Enforcing the law is different from enforcing morality

Enforcing the law is different from enforcing morality

LL has always had a policy of finding, removing and informing law enforcement of any true illegal activity. If there are real pedo images roaming about then feel free to report, ban and prosecute. But don't come after me and my friends for engaging in virtual activities between consenting adult, because that becomes a question of morality. If you ask 10 people what is acceptable, you'll get ten different answers.

When do we move from enforcing the law to enforcing morality? Should we also encourage banning gay avatars? There is a percentage of the population that finds that activity immoral. What about sims with shooting or sword fighting? Violence in video games is a hot topic right now. My character isn't married. Can I rent a house with a female avatar? That will sure upset someone against unmarried couples. I can assure you that everyone will find something that offends them. It is a slippery slope.

Also remember that SL is VIRTUAL. It is about as safe as you can get. It's safer than going to the grocery store. Claiming that they want to make SL safe is great, but hey, already did it by making it a second life instead of a first one and by reporting any true illegal activity in the virtual world.

No, people should not be engaging in "adult" content in PG rated sims. That is why we have those designations. If someone is behaving in a very bad way in the wrong place, then report them. This is standard procedure for all MMOs. The jerks get banned or suspended and we did our civic duty.

I am a HUGE believer in consent. That includes the consent of those that may be around me. Passerbys shouldn't have to worry about an adult scene popping up in front of them.
However, the easily offended should not be visiting mature sims.

I feel that everything has a place and SL provides those places. I enjoy many PG-rated sims, but I keep my adult behavior in the adult-rated sims. If you enjoy PG-rated content, then please don't seek out my adult sims. Luckily we have that covered with the rating system for sims, with pop-up warnings in adult-oriented sims and the current Community Standards.

All of the adult sims that I know of that engage in these so-called "controversial" activities all have warning pop-ups and other safeguards to inform and advise visitors of what is going on. You need to consent to being there. You've been informed and now you can do as you please.

If you want to be offended, I'm sure you can find a place to do it. If you don't want to be offended, you can do that too. If someone crosses the line and does a virtual kidnapping scene in the middle of your spelling bee, then report them and smile as they get banned, but don't come to my sims and claim that my lifestyle is offensive to you.

Sadly, the "safe" blog asks players to violate LL's own policies. Number one is "Intolerance". The blog asks players to set aside the REQUIREMENT for tolerance and to go out and actively find "offensive" material, even if the "offensive" material is in a sim designed specifically for that purpose and is deemed by those engaging in it to be comepletely acceptable roelplay.

All of LL's community standards are perfectly capable of taking care of any situation. I ask this:

Adhere to the community policies, especially that of TOLERANCE. Report activity that is in the wrong place, but please be tolerant of alternative lifestyles.

In closing I'll say that I believe the "safe" blog to be a well-intentioned, but ultimately bad step. It caters to one view of the world in a virtual world that claims to cater to us all. No new polices are needed because illegal activity has always been illegal and the rest is virtual roleplaying that isn't real.

Please don't encourage one set of players to persecute the others just because one lifestyle or roleplaying may not adhere to a narrow moral view of another.

Thanks for your time.

Ryd Faulkner

Wow....


Bravo. That was well stated. Thank you.

Very true, in thoery. Morality can be subjective, we all have our own values, only we can say what we feel is immoral. The Law should be more definitive, less gray area. In theory.

Outstanding post Ryd!

The only part I could argue with is the slippery slope bit. Other extreme taboo's that might be next on that slippery slope might be things like "vore/cannibalism" or "scatophilia". Both are disturbing and have very small numbers of people that are "into" that kind of stuff that few people would be interested in defending. A lot of people might agree that both are "disgusting and wrong" but I doubt many would be motivated to do anything about it. Other areas generally considered "sick and wrong" like homosexuality have far too many advocates and would not go down without a serious serious fight.

But I agree, this is a bad precedent to set. Fantasy is fantasy, not reality, and fantasy should be exempt from law. (in any countries that endorse free speech, of course).

The jurisdiction of law should stick to things like resident RL age, transfer of RL money, transfer of RL images involving RL minors, and the RL interactions between two RL people (ie, if one makes death threats against another resident's RL self).

For the rest of it, our actions in secondlife any different than actors upon a stage, or characters in a book, where anything is and should be possible... within the confines of the play or story.

I will defend a predator's right to eat willing prey.

Now, I don't like vore in the slightest, but I couldn't care less how they kill each other off, as long as they don't eat me (or demand that I eat them--even worse IMO, and something I do deal with nearly every day) I don't really care.

*claps*

I think we needed a post like this.

bah all the do gooders will come soon