Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Main Forum Thread

...how will they explain, in El Reg's words, "why they spent tens of thousands of dollars on the digital equivalent of a wife-swapping party on an oil rig"?

haha!

I can answer that. It's all they could think of doing here. It's a lack of imagination.

I believe that not only should some guidelines be enforced around adult content, but Linden Labs should take a deep, hard look at what is going on in SL, and take more effective action.

This is a trascript of a note that I sent out to my students today:

In the past few months I have been confronted with the worlds of BDSM and Gor on SL. This has led me to question what is actually going on in SL and how this world is rife with people living out their private little fantasies on SL.
Attached are some thoughts on the issues of power and control. Have a look - any questions, issues, please get back to me - I will be happy to explain further.

Nino Heartsdale
CEO Energy Works


POWER AND CONTROL

Those who seek to gain power or control in their lives and those who seek to give it away - ask yourselves the question: WHY?

That what we already have, we tend not to seek.

Playing power and dominance games on SL is hardly going to give you any of it in your real life. The power & control it provides is just an ILLUSION.

The only way you can gain real power is through Self Empowerment.
The only way you can gain real control is through taking control of your own life.
And the only way you do that is through being able to face the TRUTH about yourself. You do it through self awareness, honesty & integrity.

You need to address the root cause of your problems, not try to escape them by fantasising on SL. Being in denial or justifying yourself will not give you any solutions to your underlying issues.

Remember that you are not only the creator of your own reality but also the co-created reality of all humanity.

ALL of your creations get added to the pool of collective consciousness. It does not matter if they are created in RL or SL. If the concept exists, it will be created and experienced by mankind.

It is NOT "just a game where no one is getting hurt". All it has to do is to filter through the different grades of matter till it hits the physical - and then someone, somewhere gets to experience your little contribution to the pool of collective consciousness.

The only way we as humanity can stop these crimes is if we take responsibility for our creations. The only way we can do that is through evolution, through an expansion of consciousness, and through love and empowerment of ourselves and of others.

It is time to stand up and be counted. It is time for us to take full responsibility not only for our own lives, but for our contribution towards the evolution of humanity.

Ask yourselves... exactly what is YOUR contribution towards the greater good of humanity?

I believe that not only should some guidelines be enforced around adult content, but Linden Labs should take a deep, hard look at what is going on in SL, and take more effective action.

This is a trascript of a note that I sent out to my students today:

In the past few months I have been confronted with the worlds of BDSM and Gor on SL. This has led me to question what is actually going on in SL and how this world is rife with people living out their private little fantasies on SL.
Attached are some thoughts on the issues of power and control. Have a look - any questions, issues, please get back to me - I will be happy to explain further.

Nino Heartsdale
CEO Energy Works


POWER AND CONTROL

Those who seek to gain power or control in their lives and those who seek to give it away - ask yourselves the question: WHY?

That what we already have, we tend not to seek.

Playing power and dominance games on SL is hardly going to give you any of it in your real life. The power & control it provides is just an ILLUSION.

The only way you can gain real power is through Self Empowerment.
The only way you can gain real control is through taking control of your own life.
And the only way you do that is through being able to face the TRUTH about yourself. You do it through self awareness, honesty & integrity.

You need to address the root cause of your problems, not try to escape them by fantasising on SL. Being in denial or justifying yourself will not give you any solutions to your underlying issues.

Remember that you are not only the creator of your own reality but also the co-created reality of all humanity.

ALL of your creations get added to the pool of collective consciousness. It does not matter if they are created in RL or SL. If the concept exists, it will be created and experienced by mankind.

What we conceive of - we create. What we create - we experience. What we experience - we can conceive of... that is an unalterable universal law - The Cycle of Concept, Creation & Manifestation. There is no exception to this rule.

Therefore, as long as we as humanity continue to conceive and create concepts such as dominance, war, rape, torture, slavery on whatever level, we will continue to experience them. They become our own "perfect creations". Energy does not judge any creation as bad or wrong. It is perfectly happy to let us experience whatever we choose to concieve of and create - in that we are indeed Gods.

So for all you SL Gor/BDSM players out there, the next time you read of a heinous crime such as Josef Fritzl in RL, please remember, YOU have no right to condemn it. To condem rape, enslavement and torture on one hand and then play out these fantasies in SL makes you a hypocrite. At least have the courage of your convictions to stand up and take the responsibility for your own perfect creation. All else is justification - and we can all do that... even Fritzl managed to justify himself in his own mind.

It is NOT "just a game where no one is getting hurt". All it has to do is to filter through the different grades of matter till it hits the physical - and then someone, somewhere gets to experience your little contribution to the pool of collective consciousness.

The only way we as humanity can stop these crimes is if we take responsibility for our creations. The only way we can do that is through evolution, through an expansion of consciousness, and through love and empowerment of ourselves and of others.

It is time to stand up and be counted. It is time for us to take full responsibility not only for our own lives, but for our contribution towards the evolution of humanity.

Ask yourselves... exactly what is YOUR contribution towards the greater good of humanity?

...In the past few months I have been confronted with the worlds of BDSM and Gor on SL. This has led me to question what is actually going on in SL and how this world is rife with people living out their private little fantasies on SL.
Attached are some thoughts on the issues of power and control. Have a look - any questions, issues, please get back to me - I will be happy to explain further.
...Ask yourselves... exactly what is YOUR contribution towards the greater good of humanity?

The most offensive is the WITCH-HUNT conducted by these religious intolerance bigots.

We don't need to hear all these intolerant sermons, witchcrafts, cults, brainwashing indoctrination everywhere in SL telling you what you should or should not be doing.

We need to protect our adult-children from real harm caused by these HATE CRIMES.

Blondin:

If you actually see this in the morass of crap in this thread,

How will the technical changes in SL that are to be in the 1.23 viewer impact users of alternate viewers? Will those viewers need to be patched and recompiled, loose partial functionality, or continue working as before?

Thanks for anything you have on that.

From your profile and i quote "What can I say - yes it is true... I am a Goddess!" ....


Do you see yourself as a cult leader as you feel that you are a goddess or is that just delusions of grandeur i see slipping in Your group seems to offer the same as any religion, except you are using the latest buzzwords.

The great thing about SL IMHO is that such a mix can be put in the pot from all walks of life, then mix in a "Fantasy" environment and have fun.

Personally i no more believe in collective consciousness than i do in god its this type of cultist behavior that has stopped mankind evolving over the years as humans look to others for leadership rather than look to themselves for answers, be it goddesses or gods.

An enlightening and amusing post hope you have your asbestos underwear on lol

I must have misses the part where this was caused by religious people. Odd, I've read all the posts, and listened to the meetings ... that seems to have passed be by.

All the people that want to dictate to others how a GAME is played, get ot of the game if you dont like it.

The inability to distinguish fantasy from reality is considered a sign of mental illness, or have I a missed a massive change in the psychiatry?

If we follow your logic then:
Little kids who play army are responsible for every war ever fought.

Writers and women who enjoy bodice ripping romance novels are responsible for every rape.

Television is responsible for basically everything bad that ever happened.

And FYI.. Josef Fritzl didn't need SL, his crimes began a generation before it existed, who knows, maybe if he had an outlet for his urges he could have kept going off the deep end.

See this is a debate that has been raging since computer games began. Are they an instruction book on nefarious behavior, are they an outlet that keeps people who are on the the edge from going all the way over, or are they mindless fun on the level of watching fireworks on a holiday? If you have seen a definative study that is endorsed by all sides of the debate, please share it.

Patasha

This is just so wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.

Yes. Private little fantasies. PRIVATE...you capische? You were not "confronted" with Gor or BDSM, you chose to visit those "worlds".

Too bad you're so narrow minded that you can't grant others the same freedom to determine their own lives that you grant yourself.

The Fritzl example was just to illustrate that as long as we keep certain concepts alive, we will continue to create and experience them.... it does not matter which medium we keep them alive in.

This is why segregation is required, by one means or another.
Nino could even be living on a PG sim as SL stands now and have a neighbor on a mature sim doing something she dislikes.

Segregating PG, mature and adult is not preventing you from experiencing your fantasy.
It is just taking it out of peoples faces that don't want to see it.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana, Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284

Lord Sullivan,

The Goddess bit is in jest... those who know me, know what I am referring to. However, if you looked at the last line of my profile, you would see the I do not claim to be The ONLY goddess. FYI, I have no religious beliefs.

As for being a cult leader, most of the time I spend is spent in obscurity, as I am not interested in the fame game or in having disciples or followers. I don't particularly care if people believe believe in or are interested in what I have to say. They are most welcome to reject it as pure nonsense... that is fine by me.

As for SL being pure fantasy and fun - tell me - how many people do you know who have not been seriously hurt in one way or the other by the games that they play in SL. Personally, I know of many who have been devastated by these games. So that point becomes arguable.

However, I am glad that you found my post enlightening and amusing... always happy to provide that!

And yes, I was aware that what I wrote would be controversial and against the popular stance. However, I am not afraid of courting a bit of controversy every now and then - and no - I do not need asbestos underwear! lol

Lord Sullivan,

The Goddess bit is in jest... those who know me, know what I am referring to. However, if you looked at the last line of my profile, you would see the I do not claim to be The ONLY goddess. FYI, I have no religious beliefs.

As for being a cult leader, most of the time I spend is spent in obscurity, as I am not interested in the fame game or in having disciples or followers. I don't particularly care if people believe believe in or are interested in what I have to say. They are most welcome to reject it as pure nonsense... that is fine by me.

As for SL being pure fantasy and fun - tell me - how many people do you know who have not been seriously hurt in one way or the other by the games that they play in SL. Personally, I know of many who have been devastated by these games. So that point becomes arguable.

However, I am glad that you found my post enlightening and amusing... always happy to provide that!

And yes, I was aware that what I wrote would be controversial and against the popular stance. However, I am not afraid of courting a bit of controversy every now and then - and no - I do not need asbestos underwear! lol

I have listened to the meetings posted on the blog, and I am feeling much better about the changes. LL appears to be well aware of the people that want to control others and aren't buying in. What they call ephemeral isn't a concern to them either, and that was a big concern of mine. So, it sounds like they aren't going to be standing over us judging every action, and they are not casting an overly broad net in the definition of Adult. What we do on our own land in our houses and in our beds does not concern them, so long as we aren't advertising it and trying to bring in others through the tools. Yay. I wish they had been more specific about this stuff right in the beginning, as I might have better understood the scope and purpose.

I really like the idea of an adult showcase.

So, now, I'm in.

Segregating PG, mature and adult is not preventing you from experiencing your fantasy.
It is just taking it out of peoples faces that don't want to see it.

That is incorrect.

In SL people don't have to choose to visit the area, to experience anything they dislike, you can buy a plot next to Nino and she has no option but to witness whatever you are doing, unless you seperate yourself from her by distancing your activities like using a sky box.

Not every user can be trusted to be thoughtfull when taking account of a neighbors wishes, some will even delight in doing things they know upset their neighbors to gain some strange pleasure.

This is why segregation is required, by one means or another.
Nino could even be living on a PG sim as SL stands now and have a neighbor on a mature sim doing something she dislikes.

Segregating PG, mature and adult is not preventing you from experiencing your fantasy.
It is just taking it out of peoples faces that don't want to see it.