Require verified ID or a verified sponsor to leave Orientation Island

If we must have unrestricted signups, then we should require either a verified ID or a verified sponsor to leave Orientation Island.

What I am proposing is that LL provide some sort of buffer in which an un-verified new Player gets a taste of SL, but remains isolated from most of it until they prove they are 'civilized' and of legal age. In fact, a more prolonged stay on orientation island (or a small collection of sims that are all the new accounts can access, but which existing accounts can also get to) might not be a bad idea for all new accounts...

An example that works elsewhere: ****************************

I have served for several years and still do) as an admin and new member greeter for an RP forum that allows "open signups". The application for a new account asks for real world personal info (name, e-mail, etc.), but doesn't require any more actual verification than the current open SL registration does. It just gets tracked by the e-mail address that you give, and it does do a verification that the e-mail is at least valid.

They have a very simple method for keeping out troublemakers. All newly created accounts are restricted to an "enter forum", essentially like the Orientation Island in SL. The new accounts are expected to interact there in a civil manner with each other and with established members who visit that area, and to learn to "play the game according to the rules" while there.

To leave that area and play with everyone else, the new accounts must meet one of the following criteria:

A: The account is an acknowledged alt of an existing registered Player. They make a request in a publicly visible forum thread from their existing account, for an admin to authorize full access for the alt. That admin checks the existing Player's behavior, and if they are obeying the rules, the new alt account gets full access. The administrative records (not publicly visible) show who is associated with that new account. No time limit. They could get authorized the same hour the account is created, if the admin is available.

B: The account is an non-acknowledged alt of an existing registered Player. For whatever reason, the existing Player does not want the general public to know this new account is their alt. There are valid reasons for this, such as wanting to have this character play a special RP role. They make a request via e-mail from their existing account to an admin to authorize full access. That admin checks the existing Player's behavior, and if they are obeying the rules, the new account gets full access. The administrative records (not publicly visible) show who is associated with that new account. No time limit. They could get authorized the same hour the account is created, if the admin is available.

C: A new account has existed long enough to make 30 posts in Enter, interacting with other people in an acceptable manner, and has been sponsored by an existing Player. Someone who is already authorized observes the new character in the enter area, interacts with them, and decides they are willing to vouch for their behavior. That existing account makes a request in a public forum thread, to sponsor a request for an admin to authorize full access. The existing account takes responsibility for the behavior of the newbie. That admin checks the existing Player's behavior, and if they are obeying the rules, the new account gets full access. Requires a certain amount of time in the system, behaving in a civil manner, before they can be authorized.

Bottom line: You don't get past the entry area if you are being a jerk, or are not willing to behave in a civil manner. Those who act unacceptably while in the Enter area lose their shiny new accounts. If you do get past the entry area, someone has taken responsibility for your behavior.

If someone in those forums breaks the rules, there is a very good chance that they and all their alts will get banned, weather those alts are acknowledged or not. That forum is VERY serious about dealing with rules violaions.

End of example ****************************

Taking this parallel to Second Life:

To get off Orientation Island, you do one of the following:

A: Provide verified ID in some form. Credit Card, "Adult Check ID" membership, a tangible postcard that has to be mailed to a postal address and returned via mail to LL's offices... Provide some sort of tracable ID for that account and the others that you own. This could be as simple as notifying a LL Admin "Hey admin. 'Bob NewAccount' is my alt, I take responsibility for what he does. Please authorize him."

B: The new account has spent at least 30 days on Orientation Island, and has no complaints lodged against them. While they are there, they provide a mailing address, and an ID verification card is mailed to them. They sign it and return it, probably also providing some other sort of identifying information.

C: The new account has spent at least 30 days on Orientation Island, and has no complaints lodged against them. While they are there, an existing, verified member can sponsor them, with the understanding that if this new account breaks the rules at any time in the next 30 days, the Sponsor is liable for the newbie's actions, and subject to possible disciplinary action themselves.


OK. Let's discuss this. What is a reasonable waiting time? Should additional sims be added as a step between Orientation Island and the rest of SL, where existing, verified accounts can meet with and interact with the new people? What should be required to verify identity? Bear in mind that this is an International community. Not everyone has social security cards, or driver's licenses, or some other standard for an ID card. What can we do that would work for everyone?

Nice idea, but if they have introduced unverified registration I can hardly see them clamping it as soon as the user gets in world.

As for sponsorship - create an account - sponsor 5 alts - delete original account
( nothing to do with me what they did after I left officer )

1) If the bad people can't leave orientation island, but the good people can, then the island will become full of bad players very quickly, which will not only give everyone who signs up a bad first impression of Second Life, but it will also make the area unwelcoming for authorized residents.
2) The effect of it being unwelcoming, combined with sponsors being subject to possible disiplinary action for bad behaviour of those they sponsor, will mean that residents who aren't angels will spend zero time on orientation island and won't sponsor anyone, because they simply don't want the hassle/risk of being on the island where all the troublemakers are and being constantly begged by dubious persons for sponsorship.
3) The long term effect of this is that very few people will get 'authorized' and over time SL will stop growing, then decline - in terms of actual people playing, not just accounts in the database.

For this reason, I think this is a very bad idea.
A manual system which puts all the dodgey people in one area then requires people to go to that area to check the dodgey people is going to result in bad experiences. Someone drops a copyable, transferrable C4 in orientation island, and suddenly you have 100 griefers who can't get sponsorship, dropping C4 everywhere and there's so much abuse that avatars are flying into each other because they can't see for the smoke.... good guys start firing back and pretty soon a Linden sees that 1000 abuse reports were filed in an hour from Orientation island, decides someone must have made a bot that griefs LL by filing automated ARs, and decides to change the SL code to make filing ARs from the Orientation Islands impossible.

My point is : we need an automatic checking system, and personally I think requiring billing info is a good way to do this. Imperfect but nothing better has been suggested.

Unverified accounts attract three types of people :
* the timid
* the griefers
* the people who out of principle refuse to hand over billing details
Personally, I think a better idea would be to make a bigger effort to market SL and promise not to do bad things with customer billing details, to persuade them to hand them over. If they still won't... fine. Ultimately, if you want to stick to your principles and keep your mark of quality, you have to be prepared to stick to your principles.

Angel, the Orientation Islands won't 'fill with bad people' if the mentors and Lindens there can kick the bad ones out for misbehaving, and are willing to do so. If someone with an unverified account on Orientation Island is breaking the rules, their account gets terminated. A lot simpler to do it there than all over the grid.

Personally, I greatly prefer a combination of fully verifyable accounts and permenant banishment for the idiots who just come here to make trouble. Not a slap on the wrist, but permenant bans. But the current "Type whatever you please in the form and get a free account" policy allows no way to enforce any sort of lasting banishment. The most we can do is terminate the new accounts that act like barbarians.

The other RP forum that I spoke of gets a few 'griefers' now and then. But they get bored pretty quick and go away when they realize that misbehaving is a one-way ticket to that account's oblivion, and that they won't ever get past the door if they aren't going to play by the rules. A barbarian has a very hard time acting like a civilized person.

You might be interested in two other threads on this issue...

Enough Complaints, Time for Solution

Do you consider basic accounts to be inferior

Both in the 'general' forum topic and having some realevant discussions (with lots of pseudo flaming tossed into the bottom link).