Linden Lab Updates Terms of Service, Child Avatars Completely Barred From Adult Sims, Now Need "Modesty Layer"

 

Yesterday on Thursday May 2, residents logging in were told they would have to read and sign an updated Terms of Service. At the same time, there was an announcement in the official blog, "Enhancing Our World Together: Important Updates For The Second Life Community."

 

Our priority has always been to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all while preserving the freedom of expression that makes our virtual world so special. That’s why we’re working to further enhance the safety and protection of the Second Life platform. These efforts include strengthening some of our community and employee policies as well as evaluating improvements to our age verification process. 

One area of ongoing scrutiny both internally and externally concerns child-presenting avatars. We recognize and want to acknowledge the vibrant community of residents who enjoy roleplaying as such, and we also feel that it is crucial to reinforce our stance that sexualized ageplay is strictly prohibited. Today, we are updating our Child Avatar Policy to ensure a clear separation and to safeguard all community members. We know that this update has the potential to cause confusion or concern in our community, so we’ve prepared an FAQ which we will continue to update as questions come up.

 

As before, actions of a sexual nature between adult and child avatars (which includes teens and "tweenagers") is strictly forbidden, and will result in being banned. And as before, child avatars are  barred from places that are a clearly adult nature. Also, content intended for child avatars, and this includes teens and "tweens", cannot be of a suggestive manner. There were two additions that are likely to draw at least a few complaints. One was that child avatars cannot enter any sim rated Adult, even if the area itself has no sexual or violent or anything else clearly adult around. Also, the way child avatars are made has to change. While under the old policy genitals were not allowed, under the new one this isn't enough. Even if nothing "bad" shows, child avatars cannot appear nude at all and now need a "modesty layer" in their skin, "Child avatar content creators are required to add a modesty layer which is baked into child avatar skins or bodies, is not transparent, does not match the skin tone, and may not be removed."

 

The Lab did state, "Merely having a childlike avatar does not violate this policy. It is not our intent to banish childlike avatars in and of themselves." This likely means tiny avatars. 

Later that day, one Relay event would he affected. The Sunbeaver Moon Dance takes place in one of the community sims, and a few years ago, the sim rating had been changed to Adult out of worries that Linden Lab would boot consenting adult avatars from activity done behind closed doors. So when Purple Tears' team captain, Wateru Kohime, showed up, he had to change. 

"So stupid," he would later tell me, "Everyone on an adult sim is supposed to be over 18, who cares what we look like? I could be a dwarf that looks exactly like myself but has a big beard and that's perfectly fine, but shave my face and suddenly I have to go?

"I think the way it was before was perfectly fine. Child avatars are okay on an adult sim as long as nothing 'adult' is going on. That's basically what they want to prevent, so as it stood, the rules already prevented it. Like most rules/laws, it only really affects the people that follow them. The people that want to go and break the rules are still going to go and break the rules."

There is a thread in the official forums about the ToS changes. Reading the first five pages, on the whole, people approved of the changes. One poster would comment, "Think it's Linden Lab just covering their you-know-what.  A lot of people are so sensitive on things nowadays.  As a business owner (a bar) I've noticed how the clientele has changed over the years. I've seen some patrons joking and one threatened a lawsuit on the other.  Old times they would laugh it off.  Same thing here. The Lab has to deal with much more regulation stuff then when Philip started the Lab eons ago." One other person wondered if a few venue owners might start booting out everyone who was short or of a certain body type without checking profiles. A third pointed out because some were tired of reading such a long list of ToS without a clue of what changed and what didn't, the Lab needed to make double certain word was getting around. A fourth worried some might try to abuse the rules, "I can easily see these rules being weaponized by bad actors who have a grudge against, say, anime-style avatars."

What do you the readers think? Please comment below.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bringing Teens to Second Life’s Main Grid and Work on Search

Last week, Terrace Linden gave an update on Linden Labs plans to merge the under-18 population of the Teen Grid with the Main. “Today, I’m happy share our plan to create rich and enjoyable Second Life experiences for teens, while keeping in mind their security and safety when joining the Main Grid. ... Our goal is to provide a safe, secure, and rewarding experience to all Second Life Residents, no matter their age.”

For those from age 13 to 15, they would be limited to places owned by a “sponsoring institution,” and would not be able to use ether the “Search” function or the Marketplace on the Internet. For residents of ages 16 and 17, they would have access to all land rated General/PG, both mainland and private sims. Moderate/Mature and Adult regions would be off-limits. But, they would be able to communicate (open chat and instant-message) and friend older users.

With nearly 5,000 General-rated regions in Second Life, the area that will be accessible to our 16- and 17-year-old Residents will dwarf the 100 regions currently available on Teen Second Life, giving them far more space to create, explore, and experience their online environment and what they can do there.

Our 16- and 17-year-old account holders will also be able to communicate fully with all other users on the Main Grid (unless they have been muted or otherwise restricted). This was an important decision for us, and one we think will make Second Life richer for all Residents.


Beginning in January, “13- to 15-year-olds will no longer be able to register for Second Life unless they are brought in through an affiliated organization.” Teens 16 and 17 can register on the Main Grid. Teen Grid residents will have their inventories transferred over, except for those under 16 not in any group moving to the Main Grid. Teen Grid residents ages 13 to 15 who cannot get on the Main Grid will have their accounts inactive until they reach the age of 16.


... the experience of teens in Second Life is only just beginning. We strongly believe that teens have as much to contribute to the Second Life community as their adult counterparts, and we do not want to restrict the flow of ideas and information between the two groups. We all have much to learn from each other.


Residents commenting below generally were skeptical to opposed. “You are opening up a tremendous black hole of legal jeopardy here,” one commented, pointing out a proposed JIRA to keep minors from looking into or interacting in any way sims with higher ratings than they could move about in. More than one resident expressed fear of arrest by police, branded as child molesters for the rest of their lives. Someone suggested that the best solution was probably the simplest, create a new General/PG continent the minors would be restricted to, or just freeze their accounts altogether until they turned 18. “How many teens are we talking about? 500? 1000?” one asked, “Was it really worth causing so much frustration for so many residents for the sake of 1000 kids?” A few commented that teens already had de-facto access, if they lied about their age. And there were those open to Linden Labs plans, but wary, "Do this, but please do it right. I don't want Cindy's dad knocking on my door carrying a baseball bat."

To read the complete Linden blog post and comments: Click Here.

Jack Linden stated Linden Labs has been making improvements to the Search function, “the SL Search team has been working hard to make Search results more accurate and prepare for the Teen Second Life migration to the Main Grid.” He stated there were new filters for Search to differentate General/PG and Moderate/Mature ratings of places, classified ads getting “content filtering to provide another level of rating validation,” “more sophisticated filters to identify spam,” and changes to the destination guide.

The coments below were generally skeptical to critical, one stating “Viewer 2 search is painfully slow compared to 1.x viewer search,” and another commenting Linden Labs was causing numbers of merchants hardship “just so a few hundred kids can come on the grid.”

For the complete post and comments, Click Here.

The Teen Grid Closing, Part Two

It’s been a few days since Philip Linden’s August 14th announcement during his address to the SLCC convention in Boston in which he stated that that the Teen Grid would be closing, and the residents there 16 and 17 years of age being moved to the main Grid in Second Life. Philip Linden obviously knew this would run into a great deal of resistance, calling it “probably the most contentious thing” in his speech. And from the SL forums to resident blogs to Twitter to chats with residents themselves, there has been no shortage of comments.



In his keynote address, Philip began talking about the issue 36 minutes into this video. He stated Linden Labs’ “long term goal is to unify activities on the main grid.” Of launching the Teen Grid, Philip Linden felt “we made a mistake,” commenting on how the two grids were completely separate, unable to share content. With two separate grids, Philip remarked Linden Labs was in a position in which it “could never win.” He also mentioned the educational activities in the main grid, currently unavailable to those on the teengrid.

“In the coming months,” Philip stated, those residents sixteen and seventeen years old in the Teen Grid would be “given notice” and “allowed to transfer” to the Main Grid. He talked about working with educators on the transition for these users, “we’re going to be careful.” Philip was fairly confident about their plans, saying “the content filtering and protections are adequate” saying the 16 and 17 year olds should be able to handle the main grid.

A couple issues are still a guess in how Linden Lab will act. Will those under 18 be limited to G-rated (General) sims? The Wiki’s Maturity Ratings page states a club with "burlesque acts," aka topless dancers, can fall in Mature (Moderate) sims. The thought that 16 year olds can slip into such clubs is enough to chill those who run them, one club manager I talked to saying, “this is gonna to screw ******* and any other club!”

Of those younger than 16, Philip told, “the younger part of the grid we are basically going to turn off.” What happens to them? Will their accounts be dormant, or will they be erased. Being thrown means that whatever Lindens put into those accounts will essentially be thrown out for no fault of the youngster’s own.

Overall, the comments I’ve noticed are mostly negative. In a sense, Linden Labs has managed to offend all parties concerned, the adults whom wonder if they will no longer be able to have the fun they used to, the younger teens whom at best are suspended from any Second Life experience for a while and at worst facing their deletion, and the older teens whose old home will be gone and their status in their new one uncertain.

Not all the comments have been negative. A few of the adults felt it was simply not fair that the younger teens would be thrown out of Second Life for a while. And a few others felt Linden Labs was simply taking off the veil of the misconception that the Main Grid was completely free of adolescents. Aeonix Aeon of Pixel Labs commented, “I don't think it's gonna really change much of anything. Teens were always on the main grid to begin with. They're just acknowledging it and stopping trying to fight it. Probably a major resource drain. ... that’s what a combination of parenting and ratings are for. Just like the Internet itself. There isn't a separate internet just for kids. Instead it relies on ratings, and parental control. But that doesn't stop kids from checking out porn sites. Most parents are lazy when it comes to that. All shutting down the teen grid means is that LL is no longer wasting tons of resources to babysit kids when its really the parent's responsibility.”

As logical as this argument is, it’s doubtful it’ll hold up to the court of public opinion should then teens manage to sneak into a clearly adult area. As Tatero Nino put it, this is “a whole PR mess waiting to happen. And even with the most zealous enforcement, it probably will.”

I can’t help but ask why couldn’t this be done better, maybe simply halt new memberships to the Teen Grid and let attrition take care of the problem, at least that of the younger teenagers. I also recall my old guild in World of Warcraft. Even though teenagers could play the game, my guild didn’t like bringing them in. If someone under 18 wanted in our guild, one of us would have to vouch for his/her good behavior.

Could something like this be done here? For a teenager to be allowed into the main grid, someone here having to confirm he or she will behave? Hardly perfect, but it can only help.

In any event, Philip did state, “in the coming months.” So for now, we have time to debate the issue, and perhaps get Linden Lab to change it's plans.

Bixyl Shuftan

Tatero Nino’s "Dwell on It" post

Linden Lab Community forums, with threads such as “Grid Merger, Opinions” and “What Philip Actually Said About The Teen Grid Closure“

BREAKING NEWS: Teen Grid to Come Down, 16 and 17 Year Olds to Join Mainland

On Saturday August 14 at the SLCC conference, Philip Linden gave his keynote address about future plans for Second Life. Among them was a change which has been around in rumors for years but never brought about until now.

The Teen Grid will be closed, and some of the minors, the 16 and 17 year olds, will be moving to the main.

There's no official post in the blog yet, the news coming from SLCC. But residents certainly have been making comments, some of which can be read: Here.

Developments are still coming in as to what is another major change in Second Life.

Bixyl Shuftan