Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Definitions

Regarding a media campaign for SL. I even have a concept for you. You can use it with my blessing, no charge.

NARRATOR:

Computer games...they all seem to start to look the same after a while.
Learn the rules
Fight the Bad Guys
Earn points
Earn levels
At the end, it's...The End. And you go buy a new game.

But not any more!
Now there's Second Life.
No rules.
No tests
No levels
...and no end.

Second Life is YOUR life on line. Set your own goals. Do your own thing.
Buy and sell land
Build a house
Travel to Paris, or Venice, or Mexico. Or to the Star Trek universe, or Tolkien's fantasy world. Second Life is as wide as your imagination!

Meet people
Make friends
Find love
Run a business
Explore

Second Life has everything. It's the on line game for people who have outgrown...games.

YOUR WORLD. YOUR IMAGINATION. SECOND LIFE

Had few days to think about this. I'm sure that's months less than LL. It will not work as planned.

1 The info hubs and entry points will still not be policed and destroy any "pg" first impression you are trying to achieve.

2 You(LL) don't even have a concrete description of what "adult" is. So subjective enforcement? Yeah, that's going to go over well...

3 Your "Adultlandia" will become a magnet of ill repute and griefers.

4 You will polarize your community even more than it is. We already have "voicers" and "non-voicers". Now expect two more isolated groups, sechors and non-sechors.

So much for tolerance... You need to change your mission statement.



Now flip everything around and create a G rated land. With filtered content.

1 Info Hub phallics Solved (as there is nothing non PG available in G rated land!)
2 Now you only have to flag/describe PG/G rated stuff(much much easier)
3 Sure NONAdultlandia could be a griefer target....that's what happens when you isolate your customers.
4 Some polarization would still happen. But it would be voluntary as people would *choose* to move there.

And you can leave your mission statement alone as you would be acting with tolerance.

I'm sure i am missing some negatives, but all the negatives i can find are easily made positive if you just made a G rated space instead of a ghetto.

Probably just wasted my time typing this...as it seems this is just a place to vent.

Fully agreed. I needed a whole day till i found out that i could just TP away from welcome island... (as the excercise there just demoed walking, driving, flying but that didn't help to leave the SIM...), walked around a lot, got bored and all that. Does Linden Labs have any statistics how many people never leave Welcome Island.

The idea to ONLY flag PG items is much better..
That way the adults that wish to see PG items only can go to PG sims only, without feeling offended by mature stuff..

The rest of the world will STAY non rated.
No mature or adult only.

Just PG rated objects/sims.
ITs much easier to control and enforce rules then.
You only have to check PG sims and see if their items ARE PG or not.
So thats a good system, I think.

Without verification an avatar can ONLY enter PG sims.
Thats solved as well..

Now you only have to find a strong verification system.. and we're done.

Strong, working for nearly any adult in SL without major troubles that is. And i think acceptance of a verification system is crucial for its use. Payment info on file is the only thing thats close to acceptable for many people, but its totally weak.

Am I misunderstanding something here? We aren't to have combat areas listed in our picks, and no shops that are primarily oriented to combat or human sexuality? What about those sims that depict extreme physhological states, like the one an educational institution installed depicting psychosis? No Gorean sims in the picks either? Are we to be hiding, or at least not advertising, our actual interests and activities if they fall into this non-parental guidance catagory? Having our interests out there for everyone to see in our picks actually makes it easier for parents to know if they want their teens hanging out with us.

I don't even engage in these behaviors, except combat, so it's all a matter of not wanting the enviornment in SL to become a nightmare of expression control. Feels incredibly repressive to me. I enjoy the range of content. I take some pride in my choices. To have my choices taken away, robs me of the pride or self respect I feel in making them.

Brought to you by....*Fill in your favotite sponsor.

So would a profile pick relating to say an adult themed business or RP area would be prohibited, even if the wording of the pick was innocuos in it's connotation?

Joe's Animations sells adult poseballs primarily. Would merely having "Joe's Animations" as pick, with no reference to any adult content be allowed?

Should be perfectly fine if it's just a link to a poseball store, there are many ways to term words that make them somewhat less offesnive but clearly spell out what they are.

What about when the name of a shop you love is not exactly PG? What about Roleplay Sims/Combat you have listed in your picks which tell a little about your character for that sim? Some places I roleplay have things listed in the descriptions that are questionable. What about limits you list in your profile for the purpose of roleplay that let others know things you will and won't RP? Are we back to censoring profiles again? The purpose of a profile is usually to let people know your interests and about yourself. Why are we censoring and telling people what they can and can't put in their profiles? I will gladly mark my profile as mature or even adult, but LL seems to have taken the mature options in profiles away.

Oooh, not having any reference to adult content would be a definite no-no, as Easy2 Offend will TP to your pick expecting some nice cosy disnefied animations and get upset!

On the other hand, Easy2 Offend would get upset if he saw a pick called "Joe's Extreme Adult Animations" in your profile as now you are presenting him with unexpected adult material!

So best to not include picks to any adult related places in your profiles, and as search uses profiles to generate its rankings that would have the added benefit of reducing the clutter of adult results appearing in searches!

Matthew

Yeah, you would think so

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

By Martin Niemoller
From the book "They Thought They Were Free"
By Milton Mayer

------------------------------------------------------

With that said, I am on a fixed income in real due to disability. No way to change that either unless I risk losing the fixed and certain income. I am also a private person, my trust does not come easily. I do not webcam, I don't even do voice (not that I can atm but even if I could, I wouldn't). No one gets my real life information, not even LL, much less some outside source. I loathe PayPal with a passion and suspect strongly due to some similar attitudes and procedural policies that they have a tie-in with LL. See the above about a fixed income and you will understand why I may not have a Credit Card of any sort. I am also Bi-sexual, Wiccan, and of Mixed Race as well as a BDSM Lifestyler. You may call me, minority personified.

Those who do not want the unverified free accounts to exist. Thank you for wishing to take away the only entertainment and social activity which I not only can afford but where I am just as "enabled" as anyone else. To those of you who think it is perfectly fine to segregate certain types of people and activities, I would point you to the above poem.

When enough of the "offended by adult content" objectors have been sated, what other part of me will you wish to censor? And how will you go about verifying that I am NOT whatever flavor of objectional criteria you next cough up due to pressure from an extreme minority of the overall population? How much further in the name of these moral majority types are you willing to go in order to try to attract whatever and whoever it is you are trying to get to SL?

Whether you like it or not, those who provide the kinds of content you are trying to corral also have helped to build and create this world and have many of them put real world money into LL's pockets. So have those who patronize these establishments. This is an extremely shabby way to repay them when the ones who are "offended" can either ignore or only frequent places where they do not have to risk exposure to said content.

This is more like Big Brother then Linden Labs, and while I had come to the forums today to ask about how the heck you upload and make skins (just a UV skin to help with my proposed desire to create clothes to sell on SL), a search trying to find this answer resulted in coming across the Adult Content threads.

You need so badly to have a safe, sanitized place for people who are in the vast minority on SL to go so that they do not have to be faced with adult content? I am all in favor of a G rated sim cluster which will be safe for them and keep their self-righteous, censorship is dandy, everyone should be like me or be penalized, warped ideas of what freedom is away from ME.

Thank you.

I think it means you're not supposed to have naughty words or pictures in the picks themselves.

People honestly don't need to, it just takes a wee bit of imagination to use the wonderful language to avoid having extremely naughty words in a pick, advert or land description.

Your missing the point and I'm not judging anyone so don't put words in my mouth.. er fingers... AND you didn't post the FULL response. The point being is that there should be some age verification process. I see posts how some think that this is an over 18 community and others ASSUMING that kids can't come here. Which is simply not true.

Maybe YOU are the one judging? Speaking of which since when is it UNHEALTHY to discuss sex with ones children? But that's a subject for a TOTALLY different forum! LMAO

There used to be, it was terminated in June 2006 when they allowed free unverified accounts to come in.

"The Second Life virtual world is filled with thousands of unique 3D places to explore. Discover fashion shows, live music performances, nightclubs, games, interactive exhibits and even shopping. At any time, there are dozens of fun events to attend. Expect the unexpected in the Second Life virtual world."

That line is off the website you get when learning about second life. Why in anyones good sense should censorship be allowed in a world created by a group of individuals for our own enjoyment be allowed.

"Second Life is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity."

They even use that it is created by us. and from reading this post it seems the majority is not wanting a new special place to make our own again. Yes i agree zoning is allowed. I work in what is called the adult industry in "real" but that zoning is already there with pg and mature. What is being tried has been quashed repeatedly in real life as in the overturning of the texas law banning the sale of sex toys at all.

In the end it isnt gonna matter because inteligent people find their way around it. In texas they sold adult motorized toys as ... get this Drink mixers. Unfortunately we of a like mind will have to move and then be ostricized because we made ourselves a fun place for us.


so it looks like their statement on the whatis page of secondlife that i posted above is a sham and it is a world created by us for them to force their beliefs on us.

It is very irresponsible of LL to announce a rule before they have decided what the rule actually is. It seems that they rushed to this decision to please someone or some group -- and it would seem that since all SL "players" are adults, they have the ability to deduce what places and things they find offensive and tp away -- to make it so that they can't ever be seen would make SL the most protective game online -- and certainly make other online games very happy with the decision. SL has to decide whether they are open or censored -- they can't be both.

secondlife:///app/group/54072f93-71df-1360-e3da-2d0e55dea89c/about

An In world group the help get the word out

Since this was posted on Thursday many people I have run into world don't even know this is happening ...

Get the word out join the group and spread the word of what Linden is doing

Ok, I try to make it short so you are not kept by reading too much. But several things come into my mind on that problem I have t voice.

1) can not age verified people enter a mature sim ? e.g. my gardenshop which is in a mature sim, but itself is PG ? If not, can sim flags be changed on mainland if a group owns the whole sim as an extraordinary action to keep biz up after the change ?

2) How hard will the rules be ? I joined the SL Birthday last year. I showed 128 paintings of a famous mexican painter. ONE of them showed the nude upper body of a woman, I was required to cover her breasts !!!! The rest were landscapes and some portraits. It was a completely harmless innocent pic, not sexual in any way. Another friend had to cover the breasts of his 400 BC greek statue. These things can be seen unrated in all european art museums. So though I should not feel threatened at all since all my businesses are PG .... according to normal rules, I fear the Secret Service that will persecute me for stuff I might have overseen or not regarded as not PG. For example that painting is for sale in my shop, plus a painting of Botticell showing the nude Venus and I think some nude antique statues.... as you see, my panic is not for nothing. I am truly afraid of the new rules. (and yes I will also exhibit in the next SL Birthday, it was a good experience all in all, inspite of the "breast" incident I can recommend it to everyone)

3) I think you should do it like with new law acts, you should declare all present residents as verified, they can and could see all explicit content up to now, so how would barr them in the future protect anyone ? You should make all people that join after a certain date make to verify. But for less disruption not the present ones.

4) Be generous with the interpretation, go after the hard stuff, not nudity and softpron like the all known freebie MLP beds/rugs and whatever else they built. I agree on isolating BDSM, excessive violence and so on.

5) Think of a program about that new continent, I think the only fair solution is to let people trade their old land 1:1 for new land of equal quality on the new continent. Means let them abandon their old land and claim on the new land for free, no charges. After all you will still keep them as customers paying you the tiers.

6) I hope SL will not be a forest of ugly red "no access walls" now for most people.

I think generally a relatively openminded control is ok. You should allow businesses that among others have a sex something in offer (like not more than 10% of their goods and no explicit ads for it and nothing hard like BDSM etc)) in the old places. And keep PG shops accessible to everyone independently where they are situated in the old SL world (I mean of course not on the continent you create for adult content). For example I would take a serious income problem if only verified people can enter my mature sims with PG content.

PS the link with your definitions says "work in progress" it is not accessible.

If this is already happening, SL is screwed already.

Heh. I wondered whatever happened to John Ashcroft.

As I understand it, this "definitions" thread is intended to help disambiguate exactly "how hard will the rules be?" But whatever the definition today, the road is paved for redefining the categories in the future. The only thing that's certain is that Adult means what Mature used to mean. PG seems to be more PG than before, and Mature is pretty much the old PG, ruled by "just keep it discreet."

Coming from a (RL) community where "just keep it discreet" is code for "we don't like your kind," I'm kind of glad LL hasn't been quite this up-front with their sentiments.

Since these "improvements" were originally posted on the blog by LL, a great deal of discussion has taken place. To my eyes, only a small portion has been supportive of the LL stance and plan.

We live in a global community now, whether we like it or not. Sure LL is a North American company, and as such is required to behave in certain ways by the US government.

Standards and tabboos still hold sway in large areas of the world, and the USA is no exception.

But one principle should remain above all else. SL should not attempt to judge others. If adults (and so far as I am aware, we are all adults) cannot be trusted to use their common-sense and intelligence in their interractions, they really should not be in SL.

I follow a lifestyle in SL that would certainly be classed as "Adult" under the proposed changes. It is unlikely that I will ever live or own land on the mainland. I simply cannot pursue my chosen lifestyle outside of SL - if anyone truly needs to know why they may IM me in world and I will attempt to explain myself.

This new plan is nothing short of discrimimation against a sizeable minority, in order to protect a smaller, but probably more affluent minority, while the vast bulk of the SL population look on and think "???".

This is the politics of government, I had hoped that SL would be different.

To be honest, you shoot yourself in the foot here.

"nothing hard like BDSM" ...

That's complete and utter nonsense as a measurement for wether or not it should be adult/not-adult/pg/mature or whatever.

Just because YOU (as a person thinks it's hard) I know of a lot of people (myself included) that it isnt that hard at all... Or at least think it is not.

"Open minded control", moderating, tagging for pg/mature/adult or any way depicting content to be of some group and force them to adhere to some ridicilous restraints because of the fact that the other groups dont like a particular group is blatant discrimination and a from of censorship.

I offer BDSM items for sale in a Mature mainland area. But what people do with them is up to THEM. Not me. If they want to use a whip just to play maybe tease or too completely rip skin apart? That's THEIR content. I don't mind at all.

But because in your eyes, I'd sell something "hard like BDSM" I should be forced to move out?