Breaking News: Linden Lab's Executive Chairman Makes Statement on Ageplay Accusations

 

This afternoon, there was an announcement from Linden Lab's Executive Chairman, Brad Oberwager, concerning some accusations that some Lindens and Moles were engaged in ageplay (virtual roleplay of child sex abuse). He stated that the charges are being taken very seriously, and while nothing's been found yet, the investigation is continuing to make double sure.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to the Second Life community. Thank you for being part of this wonderful world and giving us the time to carefully assess our situation after we became the subject of a blog post that has the potential to cause harm to our dedicated community members and the virtual world platform that so many people call “home.” 

The post contains a complex mix of accusations regarding Second Life, and it questions our strong dedication to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of the Second Life community.

Our Response to the Allegations

At the heart of the blog post were unsettling accusations about sexualized, virtual avatar ageplay, including alleged violations of our community guidelines. I want to be clear: we have a zero-tolerance policy against sexualized ageplay. The safety and integrity of the Second Life platform are paramount to us, especially concerning the protection of minors. 

We will continue to enforce our existing governance policies and community standards and we are proud of our collaboration with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to combat child exploitation. These efforts underscore our commitment to a safe online environment. 

With that said, I want to acknowledge that we can do better; this has been a harsh wake-up call for us that we need to take tangible actions to improve Second Life’s governance policies and protective features that benefit the entire community.

Our Actions Moving Forward

I promise you that we are taking this very seriously. Very. Full stop. 

I promise we hear you. We know you're angry and you're confused. We are working to do our best to resolve your concerns and restore your trust in us. These are complicated issues and we want to do things right. We will make mistakes along the way. I wish I could say we will not, but we will. 

As owner of Linden Lab, I have initiated a thorough investigation, both internally and with external partners, to review whether or not there have been any violations of our company and community policies by employees, contractors, or community members. While early preliminary internal investigations suggest that some of the accusations are unfounded, I want to make sure that we get additional investigative support externally to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.

One of our top priorities has been to ensure the safety of our residents, moles, employees, and families. There are real people behind the avatars, and it has been important to confirm that nobody was in actual physical danger. 

Additionally, I am taking proactive steps to review and revamp many of our policies, including a comprehensive review of our Community Standards, Content Guidelines, and Ageplay Policy. Any violation detected will be met with swift enforcement actions to protect our community. We’ll be sharing these revised policies in the coming weeks and, critically, we are turning to the community to help us shape the future of how governance operates within Second Life. 

Our Commitment to You

Second Life remains a vibrant platform for expression, creativity, and connection. I and the Second Life team are deeply committed to protecting our community and ensuring that Second Life continues to be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone. Your trust is our priority, and we pledge to work tirelessly to maintain and enhance the integrity of our virtual world.

I appreciate the patience and support of our community as we navigate this challenge. Together, we will emerge stronger and more united in our mission to build the best possible virtual world experience.

 

The accusations were made from an anonymous account on a blog in late February.  The Newser reported on March that the Lab was starting to investigate them. 

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Speaks About The Bots

 

With all the talk about the Bonniebots, and Linden Lab having to suspend comments on several threads on the official forums about them as well as talking to the staff behind the bots, it was no surprise they would eventually say something. And on Friday afternoon, February 3, they did, posting a statement in the official blog under "Balancing Initiative and Privacy."

We know there has been quite a bit of discussion about Scripted Agents/NPCs lately.  Linden Lab is committed to continuing its excellent track record of keeping your personally identifiable information safe and secure.  We understand that there is a certain amount of information a “bot” service has been collecting and displaying on their third party website that is causing unease in our community, and we’re working on the best way to address these concerns.

Linden Lab is having conversations with the parties involved, however this should not be taken as an endorsement of any sort. We have spoken several times in an attempt to get a full picture of the situation. These discussions have been mutually beneficial, and will help us as we look to update our policy on Scripted Agent/NPC operation in Second Life.

We recognize the need for improvements in specific areas, so in the near future we will be making adjustments to policies where needed.  We have seen many requests from the community with a wide array of suggestions, and we appreciate all earnest and civil engagement. Internal discussions will continue beyond the Scripted Agent/NPC Policy, and any programmatic changes will be communicated as those roll out.

Thank you to everyone who engaged in this topic and added your voice.  While we have had to shut down several discussions that became unproductive, we have welcomed feedback through support contacts and have been using this feedback to inform our decision-making. We are listening, and are working to make sure that Second Life is a welcoming and engaging world for all our Residents (and their automata). 

 

The parts "as we look to update our policy on Scripted Agent/NPC operation in Second Life," and "in the near future we will be making adjustments to policies where needed," suggests there *may* be some changes as to what information bots can collect in the future. But this is not a sure thing.

"A Message from our CEO: Coronavirus and Second Life Operations"

With the Coronovirus continuing to spread and make news, Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden issued a statement yesterday on the issue. It was to state that measures were being taken to ensure the crisis would not disrupt service, and asking them to show patience, and welcome, to new and returning residents.

* * * * *

As concerns about the current coronavirus outbreak continue, we want to assure the community that we have taken steps to ensure that the Second Life operations stay steady while also helping our employees stay safe through this public health crisis. Our hearts and thoughts go out to those who have been affected by this unprecedented event. 

Second Life will continue to be available without interruption as we get through this tough time together. Due to our previous crisis contingency planning and the flexible nature of our distributed workforce, we are not expecting any changes to response times for support inquiries and payment processing. 

We know that Second Life serves a great purpose for our community as people seek ways to stay in touch with their friends and co-workers, as they grapple with new social distancing protocols, mandated remote work requirements, and other precautionary measures. 

With the closure of many universities and displaced conferences and events, Second Life also continues to be an option for disrupted organizations looking for new remote work, classroom or event solutions. To help, we recently implemented a reduction in pricing to a flat $99/month per region for qualified education and nonprofit organizations.

We are seeing an increase in new registrations and returning residents during this outbreak. Please be kind and welcoming to those who may just need a friendly conversation to escape from this crazy world for a moment or more. If you have a friend or colleague who is looking for a safe place to socialize online during these tough times, we encourage you to help them discover how Second Life can enable them to feel less isolated by connecting them to your favorite communities or experiences.

Like many companies across the globe, we’ve put into action new remote work policies for our employees to ensure that they can take care of themselves and their families while continuing to work from home. Prior to this incident, a large percentage of our company was already working from the “Moonlab” (that’s what we call remote employees’ locations), so we have been able to transition quickly and efficiently to a fully remote setup. 

For the past 17 years, Second Life has been a special place that brings people across the world together -- and we appreciate your trust and support as we get through this rough time together.

Ebbe and all the Lindens

InWorldz Gofundme Halts Donations, Co-Founder Issues Statement

In the latest in the developing story about the impending shutdown of InWorldz, the Gofundme that owner Beth Reisch set up for the virtual world is no longer accepting donations. She had  originally stated the money would be going to save the virtual world. But after most of it had been raised, she had apparently changed her goal to instead establishing a new one, and moving things from InWorldz to this new one. While some people were supportive, others were confused or angry. And comments were disabled.

Also, there was a statement in Hypergrid Business by InWorldz co-founder David Daeshler on the situation. As he had left the staff over a year ago, he wasn't sure what was going on.

For all those that have been asking me what is going on with InWorldz, I’d like to make a public statement.

I have not been involved in the management or operation of InWorldz since the end of 2016. I have not been privy to company information regarding finances or operational factors since at least that time. I don’t know the state of the loan agreement that was executed by Beth Reischl alone. I do not know if the creditors that are owed money by Beth and InWorldz, LLC have been repaid, or if they are still seeking final resolution to what sounds like a loan default.

Further, I don’t know where the funds from the GoFundMe campaign that Beth Reischl started are going. Since the decision has now been made to start a new grid, I do not know if those funds that were collected under the name of InWorldz, LLC are now being funneled to a new business entity, or personal accounts.

I feel very badly for all residents that are at the risk of losing their home and their things. I have missed being a part of the InWorldz community and spirit for the past few years, but the business has struggled due to a constant push for the lowest possible price against competition with no business model. We have all had to make sacrifices and, in some cases, move on to make ends meet.

I hope the Beth can clarify how this new grid will operate, and how InWorldz, LLC’s creditors will be repaid given a possible move to a new business entity.

I miss you all. I miss hearing how InWorldz improved your life. I miss hearing about the new love and real-life marriages that happened because of our service. InWorldz will always hold a special place in my heart, and I’ll always remember what you all taught me…

Always, just one more dance.

Sincerely,

David C Daeschler

In the meantime, the hours tick away for the virtual world, the day the servers set to expire being Friday July 27.

Update: InWorldz has provided a Schedule of OARS , "After we produce the OAR file, the items will be cleared from the region and it will be taken down. This way you'll know when the OAR file has been done. I know everyone wants more time, but we don't have any more time to give. So by producing a full OAR, we can process them over the next week to get items filtered out and moved on to their region owners."

Sources: Hypergrid Business, Gofundme, InWorldz

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: On Gallery Graine Closing

It was on Sunday, July 21, that Graine Macbain announced that she would be closing her Blue Curacao sim, and with it her Riverside Café and Galleries. The Newser contacted her and invited her to say a few things about the closing. She responded by sending us a few pictures of an event that took place that day in Scottius Polke's mushROOM high above the sim, and a statement explaining how her places came to be, and why her sim could no longer stay up.

Read Graine's reader submission in People.

Linden Lab "Celebrating 14 Years of SL With Investments in Its Future"

When Sansar was finally opened about a month ago by Linden Lab, the response from Second Life's residents has been mostly negative.    So perhaps is should have been no surprise that the Lab would issue a statement of some kind reassuring it's customers of it's existing virtual world that it would be continuing to maintain and improve it as much as ever. Yesterday, August 29, Linden Lab issued a press release announcing a "set of investments into Second Life and its communities," including customer support, attracting new residents, and "enhancements to our engineering support." The Lab went on to say the amount of money budgeted for the following year in these investments is in the "millions" of US dollars, "We at Linden continue to be impressed by what we witness from Residents every day, and we want you to know that we share that commitment to and love for Second Life. "

Linden Lab listed the following as among what it plans for the following year:

We are hard at work upgrading all of the SL infrastructure and moving it to the cloud, which will bring a wealth of opportunities to Residents near and far, and allow us, among many other things, to make SL more performant for Residents across the world from us. It may also allow us to introduce new products with more flexible pricing.  

We’re working on several features to increase the value of Premium subscriptions. Most recently we gave Premium members priority access to near-full events, and shortly, we’ll be ready to unveil another bit of exciting news for subscribers. 

We're building out a series of great extensions to Windlight (code name: EEP!), which will give value, flexibility, and new marketability to land, and will make Windlight settings tradeable assets.    

We have an extension to the animation system in the works (code name: Animesh) that will allow non-avatar objects to use more powerful and efficient skeletal animations the way avatars can today, and even more changes planned for creators and merchants later in the year. 

We’ve also got new experiences and events coming. An exciting new grid-wide gaming experience is coming soon! The team can’t wait to share the details with you in just a few days. Also in the works for this fall is an updated Halloween Haunted Tour, with new spooktacular events to celebrate. Not to mention, we’re turning 15 next year - SL15B, baby! That’s an incredible milestone and we are looking forward to collaborating with you to produce an amazing celebration.

It's not yet clear if this "exciting new grid-wide gaming experience" is what Patch and Dee Linden were hinting at during the SL14B or not. But it should be interesting to see

Read the press release by Linden Lab in it's entirety Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

BREAKING NEWS!! Linden Labs Postpones Sansar Release Until 2019, Annouces Joint Development on "Ark Park" Vitrual World

Update: April Fools

In a surprise move yesterday, Linden Lab announced in a press release that it was postponing the release of the Sansar virtual world until "sometime in 2019." Partially, this is due to a Windows 10 update that rendered the Sansar viewer unplayable, and partially due to difficulties in making Sansar playable on older computers. "We thought these problems would be quickly solved," the statement read, "but our early optimism was disproved and dealing with these problems will take a while.

Linden Lab also announced it was cooperating with two gaming companies, Studio Wildcard and Snail Game, in developing a third virtual world: "Ark Park." Based on the survival game "Ark: Survival Evolved," the virtual world allows users to interact with the dinosaurs without attacking or being attacked.

(Click here if the video fails to load)

"Dinosaurs have always been popular in computer gaming," the statement from Linden Lab read, "And we are happy to be a part of making a virtual world around them in cooperation with Studio Wildcard and Snail Game."

To see the statement from Linden Lab in it's entirety, Click Here.

Video from Gamespot.

Linden Lab Issues Statement on President's Executive Order on Immigration

President Trump's executive order on immigration from several Middle Eastern countries (listed in full in this article from The Guardian), has caused no shortage of debate, inside the United States and out. Yesterday, Linden Lab made the decision to get involved in the debate by issuing this statement.

We at Linden Lab are extremely disappointed in and adamantly opposed to Trump’s recent executive order on immigration. We reject racism, intolerance, and xenophobia.

We are proud to include immigrants among our leadership, colleagues, and customers, as well as our families, friends, and communities. We value diversity, compassion, and understanding, and we are proud that our products enable people to come together and form meaningful connections regardless of differences in their offline lives.

Trump’s order is counter to what we value and antithetical to American ideals. We join the many voices calling on the US government to remove this restriction as quickly as possible and to refrain from imposing additional barriers that threaten opportunities for immigrants, under-represented minorities, and women.

Hamlet Au, whom in the past was under the employ of Linden Lab, praised the statement's choice of words, contrasting them to the "mild and conciliatory" statement issued by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whom expressed concern about "the impact of the recent executive orders," but expressed relief that the President was willing to allow the children of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.  (statement in full).

Liberals and progressives have mostly condemned the President's executive orders, calling the 90 day moratorium a "Muslim ban," and say it goes against the ideals of what America stands for. Some compared it to when the SS St. Louis with over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany was denied entry in the United States. While a few conservatives have expressed reservations about the executive order, there has been general agreement among them that a temporary ban on countries where there's a problem with Islamic terrorism is a necessity. Some have pointed out Europe has had numerous problems with it's Muslim refugees, including a number of reports of rape.

It should be noted on the day of Linden Lab's statement, there was a story in the news about a fatal attack on a Denver policeman in which the man arrested was a Muslim. But the man arrested for murder was a native-born convert, not an immigrant, and the mosque he was attending reportedly tried to warn the police the man had been radicalized. Supporters and opponents of the executive order are likely to see the incident very differently.

Sources: The Guardian, Linden Lab, New World Notes, Facebook, ABC News  

Bixyl Shuftan

Special Announcement Tomorrow

A couple weeks ago, we stated we had a special announcement coming up. The day of the announcement, assuming all goes as planned, will be tomorrow, Friday October 14.

So just what is the announcement? Stay tuned and read for yourself.

Get Ready For An Important Announcement

In a few weeks, we should have an important announcement concerning the Second Life Newser. While we're not saying just what it will be just yet, it does concern developments over time, and will likely help determine the future of the paper.

Stay tuned.

Blizzard Apologizes For "Warlords of Draenor" Launch Problems, Gives Free Time to Subscribers

By Bixyl Shuftan

When Blizzard released "World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor,"the latest expansion for the worlds most popular Multiplayer Online RolePlaying game, about a week ago on Thursday November 13, they ran into trouble. Besides so many players trying to get on at once, they were hit with a huge Denial of Service attack. The result was players often having to wait in long queues to play.

It was yesterday November 18 in which Executive Producer Allen Brack offered an official statement about the troubles.

I know how much everyone was looking forward to this expansion ... all the comments I've seen indicate that this is one of our best yet. But the quality of the content does not excuse the subpar launch experience we delivered, and I apologize for that. The first two days of the expansion were not a great experience, with many of you facing high queues or significant gameplay problems. We worked around the clock to tackle the demand issues and technical challenges, and fortunately things started looking better on Saturday. While millions of you were able to get in and play over the weekend ... others still ran into very lengthy queues, particularly on the highest-population realms.

Brack stated Blizzard was expanding server capacity, "which should greatly reduce queue times for most realms if not eliminate queues altogether." They were also giving it's players some additional time free of charge.

In recognition of the difficulties so many of you ran into when trying to play over the first few days, we're adding five days’ worth of extra time to every subscription in the Americas, Oceania, and Europe that was active as of Friday, November 14.

Brack also offered his thanks to the devoted core of Warcraft fans whom have stuck with the game.

I also hope you'll accept my apology and keep your faith in us. The support voiced by many of you as we worked through the challenges was immensely appreciated. We're extremely grateful to be part of such a passionate community. We love World of Warcraft, and we're very proud of this expansion, so stumbling out of the gates like this was very disappointing for all of us.

Over fifty pages of replies followed the announcement in the thread, the peaks at a random few showing some players not having received their free time yet, but mostly people saying "Thank you."

Sources: battle.net, PC Gamer 

Bixyl Shuftan

Microsoft buys Mojang for 2.5 Billion, Founder "Notch" Persson to Depart

Following reports that the two companies were in talks, yesterday on September 15, Mojang, the makers of the highly popular "Minecraft" game announced that they were indeed being bought up by the Microsoft corporation. The selling price was listed at 2.5 Billion dollars.

In a statement on their website, the spokesman tried to reassure Minecraft fans "Everything is going to be OK." As for why the company was being sold, "Minecraft has grown from a simple game to a project of monumental significance. Though we're massively proud of what Minecraft has become, it was never Notch's intention for it to get this big." They felt only a few companies were big enough to continue to allow the game to grow "on the scale it deserves." As they had worked with Microsoft since 2012, they were "impressed by the continued dedication to our game and it's development. We're confident that Minecraft would continue in an awesome way." Although the three people who founded the company were leaving, most of the team was planning to stay.

On his personal website, "Notch" Persson, the man who made Minecraft, gave his own statement. "I make games because it's fun," he wrote, "... but I don't make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don't try to change the world. Minecraft has certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games." Persson had actually stepped down from developing Minecraft "a relatively long time ago," but stuck around on smaller projects as people were telling him he was "important to the culture."

But he described an incident "a couple of weeks ago when the Internet exploded with hate against me" over a user license agreement issue that he had nothing to do with. Later on, he "started to realize I didn't have the connection to my fans that I thought I had. I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand ... I'm not an enterpenuer. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programer who likes to have opinions on Twitter."

Persson stated he would be leaving Mojang as soon as the deal was completed, going back to doing small experiments, "I love you. All of you. Thank you for turning Minecraft into what it has become, but there are too many of you, and I can't be responsible for something this big. In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a larger sense, it's belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change. It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

Mojang's statement can be read in full (here), and Persson's can be read (here).

Bixyl Shuftan

InWorldz/Second Life Connection Center Closes - Statement From Zia Larina

Just a few days after it helped organize a discussion about InWorldz, members of the InWorldz/Second Life Connection Center group got a surprise. Without warning, the group's owner, Amore Crux, announced the place was closing. Manager Zia Larnia was just as surprised as anyone else to hear the news, and today made a statement about what had happened.

Read Zia's statement in Other Grids and MMOs.