Community standards and Private Estate Standards

Now this is a point I hadn't considered. The sim is set in Northwest to Scandinavian folklore, so I have turned down some applicants for being too Asian, to Egyptian, or otherwise too far removed from the culture. This isn't to say that I wouldn't want to expand the sim to new cultural permutations; I'd love to see the same concepts applied to the Mediterranean to African, and from Isolationist Japan to the American Frontier. But now is too soon, and this concept may maintain integrity with the addition of some Moors and Hindi, but would I be getting in hot water restricting the number of them?


I see a lot of responses in this thread follow some assumption that I want total control of the environment, but it's quite the opposite, the outlaws here don't play touch tag, they don't take captives just to make them sit quietly in a corner, they carve off pieces and roast them between sexual violations, and I wholly encourage them OOC even while my IC role is to hunt and kill them. I just want to know at what point the Community standards are going to bite me in the ass.



Meh. The angels would do better without my side, and I think I can get along without theirs. But thank you for the advice.;]

I would think that discrimination (race is just one of the "never allowed" refers to the real person behind the avie, and not necessarily their in-world represensation.

If a movie script calls for a white male, then turning down a black woman is not discriminating against either race or gender, it's just a requirement for the part. You're not turning people down because you take offense to their race, but because it doesn't fit into the historical setting so I really doubt there would be any issue there.

About disclosure, that's probably something that would taken a Linden answer, but if you severely restrict what can be shared and who it can be shared with and agree to not further distribute then I don't think there would be much of a problem there either, as long as people are informed about the policy (I don't think burrying it somewhere in 5 notecards would do it though).

Roleplay discloses very little as-is, either about the resident in-world or the real world person, so as long as everyone is aware that main chat (IMs might be different?) can be copy/pasted in a notecard and sent off to the sim managers it should be alright.

That's correct, it's nothing against the race, and I have seen people who've shown consideration and effort, made a fine character background, and I've likewise made the effort to justify their involvement in the setting. However, racism is one of those old fashioned values, and though it hasn't come up in RP yet, it would be plausible for in character racial tensions to arise (though in the spirit of this sim tensions most often resolve themselves sexually.)

Answer still pending.../139/b0/161163/1.html The problem with 'severe' restriction is that it hampers the open-door policy of making the decision-making information available to all.

I have found the opposite, that a person's roleplay choices reveal them, while personal claims about themselves may or may not actually be true, and just aren't relevant either way. Actions speak louder than words.

Interesting observation. Often true but the exceptions I have known have broken the rule so incredibly, that I tend to assume very little any more.

Some experiences:

- A very 'regular guy' and 'pal' I'd known for ages, turns out to be a stunningly attractive woman. No sexual undertone there - just a character. Far easier for women to play men and 'get it right' characterwise, though it's a far rarer thing than men doing a terrible job of pretending to be female.

- A person with several characters; each a studied attempt to be totally different. The true personality behind them does not reveal much online, far as I can tell. Rather like a very good actor. Powerfully impressive, entertaining characters too, and incidentally none of them ever did anything beyond PG rated stuff. A total fluke that I found out anything at all; I can't go into how I found out.

- The wealthy, famous, Lindens in street characters, &c. Yeap, lots of people on the grid who truly have a good reason to 'be someone other than themselves' because they simply should. Most likely to meet the real person as you described, but sometimes the importance of the hiding factor can kind of make them seem a bit 'off' somehow. It's different than the average person who simply doesn't share first life information - hard to describe, but it's a peculiar vibe you pick up, and it kinda creeps into many aspects of a character.

Im sorry if what I say here is a repeat of what has been said above, but I havnt had time to read all of the replies (so as not to be rude I will go back and read them later)

Personally I am against the whole forced thing..... but... its really easy to get around..... Ok.... two big men come up on this lil kitty like girl and are going to rape her... whos to say the kitty isnt a black belt in karate and leaves the two men on the floor.... its all still roleplay isnt it? but anyway this isnt what I wanted to say...


My mother has always called ma a "baragroom lawyer" or something like.... I always tease out and use technicalities, and since Im going to stay neutral on this rather than side.... I will say this.


People have have free will thus shouldnt be forced... also the ToS state quite clearly that harrassment is not tollorated (shame they dont mention it about poor spelling ) so.... intheory doing this is against the rules....

This is pretty much like Microsofts latest adventure with the Vista EULA.... if you install vista you wave all rights of the law and if they even suspect you are pirating (no prrof required) they will lock the copy of vista.... they of course allow you to prove that its only installed on one system... but with all the legal and admin charges... its cheaper to get a new copy...

but anyway... its just saying that if you conciously agree to the terms (i visited the sim today to read them) I cant see any way to stop anything happining short of saying to your self "Im leaving and never coming back" ok... by leaving you are breaking the rules.... whats the worsed that can happen.... you can get banned.... whoop de doo..... you already decided you werent coming back


annnnnnnnnnnnd I apologise for my appaling spelling skills.... I was too busy drewling over a certain heart throb to pay attention to my english tutor.


Falney

Even though the possibility of being forced exists, you do have protections and remedies, you do have your personal assets such as wit or combat skill, but I have stressed that the risk is still there, and everyone should be prepared for it, whether willing or unwilling. You seem to imply that only little girls are subject to it, but no one is completely absolved of it, not even ME.

Leaving as you described it is not against any of the rules you read when you come to the sim. However coming back to RP without having to face that same situation in the same setting as when you left is simply invalid RP, it's giving yourself a magical escape. Who wants to play with you after you cop out in the face of adversity, especially considering how minor the stakes of losing are? RL doesn't give you that option, why would immersive RP? You may as well remove yourself from the group in that case, and get on with your life, real or virtual, elsewhere.

Quoting from the community standards (http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php):
None of the above would come up during RP because none of it is relevant in that context, it's completely out of place even; RP interaction does not disclose anything that the community standards stipulate can't be shared.
That leaves only the fact that you can't share conversation logs within SL itself, but since none of that reveals facts about that resident and any sharing would (hopefully) be rare, my guess is that LL doesn't really care since nothing is actually disclosed.

There's a certain thrill from acting out an encouter that is non-consentual or forced, but the reality remains that both parties are willing participants regardless of what is said or done. You said the sim encourages harassment, but that only means that RP characters are encouraged to act a certain way, no real harassment takes place.

Or as an example: I had one encounter in a RP sim where I had no particular interest in him but did so anyway for RP's sake, letting the disinterest seep through and ending it after a polite few minutes. However, moving on, he would continue to press a second time, and a third time, and while I was still willing to deal with the annoyance in RP only up until then, the fourth time I simply informed him in IM which was met with a tirade about how I had to do his bidding because the "rules say so". A quick IM to a manager solved the harassment, but if they had been unavailable it would have gotten to the point where I would have just abuse reported, as well as reporting it to those responsible for the sim.

IM'ing the Moderators isn't a remedy here, since every one of them are under the same risk, they'd take it more as amusing than alarming. I'm following the form of Sociolotron by welcoming everyone with the DISCLAIMER: "It's going to happen. You might protect yourself and you might avenge yourself, but it's a gamble that everyone can eventually lose. If you aren't prepared for it to happen, don't come in." The authority isn't there to exert control, it's there to permit a realistic degree of uncertainty, chaos even.

Some find it unappealing, the potential to be trapped in an RP situation that isn't fun, isn't interesting, or a thoroughly bad trip. Is that the worst you have to worry about? Don't you keep yourself safe enough in RL, and yet you're still subject to the same risks? Here the stakes are trivially low, you don't even potentially lose hard won virtual inventory or cash. I never claimed this was for everyone, in fact there's an application process to keep membership to those serious enough to complete it and Observer status is there for anyone else to do just that, either until they are ready for the game, or they decide to find a Disney utopia to sip mai-tais and convince themselves of their greatness without ever accepting a challenge.

But the people who find that risk appealing aren't just the perpetual victim type, they are intelligent and resourceful people who COMMIT to their roleplay, even knowing that they will be locked into the same consequences they would subject to another if they fail. They like the challenge, from the savage warfare to the back-alley brawls to the subtle courtly intrigues to the dynamic clash of wills with personalities they may or may not be able to dominate. And any one of them could, for all their arete and ability, lose to a graceless thug who gets a cheap shot in, and that is part of the risk.

Use Banlines and only allow those in who you want there is only suggestion I have.
As someone has in past participated in very hard core rp like enviroments and accidentally wonder upon many people who believe certain people are objects and to be objectified without consent there is also hidden truth no one ever addressed if anyone can enter your space they can also do whatever they want also because they don't need your consent to behave they way they do. Unless they give it consent, and even with consent, your play partners can change their minds at any time also regardless if you wish it or not.
Lack of Consent goes both ways just not for the person in charge and it has consquences.
Just as you may be believe they consent to be used in any fashion you desire because they are there, they also choose not to comply and make things very difficult for you just for the fun of it.
Just stating I own this property or I am the owner, create all the rules doesn't make it always so if I have no absolute control over every detail in the enviroment and those in it willingly comply.
If it's done willing and with consent many things can happen, but if I as rp master or story teller and if something goes awry, people get freaked out, be it dangerous or illegal in name of rp and the person is seriously injured physically or emotionally, I am also responsible too for the consquences including my reputation being damaged and any bad feelings towards the events if I don't know the people I am roleplaying with well.
Years ago there was Vampire and another was bdsm internet roleplaying group that went bit nuts people got raped and killed, they became way too unbalanced, there was consequences for there actions in spite of who they thought they were.
You rent server space, you have certain rights and limitiations, final word comes down to what the server owner agrees or disagrees with.
If you doing something against the rules of server it doesn't matter if you believe you own it, especially if it is illegal.

Indeed, and well spoken. Some see the Second Life grid as largely harmless. Still others might see the whole grid as a game, to be won or lost. Much by the rules you present.

And what a game it is, from that perspective! If you think of it that way for a moment; each game square is over five thousand dollars to play for the first year.

Your move, sir, and good luck.

It's off to a good start, but this is just a prequel. The plans are MUCH bigger, and the enthusiastic response in both activity and investment show that this is a beast that is going to take on a life of it's own, and it may so happen that I'm just along for the wild, wild ride;]

As for the game, I hope you haven't overlooked this part: "Here the stakes are trivially low" Losing only has as much meaning as the individual gives it.