Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Answers to Questions

Wow and yikes!!

Sorry, Blondin, but right now I'm feeling like the brown bags were done just so it could be turned around and exactly the opposite done. And now the restrictions are even worse.

Where before I had pieces in my gallery that I would have safely left on mature land, though fully nude, now they would probably have to move to Ursula.

Photo-realistic nudity...

you just condemned a lot of artists, and skin makers, to Ursula. Let me explain.

I come from the poser community, and while we get a good mix of styles a fair number of us try to get as photoreal as possible. I have purchased and sold skins made from photos. Yes it's been assembled onto a texture template, but at the end I have spent hours tweaking bump and displacement maps to get the look I want. I spend hours and days adjusting shaders to try and get rid of the poser plastic look in my renders.

These are not photos, but some of us do strive to get close.

Now in that vein, I have fully nude pieces that are not explicitly sexual, (for reference http://dreamsindigitalart.com/freebies/wallpapers/despairth.jpg ) fully nude, but posed so no naughty bits are visible. But now since that referenced image depicts a completely nude figure, though nothing naughty is visible it could possibly be considered 'adult' content. It's not as close to photoreal as some of my more recent works, but now even my 'tame' nudes are suspect.

So artists who would have been safe before, now are 'adult'. And that's just artists who strive for realism in non-photographic media. And a whole set of photographers who work with nudes but for studies of form and figure, or works which any reasonable person would have described as nude but not sexual at all... well...

And skin makers... well sorry they're now condemned as well, for the same clause. I have, and still do on a regular basis, tossed about the idea of getting a 3d.sk subscription and making skins both in world here and going back to poser skins as well. These are professional photos licensed for things like 3d skin and texture creation. And as shader controls, video cards and etc here get better, along with just the fact that many skin creators use at least photoreal bits on their skins. There is or will be levels of photo realistic nudity cause we use real photos in the creation process.

two steps forward... slingshot back... to the dark ages.

Sorry, new definitions fail, and are worse than the first set.

Well, seeing as I know for a fact i am one of the oldest running voice escorts in SL....when i started there wasn't but FIVE of us doing voice.. and only ONE besides me STILL does...I haven't a CLUE who you are.. and nor do i care. I'll happily climb *under the rock* with the scores of people here who actually have intelligent things to say, and we have, and will continue to say. None of the rest of the *big names* here saw a need to tout their own importance...but there's at LEAST one in every crowd right?

The LINDENS Know who you are? Here's your gold star. Stick it to your forehead, now your special, we have reserved your seat on the bus. but to get back to the topic at hand....
They know who i am as well... doesnt seem to matter to anyone anyway.

Linden needs to seriously step back and look at whats been written about the land swap here.
There have been numerous suggestions written on how to do this much at least correctly....
Can you all at LEAST PRETEND like you give a damn? by this i mean LL....
No one here has suggested how they intend to help the numerous small business that are losing money stay afloat. I have 3 years in business, in my sim... you really think this move is going to do ANY GOOD? yet you still want my tier.... FFS. WAKE UP.

~Brie

who is this person?

That's nice. I don't own that guide, myself. I'm an Elder Guardian at the Isle of Wyrms, which has been listed in Top Ten Places to Visit lists, and is also in one of those Guides. However, I wouldn't expect anyone to know who I am, or Daryth Kennedy is, either. I think many of us have done some fairly outstanding things within the platform, too, and I think everyone should partake of them, while they last, that is.



..and your posts are an exception how, exactly? If you just wanted to get through to the Lindens, an email, IM, notecard, support ticket and/or phonecall would suffice. Forum posts on the subject are like "open letters", intended to state a public take on the situation for mutual support of like-minded folks. Otherwise, private correspondence would be just as effective.

My point in bringing up the posture is that you are posturing against the very people who are / would be supportive of your situation.



I don't blame you; most of us have been "hung up on" in various ways since this debacle went public (and also for other serious issues like you mentioned previously). As a result, much of the "verbal diarrhea" in this forum on the topic echoes many of the same things you say. You might consider not dismissing it out-of-hand so quickly.

I hate to say it, but they will deserve it. I hope they choke on their "Family Friendly Predictable Mainland".

Just because this needs to be read again and again by ever linden in the company!!! it is the outrage that if they did tell everyone what the plan in the backroom looking to blacklist and stand on thier high horse with their collective heads high in the shit holes of the press and corporate world that in the end are just as kinky nad dirty as they come but they live in an ivory tower and not down where the real people live. I have said time again I make my living off the corpoate goody goody when they wish to play in the dark in my strip clubs in rl so this over acting that this is what most want is just what is said here SMOKE and if they had balls at all they would set it out for a survey and really give due notice to the total population of SL but this fact scares the livving shit out of this little minded people that they just maybe worng and this would make that ivory tower a little gray.

I don't think skin makers are in trouble (not this round, anyway).

While the textures created for many of the best skins are "photorealistic", they have to go onto an avatar mesh in order to be displayed.

The overall "depiction", skin+shape, is NOT (in my opinion) "photorealistic". You can tell right away it's an avatar, not a person.

I think what LL means by "photorealistic" is an actual photo of a real life person. So a picture hanging on your wall showing RL nude people engaged in sexual activity would be "adult content". Your avatar's skin would not.

The artwork in my SL living room and bedroom qualify me for a move to Ursula. So do some of the poseballs there.

We DEMAND the mandatory survey for every SL resident.

This is a classic political/marketing tactic. I think LL deliberately put something daft in the new definitions, KNOWING it's daft, in the hope of getting attention for the purpose of pulling it out later. I think 'photorealistic skin' will be absent from the final definitions. LL will then proclaim that they gracefully bowed to community pressure. Textbook.

lol you are wrong. they NEVER think before they act.

Yes. I said two years ago, when I was still pretty new to SL, that if ever LL decided to ban cyber-sex it would be the end of them. I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!

But you give me an idea. LL is going down the crapper this time, but that doesn't mean that SL has to go with it. We should start up a company now and begin pooling some real capital, so we will be ready to buy LL's assets when they go on the block.

Then SL really WILL belong to its residents.

Except they already DID that... they had restrictive definitions posted, then said "oops we didn't mean that" and pulled them, and now they've posted a new list that's at least as restrictive...

Here are some discriminating questions I'm using to evaluate the policies as they're published:
Can skin stores display their products uncensored in an M region?
Can avatars be nude in public in an M region?
Does Bugs Bunny need to wear pants in PG regions?
Can underwear be sold in PG regions?
Are the Library skins ever viewable in PG regions?
Are visible nipples ever allowed on PG regions? M regions? does avatar gender or species matter?
May Michaelangelo's David be displayed in a PG region? M region?
Can sexual or violent animations be displayed for sale in M regions?
Can sexual or violent animations be used in M regions in private (e.g. in homes or skyboxes)?
Can weapons be displayed and sold in PG regions? M regions?
Is combat allowed in PG regions? M regions?
Will Damage be permanently disabled in PG and M regions?
Is Halloween disallowed in PG and M regions? Valentines day? How about Good Friday?
May crucifixes be displayed in PG regions? M regions?
May Christian residents perform passion plays outside A regions?
May Shakespeare companies perform Hamlet in PG regions? M regions? What about Othello? Romeo and Juliet?

I submit that if strict interpretation of your policies results in surprising answers for any of the above, then the policy is seriously flawed. Similarly, if the published policy leaves these questions unanswered, ambiguous, or subject to subjective interpretation, you are just asking for trouble.

Furthermore, the designations PG, M and A are bizarrely inflated, as the current definition of PG would be mild by most G rated movie standards and M mild by PG standards, at least in the US. Children's after school television in the US has more explicit violence and non-explicit sexuality than your proposed M rating appears to allow. By your definitions, most RL children's Halloween parties would qualify as unambiguously Adult Only.

Could you at least start each level description with a statement of purpose? As an example, I would feel comfortable with PG=Safe for work, M=public activity not shocking for most adults, A=public activity likely to offend adults who aren't looking for it.

I think most people understand and even agree with the desire to have predictable user experience, but you are (most likely needlessly) scaring people off and injected uncalled for uncertainty into the process with these incomplete policy statements.

with all due respect (I think that's what said when you're about to insult someone). So what?? Courtesy of the lovely Torley (a man of obviously good taste and refinement) I'm referenced in the wiki under second life etiquette. (wrote a couple of SL etiquette how tos dontcha know). and the lovely alexia is so proflic on the web that her name is one of the top porn tags these days lol

big deal, no-one has ever heard of me and I don't really care.

My cred comes from the fact I'm a smart cookie, not because I got my name referenced.

although I must admit the porn thing does distress me somewhat.. I never ever get a cut of the action lol

Sorry Suzzana. But I've been inworld for 2.5 years and I know lots of folks and I've heard lots of names. Never heard of you though.

Yes but the PR campain we would have to mount to over come thier little minded back stabbing approach to business would be the first large capital expense.

I think everyone is missing the boat here...I hav ebeen in SL long enough now to see the "trend" going on in here...Whenever there is somthing that is making ALOT of money in SL..LL seems to pull the plug on it...the did it with the casinos..then the banks...then land sales..now the sex industry......hmm whats next?

I have tried to avoid the word 'incompetent' when describing Linden Lab, but it's like a cheezy song that gets stuck in one's head. Y'know,

It's a small world after all,
It's a small world after all,
It's a small world after all,
It's a small, small world...

Need a better manager winks

OMG its really you? , from page 264 of the Official Second Life Guide: Second Edition?
all i can say is wow! i'm impressed!






















not.

Well, Padre Blondinus Lindus said: "PIOF and PIU is fine, amen". You gave "only" 6000? (sarcasm) I (Premium) and my Premium alts gave over 14000 to feed the sharks fat. But yes, me and all three are rejected at the station too. But however: Aristotle can sniff at my crotch to get a flavor, I will *not* give them my passport number or my austrian ssn, name, adress or whatever datas. Never. That for much reasons, even political ones. No datas. It is enough that LL has my CCnr. If I cannot tp where I want,if I cannot swap easily and if I see friends locked out from locations, LL will see 0 (zero) dollars from me.

you're offering??

/me looks hopeful.

there's gold in them thar pornsites lol

Nope, photographs are just that, photographs. A quick search on google under the term photorealistic, shows its mostly concerned with computer graphics and art representations that are close to looking real, but not photographs

Within SL, its commonly understood that photorealistic skins are the good ones, as opposed to crappy low detail skins that do not show the naughty bits. In the context of their maturity scale, I expect they mean nude robots and furries, and nude low quality non-detailed skins are OK to show, but not high quality ones

and???? what about me?? I'm much more of a goddess than she is..

And what about me??? dosent anyone know who I am am? Shessshh I am on page 250 of the blogs! lol