more on the changes
The changes to Second Life announced by Linden Labs regarding "adult", "mature" and "pg" content at first glance seem not unreasonable, although one might wonder why a world that consists of nothing but adults needs enforced pg areas, but generally some sort of zoning is not unreasonable, if one owns a nice quiet cafe or club then you might well be a little disturbed to find a large, rowdy prison or BDSM club as your next door neighbour. So the initial proposal did not concern me overly.
Now, fellow residents not only am I concerned, I am angry - one might even say I am mad as hell.
First, lets look at what LL define as "adult":
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The Adult designation applies to Second Life® Regions that host conduct or display content that is sexually explicit or intensely violent, or depicts illicit drug use. Any Region must be designated Adult and therefore require account verification, if it advertises or publicly promotes the following:
- Representations of intensely violent acts, whether or not photo-realistic (for example, depicting death, torture, dismemberment or other severe bodily harm)
- Photo-realistic nudity
- Expressly sexually themed content, spaces or activities (whether or not photo-realistic)
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Now then, lets look at this in detail...because it is all a little vague ladies and gentleman. Intensely violent - right - so obviously - a Gorean branding of a slave shouldn't be happening in the middle of a pg street (it never does anyway but..) how about someone dressed up as Indiana Jones costume bull-whipping bad guys down the street? It isn't sexually explicit but...violent - yes, intensely violent? That's pretty subjective.
Photo realistic nudity - simple enough - you might think - you can't wander through a pg shopping mall naked and with your xcite bits swinging (even if turned off - not particularly unreasonable - although as a European I have to wonder why anyone would or could be offended by a naked human form). The trouble is this is a very broad definition and it applies to all sorts of things - perhaps it's ok to ask skin makers to pixalate out the "naughty bits" but it would also prevent a reproduction of Michelangelo’s statue of David being displayed in a pg sim, I know of at least one artist in SL who has been informed by a Linden that they can display their art in a pg sim as long as they create "pasties" to cover up the nipples and genitalia. I find the idea that art will be censored so deeply offensive that I am incoherent with rage. What does it say about SL residents that they "might" be offended by a work of art? The statue of David stood in Florence town square, on view to one and all, men women and children for around 500 years, even now the original is in a museum for it's own protection, the city authorities have replaced it in the town square with a replica of this great work as far as I am aware the residents of Florence are no more corrupt than the residents of any small city in America.
Where does this end? Good question, I regularly walk around the grid in corset tops (which show my avatars ample cleavage), skirts which give a glimpse of my stocking tops and killer high heels - although I am certainly not open to offers of a sexual nature, there is no denying that my avatar is full of "Expressively themed content" - so will I only be allowed onto a pg sim if I am "modestly" dressed? and who is going to say what is "modest"? Is it going to be that for me to travel into a pg sim I am going to have to don a burkah or go back to wearing my nuns habit, which covers me from top to toe?
Now the last part, "illicit drug use", let us assume, for a moment, that all drug use on SL is illicit because well, as far as I know, prescriptions aren't available on SL and all drugs (even alcohol) are illicit somewhere in the world. All well and good, you might say - except, well any depiction of drug use is going to be adult, so, no Bob Marley posters with his trade mark "joint" available on a pg sim, no history or in depth explanation of the Rastafarian religion, no recreations of a Victorian opium den - it all goes, ladies and gentleman, to a ghetto marked "adult".
Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad except that the age verification system LL are beta testing just doesn't work well (if at all) for people out side of the USA, there are serious and reasonable concerns about the security of that personal data and - well - according to TOS we are all adults, and if LL want to confirm this (more to cover their legal asses than for any other reason) then ask people to provide a telephone number where a member of staff can contact a new resident to confirm their age.
Fellow residents, I would say to you this proposal has been badly thought out, and more reasonable alternatives (which are possibly more expensive to LL) have been ignored. If you let this go, if you shrug your shoulders, and say "it's just a game, it won't affect me", then fair enough, walk away, but remember, this will affect the basic principles of freedom of expression and freedom of speech in a virtual world founded on the principles of "Give the people a platform and let them create a metaverse".
If on the other hand you are moved by this, then vote for the jira ticket http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-2727 , make your voice heard on the forums, join one of the groups in world and, if at all possible, join the in world protest that is being organised by the Revolting Adults group.
The cynic in me says that Linden Labs will do whatever they feel will maximise their profit margin, but do not let them sweep the biggest percentage of the grid in to "adult" rated ghettos and say "No one complained".
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