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Second Life™: Community Standards

Welcome to Second Life. We hope you’ll have a richly rewarding experience, filled with creativity, self expression and fun.

As residents of Second Life you have certain responsibilities to yourselves and to each other. You may not, for example, break any applicable real-world laws. Beyond legal concerns, however, we hope to foster a space where people's real lives, identities and communities are protected and where tolerance, freedom of expression and local community are valued and supported.

Rules of Conduct
Within Second Life we want to support residents in shaping their specific experiences and making their own choices. Our rules are simple: treat each other with respect and without harassment, adhere to local standards as indicated by simulator ratings, and refrain from any hate activity which slurs a real-world individual or real-world community.

Harassment
Given the myriad capabilities of Second Life, harassment can take many forms. We can’t anticipate all the ways someone might find to bother another resident, but harassment will definitely include:

 Creating objects of content with the explicit purpose of impeding or interfering with the free movement of another resident in safe areas (See Unsafe areas below)
 Repeatedly transmitting undesired communication, whether by IM, chat or email to another resident
 Acting alone or in collusion with other residents to use the reputation or any other ratings/leaderboard system as a means of unfairly forcing the behavior of a resident
 Creating scripted objects which in any way singularly or persistently target another resident in a way objectionable to the targeted resident in safe area

There are always new places to visit and people to meet in Second Life. Vote with your feet – if someone is not your cup of tea, just walk (or fly) away.

Local Standards
Initially each simulator region in Second Life will be given a movie-style rating of either ‘PG’ or ‘M’. Residents will be able to see the rating of the simulator they’re in, and be expected to abide by the rating. In the future, we expect resident communities will be able to choose the rating for the simulator region which is their designated home area. For now, however, the Linden staff will assign PG or M ratings to the simulators.

 PG – A “PG” next to the region name in the lower right hand corner of your screen indicates that you are in a PG region. No use of intense strong language or expletives in chat/IM. No nudity/sexual content in textures or sounds. No content depicting sex, strong violence, or anything else broadly offensive. No open soliciting of chat sex or avatar nudity.
 M – An “M” next to the region name in the lower right hand corner of the screen indicates that you are in a Mature region. Sex chat, nudity/sexual content in behaviors, textures or sounds OK except if illegal in the real world. Profanity OK except for hate speech or hate activity depicted in objects, textures or sounds.
 Unsafe – The health meter that appears in the lower left hand corner of the screen indicates that you are in an “unsafe” area, i.e. an area where violence or aggressive physical interaction between residents is allowed. Some regions are entirely unsafe, such as the Outlands, while in others it can be set by land owners. The default setting is “safe”. When the health meter is turned on residents should beware – this means they can be impeded, imprisoned, hurt, and even die. Death isn’t painful, but could be very inconvenient, because it means being immediately returned to their home location. Escape from an unsafe area is always possible via the “Teleport Home” option.

Global Standards
Several Second Life features are global- that is, they can be seen anywhere, regardless of Sim and Sim rating. These features are accessible at any time by any resident.

All global features including, but not limited to, group names, group charters, group icons and resident profiles, must adhere to the community standards that are defined for a PG sim (see above> Local Standards).

Tolerance
We value an open environment in which residents feel free to express themselves. However, expressions of hatred toward real-world individuals or communities will not be tolerated.

Naming
As names of avatars, objects, places and groups are broadly viewable you should be particularly thoughtful when creating these and adhere to guidelines of the “PG” simulators.

Governance
Wherever possible, Second Life will become self-governed. At the outset, Linden staff will be the primary ‘judge and jury’ and will review any reports of harassment or violations of local standards. Additionally, we are working on a set of features which will help you direct your experience including the ability to ignore chat from specific avatars. Eventually, however, system mechanisms will be put in place to allow Residents to respond to complaints or reports of unacceptable behavior. Long-term Second Life will be self-governing, relying on the broad concepts of tolerance, freedom of expression, and local community.

Voting: A Powerful Tool
Your first line of defense against individuals or content you find objectionable? Give them a negative rating. Second Life reputations broadly tell the world about who you are and no one wants negative ratings. Additionally, stipend allotments and other world privileges are tied to reputation so giving someone a negative vote actually does have an impact upon their experience.

Reporting
During the Beta period residents should report any violations of the rules of conduct to [email]support@lindenlab.com[/email]. Ultimately, there will be an easily activated report mechanism in the UI which will provide a description of the problem and capture chat logs and a screenshot of the offending behavior. Please keep in mind that anyone who sends false or excessive reports will be subject to the same disciplinary actions as a resident guilty of offensive behavior.

Policing
Linden Lab does not exercise editorial control over the content of Second Life, and will make no specific efforts to review the textures, objects, sounds or other content created within Second Life. We may, however, remove any materials that violate these Community Standards, or which, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, or which may subject us to liability according to our TOS. Linden Lab may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrong.

Discipline
Violations of Community Standards may result in temporary banning from the community. Repeated violations will result in permanent banning.