Mature Welcome Area

The ratio of Mature rated sims to PG rated sims is roughly 9 to 1, indicating a greatly predominant choice on the part of most users to not be bound by the restrictions imposed by the PG standard. Why then is there no Linden provided Mature welcome area, no place to serve as a Mature rated hangout in the way that the DAMB junction Welcome Area does for those who want to use strong language and engage in mature discussion and display together?

Perhaps there should be a Mature Welcome Area, with a choice of PG or Mature presented at OI and HI, and with a sign presenting both choices at both Welcome Areas.

Having seen some of the stuff that goes on in the actual Welcome Area I'd doubt this...

The problem is that there's a distinction between "mature equals not constantly looking over our shoulders for the kids", and "mature equals porn, only porn, all the time". I think the first one is what at least some folks want, and the second one is what they tend to get, and what they'd get in a mature WA...

Very well put, Yumi!

You've said exactly how I've always felt; I put myself in the first category (not wanting guests and the like to be afraid to say a bad word or something).

And yeah, you're right, that would happen in a mature welcome area. (Or are they mature already?)

coco

Do I interpret this correctly that you are saying that since there is a big demand for raunchy behavior there should be not be a supply?

The four sims that make up "the Welcome Area" are all PG.

To the best of my knowledge there are 4 Linden owned sims that are Mature rated, Sandbox Weapons testing, Sandbox (combat) - Red, Sandbox (combat) Rausch, and Sandbox (combat) - Blue.

My two cents are that this would be a mistake. There are certainly people signing up for the "adult" elements of SL and I generally think they don't have much trouble finding what they are looking for soon after joining. However, my overall feeling is that you only get one chance to make a first impression and it would not behoove LL to let SL become openly "the porn place." For the most part, you have to go looking for the adult content of SL and I personally think that is the way it should be.

There is already an impression coming up from the teen grid that the adult grid is "all sex, all the time" (I recently worked with a transfer from the teen grid who made me aware of this and it saddened me.) SL is so much more than sex, not to say that the sex part isn't pretty spiffy, but shoving it someone's face right at the start strikes me as setting the wrong tone. It would be nice to loosen the reigns a bit so that the word penis doesn't result in banning, but many SL residents have a general tendancy to push the envelope (witness the current WA) too far; a mature WA would end up being little more than teleporting newbies right into the Edge. I would hate to start losing new residents because their first 10 minutes on the mainland they think they've signed up for a virtual internet porn room.

Mature content is easy enough to find for those who want it.

That impression isn't limited to the teen grid. Lots of people don't want to try SL because they have this impression.

coco

Allowing people a choice of PG or Mature welcome spots would not be "shoving it [in] someone's face", it would be offering a choice.

Witnessing the current WA is what makes me think this might be a good idea.

No, I'm saying that it doesn't necessarily belong in the WA.

I have a nightmare vision of somebody coming along, being prompted for what WA they want to use, selecting the Mature one because they don't want to be checking themselves for naughty words every five minutes, and then walking out to half-naked people pushing around collared "slaves" and five-meter long prim cocks chasing folks around the sim.

Now, if you could have a "just-mature welcome area" and a "porn welcome area" as seperate ones, that would be fine.. but nobody's going to put "porn welcome area" on the opening menu.

Tell me about it. I HAVE to tell you guys about a VERY interesting chair I found withing a few hours of being in SL.



I'm not a prude or repressed soul. Ask my friends and fiends. So the following should be taken from a man who can be as perverse as any when put to the question.

I want the initial areas to be PG, and for some really good parks and other communal areas to be PG as well. Why? Easy answer:

Manners.

mature areas do not encourage basic social manners that are useful to deal with others in a social environment. Do you think I want to watch a new user I'm speaking to log off in embarrasement because it's suddenly allowable for two bunnies to do the procreation bop on the park fountain?

Bugger that for a lark.

I have noticed the basic loss of manners due to the inflow of a large amount of new users. It's not that new users who know how to deal with social situations are not joining, it's that they are outnumbered by the twits. (if you took offense at the previous, when coupled with the above, then YES. I mean YOU.)

With PG sims and rules, their is at least some control over what can be inflicted on the people of an area. It doesn't stop rudeness, but at least limits the level of obnoxious behavior.


Then again, what do I know... I'm a Fool.

Sue, I think there are two ideas at work here. Providing a place for people who want to make a public spectacle by behaving in the most offensive manner possible is not necessarily the same thing as providing a mature environment for a new resident to make their first introduction to the mainland. As we all know, SL can get really foul and telling a newbie that they are going into a "mature" area does not necessarily prepare them for arriving in the midst of prim penises on display, porn sound clips and people discussing anal goat sex. The fact that this happens daily at the current WA is policy enforcement issue, not necessarily what a newbie wants to teleport into for their first rez in-world, even if they are looking for adult content. Saying that the area is "mature" is a pretty wide interpretation in SL.

What goes on at the WA is about attention, spectacle and pushing the envelope. If you were to give newbies the option of "teleport to a place with some of the most obnoxious assholes in SL, likely naked and escorts available", that would describe what they would likely find in a mature welcome area - which is fine if the newb knows what they are choosing, just saying "mature" doesn't even come close to preparing one for the extent of adult options available in SL.

The other issue that this raises (at least for me) is that the WA is Linden owned land, it is someplace formal and the official entry into SL. If you wouldn't put in on the SL website, it shouldn't be happening on Linden controlled land (sandboxes exempted.) What happens on privately owned parcels is something else entirely. So, offering newbies the option to teleport directly into one of SL's mature clubs is one thing, offering them to teleport to a Linden controlled WA with adult content, is a whole other ballgame.

Isablan, it sure is nice getting a calm and pleasant but disagreeing answer to a post, thank you.

It seems odd to me that LR doesn't want to embrace the Mature side of SL more openly. They take the money from all the Mature sim landowners to fund their research efforts, but it seems to me like they don't want to sully their image by associating with the Mature side of SL in public.

I wonder why there isn't constant porno in the Mature combat sims?

I did get attacked by a giant penis there once in response to some llPushObjecting I was doing.

Your description "teleport to a place with ..." sounds like it would be fairly appropriate for the current Welcome Area.

I think it's better to have the welcome area be neutral as possible to what goes on in SL, really I don't even think non-mentors and non-liasons should even be allowed there.

I don't see any good reason to turn it mature, so you can swear and not get banned? That's about it. But then you have to think of the repercussions. The first impression people get of SL already is all the whack-jobs that come to the WA all the time, the last thing we need is goreans kicking nude women around there and raping them in public, or furries with 2 penises and 6 boobs walking around in the nude. Both of which i've seen in SL mind you.

The welcome area is just supposed to give you a core idea of what SL is like, it should be about learning movements, building, scripting, and learning about the game. Unfortunately some people hang out their all the time to impress newbies or be griefers or whatever but we certainly don't want to give them any other tools for scaring off potential SLers more than they already have.



Well two reasons, one is despite the largely mature usages of SL, SL is still designed as a platform to be as a land of do-as-you-please. So what LL is advertising is their platform that you can build, script, texture, and socialize. What you do with that after that really isn't a part of LL's advertising campaign unless it's some amazing development really pushing the engine and the barrier of what they thought was possible with LSL and prims.

The second reason compounds on that, is that SL already has a bit of a "porn game" image in the outside world, and they don't need to add to that by advertising more openly about all their sex communities and BDSM lifestyles. These are simply paths that people have chosen in their SL, but there are paths that don't lead to sex and mature events that other people have chosen for their SL. Right now, the only residents that LL puts on the webpages for advertising are ones that have done something notable with the engine (building, scripting, texturing, clothing making), and that relates to LL as a company because that's what they made(the engine and world that allows that). But they didn't make social interaction and they certainly didn't push people into leather straps or silks. Sex in SL is almost purely social and when it comes to SL's advertising and what LL puts in their sims or allows in their sims, it would seem they want to remain neutral to those communities in SL.

You know I've nothing but respect for you, darlin'

I have sincere doubts about a mature welcome area solving the behavior problems. If you put on your immature, rebellious child hat and consider for a second that you can either go be obnoxious in a "Mature" place where it is allowed or you can go be obnoxious in a "PG" place where it is not allowed and you are likely to offend a number of people - which is more tantalizing? Human nature suggests the forbidden fruit will win out every time.


While I've never been a proponent of p2p, it seems that it is coming - like it or not. I hope the powers that be will consider my suggestion that the WA be bulldozed when p2p happens and everyone be "homed" to the existing telehubs. This wouldn't stop the problem children, but it would significantly reduce their impact since they can't cover all those telehubs at once. It might also be hoped that the the business owners at the hubs they do decide to congregate at will be aggressive about filing AR's as the behavior effects their businesses. Maybe that is also the point where newbies could choose teleporting in to a Mature sim hub or a PG sim hub....

While I do find the WA rather funny I don't think a mature WA would do good with newcomers. As many have said ,alot of people already believe that SL does have alot of porn(which it does ;/). The funny thing is though WA has become something more of a hang-out for bored older members rather than a place for newcomers to actually get to know the game.Going to the WA now is more of a social showoff area than a welcome area.

Even though the WA is PG people do still push it when it comes to PG av's and clothing. The conversations that people have are not always PG either. As Isablan said "my suggestion that the WA be bulldozed when p2p happens and everyone be "homed" to the existing telehubs" which I find would be good in the end. If WA isn't taken away once P2P comes then maybe the area be locked down basicly to only newer players and mentors rather than have the neg rating people,the show offs and the annoying children with tons of sound clips. Honestly,when I first came to SL in '04 and saw the ammount of older players who spatted out nonsense and such it was annoying. Now coming back after a great deal of time I come to see that the WA has become nothing more than a meeting place for those that have no home base ,and those who seek out attention.

In reality, the WA is just like any club out there,just not as much of the content that comeswith going to a mature club.You still see half naked girls and other annoying things.

I personally would do away with anyone older than 1 month going to the WA . They donot need any welcoming and if they want to help newer players they should mentor rather than goto the WA and socialize with the "regs" who insist on making WA their "home".

I dont think this is a good idea, new people are already confused when they enter sl, after being on help island for a week, and watching them trying to navigate the orientation islands, they are just getting their appearance in order, some people are just glad to hang out at the help island for a few hours and grab some freebies, have abit of a build, fly around abit, then find somewhere to go, not all leave to the welcome area, as soon as they hit help island the whole map is available as well is the finder, i've seen some go straight to fishing and clubbing, making sure they get the welcome area landmark on their way.

Even in a pg welcome area i think in the new style welcome area they are overwhelmed everyone is crowded into a central area unlike the old welcome area where it was much more spread out, and quite often the behaviour and language is suited for a mature sim and a combat one at that, i think its getting better not quite as much looping sound as before, but once we get p2p and the old telehub spots are converted into gathering spots that maybe the places you were talking about, they will be marked on the map and many in mature sims

Where do you get this information? Are there statistics you can post? Or is this just a broad generalization?

Briana Dawson

A mature Welcome Area is a invitation to disaster. I can only begin to imagine the competition to be the most cras, the most lewd.... And what Artemis said too (although i havent seen the 6 boobed 2 penis furry).

Briana Dawson

Currently, I believe the system is already set up to allow "custom" Welcome Areas in that if you enter a referrer, you can be sent to a place of their choosing and bypass the "standard" WA altogether. This is sometimes referred to as a "tailormade orientation experience".

I think as SL grows, we may have more of these types of areas, some specifically designed to accomodate influx. For example, a group that is arriving from another online world/game/community—a ringleader (term used amply) buys a private isle and then sets up kiosks and "WARM WELCOME TO SL!" stations. Along with, perhaps, "Here's what you need to know!" I know Masa(kazu Kojima) and Baku(zelas Khan) have already done a very nice layout of this in previous incarnations in Baku. Some of my furry and Gorean friends have also mentioned similar things.

I was actually surprised the WA, when I first entered SL, was so craaazy and nice. I heard about some of the darker hotspots and even the grim cyberpunk futurama of Nexus Prime, so I thot I might be landing in a filthy backalley with glaring neon lights and spinner sailing by overhead. In this dystopian world... robo-hookers, techno-sleaze, and all manner of roughshod street dweller casting suspicious glances askance, the moon at once being overbearing yet hopeful. Which is, of course, a perfectly good idea for what a "mature" WA might include.

Some seek the experience.

I have. Don't ask.
<washes eyes with black ink>

Will there be pie in the mature welcome area.

Can we get naked?

One person's disaster is another person's Nirvana.

Perhaps someone who likes to play with photoshop would enjoy designing some of these places that will never be. Might be fun.

I agree, purely from my standpoint i see it that most people are coming in from places like tso or there, and when they hit sl its like wowww, quite an overwhelming experience and quite confusing, so many options and things to do, and ways to customise your own appearance as well as who you want to be and what you want to do, really what you want to make of this world, the jump from orientation island to welcome area was quite a big step and overwhelmed quite alot of people especially those less familiar with computers, the help island has helped there as a stepping stone to get them used to some aspects of the client side before they hit the more social side and i think a pg enviroment is good for that

Hello everyone, long time listener and first time poster...

just thought I'd chuck my 2 cents in (please go easy on the forum noob)...

As someone who spends time hanging out in the WA I am truely sorry that some of you feel the way you do, even I have to admit though that the looping sounds, girls with their what not bits hanging out and stupid shennanigans even got to me... yes the WA has some of the most obnoxious a-holes in the entire game and yes there is an awful lot of attention seeking going on, but that would be only a small percentage of the people hanging out in the welcome area.

The idea that banning anyone older than one month from the area seems a wee bit harsh, some of us don't have the time or skills (I am borderline retarded at building, scripting, and hell I still fly into walls) to be mentors or live helpers but still enjoy interacting with the newborns. To ban anyone older would pretty much stop the noobies from meeting people like Torley and Psyra and some of the other 'personalities' of the WA. These people are the real mentors of second life and in my most humble opinion give one hell of a first impression.

As a noob not too long ago I remember popping into the WA and being completely overwhelmed with the looping sounds and the what not, but a couple of extremely helpful and nice people there (they weren't mentors or live helpers either) pretty much made my first second life experiance something special (sorry for the Hallmark moment, even I vomited in my mouth a little with that), and like any grown up, I realised that yes there were complete ass hats around but to just ignore them.

A mature WA would be a bad bad bad idea. The girls with their what not bits will increase a hundred fold, penis avatars a plenty... you think the current WA is full of assholes... Lately in the current WA I have heard of several people 'soliciting' noobies, I can't imagine what a mature WA would be like.

I would however like to see some of the PG rules relax a little... or the trigger happy reporting people to just take a deep breath before filing their reports. I recently got told off by someone who threatened to report me because I used the word 'shit'... then when I ignored them (stopped saying the word shit by the way, it did just slip out, but just couldn't be bothered replying to the IM) went nigh on postal at me about my 'attitude' and my griefer friends... so there are crazies on both bandwagons.

All that said and done, sorry for the long post and to sum it all up I think a mature WA would be an extremely bad bad bad idea.