Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Answers to Questions

I do have to ask of meta linden one thing,

Have you perhaps toyed with the notion that perhaps the many users who are not in this game that you are trying to attract e.g the educators and the corporates...perhaps maybe just maybe when all is said and done they will not under any circumstance no matter what you attempt to do to attract them to this world they will likely not set themselves up in world.

I will say this i am actually one of those corporate types that decided not to use sl as part of my real world business model. I came into SL back in 2006 after watching a BBC report about reuters and many other brands joining sl and the possibility of earning money. So i signed up and logged in considering that perhaps i could see a way to introduce my product/brand into a different market.

I looked around and decided it wasnt and my reasoning had nothing to do with griefers, It had nothing to do with people on poseballs having cyber sex, It even didn't have anything to do with people swearing. My one and only reason for not developing my brand inworld was this Second Life was not the correct market.

After researching long and hard i came to see that really rl based brands don't necessarily have a market in a virtual world perhaps some small amount of advertising to lead people to rl from sl to check out the products but as it stands Second Life was not the right place for what i was offering.


Perhaps Meta you should entertain the notion that corporations and educators are looking at sl and thinking maybe but when they get in there they realise it's just not going to work for them and perhaps the investment that is required for them to put into it e.g land ownership and premium accounts. After all that is done its wasted expenditure for a real world based business. Second Life is unlikely to feature in business models as a long term thing if any term is played out. It will more than likely be a Fad. In 2006 businesses were interested in sl as a new merging market but the reality is that its not.

Second life is an escapism reality for people to get away from the real world and that in a nut shell is why real world business applications or educational institutions will not be viable in second life because the target audience they are trying to attract is happier dressed up as a furry, or being a vampire in a large scale roleplay situation.

Wake up to the second life reality that is and stop chasing a short lived fad from 2006.


You are pandering and trying to attract a consumer base that is more than likely going to find another excuse not to get involved in second life. If its not adult content blocking them there will be another excuse.

They are a lost consumer base forget about them and make the current consumers happy and drop this deployment before you commit suicide. Why alienate the people who keep you running chasing the people who don't.

<off topic warning>

Just spotted this on 'Click' (the BBC TV's technology programme).

"Virtual worlds and web 'merging'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8016135.stm

This is a fairly bland text article and the words 'adult content' are nowhere to be heard (it appears to be a very mini promo about digital goods and commerce inworld, leading the way), but there's a link to see today's (25th April 09) episode in the top right menu (uses RealPlayer or Windows Media Player) if you want to see Kingdon speak - the interview is about 10mins into the programme (lasts about 6m30s).

Thing that made me smile was the one smirky reference to 'literally pimping your avatar' by the presenter in the introduction.

It's not yet on the BBC iPlayer (but will be very soon I imagine):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00k7q8m/Click_25_04_2009/

It's available to UK viewers - I'm not sure how to access it if you're outside the UK (but I've heard it can be done, maybe someone can post how?).

Whitehall defends 'fantasy world'
Second Life
About 15 million people have joined Second Life

The government has hit back at claims it is wasting taxpayers' money on a virtual reality website.

The 3D "innovations centre" on the Second Life site cost £20,000 to set up and £12,000 a year to run even though it is not accessible to the public.

Conservative MP Nick Hurd said it showed the government was "living in a fantasy world".

The Department for Work and Pensions claimed the virtual meeting place could save taxpayers money in the long run.

A DWP spokesman said: "We are currently exploring the potential of using Second Life and have active interest from a number of government departments.

"Our new innovation centre in Second Life is a virtual area where both government and private companies can showcase technological innovations, such as low carbon footprint technology.

"We believe it could help make sharing technology more efficient and save taxpayers' money as meetings, events and shows can be held online at a fraction of the cost and resources."

About 15 million people have joined Second Life, although the number of active users is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Behave, next you'll be telling me the numbers had letters on them too!

Yes, but they were different letters in different countries. In Australia they quit using the letters about the time they went to 3-digit STD codes. One problem was that as international calls got cheaper, people tried to call American companies that used names as numbers and the names were on different numbers in Australia... for example, "FU" was "37", not "38". Much Hilarity Ensued.

They've always exploited their customer base and they'll continue to do so while people allow themselves to be convinced this is a collaborative effort.

Some people just refuse to see that it just exploitation, pure and simple.

I've just hit the portal and am having a bit of a sniff around and so far I'm torn between wondering if this is just ll being amateur or if there's something serious I've missed. No company would usually just check it compiles and then throw it out to the customer to test.

although that would be an improvement on a couple of years ago. I remember reviewing some of their so called "QA tests" and finally understanding why sl was so rubbish.

Werner Heisenberg gets pulled over for speeding.
The policeman asks him "Do you know how fast you were going!?
Heisenberg says "No, but I know where I am!"

I'm sorry that you feel that you have to do this, but rest assured, your products will live on, vexing LInden Labs for years to come!

-V-

So, I'll rephrase the question: Are there any clear uncontroversial, unanimously agreed, examples of activities which are mature only, i.e. would not be deemed adult, but would also not be deemed PG under the current definition of PG within SL?

Surveys of people who tried SL but decided it wasn't for them, as well as feedback from new organizations (educational, corporate, and other social networks), pointed out the high visibility of AO content in M spaces as a blocking concern for them. It is for *these* silent potential users we are making this change.

"Remedy Communications announced today that it had partnered with Rivers Run Red to co-market and sell the Immersive Workspaces Platform, a tool for Web-and virtual worlds-based collaboration in Second Life..."

I don't see why LL doesn't just tell people that if they want totally G-rated land that THEY can move to ursula and then they can have their little wonderland and leave the rest of us alone to do what we have been doing on the land that we have been doing it on.

That was completely uncalled for.

I've just hit the portal and am having a bit of a sniff around and so far I'm torn between wondering if this is just ll being amateur or if there's something serious I've missed. No company would usually just check it compiles and then throw it out to the customer to test.. although that would be an improvement on a couple of years ago. I remember reviewing some of their so called "QA tests" and finally understanding why sl was so rubbish.

I'm going to have a play with the test harness and a bit more of a sniff around before I probably come to the conclusion that it's still no wonder it's such poor quality.

I say that because you lot are just enthusiastic amateurs who have no formal testing methodology to ensure sufficient coverage (and I say that with 99.9% certainty).

Wonder when a viable alternative will spring up

Er.. Jackpot?

My adult place is currently mostly surrounded by a Buddhist land baron. Really. They own 7-8 mainland regions and my transgender-friendly neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of that. It's really a nice area and we all get along just fine - no problems between us at all.

'Splain please how being forced to move to what will be the laggiest, most crowded place on the grid is a jackpot for me?

They've said all along there's no demand for that.

Which I find somewhat confusing, since it appears that's what Meta Linden's potential customers seem to be asking for.

I don't see why LL doesn't just tell people that if they want totally G-rated land that THEY can move to ursula and then they can have their little wonderland and leave the rest of us alone to do what we have been doing on the land that we have been doing it on.


They would have a "safe" place away from anything adult and the other 99% of us could go on enjoying SL, Building SL and keeping Linden Labs business running for them like we have been for years.

I make a motion for LL to make ursula land all G-RATED !!

I found this post on Xstreet very alarming. Basically, there's been a subtle change that is breaking hundreds of products in world that use http for images. (I think, I'm technically impaired)

https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=496722&master=1#496722

Also, please read down to the fourth post. Someone says there's a rumor going around about LL throttling scripts so that there is less functionality for attachments and such.

Ummm....has anyone else heard this? Is it likely?

The best thing that we could do is set up a consortium and build our own adult grid - either through using LLs BIAB or through opengrid. Unfortunately raising that kind of cash will probably be as difficult as finding the right skillset of committed people to establish the start up and see it though.

edited to add: and I mean a closed, manageable system - not hooked into the open grid stuff.




lol ta.. I too can get that far.. after that I'm in trouble

Many of us have made that suggestion but it doesn't fit the long term plan of bringing the kids in, so they're changing mainland to PG instead.

I don't see why LL doesn't just tell people that if they want totally G-rated land that THEY can move to ursula and then they can have their little wonderland and leave the rest of us alone to do what we have been doing on the land that we have been doing it on.


They would have a "safe" place away from anything adult and the other 99% of us could go on enjoying SL, Building SL and keeping Linden Labs business running for them like we have been for years.

I make a motion for LL to make ursula land all G-RATED !!