new restrictions on child avs

The past few weeks I have been hearing more and more stories about linden labs inforcing stricter rules regarding child avatars.

A wel know child skin maker had her vendors returned because the child avatars in them where wearing swimsuits.

Several nudist resorts where told to forbid childavatars on their land or close down because child avatars are not alowed near nude adult avatars, some child avatars where suspended for this.

It looks like child avatars have more restrictions then rl kids.

Anyone else noticed something simular?

All of the above. (T_T)

I was accused of age play because my SL dad had a sex vendor up in his club and I was on the sim. I didnt get introuble..which made the person angry lol

I think that it is purely for the protection of the child avs and the CYA of LL in regards to pedophiles and predators. You cannot make everyone happy all the the time, but I think that it is better that LL be overcautious than careless.
JM2c

None of that is really that new, I have heard of this sort of drama for a few years now. Honestly I doubt that people will ever be totally comfortable with nudity and kids. I run an amusement park and always have some kids in my sim somewhere, and with that I get a few random IM's from "concerned customers" as well. Pretty random, concerned over kids and age play, and my professional image, that sort. And I did the same sorts of things to distance myself from anything sexual in nature when I opened my sim as well. I actually had a few sexy items for sale last year at this time, with my park, they are all now gone. I even went as far to install a changing room and free swim suit givers at my new waterslide park. So I guess you can 'kid proof' a sim, to some point anyway.

I personally agree with SL's decision to crack down on kid avs in nudist sims. I had a child av renter in some of those groups and they were very clearly fronts for pedophile activity. I kept an eye on him, never saw anything untoward on my sim, but I booted him when his week was up.

However, LL did NOT need to return vendors at legit child av shops that showed nipples, when such images were previously allowed. If this suddenly became an issue, they should have notified the creators first and given them an opportunity to modify the images. It's all about customer service and diplomacy...two areas were LL comes up woefully short.

If they would figure out how to do their job properly and actually keep kids off of the adult grid, there would be no need for any of this crap.

I suspect you're right. More importantly, more restrictions than other people in Second Life. I don't think any other avatar type faces restrictions on access and presentation such as child avatars.

You're confusing kids with child avatars. There's a chance that most of the "children" in SL are older than you.

Actually, I think she's not. The presence of RL kids on the main grid adds to the true threat of pedophilia becoming a real problem. The already existing confusion that comes with kid avatars and the [sexual]ageplay ban puts LL is a serious legal dilemma when it comes to the potential alternative communities that form while there is a known presence of RL kids. Simply having RL kids on the main grid be simply a violation has proven to be a limited solution to the problem, so, the Lindens seem to need all the butt-covering they can get. (>_<

Honestly though... I don't believe it one bit. In the end, It's just pixels. Lighten up, Linden Lab. (T_T)

No - I know the difference. If they kept the real kids out of SL, I don't think we would have to worry so much about what the adults-as-kids do -- cuz they are adults. Problem is, they cannot effectively keep out the kids, so that have to put in a bunch of restrictions to protect their ass in the event that someone actually finds out a real kid is here and heaven forbid saw some porn.

there are many kinds of porn. which kind would be unhealthiest for them to see?

"cuz"? hmm

Well, this isn't about what happens to kids. We've said time and again we can only guess who is really a kid behind the macho or babe avs on the poseball.

It's about the image of kids in inappropriate scenarios. Gary Glitter wasn't imprisoned for making kiddie porno but for possessing images and video.

They've caught adults in baby avatars being violated by adult avatars in SL - it's on YouTube from some investigative reporters. LL has to keep their nose clean and they've set some rules. Likewise most folks in kid avs follow a code of ethics and participate in PG activities. The children in SL I know live a PG existence by choice; why not change to adult av for adult activities? Many go out of their way to avoid being caught in situations as children which could be misconstrued as compromising. You have to give them credit for setting an example which counters the bad press.

Seems to me that the residents are the ones overreacting and setting the whole thing in motion like some witchhunt. Given the scrutiny LL has received by law enforcement thanks to the wrong crowd, they have to over compensate.

It sucks but the suckage begins with (again) discrimination.

Marianne: Personally I think avatars that look like cute little stuffed animals should follow a PG pursuit. Just IMHO I don't think children avs are the only children imagery in SL.

As many do here, I sometimes shorten my words down. If you read my posts carefully, you will also at some point notice that I will type 'thru' rather than 'through' a lot of the time and 'LOL' rather than 'Laugh Out Loud', and who knows what other word shortening, depending on my mood.

And yes, I am part of the crowd that thinks if two adults want to play dress-up, in whatever way they wish, they should be allowed to -- and no that is not one of my kinks in any way.

Well, I "dress" as an EMH Mark I and my friend looks like Seven of Nine in SL. We do PG things, and I don't see what we look like or do as particularly kinky.

....frowns, and takes off his robe and wizard hat.

Well when there are plenty of nasty perverts on SL, I can imagine why they would have strict rules regarding child avatars...

Not all are sickos but there are a lot.

Here is the bad part - some men out there will STILL try to hit up underage knowing good and well that it could be some cop behind it.

If people want to act out their sex fantasies fine, but why would they want to do it with some child avatar or any member who is underage? It is stupid. Why can't they stick to grown-ups?
Sure you can't truely know the other members real age but if they claim to be under 18 or if their av is a kid, stay the hell away!

Yes, and if it wasn't so sad you could laugh about it. My teen avatar could get banned from SL for doing things I was fully in my rights to do in RL at that age.

A kid/teen avatar on a nude beach? Heaven beware! (And I'm not talking about a sexualized nudist colony, just a normal nude beach.) In RL the only swimsuit I ever owned was for school swimming, other than that it was nude beaches all the time - and nobody thought funny about that. Why would a kid/teen avatar want to go to a nude beach in SL? Who knows. Maybe because he never enjoyed such freedom in RL? Or would feel weird wearing a swimsuit? Why does anybody care about it anyways?

A teen avatar having a girlfriend/boyfriend and kissing her/him or cuddling with her/him? OMG! Perverts! On the other hand first teenaged love in RL is one of the cutest things ever. Some people never had something like that in RL, because they lived an opressed life in fear of being discovered by prudish parents or an intolerant world - they could have this in SL for the first time, if there weren't the biggots around that from their own perverted mind saw something innocent as something bad.

Crazy isn't it when its easier for an underage RL person to get on the main grid with the throwaway email account and no checks etc. etc. than it is for them to play on the teen grid, I know if i was 15/16 i would prefer the main grid as it was forbidden for me to be there lol But again LL knew of a 17 year old on the main grid and allowed him here, he died sadly but contributed to the overall community so when they allow that they made a rod for their own backs imo as all rules regarding ages should be rigidly enforced on the grid.

I agree with this post. But would also like to add that child avatars should be treated with great respect just like any rl child if they are allowed in that particular mature zone as not all mature zone have sex pose balls or anything sex related at all. Some simply may be rated mature because of language only.

So because others *could* do something wrong with 'em, I should be penalized. Gotcha.

FWIW, I think when someone does something wrong with 'em, then ya, LL is within their rights. But let's use some common sense here.

For that matter, why is it that the child avatars themselves are the ones always pegged as "pedos," when it would be the *adult* avatars that try to do stuff to them that should be most watched? I've never had to rebuff the advance of a kid, ya know -- but in the last week I've been propositioned by one adult, and been called a pedo on flickr.

stay away from the ice cream truck, Marianne. It's not what you think.

Mari has hit on a really important point here. I think she's right: How likely are pedophiles to appear as the children they molest? I haven't a clue, but I somehow suspect not many. The ones who proposition a kid av are the ones we really should be after.

In any case, that's what's important about Mari's post: The fact that probably the best-known kid av in SL gets hit on by some creep. I'll bet LL could do a lot more to clear pedos off the grid by running decoy kid avs themselves and seeing who propositions them. And bouncing their sick butts off the grid. And oh yes, notifying RL enforcement authorities about them. I'll bet you anything THAT will cure any pedo problem on SL real fast.

In fact, why aren't the enforcers at LL doing just that? If I were they, I would.

Or, for that matter, why doesn't the witch-hunt crowd that is so busy running around reporting kid avs? Maybe they're enjoying persecuting kid avs too much to actually go around doing something useful?

I haven't even *heard* of sexually-oriented Tinies or Tiny sexual paraphernalia.

Mari's right.. it is the tall ones that are the problem! So, from now on, if my height meter shows that you are taller than 6', I will AR you for being a possible pedo, just because you are so tall. ;P

I mean, really.. the onlyreason they are that tall is cause they want to lord over the properly fun sized people, right?

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