Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Answers to Questions

Adult content!! Adult content!! Adult content!!

Uh.. Never mind.

The landlord in question was renting on a Mature Mainland Sim, the LL repsonses back to him basically said that unless he polices his tenants (which would NEVER happen and dont even what to deal with ARed situations) then the landlord would be forced to move to Ursula - as its the only ADULT Mainland avalaible - hence pretty much all landlords renting Mature Mainland land would be forced to move to Ursula, now do you understand?

Indeed.

Now that's hilarious, because i know of several PG homes where I'm 100% certain the furniture gets used! Irrespective of whose responsibility it is to monitor these things, the fact is that LL is incapable of policing each and every situation inworld.

This is one of the things that frustrates me most about the way they go about everything - absolutely nothing is properly thought through, and the implementation is inadequate, to say the least. You only have to look around at the number of non-conforming advertising signs that are slowly but surely reappearing on the mainland for evidence.

I could have so much more faith in them if I believed that they said what they meant and meant what they said.

I think we're in danger of losing sight of one important thing here...

It doesnt matter if it can be enforced properly or not, just as LL made a business decision to impose these new rules (whatever they turn out to be) the really big decisions many of us face are going to be the same kind of thing.

For me, I cannot accept the increased business risk of having to fight ARs if I stay where I am on the mainland, no matter how many Lindens tell me my store is ok on existing mature land. All it would take is one member of the gteam in a bad mood because their piles are hurting and I'm in trouble. This means, for the sake of my business, either I get in on the move or I have to seriously consider getting rid of my mainland and tiering down to basic.

No I dont like either option. I think this entire policy is going to be an epic fail and that sooner or later LL is going to have to realize that and roll it back. If and when they do, I want my business to still be there so I go with the least damaging of the choices open to me.

I think that it's going to be worse still. I think that LL won't back down on this no matter what horrific things happen to their revenue stream because of it, epic fail or no.
When was the last time you heard of anyone *relaxing* restrictions on adult content? Can't think of any? neither can I.
I *can* however, point to any number of times that governing bodies decided that the restrictions weren't tight *enough*, and began playing "whack-a-mole" with loopholes discovered by enterprising minds.

I think what will happen here is that this policy will make *nobody* happy. The pervy set will chafe because of all the restrictions, and the puritanical will be upset because they'll still be able to see a sex bed in operation by looking through walls, or a nude skin vendor in a store, or a newbie bumping people with his "freenis" in the welcome area.

So, LL will try to make at least *one* set of residents happy by cracking down even more, and thus begin a long slide into disneyland.

I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

-V-

Once upon a time, there was this ingenious kid. He dreamed of creating this castle in utopia. So he gathered his magic wand and started building this wonderful sand castle for us all to play in. Words got out about this magic kingdom. Then everyone flocked to this playland and started to build their own castles.

The castles got fancier and fancier. Some castles were built in the sand, others were built in the sky. A total wonder and awe to look at and be in it.

Pretty soon, this land of wonder becomes an adult wonderland for all ages. Some come here for fun, some come for friendship, yet others came to make money. No matter what you are looking for, it is one big happy family -- everyone got what they want. An utopia in each and every eye.

Then this ingenious kid decided to retire from this wonderland since he got better things to do. He invited a substitute for his replacement to oversee this wonderland that he created.

To the delight of this surrogate, it is a dream come true when you have a world in your hand, handed down to you with a magic wand, with no effort on your part.

What would you do with a world in your hand? Of course, you want to make it even better and turn this into an image of your perfect kingdom.

So you tinker with it, and the magic bulb lit up! Wouldn't it be nice if we all have our own little world to make this place even better?

So the image of a perfect utopia was born -- a little playground for the kids, a little playground for the adults and a little playground for everyone -- a perfect world to be.

A dream comes true finally, isn't it?

So you are determined to make this happen. So you called your engineers to spell out the specifications, and get them to work. You tell your PR folks to get the words out to tell this god's kingdom what a wonderful world it could be when we all have a little world of our own, whatever tastes you have, you will have a place of exactly your liking.

If you want to build sand castle, you have sand to play with. If you want to build a sky castle, you have your sky to play with. If you want to build a sex castle, you will have your dungeon to play with. Isn't it brilliant to come up with this idea to make it all happen to you all, folks?

The words got out, but the whole kingdom roared with agony. How could it be? How can you not appreciate my ingenious idea? This is unfathomable. This cannot be true.

So you waited for awhile, and say to yourself. They must be totally spoiled. How can they not see what a wonderful world it could be when you each can have a place for yourself? If I have my kids, I would sure want to raise them up in this perfect kingdom where kids play in the sand, and the adults play in their own backyard. What's wrong with that?

So you decided that they must be too immature not to appreciate you how much you sacrifice for them by spending all these money on the engineers to custom design a place for you all to play in a place you all share things in common. It is inconceivable that anyone would not like the idea when I build a special place for you to play in where you all can share so much more in common. Someday they will understand when this is all said and done.

So the kingdom be built, mountains be moved, and oceans be parted. And a perfect utopia is born finally -- a paradise for all -- young and old.

On judgment day, god will appreciate this kingdom I created for you all.

I thought this was an interesting read with regards to online security.

"285 million records were compromised in 2008. Nearly all records compromised in 2008 were from online assets. Despite widespread concern over desktops, mobile devices, portable media and the like, 99% of all breached records were compromised from servers and applications."

http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/security/reports/2009_databreach_rp.pdf

And this is the article I originally read about it.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/data-breach-study-finds-significant-rise-in-targeted-attacks-organized-crime-involvement

Notice how this thread and the issues surrounding it have totally taken everyone's focus off of LL fixing all the other things that are borked with SL? I think it's by design.

After reading many threads on this topic I still can't see what the purpose of having three land types is. So we will have PG land (the nice family friendly place), adult land (where all the adult content will be) and then mature land....ummm...can't be 'adult' content or else it will be subject to all sorts of ARs..so a nice friendly familiy area then..umm no that is PG land... I know lets just have 2 types, adult and PG that will fix the problem. Ah we already have this don't we...?

Of course the problem is that the seperation between PG and mature today is poor and difficult to manage today..so it is much easier to make a new continent for either PG or Adult. Once the seperartion is done and manageable the new continent can be expanded as required.

So it does leave existing mature land as a bit redundant in the long term. My prediction is that we will end up with 2 types of land, as we have today, it's just that this step will make is easier for LL to manage the seperation of the content. Of course in the transition period it will create chaos for current mature land owners..but I will try and remain positive and hope it is not as bad as I fear it will be. Maybe out of chaos will come somehting better..or it will destroy it completely. The sooner the details are published and not leaked out in little drips of info every now and then, the easier it will be for everyone.

I tend overall to agree with you, however i am hoping that after the dust settles on this one that it could possibly be better for the Adult Content being in one area and SL getting a reputation for the Red Light Area so to speak and the new folks coming into SL after this has happened will not know what it was like before, so for them all the changes will be normal. But for all our thoughts and ideas not one person here in SL will know what the outcome will be until a good while after it has happened and as long as businesses plan accordingly, that is after we have clearer definitions, then hopefully the fallout won't be that bad, however only time will tell and none of us have all the answers unfortunately.

Because "trying to talk LL out of this idea" is about finding compelling arguments that LL will listen to about why this won't work. It's not pushing the concept of a PG continent as a solution for the umpteenth time after LL have said that isn't something they would see as a resolution to this. LL have that that privacy pockets aren't something they would consider as part of this and yet it's been brought up time after time... (I happen to think that's a very good idea, btw).

Using incendiary words like nazi, Hilter, ghetto, etc, isn't going to talk LL out of anything, either, and yet it comes up time and time again.

Claiming that the majority are against the idea isn't founded in any reality - a majority of forum posters, yes, but as has been said before, this isn't a representative sample of SL users.

I don't feel that obsessing about the 2-4% thing is productive either - what difference does it make to LL?


And how does that work, exactly? Do you feel that everyone posting the same points over and over again in this forum is achieving that?

Personally, I think the only thing that would change LL's mind is when they go ahead and do it and find that there has been a mass exodus from this "majority" who are against it - I DO feel that they are convinced that this is something they should do, for whatever reason. I'm personally not convinced that the majority of in-world residents ARE against it, and have just seen assertions from both sides without any facts to back either of them up. So it's all just a guess.


And what is going to make them realise that? Based on the number of off-topic and hysterical posts in amongst the really good points, I can't see the sum total of these forum threads as being any sort of convincing argument....

I really do understand that this is going to affect a significant portion of SL residents, both Adult-oriented business-owners, works, and patrons. I'm sure that LL knows that already. I personally have sympathy for all of those affected. To me, though, I would be looking for answers, rather than reinforcing rampant speculation. The problem is that we don't have anywhere NEAR enough information from LL yet about how this is going to work and until we do, how can we decide whether it's going to be bad or good for the businesses or not?

Hence my push to get answers, both in the forum and in private emails with Lindens. I am also pushing for them to generate and update a "state of the union" document on the Wiki which documents in a single place the decisions that have been made, plus a list of open questions which they are working on (like the all-important definition of "Adult Content". I am trying to get more facts and less fear into this process.

This document could work both ways - informing us as to what is going on, but also providing a reference point for Lindens, if they make statements that seem at odds with what is written there.

As that shapes up, we will have a tool by which we can all can decide whether this is a world in which we want to take part or not.

My suspicion is that LL are doing their 'sharp operator' impersonation (and don't ever think I mean that in any kind of admiring way).

To protect the illusion that self regulation works (banks are an example here) any organisation worth their salt will wait until the last minute to implement a pale version of things they know would be legislated for if the government decides there is political merit. By being 'almost but not quite' it usually buys them time at worst or calls the dogs off at best.

After seeing how much kiddie world made last year then looking at their woeful teen grid, realising their reputation for sleaze isn't going away and probably a whole raft of other considerations, it all comes together pretty perfectly.

let's face it, whilst the adult stuff may be big business compared to its size, getting the mums and dads and their kids at a time when families are looking for cheap entertainment is not a bad business choice. For them from a PR and financial perspective I'm sure they're looking at the whole thing as a win win.

I just can't help laughing though.. I've spent a bit of time hanging out at ahern and waterhead down the last few weeks and they're even more unattractive than I remember. If I turned up today at waterhead I doubt if I would stay more than 5 minutes. The stench of puerile testosterone, combined with the vampires looking for recruits (yes, I admit bloodlines has put me off creatures of the night pretty completely), the spammers, griefers and other seeking to exploit the newbs, along with the general ick of the place is seriously offputting. As always though, a totally predictable user experience.. rofl

Moving the sane people to kinkiville isn't going to solve that one.

I've not heard any of them screaming yet. Is is that somehow they're going to be overlooked in this great shake up?

sex = bad
violence = good

hmmm..

nothing like skewed values.

If we have to move then every single purveyor of weaponry (no matter how "defensive" or area that condones violence should be on the list too..

bet they're not though. As with the rest of the world the term adult only ever seems to apply to sex.

That would actually be rather close to being on-topic!

Perhaps not obsessing, but I think Meade has it right:
Early on (several threads ago), I was arguing that everybody who wasn't themselves promoting the new sub-Adult Mainland should do whatever it takes to move to Ursula, thereby restoring the status quo ante, and leaving LL with seven continents of abandoned Mature land to split among those much touted, tier-discounted non-profits, educators, and corporates--none of whom want Mainland anyway.

It's nonetheless correct that this ship has sailed. The less blatant smut-peddlers are intent on keeping their precious market of non-verified NPIOFs--thereby ensuring that few people will verify or get PIOF, which in turn ensures that Ursula will be an unprofitably exclusive enclave of all-smut-all-the-time. The consensus is in, and it's to play into the hands of the prudes (which in retrospect is hardly surprising because LL dealt them all the aces).

So you're right, I'm afraid: At this point the best we can do is try to make the best of what we (yes, "we" have turned into a disastrous situation.

After Ursula is established, I think LL will convert the remaining mainland to PG. For those who want a PG continent, well, you're standing on it.

I like the idea of everyone moving over to the new continent. Since LL can't just turn off all the empty sims that are left behind their running costs are going to escalate.. Such a shame.

and the big benefit for us is that with a more varied amount of people there it will be a lot nicer than if it's just sex clubs and shops.

What I suspect will happen is that if everyone put their hand up then LL will clamp down which means sexing up your parcel will become an imperative. If I decide I want to jump on the cattle truck rather than close everything down then I'll probably have to turn my home into a free sex club just to make sure all my land goes with me. If I'm moved to the Adult continent I'm planning on never having to set foot in kidsville again.

They want clean and pure, then they don't want my business.

It makes me wonder if LL will in the end say all accounts on the grid have to now be verified by such and such a date or be locked out rather than continue the adult continent and then make Ursula into a PG instead and leave the mainland as it is. I wonder if the loss of NPIOF accounts would be worth this approach, as it will create a logistical nightmare with the ones that won't move pedaling smut on the mainland to NPIOF and the AR's that will be flying around as the Prude police scour the grid for adult to AR. Just a thought

Probably, since they seem determined to destroy the value of "Mature" land, much in the same way that they destroyed the value of OpenSpaces and Homesteads sims.

Personally? I'm rather beginning to wish that LL DOES sell out to some other company, even if it's Disney. Because just about ANY other company would be likely to make better management and customer relations decisions, and would fire the people responsible for some of the worst recent decisions here. Heck, Disney would likely pass SL to its Touchstone division, or to some other subsidiary aimed at more adult markets...

I believe eventually they'll have to put an end to NPIOF accounts. I suspect they don't because they realize doing so would seriously impact the entire SL economy. I guess they figure the Adult sector of the economy is robust enough to handle it. Requiring part of the users to be verified seems to be a fairly useless measure.

I don't believe they'll ever switch Ursula into a PG continent, unless they do a drastic about face before they make anyone move there. Depending on the final definitions of adult content, the rest of the mainland may end up effectively being PG, the actual rating being meaningless.

I must admit, I wish Linden Lab would go pro. I keep hoping that they have some ingenious master plan as in "The Usual Suspects", but I can only scratch my head in puzzlement at the changes since 2007. More than the changes themselves, it's the execution that is so poor. This is the kind of customer service I expect in France or Britain; the clumsiness of it is breathtaking - and it's an American company!

I can understand (not necessarily agree with, but understand) splitting the mainland into Mature and PG continents. Fine, so do it. Announce the strategy, seek input from a global membership of intelligent and highly-skilled professionals then begin realigning the sims within the existing continents while building new ones.

Actually, this should have been thought about four years ago before the southern continent was built. It and subsequent continents could then have been created completely Mature or PG. How does one make such a strategic mistake when the strategy is so simple?

You know how enthusiastic I was about Second Life when I first arrived. We never imagined we'd be here in this forum discussing such a bizarre topic three years later. At least - thank all the gods - I didn't invest serious money into SL. I shudder at the losses I would have suffered at the hands of Linden Lab due to the extraordinarily UNPREDICTABLE management experience since 2007.

Violence is not a theme there. Hollywood would be dead without the explosion cult in every blockbuster. Films like Terminator or Independence day are best family entertainment. Platoon and Apocalypse Now: fun! People are not dying there. They just falling out of the picture frame. Hundreds or millions per film. The target in all these messages from hollywood is, to create nothing, where something was before. A hole in the nature. Flying bullets in extra-slow-motion filmed is legal porn for minors there. Additional you can buy there half-automatic weapons like underwear. And there are shooting centers, where 12 years young kids can fire with a machine-gun until a car is a sieve. They do that like brushing teeth in morning. It's a sport there for young and old. Ratatatatat.

If you look at Independence Day, the film, you see whole cities exploding, but not one nipple comments that.

There is also a reason, why sex is so far not forbidden in the USA. Sex is allowed as long the people following the rule to use their genitals as weapons. You know....they say not *orgasm*, they say: cum-shot...analog to: shot-gun, or they say: "I shoot a load", hahahaha.

They are not normal. Just that. A good amok-run at prime time and the whole nation is happy. That's entertainment. Or these bombs, wich are able to blow whole mountains away, they call them: daisy cutters, funny, funny. Seems we have it to do with gardening experts...

A nipple at prime time, and the national guard will be mobilized to fire the nipple to death.

So, war is not adult. This is why they start a war on eros now, these heroes.

But those weapons shop guys shoot back! *smirk*

Oh, I am sure they will eventually send all the Weapons shops and combat areas to Ursula too. Or they will move there on their own, once anyone who wants other than a squeaky-clean PG world moves out of the now-worthless Mature lands.

But the kids they eventually hope to attract (all denials aside) LOVE playing violent games, and their mommies and daddies happily buy them violent games and allow their little Darlings to play violent games, so LL is far less worried about gun stores and combat alleys than they are about pretty strippers and the like, which might offend Mommy and Daddy.

Excuse me????

Since when did corporate America become the standard to which the world should aspire? Have you read the news lately?

Rime