Height Discrimination in Second Life

Congratulations to all the morality police.

I can no longer use my 4'10" ADULT av, because a few jackarses have people with adult sections running so scared.

I'm facing full scale height discrimination because they think someone will scream 'age play' and get their sim shut down.

The av is quite glaringly NOT a child, has quite adult proportions. And I'm getting discriminated against.

Congratulations.

were you actually approached by a linden and told you cant wear the av?

Or just some busy bodies told you they reported you?

Or something else?

I was told by a sim business owner that to avoid them getting a report that would lose them their entire business, that I could not use my av in their business. They feared their whole adult club being ripped away after they paid a good amount of $L for it.

Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live

They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Round here

Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It's A Wonderful World)

Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love

They got little baby legs
And they stand so low
You got to pick 'em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin' peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They're gonna get you every time
Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
'Round here

Ahh - I see

So the club owner isnt willing to risk reports based on your AVatar height.

Not funny This is a serious issue...

SL is going to be seriously impaired by people policing anything they THINK is a child AV when it isn't, in a Gestapo-like fashion.

Heaven help the game if someone with primordial dwarfism ever creates a life sized av of themselves. I can hear the screaming already.

--

And yes, Colette, that pretty much defines it. They're claiming other adult/BDSM clubs already have a minimum height requirement, due to the issue.

Thinking the age play gestapo is going to scream to LL and get their club shut down.

Im 4'1" and a child av.... and had zero problems anyplace I go.... I dont think I would want to go someplace that was that narrow minded.

I know, I just couldn't resist.

I've seen this complaint before and it was about as useful as peeing up a rope.

Best to grow a few inches...

I really don't think any AR against you based on that would stand up to scrutiny. The owner was being an idiot.

However, property owners have the right to restrict who/what goes to their land. Maybe you should start a club/mall/whorehouse and have people touch one of those "find out your height" things at the door and bar anyone over 7'...unless it's an Andre the Giant av.

or maybe wear a beard when you're there next and see if that's ok!

I'm very sorry to hear that. Feel free to hang out and shop on the Island of Dark Delights all you want. I'll personally ban anyone who discriminates against other visitors based on their appearance, outfit, sexual preferences or roleplay, as long as it is consensual roleplay. That has always been my policy.

What is their minimum height requirement? Im just curious.

I can see them not willing to risk their business. It seems silly of course - but they must feel they need protected from those who would file the ar's.

Would it be possible to grow to the minimum height just while in that club?

They haven't given one really. They just didn't like my av being as small as it was. Admittedly, it varied by ruler and slight adjustment, it wasn't quite 4'10". Still, it was fully shaped and adjusted as an adult woman.

It is extremely silly.

I agree with the posts above when I say why would you even want to go there if they have such ridiculous policies anyway?

It's a sex place so it's not like it's the only one in SL haha!

I can almost imagine that a simple child avatar, that is, child sized and proportioned, might have been more acceptable. The owners of that sim might have assumed that child height + adult proportions = asking for a lolita-based AR.

That's assuming the sim wasn't based on sex of course, in which case all bets are off.

Um... its a BDSM club, so quite adult.

Also for note, I'm not giving out the name of the place, I do like some of the people, even if their policy on this is prudish.

In that case, all bets are off.

Get yourself and a gang of friends set up in very big avatars.
Go to the sim and start saying "OMG. Look at all these little child avatars. We'll have to AR them!"

Or not.

Heh

Wow.. you know, I was thinking of taking my poor girl down from 6'2" to my own height of 5'6"! This is going to make her seem really short, but I want some of her body shape to resemble mine.

There are several places that are friendly towards the 'short adults.' Hey, I wonder if someone decided to take these people to court for height discrimination, what would happen? (No, I am not advocating this, I am just curious!)

It's easy enough to bash the club owner on this, but this is pretty much a result of Linden Labs creating a bannable offense, that can result not only in losing your account but the money you have spent in Second Life, and being vague enough about the what will be considered bannable that that rational and risk averse persons feel they have to go to great lengths to protect themselves. I can see how someone with a lot invested in Second Life would rather ban short avatars than running the risk of stupid, unfounded, busybody complaints. Because Linden Labs has given us no assurances at all as to what will happen with those stupid, unfounded, busybody complaints.

It's hard to tell what the intended age of an avatar in Second Life is supposed to be. Avatar geometry doesn't support a lot of detail for faces or bodies. Most skins have few or no age-distinguishing features. My attempts at making my avatar appear to be a few years beyond 21 generally result in making my avatar look like Yoda. In real life, we also have a person's voice and behavior to help determine age. Second Life doesn't have voice (and voice chat won't help anyone but skilled voice actors to portray differing ages), and behavior is limited to pre-defined animations. Most child avatars use the same sophisticated, age-inappropriate AOs that all other avatars use.

So how can you tell if an avatar depicts a minor? There is absolutely no good way. But if you don't want to run afoul of the vague statements, passed off as rules, about sexual depiction of minors, you'd better think of some way of being able to determine who is a minor and who isn't. So a lot of people fall back on equating being a minor with being short. "You have to be this high to enter this ride." Unless Linden Labs makes its policy clearer, that's all anyone has to protect themselves and their investments in Second Life.

This is the result of a vague rule that carries a punishment of death (or the Second Life equivalent of death) without trial.

*thinks about creating a 6 foot baby hughy av*

There are SOME ways with av geometry to make is fairly clear what is and isn't a child av. Especially with a female av.

Since children don't actually have curves, like a grown woman does.

why not simply ask the av if they are a child av.... if they lie the blame isnt on the land owner.

Since I am a child av I know the places to avoid, simple enough.

I've heard this from many. I wish I could convice the PTB@LL to say something on this issue, letting people know what *is* allowed - they don't wish to give specifics for their own reasons, but just something that lets people know that you can indeed be any height -- or even a kid avatar -- and not face trouble.

The issue isn't about being short, or even about being a kid, It's about portraying underage sex. It's not the avatar, it's the actions.

Is it that difficult to figure out?

Mari

My main is 6'5" and one of my alts is 5'7" (according to the height detectors, so probably actually taller) and, while the height difference is noticeable flipping between them, the only thing that actually bothers me are their feet. They're set at zero on both, which looks positively teeny on my main, but large and flappy in most shoes on my alt. I can't even wear my main's favorite shoes on my alt, they look so ginormous.

Oh, yeah, and it took me a while to get her proportions the way I wanted them. There seems to be less slider margin on a smaller av so, where one or two slider points don't make a huge impact on an Amazon av, they can make a significant change on a smaller one.