Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Main Forum Thread

Age Verification is only to access Adult content. Non-verified accounts will still be able to see and visit MATURE regions

As for one I could really care less what residents do in SL.

As long as a resident conforms to the current TOS I see no need for all these changes. As has been stated time and time again if you "stumble" across something that offends you the just tp away. Seems pretty simple to me.

If you advance with these current "standards" then what other standards will you have to impose at a later date. Every religion in the world has different "standards". Will we next be forced to wear scarfs over our heads because "this or that" offends somebody to see the face of a woman? Personally Nike tennis shoes offend me. So I should ask that they be included in things that are offensive? No, I'll just tp away from the nasty Nike wearing resident. May I suggest that you get representatives from every major religious organization, a few government censors from every country in the world, right wingers, left wingers, a few dozen lawyers and some "sane" people together in a room and make the "rules". You will find that they will be discussing this for ohhhhh, about a hundred years.

So another question arises: Just who are you to deem descriptions and based on whose moral values?

Because people buy lots of adult created content, possibly spending the largest poertion of lindens on non tier purchases.

This doesn't mean they generate the most income for LL, lindens spent doesn't mean income for LL those lindens can be cashed out of game for real money.

LL's main income must come from direct linden land sales and monthly tier.

Sales of adult content makes money for the content creator mainly with a little portion skimmed off by LL.

I am assuming their land would eventually get recycled as auctions rather than being all linden-owned, right?

Over the years neighbors have built joint builds with each other. Done terraforming and builds to minimize sudden jumps to another parcel. Made *gasp* friends with each other.

So you actually want to randomly interrupt that by yanking random people out of the equation?

They have good reason to worry. The new continent, "Ursula", is in the process of being put in place and terraformed. At least at present, it appears that minimal thought and effort is going into the design. Slartibartfast is NOT working on this one.

It's just a grid of flat rectangular sims, separated by narrow waterways. Your basic "tropical island waffle" estate sim, writ large.

But not large enough. The new continent looks to be around 250 sims...which would be OK, if LL's estimate of "2-4%" adult content is correct. But we all know that's ten times too low an estimate.

This place is going to be ugly, crowded, have incredible lag...and the prices are going to be sky high.

Sorry hun, 2 - 4% doesn't even cover BDSM let alone thise sex rooms you talk about. Well lets see do you own land? Then your effected. Do you own a business? Your effected. Does a favorite sim you visit also have adult businesses? Then yoru effected?

Wat to get rid of the tacky, first regulate the mainland as we do private sims as to building etc. unless your tlaking in private plots inside buildings then just don't visit there.

So stores that sell such objects are mature now?

Most people creating items for use in adult area would not be required to move you saw it here.

MMMM sorry but your wrong. LIndens make money everytime you buy lindens, they make money everytime i sell lindens.

The VAST majority of thier income is Linden exchange and teir payments. Both of which will be greatly effected by this as thousands leave the grid.

Trouble is since when has LL and SL been a democracy? I run adult business on and outside SL and i am for the verification wholeheartedly as when i joined we all had to put CC etc on file and yes that should return. Yes i have to verify our alts as well but am i worried, no i am not as LL changed the rules and if i want to stay then i have to play by them irrespective of whether or not i agree with them all.

Hopefully LL will find a way to verify those that cannot at the moment, i am sure there are ways round this if one looks hard enough and personally i see a lot of people complaining that didn't have to verify when they signed up and now they do and i think most will.

Never invest into SL what you cannot comfortably afford to lose overnight. There are no cast iron guarantees that LL will remain solvent forever and none of us are privy to the internal meetings that LL has, these changes could be for many reasons as have been stated but we will never know for sure until they happen.

It sounds harsh but if you dont like what LL is doing as a company just leave the game, to me its as simple as that and if ever the time comes for me to do that i just will. LL is not a democracy as i said and the sooner people stop thinking it is the better for everyone imo

I am against the forced move but if i want to stay and play here then i have to change with the times and if not then i have the choice to leave. It will be an interesting few weeks while this sorts itself out and i wonder how many will really leave over it and how many will stay

Absolutely. You are not alone in this.

Let me add to that now, since buying slx they make money everytime i sell an item on slx as well.

BDSM furniture, clothes, skins etc. are not adult as blondin stated we are only talking about a few sex clubs and explicit galleries.

Yes building on the mainland would be regulated, if I had my way but till that time I have to search out select areas, where people have similar tastes to my own.

But every little step is a step in the right direction in my view

Yes I do own land in a few mature sims, I am broad minded but that doesn't mean, I like to sit and listen to sex chat every time I log into SL.

You might want to look abakc a year ago and see what happened. those of use that were here can tell you it was not a pretty sight.

What we are talking about here is a change that will effect land values, membership rates, profits, etc.

Interesting that shareholders are in the dark too, isn't it?

Blondin, do you hear what you are saying?

You haven't even been able to determine, "What is considered Adult"?

And this is EXACTLY why. Because it is a matter of taste. Tastes and preferences differ.

IT CAN'T BE DONE. Not even the Supreme Court could decide this one...and they didn't have a worldwide, multicultural audience.

This whole scheme is completely unworkable as LL has set it up, because to work, you would have to do five impossible things:

1. Define "what is Adult".
2. Insure privacy. "In the privacy of their own homes" means NOTHING in SL.
3. Implement an identity/age verification scheme that actually works. It must be usable by all, difficult to spoof, reliably protect users' personal information, and accurately identify those who are and are not verified. (Note that even the government and banks fail at this. We routinely hear of databases of personal information being hacked or stolen).
4. Give existing land owners a fair swap.
5. Implement a search filtering system that effectively filters out adult results without losing non-adult ones.

You've tried and failed at several of these things before. The ones you haven't yet tried to do are even harder.

I don't mind if LL wants to beat their heads against a stone wall, that's your privilege. But please stop flinging the rest of us against that wall along with you.

I can assure you every BDSM Business, plot etc will be classed ADULT, and if you can tell me one linden that says it will not great, but i have several that say it will. Our sales textures targeting adults will cause it for one. no hun we ar enot talking a few sex clubs

Linden exchange is going to be far less than tier I would guess, even with SLX now being taken into account.

Most retailers as stated before are unlikely to be affected, we are talking porn video store, orgy rooms, brothels extreme violent areas of which I have never seen one btw.

Where do these places make sales on SLX directly? Where are the thousands leaving because their favorite free orgy room moved to an adult sim?
When did your average noob buy a load of lindens so they could walk into a club and look at the porn pictures?

Exactly so, start opening ne mainland sims with land use regulations, building rules, etc.

Make them attractive to own etc. Then buy up land as it comes free and change existing sims.

Not this slash and burn approach.

Response to #3

I verified last year when LL first made a go at age verification. Two months later I was informed that the information I gave at that time had been compromised when a laptop was stolen from a company employees car. They did offer me a years worth of free credit monitoring. Rest assured though that your info will be safe as they also said extra security measures have now been put in place.

God do you actually think Lindens bought slx if it did not make a hell of a lot of money. They make hat money on collecting a percent on everything sold on slx.

The thousand leaving are the thousands of free accounts, especailly europeens that are very mistrustful of online places and refuse to verify. Just as they did one year ago.

I have looked back every year since i joined. I came here in 2003 then left then came back in 2005 and if things change that much that i feel my time is wasted i will leave again. Yes i agree there will be changes, maybe big changes in the short term but then things will return to normal as new folks join the new SL.

I don't know about the shareholders as IIRC LL is a private company that got a cash injection sometime ago and have you considered that it is these venture capital people that gave the cash injection are not the ones driving these changes.

As i said it does affect me and our business but we shall see as the weeks go on how much it does affect me and others and when it starts costing me money then i will rethink again and remodel accordingly, only time will tell

PS: I am European and verified with absolutly no problems whatsoever and LL has stated that PIOF is good enough and my main account is verified both with a verified paypal and i verified on the aristotle system when it was rolled out to see if it worked and no i have not had any data compromised either.

Hold on a second.

So...I can sell a guillotine, let's say, on my Mature parcel.

This is a good guillotine...it's equipped with animations of the victim and the executioner. It accurately simulates a real guillotine...heads rolling, blood spurting the whole gory thing. Even comes with a big basket of sculpty heads. As long as it just sits there, it's OK?

Or pick any other piece of furniture you like. A cage, a bondage horse, a bed with BDSM and threesome or foursome poses in it.

Or clothing that shows the nipples. Or a set of restraints.

All of this stuff isn't considered "adult"?

What about the customer who wanders in and hops on the poseballs to try out the animations? Does it suddenly become "adult", then? Can I show a picture of the items being used? Does that make it "adult"?

Let's say that is IS "adult" if the animations are live. So I move my store to Ursula. Along comes the same avatar, and buys my stuff. He takes it home and sets it up on his land.

It's in "the privacy of his own home", which you've said is OK. But people can still see it, even if he puts it in the basement.

HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED ANYTHING? The adult activity is still going on, on Mature land. The content is still available. Anyone can buy it, and go set it up on their land, or in a Welcome Area or a public sandbox.

You have vastly inconvenienced me, the seller. And you have not made others' Second Life Experiences more..."predictable". (Gods, I throw up in my mouth every time I hear that word applied to this issue.)

Lord and other business owners,

Do one thing if you want to see how you will be effected.

Compare your sales to accounts. Just do one day and see how many of the sales match up to a free account.

Now ask yourself why these people have free accounts and why they have not submitted payment information.

Now try to guess how many sales oyu will loose.

The problem is that a tacky bright neon pink box with shouters may be tacky and anti-social to the neighbours, regardless whether the pink box is adult related or not.

As you indicate, LL isn't proposing to move all anti-social, eyesores just adult related materials. You'll be just as likely to have someone plonk an annoying pink box next to your plot.

Also, it is precisely those pink boxes which will find it easy to move to the new continent. Anyone with a more imaginative build is more likely to decide it is not worth the effort rebuilding in a new location - that is why there is a real risk that the new adult continent will consist primarily of "pink boxes".

Matthew

Land owners can do the same for rentors. in fact if you have a nice plot you rent, check how many of the rentors on your sim are free accounts. Now guess if your sim will still be there when a large number of them leave.