Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Answers to Questions

Yep - not only have I closed, sold and tiered down on my premium accounts (some connected to the sex entertainment industry - but I'd say, roughly 50% of my friend's list (some 50 or 60 Residents) are either doing or seriously considering the same (whether clubs or private owned/rented homes).

How many have..or are considering their only survival financially is to just pack up and close down completely? I am curious how big of an affect this is going to have. Is it wider spread then I thought?

Thanks, good points.

If Ursula is mainland, I'm not sure the sims can be renamed. Can a mainland sim owner request a name change? I'm expecting names like Ursula-frieggelshou and Ursula-mystocornbub - the usual ghastly names that LL comes up with.

Living in London and travelling across across Europe, I don't know of anyone who can't get a credit card. Yes, it's true that French banks are anal about issuing credit cards, but I have never heard of a problem with PayPal in France. PayPal operates in the Czech Republic, for example. Also, to the best of my knowledge, pre-paid credit cards are available across the European Union. Meanwhile, China and Japan are miles ahead of Europe. No problems there as far as I know.

I agree that the existing (Aristotle) ID-based age-verification system does not work well. It does not work for me because all my documents are in the US and Canada. Personally, I think it is an ineffective system, but it does offer an option for the 0.000000001% of SL residents without credit cards or bank accounts.

Milla,

They are going to fill them with teddys, the ones with leash walkers and those cute smiles.

That's the reality.

LL is advertising to the whole world that SL is indeed OFFICIALLY an ADULT PLAYGROUND, where you engage in XXX activities in it by it's own admission.

How funny to see it labels itself and designates Linden Lab as supporting and engaging in the promoting Adult activity in its own backyard, when what they want to stamp out is the very "dirty" image that they want to get rid of?

Oh, maybe I'm so naive.

Their next move will be, after they rounded these businesses into the ghetto area, then their next announcement would be to shut down the ghetto continent, and announce to the whole world they are now coming clean. SL will now be Disneyland.

How slick!!!

why is it suddenly I am visualizing 100's of escorts and the likes being out front of every "mature" shop left on the main grid. No longer in clubs corralled but now all over the place making it appear even worse in the public eye? Does linden really believe this is going to stop the sex for hire and prostitution? they are going to make it so girls are more visible ..like what we see on the corners at night in every big city in real life for hundreds of years. Are they going to be policing all this? They are about to put thousands of people on the main grid in the open eye now. Don't they understand that?

in order for a client-side solution to work, the assumption would have to be the those who don't wish to see sexual/violent content will be the ones to bear the burden of avoiding it. a tool within the client that says "don't bother downloading that... I don't want to see it" won't work because LL wants to limit the ability to *opt in*, not empower those who wish to *opt out*.

-V-

In as much as you can take any one Linden's word for anything these days, and I have no reason to doubt the Blondin personally believes what he is saying, it would seem that the issue of age verification has been definitively answered.

Payment Info On File = Age Verification



Excerpt from today's Office Hour meeting. Comments from others present have been stripped out as I do not have their permission to repost.

I've been wandering around in an alt listening and already people are starting to plan to take advantage of this debacle.. some are planning on being 'AR Squads' to go and torment and drive people out of SL if they don't like their business... the fundies are coming out in force.. the other side are the extortionists "hey, pay us or we're gonna start AR'ing you as being porn filth outside the adult areas..."

yeah, real brilliant idea this is turning out to be...

I would be cautious here. It remains unclear wheher PIOF is good enough. I got the impression that PIU was the criterion. In theory, PIOF should protect LL against litigation, but I am not a lawyer.

I wonder if they've ever looked at the traffic numbers for the Education & Nonprofits in the Showcase. Some of them have less traffic than random empty parcels.

Horray for corporate censorship! Protecting you from reality and ensuring that you see only what we (and our shareholders and sponsors and executives and board of directors and various donating fundamentalist groups) want you to see!

This is a terrible decision and is tantamount to segregation. In fact it's worse than that. This is systematic bigotry. It amounts to the world being reduced to a Walt Disney version of itself, where the residents see only what Linden, their partners, shareholders and donators want seen.

There's already a search filter: Uncheck show mature content. And if you are really so bothered by mature content, stay out of mature rated sims, because adult and mature is the same thing. 'Adult content' is just a buzzword to demonize anything that our corporate censors deem inappropriate.

Actually, if adult and mature content bothers you so much, why are you even in the internet's social side? Human beings are sexual creatures and "adult content" will inevitably be included in anything we do.

To go through with this plan would amount to corporate suicide on Linden's part. I know that I would cancel every form of payment I have with the company and leave. And I'm sure others would too. Because I am greatly offended by being told "All open minded adults, please go to the back of the bus."

Well, if you look at it one way this is discrimination. Discrimination is illegal. People have went to court, fought, and won discrimination suits. How many suits may arise from this?

LL's is discriminating against adult content providers. So, this from what I've gathered by reading the countless posts...

1. Adult skins (pubic hair, nipples, etc.)
2. Sex beds
3. Genital vendors

But then on the flip-side

Nude beaches aren't adult? *laughing* Since when?

It's just been a lot of double talk... And then LL's wants everyone who deals in adult content to move to a new land, but...

THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH LAND FOR EVERYONE!!!

Why is it that they don't understand this? There are people who own mainland sims all to themselves. Are they going to be given a sim of their own that will be adult? And what happens when the land bots get fired up and start grabbing up land and jacking up the prices? Because that's what's going to happen. Land bots are going to swoop in and grab up all the land they can. Then adult content providers are going to be fighting to get the same amount of land that they own in other places. I doubt that anyone would be able to grab more then 512 or less before a land bot swoops in and auto-buys.

These concerns aren't being addressed. As far as I've heard there's all of what... 3-4 sims created for adult content?! That is not enough!

This seems to be a huge scam to force everyone to have to buy their own sim to mark it as adult. And who really wants that? Who really makes that much to put it in to a game that has slowly been declining in both realiability, stability, and profitability? I wouldn't sink anymore then my tier fees and premium account money in to it at this point. A year ago I considered buying my own sim. The whole homestead/openspace fiasco made me say no to that. Because finding that LL's changes their policies on whims... Which I'm finding is more true now. *laughs* I'm not sinking more then I have to in to it. And when this goes through I'll probably only keep a small 512 land so I can upload and host my Xstreet/Apez boxes, but other then that... No. I'll become an Xstreet/Apez only merchant.

I have found Metaplace to be very promising and interesting being a beta tester on it now. I have invites if anyone is interested. They give you your own "sim" for free. Although, it's cartoony, they have obj importing, scripting, and more. Very interesting, and very promising. Moreover it can be embedded directly in to my website.

Alright, but back to this...

We need answers. Double-talk, saying the grids are not merging (they are... Why put adult content away from everything if it's not coming and coming fast?), and just trying to side-step all these issues isn't helping.

Without the userbase there is no SL. Not listening to the userbase and double-talking us doesn't help anyone. If SL loses adult content and more of the adult content merchants... What becomes of SL? How long will most people stay in neverland without being adult? It just becomes a playground and the most that will be logged in is a bunch who come to chat and talk, Lindens, and the 1000's of bots that make the metrics look like there are real people on.

I first came to SL because it was adult, it allowed adult content, and it was fun.

I will leave SL when it becomes less fun (it's definately starting to), adults are discriminated against (that's starting too), and LL's actually starts charging 1L for teleports. (Check around... that's going to happen too.)

If LL's is looking for backers... Maybe they should start offering Sims to companies for free. Then they could say they have such and such company in SL. Right now... I see more companies looking in to Flash based alternatives that run on browsers... *shaking head* SL was fine the way it was...

Just because a few little old ladies came in to SL and saw a penis now everyone is in trouble for it.

Do not visit the sins of the few on the many...

SL is for christians now I guess... So, when do we all get our bibles and get to go out and preach the good word of how adult stuff is evil? *thumping a bible*

I wouldn't put it past them.

But there is nothing to worry about. I'm *sure* LL will faithfully investigte all AR's, discard the frivolous and discipline anyone abusing the system......

Haha, yeah. Since they're doing this, why don't they just change the name from Second Life to Walt Disney Presents: Candyland! The magical land where everyone is fully clothed all the time and never has impure thoughts.


This is SECOND LIFE. I.E. a chance to do things that due to money, time, job obligations, and regional social mores are impossible to do in first life. Thats what brings so many of us here. And really, everything that goes on in the adult content is consensual; You can't stop someone from teleporting away or just logging out. If someone ins SL is a sex slave, guess what! They want to be! We come to SL to escape the repressive biggotry of fundies in the real world, to enjoy ourselves as ourselves, and take off the masks that the real world makes us wear.

Yikes! I hope it wasn't anyone I know

-V-

Excerpt from the 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNO)

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) *No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property*

You are still listening, Lindens?

There are also some other interesting paragraphs in this declaration wich could be *interesting* for us "residents". Your country signed this declaration, and if not: mine did!

Maybe you take time and read ALL paragraphs carefully? Yes? Because these rights counting also for groups, persons and biz...

I also found there:

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, *group or person* any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.


So what now? Hm? Tell!

Oh, I know, it is a virtual world here, but: you treat us, as it would be a real world, but you avoid to have an eye on our rights, right?!

If I point now on our rights, will you tell then, it would be only a virtual world?

And if all is virtual, how can it be then *not virtual*, art, artificial and complete irreal for 18+ eyes, ears and all other human senses?

I do think, you need to explain that for us, before you start to move here people and our art and expressions around!

And those 250 sims in Ursula just sprang, fully grow, from kingdon's forehead?

-V-

It works (or fails to work) the other way, too. Businesses who move to the Adult continent automatically lose 40% - 70% of their customers...all of the NPIOF people.

Which is why I quoted Blondin saying himself that PIOF = Age verification, you did read the quote,... right? In case you missed it;



If they reverse themselves now, after stating in public, at least 10 others heard him say it too, then it makes all the worse for them as now they have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted and will change what they say to fit the moment.

You seem to be under the impression that once LL has spent the development ans set-up cash, they they will happily say "oh, Never mind" if they get a few strongly worded complaints.

What we are saying is that it is pretty obvious from all the work that has been put into this already, any comments to the effect of "we haven't engraved anything in stone yet" are simple beyond belief. do you think for one moment that LL would spend a *dime* on any of this if they weren't already set on doing it?

Everything they have done in the last two years, and everything they have done and said so far says something diametrically opposed to the impression that were *supposed* to be getting from LL about this.

we're frogs in the pot, and LL is turning up the heat, all the while murmering soothing plattitudes so we won't notice that we're being boiled to death.

-V-

Lindens. Read the above please. Actions have consequences. Here we have an example of what you are doing to "Your World, Your Imagination". A very talented individual STOPPED WORK on a promising line of items simply because she THOUGHT the market for them was going to be strangled.

So much for the unbridled freedom and creativity of Second Life, huh?

This is ALREADY HAPPENING, and you haven't even put your new policy in place yet.

Already we are seeing the discrimination beginning, too. Places are being excluded from hunts because they are "too adult" to participate. People are getting ready to AR their neighbors, for the crime of being different.

Can't you see that this action is going to have exactly the opposite effect from what you intend? It isn't going to make the grid more friendly and predictable. It's going to do a lot more than just inconvenience a small minority of residents for a short time. This is going to FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE the way we look at and use Second Life, and the way we interact with our fellow residents...and not in any good way. You are doing more than annoying a few residents here. You are pitting us against each other. You are turning us into a world of Us and Them...and you are driving away or stifling the very creatives who have made SL such a wonderful place.

In a year's time, SL is going to be populated by a small remnant of its current residents, sadly wandering around the bombed-out ruins, looking at a hole in the ground and saying, "that used to be one of my favorite spots." That's if it exists at all.

Read the quote above, and get a frigging clue.

I think we need contracts with them...notary proofed...on paper or via mail...

because trust... is such a fragile thing...can break into thousand pieces in a second...

especially... - with people who are running around with strange alias last names and all with the same last name...

Hinden, or Binden, or something...

Irrelevant. They don't need to do all the stuff they're doing just to solve that problem.