Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Motivations and Goals

I suppose their out is that these aren't a California-centric set of rules. These are rural creationist bible-belt rules (I live in the bible belt and I recognize moralizing when I see it), and they never made any promises about that. It's either laugh or cry at this point, and in the immortal words of the Comedian, "It's a joke, it's all a joke"

I do not agree as what SL would be "fundamentally a 18+ collectivity". There are so many fantastic things to show to our teens, or why not to our children. In RL, a place where children cannot go is not a public place.

The problem is that today in SL children will encounter content which is inappropriate for them. If so, they are not free to come into SL. Even if they were allowed by the TOS and by the law, this freedom would not be a freedom in practice, if the cost was to bear unpleasant content.

So the solution is quite simply to push this content in special places, rather than excluding the youngest. "special places" can mean mature sims, of flagged places, etc.

And how to be sure that somebody is an adult, teen, child?? With an identity check. It is the only way. So that we can create account categories by age, each giving access to different places, public places or places appropriate for an age category.

And what is "inappropriate content"?? SEX??? Why to emphasise so much ONLY on sex? I see in SL many other ugly, immoral or violent content that I would not show to my kids. So all this is to push into flagged places or sims.

And is this harmful only for children? Many adults are in SL to enjoy some peace or beauty, not to be griefed into grey cubes. If there were mandatory sexual flags for SL residents, the most common would not be bdsm, it would not be gorean, the most common by far would be "NO SEX". And the most common roleplay tag would be NO VIOLENCE.

And the large majority of those who want to have sex will dislike very much to have to join a special continent they will have to share with brothels, scato or violent sex, they will quit SL instead. So forget this idea please. Or still allow for independant mature sims and private bedrooms!

(added later) As to the ones who don't want to have their RL identity checked, okie, but if so they will not have access to mature places.

(added later). But the main interest of identity check is not to prevent childs from stumbling on sexual content, it is to forbid griefers. So when a reliable identity check will be implemented, unverified persons will be chucked off all the peaceful and civilized places, which are a silent but overwhelming majority in SL and other virtual worlds.

(added later) I will certainly not like to have my RL identity checked. But the fault is not to Linden Labs, it is to griefers and abusers who made such a measure necessary.

So I hope that this month SL is going into the right direction, toward a peaceful collectivity, open to all, free of griefers, that we shall not be ashamed to show to our kids, or to strangers.

But this requires tools...

For more infos, please see my manifesto of the virtual worlds: http://www.shedrupling.org/art/big3D/manifeste.php (I add a link to my forum)

also I shall not check this forum for replies. If someone want a feedback from me, please left me an IM in world.

LL is a statistics whore. So when they say 2-4%, they mean, literally there is 2-4% of content or land they wish to see off the mainland (my guess would be land with 100% including linden roads and welcome areas). This is not 2-4% of all clubs for example.

They dont and cant know how far the impact of that 4% change will be felt.

They dont know how many business concider themselves adult and will feel they have to be included for various social an ecconomic reasons.

They dont know how many adults there are in SL who dont visit the 2-4% of prevsiously monitored content and take this as a personal attack on their liberties. (This is the worry, because this group will protest, loundly and visably, if this is mishandled).

No one is removing sexuality. Sexually explicit material needs to be walled off because SL has peaked as an adult playground, period. If the masses out there felt an overwhelming draw to be here "because" this was such a sexually "open" environment they'd be here regardless of any bugs, crashes, windlight or all of these issues that supposedly degrade the SL experience. This is as far as it goes, the demand isn't there.

Mainstream RL that prefers the kind of open in-your-face sexuality is indeed a small percentage of the population. If SL is going to grow it needs to "clean up" it's image, period. There are far too many businesses, non profits, etc. that just won't come to an environment like this. All they really require is that adult is separated from the mainstream experience to protect their "clean" image that they try very hard, sometimes at great expense to maintain.

This attitude over 40+ pages here suggests that not only do adult folks not care about these other "clean" ventures wishes that may come, but that they believe that folks HAVE to accept them for who they are. You're bdsm, gay, furry and the whole world should love you for it and accept you with open arms into their everyday lives. To which I say BUNK. I don't need to share my sexuality in RL with my employer, employees, my relatives or even my friends to "be" who I am.

Talk about reverse discrimination, the worst discrimination here is the vocal but adult minority who have enjoyed few rules being faced with some sense of responsibility. The most absurd arguments I've heard in my life have been in these forums in the name of "protecting adult rights" which are not being taken away, but rather restricted in a responsible manner just like the web, just like RL ... and not even to THAT extent if truth be told.

SL needs to fix its "user experience" as has been stated many times. The biggest user experience problem thus far is the users themselves. The whining, drama ridden, we all have rights to be who we are-fest of an online 3d world owned by a company is simply rediculous. The community needs to be put on a leash to make way for people who are here for reasons other than sexuality. Sexuality is but one tiny part of what makes the world go round, the interests, business, non profits in general have little interest in 3d cartoon sex and slave-roleplay and SL being one big meat market.

I wish you could force everyone to just grow up, because this argument is like trying to reason some kind of adult sense into a bunch of children who are proven to be a horrible demographic for business.

I have to admit I'm a bit amused at LL's new adult content initiative. The initiative's fatal flaw is contained in its first statement.....

"1) We will create clear and consistent definitions of what constitutes adult content, in line with our Community Standards,"

SL has residents from every part of the world, and there is simply no agreement among the cultures of the world in what is 'adult content' is and is not. For example - is there agreement on what comprises adult content between Sweden and Saudi Arabia? I know SL has residents from both - I have met them.

I also wonder about the phrase 'adult content'. To me it implies something associated with a particular location. For example, perhaps the sex bed in my house on my property is adult content. If so, then what about the sex bed in my 'flying saucer'? Is that adult content? If so how does LL propose to control access to it? Or, how about the 'sex bracelet' that I can wear? It has the same function as the sex bed mentioned above. Am I (my avatar) now considered adult content? This last is rather funny, but goes to show just how silly this whole thing will become.

I suggest to LL that they quickly move ahead and post their "clear and consistent definitions of what constitutes adult content". I'm sure they already have them on a flash drive somewhere. I am eager to learn if I am 'adult content'.

robin

Well said! Thank you.

Cheers for Tatero Nino's idea!

http://www.massively.com/2009/03/15/give-us-more-worlds-linden-lab/

This is a move by Linden Lab to "yet again" uproot a majority of businesses and relocate them. Those businesses will now have to abandon the land they already PAID for and buy NEW land. This is another move from Linden Lab to make a windfall profit (yet again) at the expense of the content creators. Once these content creators have purchased NEW land or have quit SL, Linden Lab can AGAIN RESELL the abandoned land for yet MORE MONEY. This is not about morals, it is about the pocketbook of the greedy and the continual ripoff tactics of the people at Linden Lab. Example in case is an invoice from my RL company to Linden Lab that is now been unpaid for over 180days. The Open Space increases were planned the start to take people's money so, this does not involve morals or content 'types', it's all about Linden Lab and squeezing yet more money out the what is left of their user base. The history of Linden Lab proves this.

Just so you no flame me over this I run a PG business but know how Linden Lab is with their given track record.

Kind of pathetic that most of the complaints are from people who haven't read or can't understand what is being proposed. But the idea that many of these protesters would pack up and leave based on their misunderstanding is great. I hope it causes the price of land to fall a little.

(In relation to the issue that has been raised by the blog and the forum posts about 'educators' and their alleged potential worry about explicit (sexual/violent) adult content in SL)

...when I was at university (in the UK, and a number of years ago, so I guess very different to a world of education currently that I am unaware of that has influence from a so-called (from an earlier post) 'bible-belt' mentality regarding morality), I studied an Honours degree level course which embraced, and analysed in depth: diversity, popular culture, shock art, pornography, sexual liberation, violence, sex & the media, anthropology, film and censorship, to name but a few subjects - commonly accompanied by visual and written examples. We used all the explicit words you see here in SL within our lectures. I never remember anyone, especially the college or tutors being anxious or shocked, far from it - it was part of opening our (young) minds to all the things that went on in the world. We studied sexual stereotyping, symbolic metaphor within religion... all sorts of topics, and were encouraged to think about issues like 'freedom', 'offence' and 'choice'. It was very liberal and positive, we weren't shielded from things.

I can still today remember vividly the study there of artists such as Andres Serrano - wow, fantastic photographic work. If you don't know his stuff, look him up.

"Many of Serrano's pictures involve bodily fluids in some way—depicting, for example, blood (sometimes menstrual blood), semen (for example, "Blood and Semen II" (1990)) or mother's milk. Within this series are a number of works in which objects are submerged in bodily fluids. Most famous of these is "Piss Christ" (1987), a photograph of a plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of his own urine." --extract from Wikipedia

So, my point being... are educational establishments really this anxious about the content we see (and/or their students) in an adult-only (Mature) virtual world? It's a sorry state of affairs if they are. Last time I lectured at a university there were technical issues of using virtual worlds for education - but that was about inadequate hardware, firewalls and students just 'playing' online. (Well, apart from the hypermedia course, where even that was part of the study, they just had to write essays about it after.)

If that's what people want then build a clean continent. Build a continent where there's no adult content at all, that gives those who want that environment a choice, they can happily stay away from the nastiness and build their business that way.

You might want to learn how to hide your groups in your profile from public view then.

Or use an unverified alt not associated with your main account....

oh wait, that won't be an option anymore, will it?

Haha! Notwithstanding my depression over the proposals, seeing that list of groups has brought a huge smile to my face!

Oh that was mean....funny but still mean

Thanks Nany!
All of us land owner's who bought land specifically because it was mature are now richer than you can imagine.
Many Many Thanks!

I joined SL in 2006 because it was a really interesting place to be. My first few weeks on were a trip... Walking around exploring, randomly tp'ing just to see new things. Seeing stuff most of us would never come across in real life. Being able to do things some of us will never be able to do in RL. Flying aircraft, sailing, snow boarding, going on a cruise ship, racing cars, dancing the night away 1000 meters in the air on top of a cloud, creating your own virtual home, letting your artistic side come out as you create it. And yes, I also enjoyed the sexual side of SL. Remember "Fey's Fantasies"? I had so much fun hanging out there in my noob days! Still have the landmark for them. Thank You Fey for all the hard work and money you put into those builds! I love naked ladies, sex, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana _~~~, nudity, guns, delicious bloody ribeye steaks, driving pollution spewing gasoline powered vehicles, and Texas. Not necessarily in that order... LOL! And if anyone is offended by any of those things that I do in RL or SL and want to prohibit or restrict me from doing any of those things on land I own, which was in a mature sim when I bought it, they can kiss my tan, very well defined, virtual a**... I operate a skybox so I will just open it up to everyone and ask for donations... Hopefully that won't violate the "New World Order" here in SL.. If you have a problem with any of the above, don't come to my place. Don't want to know you...

The demand is there.. last time I looked LL was a profitable venture in it's current state of being.

Some people do, most don't though expect to be greeted with open arms and made a "part" of others lives. What they ask for is not that you must accept them, what that ask is just because you don't accept it, don't try to outlaw or restrict it away it away from you by legislative force.

I have to disagree with people that are not liking bait and switch on what they were told was mature unrestricted land at time of purchase are the vocal minority here.

Since when has the web been restricted? One person already posted how 4 mouseclicks from a major mainstream site like msn will put hardcore porn in your face and never once ask if you are of age or if you will be offended by graphic material.

The community needs to be put on a leash? Many are already thats the problem (wink wink). Seriously though, this is not a demographic that has been proven to be bad for buisness. What is the largest profit producing industries on the internet? Adult Entertainment. Doesn't sound like such a horrible demographic to me if I am looking for a group to make a $ off of.

SL is unique in that it was blank.. barren.. nothing. People were and are asked to come and create what they want. The demand is whatever SL is today, because that is what the people have created. It could have just as easily grown into a place of over-restricted 'protect me from what I might see' zealots, but... obviously the demand wasn't there for that kind of place. If someone wants to try a go at a place like that.. download the server code, set up a grid and invite all the non-profits, colleges, churches, familys, teens, 'respectable' buisneses you want and see how that turns out for you. LL already did it. It is what SL started as, except they invited EVERYONE... it just so happens that some people now want to complain about who is at the party.

I have a bit of a problem to see LL's goals here. If the new policy was about the protection of minors, I would understand the need to verify people's age before letting them access adult content. However, you (LL) are saying that, quote: "This is not about teenagers in Second Life or the Teen Grid", but rather to give adult residents more control over what they choose to see in SL.

So, why the need to verify if it's all about choice only? Why not allow everybody, regardless of their payment or account verification status, to choose to see adult content in Search and to access adult areas? Why not have a dialog pop up the first time somebody checks the "adult" checkbox or tries to tp to an adult place, a dialog that lets them confirm "Yes, I'm 18+ years old and understand that I might be exposed to violent or sexually explicit content, which I confirm is legal for me according to the laws of my country"?

Stephan,

Not very many businesses would be required to move under this policy. If your business is one of them, the move might actually benefit you, since cusomers of other businesses looking for that kind of content and prepared to buy will be concentrated together rather than spread over the grid.

But it sounds like a lot of these folks would move whether they were required to or not. It would be a re-greening of the mainland.

Because it is most definantly about age. The 'everyone to a new continent' is the giant right hand red herring that they want everyone to look at and argue over while they slide in agecheck with the left hand.

You damn near made my signature quote with that! Openspace sims, anyone?

(Yes, I had to relive the OS nightmare a little while ago as I went through all of my landmarks. Half of them were dead, and nearly three-fourths of the ones that were dead had no replacements - ie. the owner of the landmarked land had pulled up chocks and headed for more stable pastures).

So you'd never kiss your sweetheart in public or hold hands with her? And if you were to marry, you wouldn't tell your employer, your colleagues at work or your neighbours about it? Would you lie to your employer when you take a holiday for your honeymoon? Would you have your wife hide at home during her pregnancy?

Because if you were to do any of that, you'd openly live your sexuality. You'd rub your heterosexuality into everyone's face. And that's ok isn't it, because there's nothing WRONG with you, huh? Only the weirdos need to stay inside the closet and only ever live their sexuality in hidden places, isn't that what you're trying to say? Because I really see no other angle your argument could possibly come from.

Either you meant to say that all the sexual orientations you listed are just plain wrong, less good and right and normal than your personal sexuality, or you need to grant everybody the same rights that you expect for yourself. If you want single bars and dance clubs, you'll have to accept gay bars and BDSM clubs. If you want to kiss your sweetie in a romantic public place, you'll have to live with the sight of a gay gently squeezing his sweetheart's buttocks.

It's called equality, Sir. You're either for it or against it. Nobody asks that you love anybody, but you'll have to accept us. There's no way around that, because we do exist and share the same world with you. If you don't want to run into us, you could stay out of our sims. Which is merely a suggestion of course; feel free to visit my sim anytime. And I have nothing against it if you ban me from the places you own, or enact a "heterosexuals only" rule on your land. The only rule in my sim, aside from "no griefing", is to never harrass anybody because of their appearance or sexual orientation.

Your whole, entire premise here is fundamentally flawed. This whole debate is NOT about defending our "rights" to be unrestrained psychopathic perverts. It is about defending our right to social freedom, period. It is about holding Linden Labs to their word, the very charter that gave rise to the diverse culture we have today. It is about defending ourselves against vocal minority extremists who would like nothing better than to be able to force their narrow view of right and wrong upon the entire world (there is a word for such a point of view, but I am not going to be the one to Godwin this thread).

Extend your argument to the real world: Let's say I wanted to open a Christian kindergarten somewhere in my city. I have decided upon a piece of real estate currently "infested" with adult bookstores, bars, liquor stores, and card rooms. By your logic, I should be able to present my proposal to the city council, and the city council will be compelled to uproot every "unclean" business within a half-mile radius of my proposed location and locate them all elsewhere. Is this realistic? Of course not! In reality, the city council will instead suggest I find a more suitable location for my business or go piss off! It has NOTHING to do with protecting the culture behind these dubious businesses. It has EVERYTHING to do with not allowing a few ultra-conservative right-wingnuts dictate their mores on the entirety of society. It has to do with not allowing a vocal minority to bully around those the minority deems "unfit" or "unworthy" or "unwholesome".

I'm not going anywhere, and we may have close to another thousand fellow mainlanders that will not tolerate your nonsense.

Build your own little dream land, and leave ours alone.
Thanks.
Sincerely,
Steph