overall, the amount of people selling and shooting have decreased since around November. Last year, I had to deal with people coming up to me every 10 minutes and asking me if I wanted to buy something. The only problem with the sandbox now is that it’s very laggy and there is a ton of bad builds. Then again, the people on the sandbox are just trying to learn how to build better.

By: Trent Davis

Rumors have been flying for weeks, but only three days ago was the presence of a teen-owned Island confirmed, when it suddenly appeared on the map, divided up into rentable parcels, with a few prebuilt shops and a mall already in place.

The island, located just South-West of Earnhardt, is named Mecca, and it certainly seems to be true- all of the ‘Popular Places’ spots for the past two days were claimed by parcels on the island. The island is completely flat, with roads and paths dividing the large (4096+) rent-a-parcels. Only about half of them are developed now, but more are being bought and development is continuing as time goes on.

We had a chat with Mecca owner, Tin Bling:

The Second Age: Good morning, Mr Bling;

Tin Bling: Good morning.

TSA: So, what made you decide to purchase the Teen Grid’s first Island? It’s quite an invenstment, isn’t it?

TB: I guess I have been thinking about one for some time. Just recently I have made enough via the TG to pay for such an item. And, I really wanted a ‘get-away’ you can say.

TSA: Mm-hmm. You mean through the Cascade Mall, correct?

TB: Yes

TSA: Who did you hand ownership of the mall off to? Or did it just die?

TB: Well, I didn’t really want to see it up for sale the next day. So I did some researching and found an interested buyer, Alex Harbinger, Owner of Mega-Mall. He was looking to expand, and was interested in my old land on Cascade.

TSA: Back to your island. It’s the first ever on the grid, although others (Brooke Barmy and Malarthi Behemoth, to name two) have considered buying one. What sort of impact do you think this will have on the grid?

TB: I am always interested in seeing what other teen residents would do with their island. I wanted a more professional environment, but yet space for teens to do what they wanted with it.

TSA: And what are you planning to do with Mecca? Right now, it’s sort of half renting, a quarter mall and a quarter just development. Any plans for further expansion or moving it into a theme? You said that you’re looking for a ‘professional’ environment, can you explain that a bit more?

TB: I do plan to change some of the themes every so offer, to keep it active. New ideas and expansion ideas are always being tossed around. By professional, I wanted a resident own[ed] place that multiple people build and showed the TG population what is possible in SecondLife.

TSA: Do you think that any other teen Islands are coming up? Or do you think that the $1250 USD + $200/month will scare most potential buyers away for now?

TB: I do know of one for sure. And a few friends of mine are interested in buying one also. Hopefully Mecca will be the center of a new large island of the TG world.

TSA: A larger island? So this other island may be attached to Mecca?

TB: That is the plan.

TSA: Hmm, interesting. How do you plan to make Mecca sustainable? Pulling in $200/month from Second Life, even through land rentals, is quite a feet.

TB: After some hard thinking and all goes well, the simple land maintenance fees should be easy. Everything was well planned out in advanced.

TSA: Aesop Thatch nods…. “Ok then, any other thoughts that you’d like to get out to the community, Mr Bling?”

TB: Start small, you aren’t successful over night. Always have a positive attitude, and be a entrepreneur.

TSA: No problem Aesop, and thank you

This is likely just the beginning of a new era of TSL builds and expansion. Several new Linden-held simss have recently been built, and more are on the way. At least two other resident-owned Islands are confirmed, and there may be more than that. For a long time, Resident Islands were not even available on the Teen Grid, but starting in November they became available for purchase. These islands are likely to become the focal point of Teen Grid commerce and innovation, thanks to the hard efforts and work of valued TG residents such as Tin Bling.

Clubs on the main grid are known to be great places to meet other people and party. Most of them carry pornography. Thankfully, the teen grid isn’t like that. Our lifestyle is very similar to the main grid. On the main grid, clubs rule the land, but on the teen grid, these so called “malls” are almost like the backbone of the teen grid lifestyle.

Malls started out way back when the teen grid was in beta. We used to call these things “towers.” There were only two main towers: Spectrum Tower and Trent Towers. They both attracted many people (Many people in one place wasn’t much). Yes, a lot of people in one place would be about five back in the day. Sadly, both of these towers died. Then some people tried making look alikes, but none of them had a huge success. The towers fad then died out.

The first REAL mall began right around the time Trent Towers opened. A teenager by the name of Tin Bling began his mall and called it Cascade. It wasn’t a huge success until he bought land in the sim coincidently named Cascade. Right around that time, the mall fad began growing. Malls in the snow sims became hits like Mega Mall Snow and Cascade. Even though there were only two malls in the snow sims, they were seen as the only place to go when you have to shop.

As the malls in the snow sims got started, it was under fire by heavy criticism. People began talking about how and why they were able to build their malls very quickly. One person, who should not be named, brought this issue up in a forum thread. The Lindens acknowledged that the teens were starting to realize what had happened and they responded. Blue Linden had announced that certain people were given land in the snow sims before they became public. Linden Labs had to find a way to make money and they had thought that by selling land to people who had huge tiers before the sim became public could bring in money. The Lindens apologized for this and in about a month or two, it was forgotten.

Now, malls are quickly popping up from one place to another. We are also seeing some “changes.” One change, for example, is the new Highland Mall. Originally, Highland Mall was known to have a very generic design. Highland Mall changed its looks so that it can look like an actual mall. Sasha Solzhenitsyn, the founder of Highland Mall, wasn’t available for an interview because he was offline. So, instead the interview was held with Aniam Ingmann, the co-owner of Highland Mall. Here’s the interview:

The Second Age: Alright, why did you guys decide to change the look of Highland Mall?
Aniam Ingmann: Well, we’ve remodeled 7 times ( yes it’s alot) and we’ve always done it if we move land, buy more land or think up a new idea. This last time, we made an expansive indoor mall instead of an outdoor one.
TSA: How do you feel about your competitors and what are you trying to do to attract more people?
AI: Well, us at Highland feel that our compeditors are usually not worthy of their status; as they use cheap ways to attract people such as money chairs. We try to always think up new ideas to attract people and we also hold events.
TSA: How are you guys trying to cope with the changes that are happening in SL (the increase in malls, the increase of citizens, etc.)?
AI: Well we just brainstorm for new ideas. You could call me and Sasha the “idea guys”; me and him are constantly thinking of new, original things to set up at our mall. he actually is a good friend in RL so we have time totalk at school.
TSA: Do you have any future plans?
AI: well, we are currently wanting to set up a movie theater, annd possibly another attraction such as our old sewer safari (that was one idea that was a large success)
AI: Okay, thanks for the interview
TSA: no thank you

Another example is Tin Bling’s departure of the mall business. It was very surprising to say the least. Although he had sold off his mall to Mega Mall’s owner Alex Harbinger, there’s have a feeling that he will return. Tin’s decision to sell it and Alex’s decision to buy Cascade didn’t have a major effect on TSL. A huge change on how people controlled malls was expected. Even though Alex is controlling two major malls at the same time, he is still doing an outstanding job mantaining them both.

As malls are starting to pop up everywhere, people are trying to cash into this. Some people are seeing this mall fad as uncreative and an idiotic way to use your land. Most malls are generic and ugly, but the creators of these malls will eventually find out the secret of making a great mall. As long as a mall don’t have freebie selling and people shooting up other people, then that mall is fine. Let’s just see what will happen to the future of malls and what changes it will make to TSL.

By: Trent Davis

((Editors note: This is the first of many articles that will hopefully be coming from our new staff of writers for TSA. Please post comments!))

The Second Age will be hiring writers on a commision basis. If you would like to join, please IM Aesop Thatch In-world, or leave a post on the forums.

All applicants MUST have a story before they apply. If you are accepted, you wll get paid your commision and will be asked to continue writing stories.