SL5B - No Kid Avatars, please!

Sorry, I should have qualified what I meant by "realistic" - there are some who prefer to set their avatar height to something closer to a real person (i.e. 5 foot something), or even to their own RL height. Such avatars do look out of place standing next to the typical SL giants, and sometimes get griefed for not setting their height to fit in with the norm, but they feel that they have as much right to run around in avatars "realistically" sized (i.e. compared to RL) as furries, dragons, mechaniods have to run around in their avatars.

Unfortunately one of these "RL-heighted" avatars can look like a child when standing next to a SL giant (and sometimes get accused of such). Unfortunately this sort of griefer is as unlikely to respond to "but you are the one who is over 6 ft!", than to spot the context you refer to - after all much of the genesis of the complaint that started this thread is due to things being taken out of context!

Matthew

Well, if the kid AVs are getting grief, that's a whole different thing than what I was thinking about. I just meant that it's a fairly refined and advanced state of SL consciousness--at least on the newbie scale--to know what the heck even an obviously "child" AV *means*, in the bewildering context of furry, neko, mech, tiny, invisible, gaseous, and amorphous ectoplasmic blob avatars. Getting to the point of distinguishing some subset of these as being sexually off-limits requires that one take the avatar's pixels more seriously than what is known about the age of the RL person at the keyboard.

On the other hand, if our hypothetical newbie comes-on to a kid avatar explicitly because it appears to be portraying a kid, I think that would be cause for concern. I hadn't thought of that.

(Now... how did I drift this far off-topic anyway?)

It's not off-topic.
Like it or not, the last paragraph is at the core of the whole SL kid panic for LL. They are concerned purely with appearances, and not with anything deeper.

*wonders if the Lindens have thought about how much the elf, robot and dragon in the new avatars, in library could be construed has being child avatars?*

Very true. The argument is "what would a new person who is not a part ofd the SL culture think"

I'm picturing LL's imaginary new person thinking, "Oh, look, a vampire! And a werewolf, 45 oily strippers, a rock monster, and some small forest creatures, a smattering of half human, half animal folk, and...is that? No! OMG! A kid!!!!!! Where's my virtual mace?!?!?!

Maybe I shouldn't bring up the fact that the time I've spent mentoring in OI so far was in my main (little) shape. (^_^)

And, that so far, ALL the noobies I've helped there haven't even realized that I appear to be a kid even though I barely reach their "default avatar" hip. (=_=)

Or, that the first person on OI to consider asking me my age wound up admitting to being 14 and was a swift victim of my AR. (^_^)y

Which is why the whole thing feels a bit silly, no?

I've had people assume that I must be a RL kid because of my avatar choice, which always baffles me - so few others are identical to their avatars, after all.

what you mean that all those vampires, furries, mechaniods, dragons, barbi dolls etc. aren't vampires, furries, mechanoids and barbi dolls in RL?

Most children sneaking onto SL despite the TOS are unlikely to advertise the fact by adopting a child avatar, so you are probably safer assuming that a child avatar is an adult in RL, than that an adult avatar is!

Matthew

Would make for a far, far more interesting world, said the kid who saw anthropomorpic uniforms and rocket-powered vampires visit her store over the weekend.



Very very true. The kids who sneak in are far less likely to be in any kid avvie. Look for them in your nearby sex clubs.

Ain't that the truth. It's the one thing that makes me hesitant to go to these clubs - and there are a couple I do enjoy visiting from time to time. The very idea that I could be engaging with a minor unbeknownst to me scares me witless.

I so want "age verified" on people's profiles, if for no other reason than my own piece of mind.

all the underagers will be verified. Am I going to? No. Why would a child av like myself wish to have access to plainly Adult places?

And you, Toy, have just earned my undying respect.

Has anybody even set a parcel to "Age Verified Only" yet? (o.o)

I'm sure not seeing it. (^_^)

I didn't realize that setting existed. When I get mine, you can bet the farm I'll do so.

I did, as a test. It was pretty worthless, since it only "protects" an area from the ground to 50 M above the ground, and the unverified person can still go anywhere else in the other 98% of the parcel's airspace. They can also stand beside the parcel and buy stuff from vendors and watch and listen to everything that is over the border.

There is only one case where age verification checks can reliably *prevent* someone who is not age verified from seeing or interacting with what is happening in the parcel. And that is to use Age Veificition as a qualifier for visiting an otherwise open-access private island sim. In that case, they can't TP to the island unless they are verified.

Age Verification, as implemented by LL and their age verification partner, can not be used to deny access to an entire parcel's airspace. It doesn't prevent clicking on things or buying from vendors or looking or listening. It can not be used to deny access to vendors by any scripted meand. It can not be used as a criteria for a security orb denying them access. Heck, you can't even manually look at their profile to see if they should belong in your group! It's just this side of worthless. The only thing it does is to keep them off your ose balls, in that tiny margin of space at ground level.

Unfortunately "verifying" ones age really only provides one protection to LL or to other residents. If someone is age verified, and if they are later proven to actually be under age, then you have proof that they committed identity theft / fraud to obtain access in SL as an adult. That would be easier to charge them with in a court of law than saying they lied about their birthdate on a website account application form.

I'm in the 1.20.xx client and I see the setting available in the "Access" tab. Be careful though. If your parcel is used as a way to make monies, you'll discover very quickly the number of potential customers you may have that refuse to verify. Identity theft doesn't have a big fan base on the internet. (^_^)y

As for the filing charges, so many are going to rais up and say it's LL's fault for not having a better system and that they shouldn't charge the innocent children that lie to get onto the adult grid...

I think these steps on LL's part are causing more trouble than simply just making sure everything is PG regardless of the avatars in the pictures. Or if the subject is PG related use of the avatars...

I think it's half though out actions that hurt far more than they help...

When you alienate one group and anger others, well it kinda goes against 'community'

Not to mention it's currently broken. I age verified, my account still says I am age verified, and yet I can't enter parcels that are flagged as age verified only. I filed a ticket about it, but LL hasn't responded, and I haven't pressed the issue since i have yet to find anyone using it. But It definetly has some issues to be ironed out.

Well, it isn't actually supposed to prevent underage users from accessing "mature content" in the first place. It doesn't work to verify user age, and it doesn't prevent even people who haven't verified from accessing content anyway. It is a legal thing to indicate that an attempt has been made in the event of a lawsuit.

Well, crud.

I'd send LL a notorized copy of my birth certificate if they had a system that actually worked. I certainly don't want to live in a PG grid.

Well here is the kicker on any verification.

It can all be falsified, since the person verified isn't necessarily the person using the account

Notarized documents have been falsified before as well. (there are places that sell bogus notary stamp kits)

Second kicker is that it's not LL you have to send it to, but a 3rd party with unclear political motivation and documented dodgy handling of personal data. A lot of opponents to the age verification would actually be a lot happier if it *was* LL you should send the information to.

i had this problem to so did a whole heap of other people when they opened up that new OI about a month ago and had an age verified area that they were showing off, kinda funny 'cos everyone kept hitting the wall, pushed back and then stuck in the prims that were surrounding the small parcel (like an airport metal detector).



thanks i'm going to have rock lobster by the B52's in my head all day now

/me grabs his magic towel

-Crunch

better than this (and not a rick roll) : http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y30LAj502mY