A few issues that I see at hand.

After my time in Second Life, which is about seven months now, it has come to seem that there are some things very wrong in Second Life. I'm not saying the whole concept or user base of this wonderful program both in presentation and design is corrupt or even a good deal of it but as in any on-line area or community there is always a section of players and groups that the people as a whole would be better off without. These issues range from everywhere such as the Linden helps on live chat being generally useless and just people who point a finger to abuse report or don't even response entirely since they are busy playing Second Life themselves to such things as negative environments in which certain people find another person to utilize as a victim and exploit.
Let's start off with one apparent issue which I'm sure many residents have encountered, scamming. While on a small time or medium basis the Lindens will pay no attention in the least to the problems, if you have been ripped off for a service or a product even after doing a few honest transactions with them in the past. This is no fun for anyone who is on the taking end of such a deal unless they are quick the masochist in every single area. I've encountered this myself when one of my friends believed they were purchasing a Second Life business and series of products honestly and for a whopping L$200,000 which apparently from the reports the business owner handed over seemed quite valid but that was sadly not the case as soon many copies of these products popped up rapidly elsewhere. When the seller of these businesses was confronted by myself they merely replied that it was a business in a box sort of deal and I asked if they actually told their prey this at all, in which the curt reply as “no” and a polite “I don't have to take this, get off of my land or I shall ban you.” Very nice indeed so the Lindens were alerted to this subject which was ripping off massive amounts of money even in real currency which led me to believe they only care about the problems when it can affect Second Life as a whole and drive a good portion of users away thus taking a hit to the overall profits that Linden Labs takes in, I mean if this wasn't their stance then why was CopyBot tackled so forcefully by administrators and users alike? After some of the helpers were contacted about this wrong doing all they had to say was about word for word, “We don't see how any one person can own an item or object even if this was the agreement and good money was paid for it, I'm sorry but if you feel that isn't good enough you can file an abuse report.” Wonderful and it seems that the Linden helpers or live help group can't be depended on for anything except if you forget where the F1 key is located upon your keyboard.
The second issue I've found is a positive enforcement by the Linden Labs organization of sim area which are overall engaging in rape, ageplay which is a kind word for certain men and women to indulge in pedophilia fantasies and to a lesser extent the sections which involve large amounts of abusive slavery. Why might I speak my voice about this you ask? It is simple because why many people say it is only a game the actions taken within the virtual realm still have effects upon the person who is behind the screen upon either end during these activities. In the topics of rape and ageplay it is said that many people are just getting their good time and it isn't something everyone understands so just leave it alone, this seems like a nice excuse for a man or woman who has fantasies of rape or sexual acts with a person under the legal age in his area to get their jollies from something that began so kindly and with good intentions as a program. It is merely fueling whatever ideas they have in their head of forced sex with a person over or under the age of consent and it is found that child molesters who indulge in their desires with images, videos, or such roleplay as found quite often in Second Life are more likely to commit the crime in reality so I wonder why the Lindens allow this sort of thing to continue, is it worth the extra ten dollars or so a month for perhaps a good person's life possibly ruined by someone who got too eager on their illegal impulses after so much time experimenting with it online and lusted for the real thing? I pray that the answer is no upon this topic.
On the other note of slavery acts it is often found that the men involved had serious issues with females in their life and wish to dominate to feel power over them and control. With the women it is quite possible that they had troubles with a male figure of importance in their past so they sometimes seek to revert to a childlike state of slavery in order to have an environment in which to feel cared for, carefree, and loved at the cost of chores or performing virtual sexual acts with their partner. Even though the above topic of ageplay and rape disturbs me a bit this is still irking to find that no one has offered certain people engaged in these roleplay topics to seek psychological help with their past issue. Also to say that it is thing just to enjoy in Second Life is ignorant, I have run into a male player who lived up within Canada and was trying to lure women who played in the role of a slave to come up to his home and live with him for a real life go at the act, sometimes while alone I ponder if anyone actually fell for it and if this happened because the Lindens were often completely ignoring even serious issues as a man stalking other people about the internet and coaxing them to come and live with him as his personal toy.
The third outstanding problem I must feel to speak about is the fact of why no one has spoken about such matters before. It is not to say that others support the crowds mentioned above by not doing what they can do upon the matter but just the fact that this sort of matter is increasing at a slow but steady rate since I've had my time in Second Life and if people really find it as acceptable or saying because the problem isn't bothering them then it is only a problem for others involved and they can handle it. Same goes for Linden Labs upon this whole ordeal and it is really very frustrating overall.
I would like to thank you for reading all of this rant if you managing to get through it without laughing, hitting your back button or just closing the window all together with a sense of irritating if I struck a wrong cord. Please leave your comments by replies as the norm on any forum but keep it restricted to neutral comments, a simple disagreement, or a positive response. I appreciate all three as well as any other poster unless they are trolling about for attention and saying such things as “You're a <insert random curse word(s)> here!” really doesn't yank a person who is willing to put our their opinion in such a long winded manner or have anyone but your friends read the comment and gain you more respect.

7 months? with a joined date of 12/06? hmmmmm and paragraphs are nice too

Well the seven months thing is true for my oldest account and I move about a few of them depending on how I feel since they all have a different look. Also I typed that all up in the Open Office word processor so when copy and pasted into the box for posting, well the indentations for the paragraphs really didn't come out properly.

Us lesser mortals withoutsuch advanced and sophisticated programs manage to include paragraph breaks just fine

You may have good points in your post - however my eyes started to hurt trying to read it , so I gave up.


Please edit your post for readability and well get you a gold star.

Let me see if I get this straight - you think that:

People get scammed out of money in SL. Sometimes quite a lot of money. And this is a bad thing because it gives SL a bad rep and drives people out of the game. LL should do something about it.

Consensual age-play and rape fantasies in SL are a bad thing because it reinforces undesirable tendencies in the real life participants. LL should do something about it.

Slave/master role-playing (i.e. Gor) in SL is a bad thing because the people involved probably have real-life psychological issues. LL or somebody should actively offer these players counselling.

Do you agree - Yes or No.

Hope I got that right.

I interpreted it pretty much the same way.

The OP does raise some good points, although some chose to focus on form over substance.

With respect to LL having any moral responsibility, well, that's clearly not a reasonable expectation. They're clearly in it for the money.

That does not preclude us players from moral responsibility if we enable the situation.

Good food for thought.

In my own location (Caledon Cay) I use the land as a type of advertising 3D web space for my real life business, which required authorisation before it went "live".

As part of the review process the fact that so called adult locations do exist in Second Life was mentioned, the way I am inclined to view it is much the same as the web. It's there, available, and in some cases a mouse click away from highly reputable sites. That is much the same as Second Life. In the first world that fact is also true, visit Soho and Piccadilly in London where within a few steps of the Ritz Hotel you can walk into some very adult areas indeed.

Myself, I am fairly broadminded. I do not want to live next door to a brothel in First or Second Life, but in general terms if there is one down the road and it causes me no harm who am I to object.

That broadmindedness does have limits, for example non-consensual rape, fraud, or child sex either virtual or real in all forms. But those issues aside, live and let live within reason Adonis.

I would finish by saying don’t try to impose or force your sense of morality or behaviour on somebody else. From some individuals and Governments it causes a lot of trouble in First or Second Life. Finally most people are reasonable if approached properly, those that are not tend to get excluded in First and Second Life -

Regards

John

I'm never sure how much effect is has on real lives, but either way I'm not sure LL could actually do anything to police things even if they wanted to. Shut down all the Gorean sims and make sure we can't easily put on a child-sized avatar? Even something that extreme would be circumvented somehow.

The age/consentual/rape "roleplay" is really probably not policable by LL or anyone else on the internet. However, I think what the OP was getting at is what I have a problem with. IT'S WAY TOO EASY TO HIDE WITHIN THE MASSES IN BOTH THE INTERNET AND IN SECOND LIFE. The internet is kown for this problem and has proved that the potential for real life danger is a fact..........people and kids have died because if that problem of one's true identity. People have been ripped off for thousands of dollars because of the inability to identify someone using the internet. And the way the internet is constructed and set up it will probably never change in that respect. You would think anyone who's intelligent enough to develop a game like Second Life would also be intelligent enough to see the dangers of the internet and put a few obstacles in the way for people who might be inclined to abuse the system in such ways. I see nothing that Linden Labs has done to even address the issue.......it's like they just don't want to be bothered.

Second Life is a closed system......it's not wide open like the internet where enforcible rules are imposible to police. Linden Labs developed the program and you cannot play or use the program without downloading from Linden Labs. They give you a "Terms of Service" that they say you must obey. Then they give you unlimited access to accounts that don't require any identification what so ever......it's like say to the people " you must play nicely and don't scam anyone, don't stalk anyone, and keep it in Second Life and don't carry it into real life..........you will get banned if you violate those rules. But if that happens, all is not lost because you can rejoin SL with a new account. We won't ask you to identify yourself so come on in". Plugging that one hole in the rules of the game would go a long way toward eliminating the apprehension and concern some (like the OP and myself) have with Linden Labs. Would that be bullet proof..................absolutely not!! It's just a simple thing that any responsible business should attempt to do..........protect it's customers as best they can.

For those of you who say it's not a problem and use the "well it's a consentual" thing among "consenting adults"..........tell me how you know that all involved are"consenting adults"? There is not the slightest requirement to "prove" who you are to anyone. And when someone kidknaps a young teen after "roleplaying" in SL and that teen winds up on the news I wonder who's going to get the brunt of the blame? Linden Labs? The users of the game? The criminal? I say all three............and I guess we deserve it too.

Verify........or make an attempt at least.

Only one person should be blamed for the commission of a crime. The person who committed it. And to the OP...yes, please use a comma and a period occasionally.

Who should be blamed and who is actually blamed are almost never the same. Just a real life fact of life in this weird world............and virtual world.

And yes, commas, paragraphs would be nice but I think most understood what was said . The subject is not style or grammar and we all know that..........or do we? LOL

The third outstanding problem I must feel to speak about is the fact of why no one has spoken about such matters before. ----Adonis

But it has been discussed at length already in the forums. Just type the proper keyword in the search and look up the archive. Good luck.

Search "proper keyword"? Maybe Adonis did search.......but what's the "proper keyword"? It appears you may be somewhat annoyed at the subject. I get annoyed at threads that are repeticious too but if I can't offer a thought other than "do your research before posting a new thread" I simply move on to a thread I'm not annoyed at.

Would it make you happier if the OP had found an old thread and posted his new comments to bring it up to the top again? Or would the fact that it's an old thread that has run it's course days, weeks or months ago prompted some other rebuke such as "this thread has been hashed out already".

It's a subject I happen to be very interested in.........and there are many subjects I've read that don't interest me at all And those are also talked to death in previous threads. The OP did, in fact offer some fresh ideas......maybe you don't care. But a few of us do.

Sorry Peggy. You are reading too much into my comment. I merely sought to point out where the OP can find out the views of the community. Including yourself since you are interested. Good luck.

Adonis-

The issues you've raised have been beaten like dead horses more than once in other (now closed) parts of the forums, if you care to search and familiarize yourself with the pro's and con's of those issues it may broaden your perspective on them.

The points you've raised here, however, are probably not appropriate for Resident Answers. You're asking for agreement or debate, neither of which seems likely to "help" you in any way.

--
"Resident answers is a friendly place where residents can ask other residents for help."

Resident Answers is NOT the new general forum... nor is it the right the place to come and rant. You could, perhaps, ask Resident Answers for suggestions on places and ways to rant more effectively.

this thread has been closed due to inappropriate material.

Resident Answers is, as noted by Jopsy, a place where we can come for SL-related help from our fellow SLers. it is not General, nor should it be used as such.

please refrain from posting rants in this forum in the future and perhaps, instead, search out a third-party forum that appeals to you and post where they have places for all types of threads/posts.


Torley Linden:
Thanks. Unproductive rants don't help you or us better Second Life. Please be sure to read the Resident Answers forum Guidelines. It unfortunately doesn't get read as much as it could, or should: if you have suggestions for how to increase its visibility and understanding so this forum is a better place to be, please let me know: email me, [email]torley@lindenlab.com[/email].