Ageplay Banned?

Ohh I see those are the office hrs for today there. sorry about that.

Prostitution is illegal where I live.

Rape is illegal where I live.

Slavery is illegal where I live.

Murder is illegal where I live.

Torture is illegal where I live.

Soliciting is illegal where I live.

Bestiality is illegal where I live.

Public nudity is illegal where I live.

Public drinking is illegal where I live.

Kidnapping is illegal where I live.

Gambling is illegal where I live.

Sex with a minor is illegal where I live.

Use of certain substances is illegal where I live.

Possession of certain substances is ilegal where I live.

Buying alcohol on Sunday is illegal where I live.


But the vast majority of Second Life players have roleplayed their participation in at least a few of the above illegal-if-it-were-real-life activities. I'll meet you at the bottom of this slippery slope.

I predict a surge in the population of small nekos, elves, and fairies engaged in sexual activities.

The "Buying alcohol on a Sunday" seems seriously out of place in this list. Where is this a crime? It's just silly.

Yeah, silly, isn't it? But it's true.

If Linden Labs is going to be base this decision on a country's laws, then theya re already failiong many times in the United States with the following: Gambling in most states except certain areas is illegal yet casinos flourish in sl. Sodomy in many states in the US is Illegal, check your local statutes on this one, its there.

To many of you that know me I am what is known as a babyfur, yet another culture in this game. My character looks and in most cases acts like a 2-3 year old. I own 2 islands that are havens for others of my kind. I have already had my share of people griefing me just because of this. This includes 2 times that my sim has had to be rolled back by lindens, once about a month after opening the first of my 2 sims. Are my sims and my friends going to be targeted?

Any of you that already say they are going to be looking for what you deem to be in violation, then I will AR you for harassment in my properties as I do have that right as well. How many of you that are supporting linden labs, actually know anything about age play? Have any of you researched it? Have any of you met anyone that participates in it? Or are you simply saying well its not me and I'm against it.

This is a clear line on where the lindens can go next as far as deeming something offensive. As a babyfur, will they then go that since furries can be construed as having sex with animals that they are banned now? Since in some countries sodomy is illegal, are they going to ban anyone that practices that too? Many countries do not allow the advertisement of many adult items as is, including pornographic materials except in hidden areas. Where are we going to draw the line?

I ask all of you, where does the line get drawn and who will speak up for you when your group is the next to be targeted?

Arkansas is one state in which it's illegal.

Sweet Primrose, you must live in a very sad unhappy place.... Oh crud, most of those things apply where I live too. Damnit! Well at least I can buy booze 7 days a week, and go topless in public if I want.

-Atashi

Ever find it funny that going topless being against the law only applies to women?

There's no slippery slope here. Yes, all the above activities are illegal in real life. But sex with a minor is the only one where it's also illegal to look at someone else doing it - and thus the one where by doing it in public, you run the risk of criminalising innocents.

Not any more, not here. I think about 10 years ago they had to throw that out because it was discrimination. Mind you, you see very few of us excercising that new right.

-Atashi

and yet in Arkansas it's legal to marry your sister... go figure.

Oh I so wish more women would exercise their new freedom like that!!

Watching someone else do it is not the same as watching someone else ROLEPLAY with another adult that they are doing it.

Slippery slope.

There are other things that are legal in the US under the first ammendment that are not allowed in Second Life. They have reserved the right to remove other things under this clause in before.

The three I seem to remember were some racist/Klan Imagry, A really nasty anti - gay area, and a NAZI BDSM porn area.

Klan rallys, anti gay protests and NAZI supporters are all legal in the US under the first ammendement. But it was decided they didnt belong in the community.

Considering sexual Ageplay has existed for a couple years in SL (originally anime styled stuff) It seems to me the LIndens took a very cautous approach before deciding it had to go.

Before everyone gets too upset with the Lindens and violating any perceived first ammendment rights - remember they are not the governement, but a business. They have the right to ban ALL SEX, Pink Shoes, and bow ties tommorrow if they wanted.

There has always been a line in the sand.


Simulating racial genocide has always been on the wrong side of that line.

I'm personally glad to see that simulating child abuse is also on the wrong side.


I think the Company has made the right choice.

*laughs* this ones related to church services and a last lil hang out to the temperance movement.

People Make all sorts of odd rules reguarding Sundays I think -

On a trip to Toronto, Canada in the late 80's, We were surprized that it was against the law for retail stores to be open at all on Sundays , except in the Vietnamese community.

I've actually seen that prohibition in adult MUCKs before -- if LL means it the way the others have, it's not as confusing as it first seems. Basically, it means you can't say "I am 8 years old" but can say "My character looks about 8 years old" -- the difference between "being" and "pretending". Where it gets trickier is the avatar. In text-based games, it's simple enough to add the waffle language. But if you're wearing an avatar designed to look 8 years old, how is that substantially different from saying "I am 8 years old" in our profile? It would be substantially different if our profiles primarily represented our players, but since they have a "First Life" tab that already separates player lives from av lives, I would think that a description in the main tab is already clearly marked as being fiction. If LL is saying an avatar's "Second Life" profile isn't clearly enough marked as fiction, then how can a worn avatar be clearly marked? They really do need to clarify their language on this.

So if people simulate being cooked and eaten by others, is that ok in your eyes? But if they are 2 consenting adults, what the issue at hand? Perception is all they have, and thats a really hard road to follow.

In the UK, stores over a certain size can only sell goods for 6 hours on a Sunday.

If ageplay means sexual fantasies about pre-adolescents, then it's a neuropsychological mis-imprint and I can't think of better place to work that out than Second Life. =)

-Infrared

I am pleased with LL's stance (although why it took so long is beyond me) however if this is about legal issues, why isn't "rapeplay" banned as well? There are areas in SL that advertise forced rape...that is just as digusting to me personally and many others. Advertising violence towards women is equally as reprehensible IMHO.

On the child AV thing - I know plenty of child AVs who want nothing to do with sex. Nothing wrong with wearing a child avatar and that's not what LL is saying I don't think.

They should post an official blog on this to clarify every angle.

I'm not sure the prohibition stops at pre-adolescents. I think it means any under-18 character.

Of course I first had sex when I was 14, and my mother was married at 16, but let's continue to proclaim one standard while the entire world lives another.

Seems to me worthy of mention.. Chadrick's notecard speaks quite alot about "community standards" and quite little about applicable legality.. "may be illegal in some places" or whatever the quote was. Note a complete lack of reference to the Terms of Service, which is the "legal document" of Second Life. What's driving this more than anything appears to me to be the community - you and I - making it clear that we do not wish to tolerate sexual age play in Second Life. We find it broadly offensive, if not patently so.. I look at it this way:

The "Community Standards" is our document.. our standards for treating one another, and for laying the groundwork for what is and is not acceptable behavior. I think this document applies itself unambiguously to the issue at hand. (Read section 5, "Indecency"

The Terms of Service are Linden Lab's - their legal statement of policy, under which we are bound should we choose to use the service. The issue doesn't fit here, except in possible cases where there is no ambiguity about whether the behavior violates actual law when and where it is engaged in.

What it amounts to is sweeping the problem under the rug, which is unfortunately all they can really do. I applaud them for taking this direction however.

zk

/me peeks in after a malestrom of notecards, Ims etc. in-world that are now about preventing her from having any fun in-world.

Okays.

I tink the policy *as intended* is okay. It appears dat the goal is to prevent sexual ageplay - but the notecard dat Chadrick put out there, and (as he told me) was created by "The Lab," is flawed.

First off, the term "ageplay." All child avatars in-world are "ageplaying" in the strict definition of the word. "ageplay" itself does not connot sexual acts - it simply refers to an adult playing as a child both regressive or sexual ways [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageplay]. LL, however, has not clarified this *enough* in their statement: they have tole some of us kids dat this is about sexual ageplay, but the notecard *really* need to be more careful with its use of the term.

I wonder if I can hug my mommy or daddy in public now, or if my brother can give her mommy a kiss on the cheek before going to bed at night. I wonder if I can tell all the above dat I love them? I wonder if the adult kissing/hugging/cuddling balls that mommy an daddy have in the house (for when us kids aren't home - and nothing explicit is left out), or living in a mature sim, or even shopping in a place dat might sell other items for adult avatars (gesture or animation stores, largely) will cause a potential of me being ARed *simply* based on the assumption dat there's more to this.

The section on classifieds, etc., if applied to sexual ageplay is largely okay - but does this also apply to adult avatars wearing schoolgirl outfits? In a strict definition, this would apply. What about those who sell kid skins (which do not display genitals, and typically have "drawn on" underwear disallowing the avatar to ever be nude)? Can they display their wares?

Finally, the age assertion is weird to me, and the most unformed part of this. Of course I'm over legal age on this ting: I'm a good, ol fashioned verified account. Myself and a lot of other kid avvies are in a panic, because playing an age is important to them - can we still state an age? If I say "I'm four anna half" in world, am I risking my account being terminated? An I required to wear something in my profile or elsewhere stating my RL age? Should I not list my SL character's age in my profile? Should furs be required to state dat they're not a really dog or whatever in real life? If not, why am I being held to a different set of comunity standards?


If anyting, I wish dat LL had thought to talk with some of the kid avatars themselves. We're the ones who tend to be the most vigilant about this kinda stuff, like with the SAFE program, or "Charlie Says..." or with public protests against sexual ageplay oer the last year. We could have helped with these clarifications - instead, I tink the vagueness of this is gonna lead to a lotta people going out on kid witchhunts again.

Mari

Well there's nothing better on the internet for proving age than a CC AFAIK.
It's like saying double lines don't stop people getting on the wrongside of the road so remove them all.