Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Motivations and Goals

Aliea, do you realy think there is a filter to get kits or other "humans" from sex in internet?

go to a pg place, and listen to the chat, will u all ban them , lol


Parents have to watch her childs, and no other need to do, that simple it is.

if i dont like a place, i leave, that simple it is.

minoritys shouldnt make the rules for the majority, that is called democrazy. u may have heard of.

Bingo! There's no way this is being done for 2-4% of mainland content, that would make no sense whatsoever.

It seems to me that a ‘problem’ has been identified and a ‘solution’ will be imposed

The ‘problem’ is that adults are using SL as a vehicle to explore adult themes and the ‘solution’ is to relocate all these activities into one specific area.

It has been tacitly admitted that relocating all concerned will cause short and medium term disruptions and loss of earnings.

All of which sounds a drastic solution to this perceived problem and I’m not quite sure that I fully understand why such a step is going to be implemented.

But I guess we all have to accept that the decision to move has been taken and we're invited to have a chat about which pieces of furniture to bring along.

"What decisions are Residents going to be able to impact?

We are open to talking about many aspects of the change – timeline, more granular definitions of mature vs Adult, how those who need to move want to make that work. We know some of you are asking for a more definitive timeframe – that is part of the ongoing conversation, what is reasonable in your view?"

https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/blog/2009/03/12/upcoming-changes-for-adult-content


Which is nice in a rather patronising sort of way.

I concur whole-heartedly with you, Matthew. (There's so much discussion going on across so many threads I likely missed your comment.)

The merging of the two Grids is nothing more than a cost-saving measure by the Lab, in my opinion. That's what's driving that initiative and this one. When has LL in the past year made one single decision that wasn't driven by their desire to fatten their bottom line?

They are a pragmatic bunch. And pragmatism as a philosophy and moral code basically says, "If it works, it's right!" and "If it produces an even higher quarterly profit, it's right!" There is no concern for morality or safety here.

Of course, changing bad management practices, dumping incompetent executives and fixing systemic faults, and figuring out more effective value chains are far harder to do than laying off 30% of a workforce to cut costs when times get tough and sales are on a down-cycle.

Those are the "moral concerns" we're dealing with here.

With regard to all the parents who express shock and dismay that their kids are exposed to adult material on the Internet, move the PC into the living room where you can see the friggin' screen.

I have always considered the Internet "NC-17" at best (R or X at worst). And I would never allow a child onto the Net without direct supervision of their activities (just like I wouldn't let a kid in my household under 17 watch "Family Guy".

Putting a computer with Net access in a pre-teen or teenager's bedroom is tantamount to saying, "I don't care what happens to you." (exposure to adult material is the least of the concerns; there's a real danger of exploitation and cyber-bullying).

Hi Anny,

I was referring to adults that prefer not to see mature content, not regarding children or adults that disregard the TOS, or laws governing them.

As far as children go, I agree...parents are the only way to control what a child experiences online. I don't believe that parents can monitor (or should) a child's every move. However, they can take additional steps at home to ensure they do not come in contact with certain content.

Aliea

I suggested that about a year ago and pretty much just got laughed at.

You can vote for it at https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-7219

This is almost funny...
See...if i joined a place in rl and didn't like it, I would simply not attend, what I wouldn't do is attemp to change it all to my own personal taste and moral code. Why then, when sl has been this way for years, we now have to deal with this upheaval because some pple are complaining? I would be interested to know the percentage of regular users that are offended by sl.....

Its a bit frightening tho, because I do wonder where this will end...

And as for mirroring real life...how bizzarre...I have a real life, i don't want my second life to be the same...that's hardly the point is it?

And for businesses who don;t like it....well...you could always stick to sqeezing money out of people in rl.

Thats it really...if you don;t like sl because it offends you...then just don;t use it...leave the rest of us adults to get on with it in peace....

I think the single biggest issue in this topic area is sexual harassment. I know a dozen people whose first, and only experience with SL was ruined by some avatar coming up to them and badgering them for sex. It's one thing to "hide away" adult content (I have other opinions on that for another post) but what do you do when it comes at you unbidden?

That's already against the TOS in any of the SL welcome centers/infohubs because they're on PG land.

(in response to Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie Obscure
And of course organizations like GLBT support centers will find themselves flagged as adult.

I am administrator of the Yahoo group 'pragatischool' - a group helping to organize a school for trans people in India. Guess what? Yahoo flagged it as 'adult'. Now it's full of ads for shemale porn and stuff, and people honestly interested in helping are reluctant to join.

What an incredibly short sighted, stupid thing for LL to do.

We should all start ARing any Linden we meet for intolerance. )

VooDoo Bamboo, first of all, Annie's group is not "adult" material, nor is it sexual. It is a support group for people who are struggling with gender identity.

As for having something "forced" on them when they TP, I fail to see how a person would end up TP'ing into any area randomly, generally a person TP's somewhere because they find it in a search and want to visit. There's nothing "forced" about that at all. It reminds me of the kind of people who complain because if they climb up on a stepstool and look over the privacy fence, they can see their neighbor sunbathing in the nude.

This entire thing reeks of intolerance. It also has the distinct smell of LL trying to deal with the perception that SL is full of unseemly conduct.

Hi Sindy,

That's very unfortunate that some adults discussing such a serious situation would ridicule any suggestion that is meant to help resolve or improve a global concern. Thank you for the link, I will be going there to vote on it.

Maybe it's come back around, and the suggestion won't be taken so lightly this time. It could be that the solution is so simple that people can't accept that it could work.

Thanks again,
Aliea

Hangon didnt we go trough all this last year why are we talking about it all over again. Honestly this is getting very silly now LL just sit down with your panel and sort it all out you can ask us all about what we think but it wont change anything we dont run SL It is really starting to become too much all these blogs you guys are firing at us just make the rules then let us know the new T&Cs simple anyway here is SIMPLE LOGIC PG sims are for pg content and MATURE sims contain mature content FREE user SIGNUP should only be processed on payment card details or if not free accounts stay on the PG sims grid then once verified they move to MATURE i am really lost why you have PG sims if you dont use them for what the PG stands for theres your PG platform setup why not make use of it. I know is not as simple for you guys as what i think would be a simple workaround but you have to admit that PG and MATURE should be used this way its the only viable workaround because you have free signup available yes by all means FLAG the bugger out ouf sl but people will still walk into the content personally i would just carpet ban the wole sex thing.

I, as well as many other merchants in Second Life™ Will need to know how Linden Lab will cover the gray areas of this topic. For example, I sell swimwear. Some of it if very conventional, others are more promiscuous and yet others can be down right naughty. I'm talking about my levels of sheer swimsuits. What you wear depends on how flirty you are today, etc.

How will this type of content be handled where such sheer swimsuits exist in the real world and are present on any given beach, pool, swimming area?

If you see Cannon Ball Run (Starring Burt Renolds) there is a scene where a stripper is wearing nothing on top but pasties. The ONLY part of her breast not exposed are her nipples. This film has a PG rating.

It will be difficult to split hairs but it is imperative that the gray areas be addressed to the fullest extent possible without harming long standing businesses in Second Life™

Whay is this i have spent hundreds of thousands of Lindens for linden protected ocean land on a mature sim with the understanding that adult clubs were ok now you gonna tell me i have to move somewhere else. I spent months looking for this land then all the money i had to pay to get what i wanted you gonna refund all my money ? This is stupid I dont know who came up with this idea but damn. This will be the biggest damn mess you ever seen trying to relocate everyone that has adult content.
Why change the rules after everyone did what they were suppose to?
i own 1/2 of a mainland sim I did that in order to get the ocean front land and if you force me to move i better get the same thing i have now or you can kiss my $125.00 a month good bye.
Dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

Idea is stupid, you guys should leave it alone.

Seriously, it's like you lindens just sit around all day and brainstorm until you figure out new ways to annoy the people who play your game.

Notes from March 2009 Linden meeting:

#1- the current viewer 1.21 has been operating stable for a long enough time almost nobody complains about it anymore- suggest rolling out version 1.22 viewer that adds the "friends show as yellow dots on mini map" feature nobody asked for or cares about and figure out some good ways to make it break all kinds of random stuff on the grid.

#2- now that the community has adjusted to the change we wanted done to openspace sims, we don't have many or any people threatening to quit SL- suggestion, make cockamamie plan to segregate SL based on "mature" and "PG" content so that parents do not have to pay attention to their children, our residents will do that job for them.

This is not a solution.

yeah how excatly does that help when people use the search and teleport feature to get around?

i dunno about anyone else but the last time I walked around interconnecting sims in the mainland was the last time I wound up on someone's private land and being ejected by security.

It's never worked and LL is leaving it a bit late to start trying to censor the internet. A pogrom to sweep us deviants under the rug may seem like a simple solution if you are trying to appease the taliban or fox news, but in reality it just doesnt work like that. This kneejerk reaction will be costly, ineffective and largely ridiculed by all of us who make SL what it is, yes, us Lusers who express our sexuality and creativity and have in fact come to regard our right to do so in the internet age as somewhat inalienable. Without meaning to get political, this latest rhetoric (and yes we are being TOLD whats going to happen AGAIN) smacks of the kind of puritanical american golly-goshness that we all thought just got voted out of office on a rail.

Does LL still believe that there is a future for the huge corporates it so fawningly wishes to represent and to have represented in world? We can't taste coca cola here. I can build a better pair of gym shoes than Nike can. And IBM? Do a search for sex and search for IBM and see the subtle difference in traffic, despite IBM owning 15 (empty) sims.

So I will pack my bags and prepare to be marched off to the deviants ghetto with the rest of the freaks. No wait, thats the majority of us, right?

It's not a solution to who would abuse the grid or violate the TOS, however if they create a viewer that makes mature content invisible to the viewer it might resolve a large portion of the dispute. (my original suggestion isn't regarding simply making a PG grid, it's scripting out mature content from being 'seen' even though it may be running in the background)

Again, it's just a suggestion, but I don't think it should simply be kicked to the side so quickly just because others may see it as too simple. Virtual worlds are simply programs running and creating content....if you block the ability to 'see' what you dont' want to 'see' it may just work.

Thank you for the reply,
Aliea

Why do I get the creepy feeling that LL are not revealing their true motivation behind these changes...

Like most businesses in the world today LL are surely losing money by the minute. So did someone come up with the genius idea of forcing non-payers to link payment info to their accounts in order to tempt them to pump more rl money into sl...?

Well it's not going to work!

Hi,

What I would like to see are these 3 labels attached to each sim where content of a sexual nature is carried, especially when looking at the in world map. There are areas I would like to miss on my random wanderings. So these labels would help.

AS = Straight content(inc fetish)
AG = Gay
AT = Transvestite etc type content.

Thank you.

Let me know what you think.

Regards.

What you explained does not sound Adult to me.

Hi Annie. Unless your GLBT support center is displaying graphic sexually explicit or graphic violent content, then they would not be affected by this policy. Linden Lab is based in San Francisco and Lindens come from all walks of life, including many from the community you represent. Your sexual orientation or gender identification does not influence whether your center is considered adult, only the content does.

I absolutely support the changes I have read about, and I wish the Lindens luck with it. Of course there should be Adult areas for those who want them. However many people who choose to join SL are older, infirm and possibly unwell, - not to mention creative or educational people who are not here specifically for adult themes. There is a duty to try to prevent adult confrontation for those people. To attempt to prevent adult themes being thrust in our faces (unless we choose to go to those particular areas) can only be a step in the right direction for the multi-national image of Second Life. The vast majority of worldwide publicity already reflects the sexual content of Second Life. To reflect the real world, it is not wholly possible to leave one's house and never hear bad language or see adverts for adult themed real world products, therefore users of SL should of course try to accept that adult living is a huge part of many peoples lives. Vast changes that upset people will hurt. Gentle changes, and people who will make an effort to try and understand that many people here are not wishing to be involved in Adult activities may make some progress. Politics in SL is also too heavy I feel. We are in fact, in my view lucky to be able to make Second Life part of our real lives, do what we love in SL, and to be part of a worldwide community this way. It would be nice if we could all bend a little and try and live together with a little understanding and without constant complaining. I guess re-organizing Adult area will be a walk in the park compared to the fight against too much politics. Good luck to Adult players too, I hope you will find rewards from the changes, not least to feel more secure in the fact that age verification can only make your visitors and co-players feel more comfortable.

The apparent age of your avatar will not affect what content you can access. Only your real world age is a factor.