Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Main Forum Thread

The separation of adult themed sims/content/etc. is a very bad slippery slope to head down. You already have M and PG ratings. If people don't get that, then that is really their problem and they need some sort of remedial acronym class.

If you, LL, are trying to court corporations to invest in SL, you need to make the entire SL experience better, not bring the censorship hammer down. Reduce lag issues, improve graphics, bring in better building tools, increase the number of groups one can join, add more attach points to avatars, etc. Made two viewer versions so those with older computers can still participate -- with the economy in decline, upgrading one's computer to access online VR worlds is not going to be a priority.

As for the adult themed content in SL....

Probably everyone under the age of 30 (or older even) who has been anywhere near a gaming device has played or seen or is aware of Grand Theft Auto, one of the most depraved video games in existence and one of the top sellers. And many other very successful games and interactive online games seem to center around blowing up stuff and killing things.

One thing I have never understood with conservative America and conservative politics and people who embrace conservative ideals is why they are so obsessed over censoring anything to do with sex but have no problems whatsoever with violence? There is something inherently disturbing about this dichotomy.

The best thing about a VR world is that it is free (one would hope) from the constraints constantly being imposed on people in RL. Which is probably why SL has such a huge and vibrant and economically successful adult content contingent.

SL's unique construct has always been the almost total absence of censorship which invites people into an unlimited creative environment in which to explore whatever floats one's boat in a consensual adult environment.

This bring into perspective one of the silliest and lamest censorship decisions made by LL to date.

When I came into SL, I was looking for some sort of silly novelty item or some such thing and saw a shop called Weird Shit. That name alone spoke volumes about SL and the community here. First of all, it was truly funny. How many people have ever said to themselves or someone else -- wow, that is some weird shit? Or uttered the words weird and shit (not linked)?

I loved this about SL. A place where self expression without oppression is celebrated, not regulated. That SL allowed freedom of expression -- that to me was front and center on the entire concept of a virtual world. A place where anyone was free to express their opinion as long as they weren't harassing other residents.

Then one day last year, Moon Cole, the owner of Weird Shit, notified her group that LL had told her, after a couple of years of running her Weird Shit business, she had to change the name. Apparently the word shit was an issue.

HUH???????

This seemed to extremely petty and trivial on behalf of LL and I was truly astonished. Given the number of hard core bsdm sims and places that feature consensual gang rape, slave sims, sexual degradation, giant objects to be inserted in various orifices and all sorts of unique sexual proclivities throughout SL, one had to wonder what nutball got their panties in a twist over the name Weird Shit?

Like any place that notes you must be over the age of 18 to access the content because some of it may be adult in nature, SL is no different and clearly notes this when you sign up.

It's up to each individual to steer clear of places they might feel uncomfortable in. I don't visit adult content (porn) sites on the Internet because it's not my personal interest. Occasionally, I may wind up somewhere with adult (porn) content but I simply hit the back button and move on. The same reason I don't subscribe to cable channels that feature mostly or exclusively adult (porn) content or rent adult (porn) DVD's or buy magazines like Hustler. I'm not interested. But I defend the right of every person to purchase or watch adult content if that's their preference.

So when I think of LL bringing the hammer down on Moon Cole for her silly and fun store name Weird Shit, I have to wonder why? Really, why?

If the word shit bothers people in SL search, I can only say to these folks, grow the fuck up.

If LL is going to filter words, again, you are seriously heading down a slippery slope. I think the words "Dick Cheney" and "AIG" and "CEO" are far more obscene these days than words like shitlicker, fucktards and asshole (though one might say Dick Cheney and shitlicker, AIG and fucktards and CEO and asshole are redundant).

If LL needs to address the concerns of a very small group of peeps whose delicate sensibilities would be thrust into some psychological vortex of confusion upon encountering certain words, then perhaps LL can add optional filtering to the preferences section of the viewer and just leave everyone else alone.

But if LL is hell bent on engaging in sexual apartheid, SL is doomed.

So who will be the word police? The sex police? What's next? Fashion police? Art police? Soon you'll have to change the name from Second Life to Fascist Life.

And for what it's worth, try googling the word shit and you will likely see this: Results 1 - 10 of about 120,000,000 for shit

For that matter, try these words:

pussy Results 1 - 10 of about 111,000,000 for pussy
cunt Results 1 - 10 of about 18,900,000 for cunt (also featured in wikipedia -- hey, you might learn something!)
cock Results 1 - 10 of about 98,900,000 for cock
asshole Results 1 - 10 of about 20,700,000 for asshole
asshat
fisting Results 1 - 10 of about 1,290,000 for fisting (also featured in wikipedia for those who are curious)
fuck Results 1 - 10 of about 176,000,000


It's not adult content that is the problem, it is individuals who want to foist their own restrictive ideas onto others of what their "ideal" VR world should be like.

Fix the tech first, worry about the whacknut prudes later.

And really, who do you think runs the porn industry from a distance? Look at some of the subsidiary subsidiaries of giant corps. They have more dirty laundry than than Octomom.

Please don't start censoring SL.

Thank you.

Pixels Sideways

Perhaps there is a genuine misunderstanding here.

*Of course* one will see explicit sexual material in non-Mature Search--and on PG Mainland (Linden-owned Welcome Areas, even)--and everyone knows it. That's not to say it's a blanket of smut across PG Mainland or anything: to get much of it, you'd kinda have to go looking for it. But it's there, and there's nothing more regulation will do but to make it even more unlikely that any of the regulations will be enforced, including those that such content currently violates.

But imagine for a moment that enforcement actually were possible--a necessary assumption in order for the new regulations to have any effect at all. Now, what exactly is achieved by the new regulations that is of value above and beyond the old regulations, if we assume either were to be enforced?

Well, the fact that one can cam between interdigitated PG and Mature Mainland sims, and that a careless person might inadvertently TP to a Mature Estate sim will matter marginally less because the extra-crunchy decapitations will have been moved somewhere Adult.

Note that this in no way stops the tribal/buttoned-down/academic from TPing directly into a couple in their private bedroom at (128, 12 having wild Gorean whoopee with whips and chains and dead chickens. That's all still perfectly acceptable on Mature parcels under completely effective enforcement of the new policy.

so, truly, the best idea would be to enforce both the 'search' ToS and the forum regs. two separate issues that would bring SO much peace.

Well, they'd have to do a lot more than just remove the build tool from the viewer to keep people from building. (To prevent third party viewers from working, they'd also need to remove the upstream object data protocols that viewers use to manipulate rezzed objects during Build, but that's pretty obvious.) They'd have to break a ton of scripted content.

Granted, first-generation script-based, pure server-side build tools would be clumsy, and they'd never update smoothly, but rest assured: they would exist and people would use them, if there were no other way to build.

No, they wouldn't exist because there wouldn't be a sufficient user base to justify creating them.

you can believe that she will go looking for it, and will find it. lots and lots of it. even when it's not there (would be too time consuming otherwise), with a blind eye to the personal actions of associates. and one could expect no less from someone living in a country known for everything from witch hunts to magical knowledge of weapons of mass destruction. real proof is unnecesary if you have enough people claiming it to be true.

The point is, it is actually a blanket of smut in non-mature Search.

Enforcement or some method of filtering adult material out of Search will improve the climate for organizations and businesses outside the sex industry. If that earns even a handful of people a living wage, it will have been worth it, in my opinion.

Mainland sims are something I have no opinion about. I rarely visit the mainland, and usually don't notice that I am on the Mainland when I do briefly visit to shop. I don't know what the situation is for them.

You can test this yourself. You can read the thread yourself, too. I posted search results in response to a direct question addressed to me in this forum that it was not possible to do so.

Ah ha. In either case, the new adult content policy will not be an effective solution.

at least, they work on it as i try again after Eileen Fellstein post and yourpost just to not die idiot, and i must agree that the verification process work now for my country !!!. I hope that my id will not be hacked, but i'm not a proudly 50 years old woman on sl shhhht ))
but that useless, as i can have taken parents or friends id.....

So it proove nothing at all ...
ok, i have unfortunately my age, i don't hide it in Sl so i can testify it here, i'm 50 in one month.
But it's really useless, exept if some boring prude people sue Sl for giving access to strong words for young people , and some time scene, and BTW, when we look at internet, young who want that need better parents to make theme understand why it's not suitable for them, but , in no case a law or something who try to restrict access.
what is forbidden is always a better magnet than what is allowed, when you're young... some adults should remember that.

Please, don't give Linden bad Ideas :
charging a one time fee is the worst idea ever had ,-)

So, now that i have prove my age, which is the way of the "RESERVE" ?
what will it be, how it will turn ? as I said to nany, this place will be much worst than on the mature Sl sim. Full of escorts, full of people without the limit that the Mature sim were working on, by consensual agrement.
we will see...

and to Nany:
sex is not dangerous, sex is life, sometime it gave life. sexe experiences begin at may be 14 to 16, sometime 18
Violence is dangerous, violence is death, violence begin at 6...
and what is your fighting ?
sex ...
so, do you like death and violence ? or do you wish also a Reserve for people playing Fighting and murdering RP ???
regards

Now THAT takes some serious, ungodly gonads!

But, seriously - it's this sort of comic and humorous mischief that draw so many people into SL - not boring, mundane recreations of the DMV office, corporate lobbies, and stuffy classrooms. While sending Lindens rocketing into space is extreme, we need to come back to the days where "anything is possible" and expect the unexpected. To do any less is to send SL straight down the shitter with every other ill-conceived corporate brainchild that had ever been foisted on the unwilling public.

You're not listening again, people have said repeatedly in this thread that existing community standards are being broken and that they should be enforced, existing community standards, they are the ones that already exist.

The new policy will not deal with this issue because those who ignore existing community standards are likely to ignore them in the future. This is what many of us have said, why don't LL enforce the existing community standards.

Weird. I didn't have any trouble getting my first job and, in fact, get IMs and notecards for more work than I can ever do. In fact, I send a lot of work to friends simply because there's so much out there.

For the record, I don't work in the sex industry.

I do too. It's fun stuff and there should be more of it.

MOAR.

Seriously though, methinks she doth protest too much. It's kind of like that redneck dude who beats up gay men all the time because he can't face his own latent homosexuality.

NPIOF = No Payment Info On File. Member has never entered any payment information whatsoever into LL's database.

PIOF = Payment Info On File: Member has payment information in LL's database. This information was validated at one time, but has never been actually used.

PIU = Payment Info Used: Member not only has validated payment information on file, member has also used it to purchase something, be it Lindens, a premium account, land, a sim, or whatever.

"When we announced we'd be looking at changes around Adult content, we talked about 3 features in particular - geographically separating Adult content, filtered search results and account verification."

"filtered search results"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Argent Stonecutter
Cite please. Alts of "Nany Kuyo" and people pointing out that you ALREADY can't see them unless the landowner is violating the ToS, a policy LL is not enforcing, don't count as cites.






Again is this or is it not an adult game.... Is this or is it not for mature adults... we are not children and if chidren are present or around thier parents while playing that is their responsibility... If someone wants to refund me my money and pay my tier than they can do what they want until them screw all you offended people literally sick of it all... I am soo offended by those that get offended they may see something... here you go best advise ever...

1. Do not log into an adult game if your overly sensitive and going to whine and cry about what your delicate eyes have seen.... gasp at the freakin horror of it all.

2. Parents tend to your own children, watch what they do and where they go if your soooooo worried.... BE A GOOD PARENT !!! Stop making it everyone elses responsibility, you had them, you get the tax credit for them, least you can do is be a freakin parent.

3. Stop all the useless witch hunts today it is this group, next it is yours, if you want a pg secondlife then make one and leave the adult one alone... Move all your coorporate ninnies and cry babies over to it, hell let them move free... But stop the witch hunts.... I am offended by everyone that gets offended. No where in the dictionary does it say Offended means you have the right to infringe on others rights.

4. If no sexual content was ever allowed it should have been clearly stated in the TOS long ago, all of us currently and been in business for this long have been grandfathered in under such a clause.... Or dig into those pockets LL and start refunding money for land, I had to purchase my space on mainland for $1250.00 real money over time been paying the tier there for almost 3 years, yeah will need that back too.

Stop and think about who is generating all the money in SL, those whiney brats who are offended or us long standing business that have done nothing to no one but survive and make money. Clump us all together and no one will make money, ohhh no no money... ooh noooo no money for TIER PAYMENTS, we are not going to throw our good money after bad so someone better start pulling their head out of their arse... So if you decide to move my land to this area does this mean I get it for FREE !!! YOu will pay the Tier you will have to cause I will not be able to make any money to pay it.... Yeahhhh free teir for all that have to move then RIGHT... Woot Woot

5. There is absolutely and I repeat absolutle NO difference in two people having sex no matter where it is, be it in their private home, a club or on a beach that is in a MATURE area and labled as such. When holy rollers come into our club crying about our sins we do not go into their church and break out into an orgy there, we simply tell them to move on if they are not happy..... We do not go out and hunt down all the prudes in SL but they have no problem with seeking us out... maybe just maybe they wish they were not prudes.

6. BDSM IS NOT AND I REPEAT IS NOT ABOUT SEX, any idiot that does not know or understand BDSM and what it is all about really needs to open a browser and search and educate themselves. I have no patience for stupid uneducated people, omg.. I think they offend me so should they all be cast out to a place of certain doom...

Move all your prude and offended people to your new reagion and leave me and my business alone or pay my tier payments with your whines and cries.... This is a virtual world we all come to, to experience those things we can not do in rl or would not do in rl... it is for HELLO AGAIN ADULTS.... There is a teen grid go there and leave us grown ups alone....

How is any amount of age-verification going to solve this, if the father here is just going to age-verify his kid's account anyway?

that's the point . parking us in a reserve will not change that at all.
search was easy to improve. They choose another way.
And that will not erase the danger. Prohibition have raised every alcohol damage, and everyone in USA could drink as before. Gaming is everywhere on the net, on Sl it's now called zyngo, that don't change a lot.

now, for nany:
I use Reserve a lot, because if you're really a native american, that should hurt your ears and mind.

to me, european, it seem that usa people have put indians in reserve just to have not a mind problem :
we put them there, so we can't be said that we have try to killed them
we put them there, so they will not be in our streets.
we put them there, because we don't want to see them
we put them there, because we have the power to do that
we put them there, because they still can bring us money alive

Now, replace indians (them) with adult content.
regards

i am from the Uk and have looked at being aged verified it is not UK friendly. I have seen the adult themes in SL ( you cant miss them ) but I am a Adult if I dont want to see them I dont go there.
I have a plot of land which has adult items on but it is for my use if yo dont like it dont go there its private.
I play combat in Sl i understand that will be moved as well why? Its no diffrent from kids playing video games. we have guns we shoot the avitar is sent back home.
Well thats not as bad as a lot of video games out there.
I pay my fee yearly when I paid this was NOT taking place. will LL refund me if I dont like it they changed things around me. I would not pay if this was in place and my time in world would decrease.
Before LL start messing around with moving things FIX the problems you already have ie the lag that makes us run around as if in glue.
As I said before I pay yearly via PayPal surely that is enough to verify my age the fact I have a verified PayPal account.
If and when they do move all adult content to one small place and most avitars have some contact with the adult side of SL how on the hell is LL going to cope with the lag problems.
The next step will be you can play SL unless you pay Its comming. move the no adult stuff there is less of it PG is a bad term to use as you have to be 18 to be in SL and if you want parental guidence well my parents are nearly 70 Yes I am a grown adult.
LL take a look at the way people sign up for a account.
Let the person have a choice let them have a box for adult and non adult If the adult box is ticked they cannot enter non adult sims.
The same as sim owners tick if adult non adult and avitars that have the adult box ticked can only go to adult sims.
LL you have caused this problem and trying to move the mass will not work. You will lose custom. Who will pay for the loss? Put your prices up higher will result in further loss.
Take a look in the world today no one has the money.
Moving people around and changing shops names, Is not the way ahead it will result in loss of finance for all
But does LL really care? I think not there has been a lot of complaints in world some on forums. Take a real look
As said I play SL for the combat I know of 2 avitars that are under age BUT YOU LET THEM IN YOUR FAULT Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted wont work.
Move the non adult themes to teen world then there would be no complaints
Leave adult SL to adults
IF you dont like it dont go there.

They already have them, try placing an advert with the word "loli" in it. You already have to select whether or not your advert has mature content in it.

We have already instructed you on how to file an abuse report for inappropriate search results.

We have even explained to you how farming the entire adult community to Pornodelphia will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent you from seeing that sort of thing come up in search IF THE SEARCH FEATURE IS BROKEN!

Now, fix search, and leave us the fuck alone.

I was too pissed off when I posted early this morning to do research and think logically, but now that I've had sleep and am much more calm, I'm out searching. I went strait to the SL homepage. Look what I found:

The goals of the Community Standards 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. Behavioral Guidelines - The 'Big Six' ......

1. Intolerance
Combating intolerance is a cornerstone of Second Life's Community Standards. Actions that marginalize, belittle, or defame individuals or groups inhibit the satisfying exchange of ideas and diminish the Second Life community as whole. The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life.

2. Harassment
Given the myriad capabilities of Second Life, harassment can take many forms. Communicating or behaving in a manner which is offensively coarse, intimidating or threatening, constitutes unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors, or is otherwise likely to cause annoyance or alarm is Harassment.

That came strait from SL's Community Standards. So if that's the case, then how do these people have a right to come into clubs, stores or whatever and harrass the people there? To try and force their opinions on us? Why isn't something being done about this?

Oh and I guess now is as good of time as any to bring up this point:

SEX IS THE NUMBER TWO BUSINESS IN ALL OF SL!

But I guess that doesn't matter?

Lori

Payment Info Used does not mean you still have info on file. It just means at some point you did and used it to make a purchase.

so under 18 shouldn't use lolipops ??
try coke, i'm sure it's ok because it's not sexual... ))