Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Definitions

Since Linden Lab open sourced the client there is a client called naked life.

This client does not render clothing so all avatars are naked.

Will Linden Lab close source and encrypt the connection in order to meet their own stringent criteria?

if not well you can guess what will happen. Someone will sue Linden Lab for allowing their precious child to buy naked life off of Linden Lab's website and see nipples and cooters and painted on ken doll wieners. All right there in the precious PG sims right now. Oh but wait! The LL client goofs too and fails to render clothes from time to time as well. Thus the questions people get asked as to why they are naked at gatherings.

Sorry LL but now you have no choice. You must close source and encrypt in order to obey your own rules. I guess you are also going to have to ban life like realistic skins as well since you cannot control what your viewer does with clothing layers.

Funny how that works isn't it?

Mitch Kapor and the Lindens inhabit a very closed in bubble. they have no clue what people do in SL. Hence the continual bad biz decisions. They are clueless.. Which accounts for the we are in charge and you aren't attitude. As long as they are making money off this they don't care what we think.. So, stop the money flow to them... Walk away....

Maybe if LL is genuinely concerned about keeping residents from being unwittingly exposed to potentially offensive content , maybe they could start with their website's homepage, with the picture of the female avatar sitting on a cushion with a come-hither look, with her shirt half-way unbuttoned and bra showing... you know the one... advertising her... I mean XStreet's skinny jeans and silky hair

How does LL define public? if I totally enclose my store with walls would it then be classed as private? or is the fact that its a store mean that it is public?

I sell nipple rings and clit rings, thus there is nudity in my store. I also sell tattoos that would be called profanity, in my store. However there are no sex beds/balls, no sex club, etc. People do not come to my store for sex, but to enhance their avatar and perhaps their sex life within SL... I have already flagged my store as Mature, will I have to move to the new Adult Continent?

Where is this continent? If i am going to have to move i need to know how to find the new continent.

I just bought my land in Mysten and do not fancy having to move again, it takes a lot of time and energy to move, plus there is the issue of buying new land and selling the old and having to edit all my vendors to put in new landmarks.

If you force us to move might I suggest that you wave our tier for one month as we make the transition? Also if LL could somehow buy our old land from us and sell us the land on the new continent for the same amount then at least we wouldnt be financially ripped on the land end of it. LL could then resell our old land at whatever they can get for it and we would not have to worry about the land market probably being de-valued because of this mass migration.

ok the below is me blowing off some steam:

Someone compared this to the Nazi's.... here is another comparision...The Trail of Tears, when they forced all the indians to move west...

Forcing us to move is so wrong on so many levels.... I feel the better solution would be to make a disneyland continent so that people who are OFFENDED by adult material can move to disneyland and be assured of not being offended, rather than forcing person A, doing their own thing to move so that they dont accidently offend person B who voluntarily either walks or tp's to person A's parcel of land. NO ONE IS FORCING person B to go there!

whats next, are we all going to have to wear clothing from chin to ankle to avoid offending some prude from religion X?

oh and what if some religion decides that playing SL on sundays is offensive to them, will LL close SL down on sundays to avoid offending them?


to the person who said they dont want a sex club moving in next door because they dont want to see nudity, to them I say just move your house into the sky or build a privacy screen around it. THAT IS WHAT I HAVE DONE to ensure I have privacy.

oh by the way my store is next door to a real life priest, but he has not complained to me about my content. I have nice forest walls up so he is not forced to see all my naked bits, and i put my voice on a private spacial channel so that he cant hear my moans of sexual pleasure, and i dont have to be OFFENDED by his latin mass.

When I was a kid of 12 through teenage years my Parents took me to Art Museum where nude art by such artists a Goya and Michalango was on dispay along with representations of historical art of egyption, greek and roman where body is art not mature content but simply displays of beauty and form. I define Adult and mature by actions, not appearences. So for me mere naked is just PG, its actions that define for me adult or mature content, not sight. Al please keep in mind that SL is international and that some religions view ting differently. What is seen what I have my SL existance most is mostly mature or adult. But mere naked to me is just PG art.

My paticular corner of this sim is a corent of a mainland continent that has had mature content since it wa first opened in 06 and becaise it is a little over 20 sims that is mostly a larger island part of a contentnt it has in that ense been ideal for mature content after being here sin 06 and running around and building mostly nude i have to say that in general this part of the contentn has a aa general reputation as being adult content largely due to myself and naighbors and stores that sold likewis similar content. I wouldnt say its all adult content but it certainly isnt kids. MAny here will remember that national TV showed naked backside of a detective of a cop show and it was only PG. So wht i have been seeing and encountering is tht some want G content that can be seen without thoughts by kids. There is more in SL then those who do not like skin views. So based on the fact tht there is bare fleshed people all over that a clearer defining of PG, Adult and Mature is needed considerning that PG as far as an art museum is concerned is naked flesh, its actions and activites that define for the rest of the world. I have to also say that I live someplace that woman can be topless publically if they do not play with themselves. For only certain religions is nude considered offensive. For other religions and people is just life.

ok, I own 90% of a mainland sim (broo, stop by sometime) I have a huge club on the property, we are in a mature sim. We allow topless, if that's your thing, but we insist on bottoms in public areas. We get the Gors, some Vamps, a few furries every now and then. We have a few vendors, none sexual. However we do have a sex area, with multiple "items", all listed as "show in search". There is no other advertising or indication that sex exists in this place.

Where do I stand under the new rules?

No matter what the answer, if I need to move I currently have a hillside sim overlooking the beach, and would need an entire mainland sim of the same quality. I would be happy to move if LL does the lifting because there is one person in the sim who refuses to sell at any price (not too big a deal I have worked around that), one parcel where the owner is NEVER there and wont respond, and 6 LANDCUT plots. If thats what it takes to get rid of the cutting I would be all for it.

HOWEVER, this massive exodus from the current mainland would kill land prices for months or years, and quite frankly I have a lot of cash tied up in this.

Also, I dont want to be lumped into perv island, and I dont care if you are age verified or have credit card information on file. This is an adult only environment, as stated by LL TOS. Anything else is the responsibility of the parents.

If this is just for the media and corporate interests, then make a restricted "perfect vision" of SL for them to play in, do their reports, whatever.

If this is done right and well, the top 3% of the scum will be scraped off the top and be put somewhere else (I mean even *I* am offended by some things), and the remaining 97% will be unaffected, but from what I have read so far, that is NOT is how it is going to work. And is it fair, or even the right thing to do, probably not.

And lastly, what will happen to my investment in SL if a bunch of sue happy Americans lawyer up and form a class. They would certainly take LL to the cleaners, no matter what their TOS says, I mean OJ was found not guilty, and even microsoft has gotten screwed by their users a few times.

They haven't even publicly named the new demimondaine, let alone opened it up for viewing.

how about a private home on a piece of mainland (M rated, flagged as "might contain adult content" in the land options, parcel does not show up in search) that does not have ban lines, but psyke security orbs that kicks out unwanted visitors after a ten seconds warning? ban lines are ugly and break vehicle scripts.

There is just no way you can prevent a visitor (let's call them that, because residents are a bit more savvy) from ever seeing anything in SL that might be a little smutty. LL doesn't have the manpower and residents are too creative.

So define "Adult" a bit less broadly. Don't shy from specifics. Some back-of-the-napkin ideas:

"Adult"
>> Escort clubs
>> Sexual role play areas
>> Free Sex areas
>> Merchants catering to or nearly exclusively providing wares for that market (actually, these merchants may migrate naturally, since their largest customer base would be in those areas)
Bottom line: If it feels like XXX in RL, then it's probably Adult in SL

"Mature" can then be a better middle ground
>> Personal nudity and personal overt sexual play should occur only on private land (e.g. my SL home) or otherwise undertaken with reasonable discretion (e.g. a sheltered cove in a beautiful public sim or within a club catering such an event)
>> Commercial nudity and commercial overt sexual play (e.g. strip clubs, skin stores) should occur only within the confines of an establishment clearly marked as such

While you are making changes, you might note that "PG" is a registered trademark of the MPAA, and they do enforce that mark. I would advise you to consider changing "PG" to something that is not trademarked.

have to quesstions.

1.) how dose linden labs clasify adult babys, diaper lovers, ect... in the sl world??? mature or pg???

i own a sim that is abdl sim. thers no sex premited on the sim but we do have a bar and a mall wher some of the vendors have things like colars and cages for sale. so we dont know if we quaiy as pg or mature. we have a no child avi rule curntly since we not shure. we are considering making the mall the only open part of the sim and making the rest on invite only.

2.) is linden labs going to make it wher only age verfied can go to mature sims???

the reson we ask is some of our frinds are from canda and cant get age verified.

thanks in avance

Alice

How about PG->"Childish" and M->"Immature"?

Why should any existing adult landowner pay L$1 for this wonderful move. The Lindens owe all of us. They need to cover all costs of this. Offer "adult" biz owners exactly, identical land to what they have now. If they own westward facing waterfront now, they get westward facing waterfront in the new "ghetto" area. Linden Labs needs to cover all costs associted with this and use some of that big pile of greasy cash they are sitting on to reimburse everyone affected by their imcompetance. They started SL without zoning... they need to pay the costs of this bad decision on their part. Not Adult Biz Owners responsibility..

I just want to make one point, nakedness is not obscene, nor mature, nor adult, the only obscenity is in the minds of the complainers and those who listen to them.

From what I have seen of SL it appears that those who complain about contentent are not posting in these threads at all so my question is where are their comments? I would like to here from those who have made comment about content. For the most part if one wants adult content or mature content one has to look for it. I think due to how things are It might be easier to make those PG move more then making those of adult content move.

This comment is quite true as I pointed out naked is in any art museum and in art museums where one can see school buses parked. As I said before adult or mature content is in actions not images. Sexual activities are also mature or adult in image but just naked is only PG and only some religioous minds have problem with naked. I know of more then a few pastors, preist that wold agree with this view just as i have to say I have encounterrd a few that do not like flesh and would just as soon see everyone totally bundled up so that even faces are concealed. The problem is I think tht there is more mature around then could be fdefined by just a single content I believe that making people move is called SEGREGATION and i view that as objectional in of itselff. People should be responsible for their own actions and where they go and are rather then isolation of mature or adult. If a person deosnt want see it, just dont go to those places. Thing s as they are are fine and LL shouldnt have ot do anything but tell those who do not want ot see things, to not go to those places. Its fine as it is now. If its not broken leave it alone.

Before Any changes at all are made I think LL needs to look at how many places have mature contentent now in mainlain areas because I believe the numbers may be more then a new contentn in quantitiy. I think perhaps a better division of what sims on mainland may be more approptiate in that a mature sim surrounded by PG is a bit out of place. It would be simpler to look at how things are now and doing a better division of the existing contents.

This wording is confusing. from your KB page linked from the blog.



Top paragraph makes sense. Loose but descent description of PG in this context.

Here's where you lost me.



Does this mean a PG region is some how be excluded from search or limit access? Or do you mean, having a PG symbol is some form of self-segregation? Either way I'm confused..

I would like to set my island to PG. Thinking that it will give the stores(very boring and PG) there a larger audience. After reading the KB... not sure what to think/do.

As i *do* want the "broader Second Life experience" to come visit me, but *don't* want to exclude those rich business types your all on about. =P

Askin a lot of questions.. sorry, but this one fits the subject too. Will a Mature region ever exclude peoples access or search? Like the new Adult one will(limited to verified)?

Any clarification would be helpful. =)
Thank you

It's already been said and I'll add my 2cent.

If you feel a need to segregate it won't be from the mature consumers, so make a prude continent, not a end-of-the-movie-ghandi type transexodus.

Worked for the New world, no? (oops, well this time it won't be populated when they get there).

Also, what's this about only pg picks? Any chance of just adding a flag to picks so, like search, the prudes don't see them?

Cyn's just updated the blog post (https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/blog/2009/03/12/upcoming-changes-for-adult-content ) with the following FAQs as some additional clarification:

[UPDATE]

Thanks for all the great feedback and conversation so far! We're going to post some clarifying information here and in the forums right now. Tomorrow we'll be back in to catch up on the overnight feedback, and keep the dialogue going.


-- How much of SL is adult oriented content?
Based on our research, we estimate that around 2-4% of content on the mainland would be considered Adult according to our current thinking on defining that. For all of Second Life, our content research shows it is around 5%. In other words, 95% of Second Life either mature or PG.. Again, we estimate that only around 2-4% of the mainland parcels would need to either relocate or reconfigure to meet the requirements in our current thinking, but of course we are looking for your feedback to help define that.

-- 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.

-- What about objects/avatars/groups that some consider inherently related to specific sexual activities or preferences - e.g. furries, sexy clothing, etc. - will that be considered 'Adult content'?
We're still working on tight definitions (which we'd like your help with) on what is considered Adult, but in general sexy clothing, skins, and furries aren't inherently explicitly sexual, and stay in the Mature areas (i.e. won’t need to move to the Adult continent).

-- Is all content currently classified 'Mature' going to have to move to the Adult continent?
No. Our research found an estimated 2-4% of the mainland parcels would need to either relocate or reconfigure to meet the requirements, based on our current definitions of Adult content, which again, is an area where we’d appreciate your feedback.

-- Why not make all PG content move to a new continent?

Both PG and Adult are the exception, rather than the rule, in Second Life. We would prefer to keep the majority of the content and interaction where it is currently – the Mature regions.

Why not a G-rated continent?
This is not about teenagers in Second Life or the Teen Grid. This is about providing a choice about the kind of experience people want to have in Second Life, which is fundamentally an 18+ service.

How does this apply to combat sims, can you provide examples of what would be allowed?
Combat sims are mature, think R rated movie. If part of that is lots of blood and gore, that would be considered Adult. Again, the precise definitions are something we’re still working on and would welcome your input in the forum thread devoted to this topic.

What happens to my personal data? Will it get shared with a 3rd party when I verify my account?
Our 3rd party age verification provider uses several types of data to verify your account, but they do not store the data or use it in any other way.

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?

Can you talk about the decision making process and what the timeline for decision making will look like?

Over the past year or so we have been hearing from a growing number of you that the experience in Second Life needed to change. We gathering a great deal of feedback and data, and then sat down and tried to imagine how we could serve most needs best. What we came to is that we didn't need to change very much about Second Life to meet the majority of those needs. As we've stated, nearly all inworld content, events and classifieds will stay as there are. For some events and businesses, you will now have a place where you can target your audience and reach the people who are looking for the goods and services you provide.

In the next few weeks we will hold several inworld meetings to discuss the timeline and other open questions around definitions and helping people who want to move or want more guidance around tagging, and events and classifieds.

Do you have the same political, legislative, governament and people representative structures in SL, I ask you? (read democracy)
So any comparison with RL is useless.
The problem is mainly about content evaluation, who decides what in SL as it is now.
The Zoning comes after that.

They can decide whatever they want at the end but at least it should be clear that it's not an obvious move based on a common understanding of values.
I wish Lindens all the best with their long term strategy (i hope they have one) but after having used gambling and porn to such extent to become what they are, i really doubt they can manage the next step without them... someone else will do it probably in the future.

That's not an answer. Why not a G-rated continent? You provide a choice by doing that and that choice allows people to voluntarily move, which is a much better solution that forcibly moving people.

I own a sex club (and proud of it) and I've gone out of my way to keep it from affecting my neighbors. It's 500 meters in the air and a completely sealed box from the outside. You can get in unless you TP in from a mature ad, or you're flying along and decide cam inside (and how far can you fly in SL anymore?)

My mature ads spell out exactly what goes on, so it's not like I'm tricking people to get my guests to hang out at my place. There is no way you can "accidentally" be offended by my club. You have to really work at being offended.

So does this mean I've have to move?

This.

SL is a vastly diverse world made up entirely of 18+ adults who may be involved in any number of the same types of activities that 18+ adults enjoy in real life, and people who insist that they are entitled to only encounter some small subset of said activities should feel free to go someplace where that's all there is.

Perv Island, welcome to the sex ghetto. A monument to a company that hasn't been able to get its act together since 2003. I think there already is something like this already out there with low rez avatars, generic clothes and lame sex animations, I think its called Red Light.

I am in favor of having two separate grids, the Adults only grid and the Namby-pamby woosy maggot Disney-esque grid. I will be hanging out in the Adults only grid, not because I'm all that particularly interested in the sexual stuff but because it will have a lot less of this god-forsaken censorship that seems to seep into everything. Freedom means the possibility of being offended and I'm all for freedom.

Too Many often parents do not want to take responsibility for actions. A few us remember hubs and crashing mature areas only to relog often unclad at the hubs. If the numbers are as low as LL seems to think then those encountering content they do not like may be just as small. So far most of the comments have been from those of us whom have adult and mature content places. I go back to my erlier comment of its not broken, dont fix it but rather get little more mature responding people. In the time that I have owned a corner of the southern most mainland I have never had anyone complain about the nudity of my area. Not a single complaint in 3 years in this location. I realize I may be a rairty in being long time mainland resident nd land owner. Where the sim is and my builds are is already a corner so its not stumbled on very freqauently as a place in the center of a continent. This corner of the continent where I am has had some mature content since it began in 06. I am sure there may be others that have been where they are mainland as long as well with no problems. So I say look at where their have been complaints before making any changes at all. Besides it may make things a lot easier on LL if places that have had complaints are less then 5%.

People should take bit more self responsibility for wht they see and encounter then mkeing LL chnge.