I have no access to most destinations

[cureem]

So I joined SL yesterday, and as a normal person would do, I wanted to go to different places to meet people and talk. But I couldn't. Almost every place I tried to go to would give me this: ''The region you're trying to visit contains content exceeding your current preferences.  You can change your preferences using Me > Preferences > General.'' I have no idea what to change in the Preferences except for the part that tells me which places I'm allowed to go to, which are stuck on General.

I am 17 so this could be a matter of whether something is mature or not. But honestly, the places I try to go are just normal places and would have no reason to be mature. I just wanna go to the beach, man. 

Please help!

[marcov Carter]

1 hour ago, cureem said:

... ''The region you're trying to visit contains content exceeding your current preferences.  You can change your preferences using Me > Preferences > General.'' I have no idea what to change in the Preferences except for the part that tells me which places I'm allowed to go to, which are stuck on General.

I am 17 so this could be a matter of whether something is mature or not. But honestly, the places I try to go are just normal places and would have no reason to be mature. I just wanna go to the beach, man. 

 

Hi and welcome in SL.

As your preferences are stuck on General, the message you get probably means the beach you want to go must be rated Mature or Adult.

Just try another beach  

Note, there is others limits regarding regions / land owners, like:  if your account is under 30 days, or not having payment info...

 

[cureem]

Okay. Thank you.

[Rolig Loon]

Yup, Marcov has nailed it.  Since you are under 18 in RL, you may only visit areas that are classified for General entrance.  Read more at

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

7 hours ago, cureem said:

 But honestly, the places I try to go are just normal places and would have no reason to be mature. I just wanna go to the beach, man.

The maturity rating is at the sim / region level.  Mainland is set by LL and cannot be changed by any resident -- though if a resident owned the entire sim, they might be able to talk LL into reclasifying it, but I've no clue on that.

Estate regions are set by the owners and I'm pretty sure that most of them stick with Moderate at the minimum because it is easier to stay out of trouble that way and still be able to rent land and/or have stores there.  General designated regions cannot have any adult type content out for public use or being sold.  This restricts what type of stores can be located there and can restrict what type of renters they might attract.  This statement from the guidelines likely explains the ratings on a majority of the estates:
"If you are a region owner and you feel there is some ambiguity as to whether your content and activities are allowed in General regions, it's probably best to designate your region as Moderate."

With a bit of searching, you'll find beaches and other areas that you can go to.

[Lindal Kidd]

You're faced with a basic fact of Second Life, Cureem:  SL was really designed for adults.  "Adult" is defined by Linden Lab as anyone 18 or older.  People under 18 are limited to regions with a General maturity rating.  A great deal of SL consists of regions rated Moderate, and about 5% of the grid is Adult rated regions.  This is a huge pain in the behind to those of you under 18, I know, especially since, as you say, probably 90% of the content of Moderate areas would be perfectly acceptable for most 16 and 17 year old people.  However, you'll just have to grin and bear it until your next birthday.  Meanwhile, there's a lot of great General rated places to go and visit!