Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Geographical Separation of Adult Content

*sigh* ever hear of search?

It's still hard to read them when they're spead across 53 pages.

then I honestly hope no one posting answered questions expect a reply.

...and will do by leaving SL - taking my premium land owning accounts and multiple role-playing ALTs (a mix of payment info used and no payment info) with me, to another virtual world, probably. (Oh, and just for the record, I probably spend around 3 thousand of your US dollars a year on SL, maybe more - on tier, land and inworld/XLStreet products - and was seriously planning on investing heavily from my RL business this year, for which I'll find another virtual world. There's too much of an economic risk now. Very sad, I enjoy my time in SL and don't know of a better alternative yet. Myself and my inworld friends and business colleagues are already discussing other options, in response to this news about your upcoming changes for adult content.)


To continue then, with a few of my initial thoughts/responses (I had planned to reply to all the issues in one post, but will, instead, respond to each thread in the forums now, as I feel there's a number of issues clouding each other).


*Geographical Separation...
(Working on the premise that there should be no RL minors using SL - so the issue of protecting those who 'shouldn't' see/access adult/explicit content is erroneous)

1. <quote>"In particular, it has become clear that some Residents are interested in pursuing certain “Adult” activities in Second Life that others would rather not casually encounter."</quote>

Casually encounter? Ok, sexually hardcore/violently explicit themed land/services currently not tagged as Mature is irresponsible, I agree and I can understand that needs dealing with - enforce the correct tagging and ToS for content for PG and Mature (if you're tagged as PG and you have 'adult' orientated content, you get into trouble, easy) - but seriously, "casually encounter" a place that's only accessible via Mature search and is clearly labelled by its owner(s)? Don't make the majority of the mature, responsible and sane residents move because prudes and puritans want a witch hunt (what are they doing coming to these places anyhow? And, by the way, who will be covering the costs of the administration of the move?). Also - "certain adult activities"? You're going to have to be crystal clear on that one - I mean 'word for word' precise about lifestyle practice - adult and explicit won't be enough, you'll have to use those dirty words, which probably means you will only be able to publish the exact definitions within a restricted area (I'll refrain from using as an example, some of those words that might be thought of as offensive here)


2. <quote>"...geographically separate Adult content and activities to a part of the “mainland” designed to accommodate these activities (Estate owners with Adult content on their land will be required to flag their content; they will not be required to move)."</quote>

When I bought Mature tagged land, I expected there to be a diverse range of adult orientated content there - was I missing something? That's why I go to Mature land - if I didn't want to see it or encounter it, I'd go to PG.

Re: The 'move/separation' and land tagging - I can't see that being managed well, or satisfactorily, to anyone's needs/wishes. Those not wanting to be ghetto-ised, or those wanting to persecute those that they don't agree with or like seeing in SL. A lot of folk live perfectly happily next door to others who have different (Mature) content - won't this just start a type of SL version of ignorance and fear-fuelled ethnic cleansing - with neighbours warring over issues that before may have never been an issue? Who's going to benefit from that?

And why does Linden (main)land have to change, but Estates only need to be adequately tagged as Mature? Doesn't that make this plan to create a 'Perve Continent' utterly futile? Last time I looked, Linden land was tagged appropriately - if something falls into the Mature category and it's on PG land currently - then move those, not the rest of us, peacefully going about 'our own business'. That sounds like you're worried about the Estate owners all packing up and resulting in an economic crash. I wouldn't worry about that, the number of major private land owners that are already getting nervous and planning to leave is already worrying... add to that the massive loss of traffic from these proposed changes gridwide, and for a lot of legitimate adult business ventures, it'll be the straw that broke the camel's back. What if the pressure to move/relocate newly defined adult content extends to the private estates? What guarantees are there that it won't eventually?


3. <quote>"...and by providing the best available method to make Adult content accessible only to those who ought to (and who desire to) access it."</quote>

Does this statement suggest that you knowingly allow underage users into SL? Or are you telling me what I am allowed to see as an adult (re: 'ought to')? It sounds very much like you've decided already to merge the grids. (And yes, we all know minors are in SL - but this is another issue and I believe that's the parents responsibility entirely). Clarify. Again, isn't the existing 'I'd like to see Mature content' tick box system and the general guidelines about content and legal access to SL in the ToS, enough? If you plan to merge, or if you just accept that minors are in SL - you have no option but to eliminate ALL adult content. eventually... to satify the lawyers. Not that that would prevent predators preying on minors in SL. They don't need any adult content around to do that. I don't want minors anywhere near me in SL (don't get me started on this issue... I'll leave that rant for another post).

4. <quote>"we will introduce the “Adult Continent...”"</quote>

You already have clearly tagged Mature land - so why a 'Perve Continent' (btw, do we get our own currency?<joke>? We're using what we consider an adult environment already... happily and sanely, in most cases. This will ghetto-ise a lot of people - both landowners and the visitors. Who will be defining the new meaning of 'Adult'? Considering there shouldn't be any non-adults in SL - shouldn't PG be defined as 'non-explicit' (doesn't it already mean that? And Mature just be that, 'Mature'... 'Adult/Explicit Content Inside'. The prudes can move and live in PG if they so wish, but I bet a lot will be happy enough to co-exist with the wonderful diversity around them in Mature, that makes SL such a good place for the sharing of ideas about lifestyle choices. Surely when someone buys land, or travels SL, they know what to expect already? The real worry is that a lot of valuable customers will just feel like it isn't worth it and leave - you'll lose a massive revenue stream and put a lot of legitimate adult (sexually or violent explicit, whatever, or however you define it) organisations, groups and viable inworld businesses out of business, who will, like me, just move to another virtual world.

5. <quote>"-- What about adult activity in private on the mainland? e.g. Is Linden Lab making rules about what I can do in my own house on the Mainland?
Nope. We are talking about public behavior and events, businesses and listings that are meant to drive explicit sexual and violent activity."</quote>

This is a flaky idea, at best. Also, this 'sounds' like a drive to force non-landowning residents to buy land for their own 'adult' use and put public spaces out of business.


6. To conclude...

And a note on the idea of 'definitions' - i.e. labelling residents and spaces...
This is dangerous - trying to define 'adult, offensive, violent, explicit', etc. At best we may be able to agree on some basic, broad interpretations in the written form and in visual imagery- but you have to be very careful. We fail at defining these things in the meatworld, let alone in our 'brave new world' here. We're talking about a global culture here and hopefully are aiming at an inclusive one. Personally, I find organised religion highly offensive and for a number of real, well-defined reasons - but I've never thought that the religious group near some of my land should have to move, or that I have any right to affect their practice or lifestyle choice - and apart from this instance, I've never mentioned my feelings about this or anyone who chooses to follow that lifestyle in SL, they're adults. I don't have to go onto their land, no one is forcing me to subscribe to their lifestyle, even though I can 'see' their choice of content. I see much more in RL, around the world or in the media, that I'm worried about - I don't need to waste my time being concerned here in SL. I want to be creative and positive there. I accept that people live out their virtual lifestyle choices in SL, and I respect that, whatever they want to do.


Anyway - there's my contribution to the discussion. I hope it makes some difference - my gut feeling is that it won't - it sounds like the decisions have already been made. Disappointing and distressing - but, hey, we'll just vote with our feet and money.

Thank you for reading.

Best wishes,
Professor Milos

(Basic RL stats: 39, business owner, UK resident, graduate education, male, open minded, tolerant, sane - and yes, I'm usually one of the kinky, naughty, 'dangerous to be near, see or have anything to do with' residents of SL - perve and openly proud of it - whoooooooo!)


P.S. I also agree with the majority of the feedback here on the forums from YOUR customers, who, comment negatively about the proposed changes. Please don't do it - I have a strong feeling that it's a bad idea for your economic future, as well. Let responsibility remain with the user - both in terms of their declaration of their legal adult status and for those who do not wish to see certain things in SL, let them leave if they don't like it.

Whereas I'd hope they'll make a sticky of FAQ's, they've already updated some in the blog but people won't know about that if they keep coming back to the forum where they've been invited to ask questions.

Exacty, if you cant read ALL the posts how do you filter the linden posts without trawling through them all or using search and hoping you get the ones just on here?

I have had no problem getting the Linden replies, of course it isnt 'instant gratification' but Ive also had no trouble getting my answers. All Im saying is.... dont expect replies to questions that have been answered.

This is all coming about due to the LL wish to bring the Teens into the main grid. There must be tons of legal issues to deal with due to the freely expressed content of SL. If so then just DROP IT! NO TEENS! They have their own grid. If this is due to the lack of superior building skills on the Teen grid, then HIRE some of the great content creators and have them recreate their works for them!
Anything now on the main grid will be questioned as to it's content because one man's porn is another's art. It is a huge gray area and subject to personal boundaries.
I want to keep the same freedom to express myself (and let others do the same) however I choose, as an ADULT! I certainly don't want to have my every move now second guessed, by myself, or others!
Talk about AR hell!

Kodos to Professor Milos....perfectly stated...all of my fears exactly!

Another mess in the pixel that you sell as "lands"
Seems a new opportunity in your business but nothing good for us.
Mature and PG exists yet as check in search for mature.
To be in SL we are 18+ and i don't need Linden as parents.
No thy and move over this please

I run adult businesses both inside and out SL.

While I like the idea of only verified adults being able to access explicitly adult material, I think an adult continent is a horrible way to accomplish this.

I agree with the poster who expressed concern about being put right next to a direct competitor.

Also, I really like the land I am on now. Can the Lindens promise that my new land with have Linden road in front of it and Linden water in back?

There are a lot of PG minded adults who would gladly offer skills to the Teen Grid but as I understand it, adults can't go there.

What does this mean for every alleged female AV that works as a stress relief technician out of their homes?
Will they have to uproot themselves, and move to the new Linden 'shameland'?

Just thinking about one thing that Lindens should really implement:

If the Grid breaks down as it does all the time and people get moved to nearby areas, respect the PG/Mature rating of the area they were in and put them in a Mature area when they were in a Mature one, and into a PG area when they were in PG. Everything else is a bug and an auto-TOS-violation system...

Did your careful research check if the annoyed citizens were victims of your randomized naked avatar drops to PG areas?

With good reason. It would be like opening a sweet shop for pedophiles if LL opened the Teen Grid to unverified adults. This is the same reason merging the Teen and Main grids is a bad idea.

However, allowing screened adults into the teen grid is something that could improve the teen grid experience. This would need to be thought out carefully, and would need continued care and attention from LL. One possibility would be that only those who work for or with an organisation that works with children (e.g. schools) could logon to the teen grid, and then only if that organisation vouches for you. Once logged on your avatar would be clearly designated as an adult, all your activities online would be subject to an audit trail, and LL would undertake random spot checks on those audit trails etc.

I'm not saying the above considerations would necessarily work or necessarily be 100% bullet proof but this would be the sort of considerations that would be needed to allow screened adults onto the teen grid.

On that note, what screening or precautions are taken to protect minors on the teen grid from LL staff? (Keep in mind, I'm from the UK where a parent wanting to assist with a children's camping trip can find themselves subject to a criminal records check before they are allowed to do so!)

Matthew

I've noted of late (maybe it is a RC bug), that if a teleport fails you can sometimes end up at a (seemingly) random place on the sim you were teleporting from.

Matthew

1. I can hardly find anyone that agrees with this move. I am curious as to the real reason behind it. If there is demand for this, where is it coming from ?

2. Part of the appeal of Second Life is that you can live a virtual "second life". In my RL I do not go to Jizztown when I want to express myself in a sexual manner. RL sex is a percentage of my life, it part of my life experience as a whole. This move to create Jizztown is taking that experience and compartmentalizing it. Hmm "I want to have sex now, lets go to Jizztown" titter titter
It's juvenile, this is an adults only grid, we don't need to have a "bad" place where all the things John Ashcroft thinks are "dirty" takes place.

3. Jizztown itself will be over the top, gross, crammed and a visual and mental overload of sex. It's nice to currently walk into a nice building, meet with interesting people, maybe whip off to a skybox, have some fun, go downstairs play some cards, talk about my favourite musicians etc. I see Jizztown not containing this balance, it will be like the Neva Naughty Sex Room, like the worst sections of downtown red light district Bangkok Thailand. This move will take the balance out of Second Life, it will take the "adultness" out of Second Life.

4. Unfortunately this move seems to be the result of LL's west coast San Francisco values. Where the absolute WORST thing you can do is "offend" someone. We need to change all our SL lives because someone might be "offended" by something. Unfortunately for some people, they actually believe there is a constitutional right not to be offended. This move seems to be a product of this line of thinking.

5. We are all supposedly adults, so what we have here is a pile of adults, trying to segregate "adult" activities. WTF ? If you are not in the particular mood to see violent or sexual content then don't go to Mature sims. Even then in most Mature sims you have to purposefully make an effort to see violent or sexual content. Most people do a remarkable job of policing and informing people as to what goes on in their SL establishments.

Second Life will die.

Will this Mormonic policy be implemented in private islands too? Or will you simply delete those from the map?

Sexophobia in control. I am disgusted.

Firstly, the verified adult system is already in-place. Adults wishing to join the TG as part of a educational organization must undergo a background check, screening, and I'm-not-sure-what-else.

But all that said signing up in the TG is not as hard as it appears, from the way I understand it. All you need is a cell phone to verify a code - And this phone can be anyone's. If pedophiles/predators wanted into the TG, they could already do it easily.

-- K. Feriszke

Sames as in the UK a CRC is made same as if you want to work with the education sections in SL

Same as in the UK a CRC is the same as well if you want to work with the education sections in SL

Well, not necessarily.

This first wave of political correctness targets only mature content merchants and event providers i.e. those who wish to advertise. So in fact Jizztown could to some extent end up as 16 sq.m. parcels with answering services, inviting guests to drop by their Mainland (M) private home for a bit of mature attention, which according to the LL would still be entirely legal.

Can you imagine trying to police that?

I think Lindens also need to be aware of the following:

If I don't want to see adult activities...I don't want to see adult activities period. I don't care if it's TP'ing into a upcoming "Mature Sim-private home" and walls not rezzing right away or they are on a tangling under the tree on a Bit and Bobs pose ball or the "adult sim-namely business's" where they can just get er done anywhere they want. Which means, I would STILL stay away from Mature AND Adult sims when I don't want to view adult material.

Just because you move the XXX rated stuff to an Adult sim doesn't mean you won't run across XXX rated stuff "on accident" in a Mature sim. It will just be people doing the X-rated stuff on their private parcels versus people doing X-rated stuff in public parcels found through search.

In other words....LL.....your really not accomplishing anything by force-moving X-rated Adult Business's into a Adult Sim. Mature Sims with private homes/non-X-rated business's will STILL have sexual activity on them in the private parcels that ANYONE could 'accidently' see. Especially since you are apparently still allowing for x-rated activity on a Mature Sim as long as they are not placed in search by checking the box in about world functions.

Rezzing into a clothing store on a Mature Sim and a couple lives next door who happens to be naked and hits their pose ball that is behind walls that have not rezzed yet or someone cam'd in to see what the build was. People will be even MORE offended because your giving them the idea that they are going to a sim that does not allow sexually explicit material to be viewed. When in reality...it would be allowed as long as things sit now because they are:

A. In a Mature sim
B. they are not found through search
C. a private establishment with or without ban lines.
D. Built a wall around their private home and/or added ban lines. Not their fault the wall took forever to rez or some one cam'd over.

Hey! Thats not a bad idea!! lol

Well if that's what happens, then they will move to ban all sexual/violent or possibly offensive material to Jizztown.