Socially|Mundane

Until this year, Second Life had two basic areas of operation (AO - I know: LOL): They always were referred to as PG and Mature. Pretty broad categories with regard to things so subjective and wide-open to individual purview.

It was a simpler time, "mature" is where all the naughty things were allowed and "PG" is where the naughty things were not allowed - and often said to really mean "G-rated". Questions about exactly what was and what was not allowed were raised way back in 2006 during my first year and certainly much longer before that.

The word from the horse's mouth (direct from top decision-makers of Linden Lab, Robin Linden being one of them) was pretty clear. We weren't led, but rather made to believe that anything of a "PG-13" nature or more must be in "mature" areas, including any nudity where naughty body parts could be seen and even in the language used. Even epithets were not allowed. Everything else of a simple, clean nature was allowed in either regions, PG and Mature.

However, the caveat to this was that private areas, such as a home could have these "mature" things otherwise not allowed in public PG regions. This included running around streaking as long as you remain in your private space. Private meaning just that: private by invitation only and not a place where there is even an implication of invitation to the public at large.



In other words, as long as it can't be seen "accidentally" by casual passers-by, you were good to go. Common sense would dictate that a retail space that sold explicitly naughty things or previewed such things as skin where the previews weren't censored also were not allowed in PG regions because the foo-foo adults with child-like demeanors would "accidentally" see them while shopping.

Okay, fair enough.

For the most part, the vast majority of residents have followed-through on this self-policing decree and the grid has been more or less loosely segregated between PG and Mature spaces and regions (sims).

Now a third space called "Adults Only" (AO — great, LL rearranges our language to where the most common SL-specific codeword for "Animation Overrider" is now redefined) — has been created, the working name of which is "Ursula", a full walled-garden virtual continent.

Ursula is now officially called "Zindra". Ummm... eeewww.

I presume someone whose real name is Ursula likely bitched to Linden Lab or something about the connotation of the name being associated and linked to quad-X-rated deviant activities and the mental pictures such descriptions conjure.

/me rolls eyes. Sorry, Linden Lab, but "Zindra" sounds so... adolescently uncreative ... like "Voltraziggitech" or "Zigmastic Ultron Apperator!" or something from the 1970's.

But I digress.

Unfortunately, too many people make demands without thinking. I always say 'be very careful what you ask for, because you very well might get it'. The same is true when you ask questions that really shouldn't be asked. The problem is that you might not like that answer and that answer may not be the correct answer. Now your blood-pressure increases and ulcer-forming worry sets-in when it really doesn't need to.

In PG regions there are a lot of residences. People often use these places to set-up their virtual homes. Fill each room with the usual kinds of furniture, such as sofa in the living room, beds in the bedroom, stove and refrigerator in the kitchen and so on.

Though there still are a lot of horrible builds, as a rule PG regions are relatively clean and certainly don't include nasty lag-inducing clubs and other high-activity events. It's why I prefer a PG region over others to place my retail space. On the mainland I answer only to the LIndens and not some other resident, and the region often is empty, leaving the lowest lag possible when potential customers come visiting.

However, will the majority of all these homes in PG areas, specifically PG-rated mainland regions have to be burnt-down? Remember, back in 'the day' - as long as your sexbed and sexsofa and sexpantry were kept behind opaque walls in your private space, you were okay and good to go.

Now, along comes some clarification from Cyn Linden (paragraphs are made for easier reading):

The Definitions: Towards the end of April, we posted a draft of the definitions on the Knowledge Base and feedback from the community was both instantaneous and insightful. After discussing these definitions further with Residents, we wanted to be sure to clarify two important issues that seemed to be source of some common confusion:

a) the term photo-realistic and and how that pertains to Adult content. Photo-realistic nudity will be considered Adult, BUT there is now a subsection that talks about exclusions. This section used to only talk about sexually-themed content. Now it will include all Adult content. Educational and cultural content will be exempted.

b) new PG guidelines appeared to be much more strict than our previous PG classification. In fact, the definition of PG has not actually changed, and this is written up more clearly now.

Enforcement will not change.

[From Adult Content Changes in Summary - Features - Second Life Blogs]

The highlighted statement is my modification. The reason I have highlighted it is because, again, we were made to believe differently from what is described on the Second Life Knowledge Base page Cyn links to "for more information and definitions".

First, "new PG guidelines" and "definition ... not actually changed" appears to be an oxymoron, but it's not. The problem comes from 'enforcement' over the years from Linden Lab regarding PG regions and what is actually there.

On the page Cyn references is this statement regarding PG areas:

What are "PG" Regions, groups, events, and classifieds?

There are some landowners and Residents who desire a Second Life experience distinct from the activity that occurs in Mature and Adult Regions. Region owners who wish to host this sort of Second Life experience can (but need not) designate their Regions as PG. A Region may be designated PG if it does not advertise or make available content or activity that's sexually explicit, violent or depicts nudity. Likewise, sexually-oriented objects such as "sex beds" or poseballs may not be located or sold in PG regions.

The word "located" is the twist. Does this mean everyone with anything that contains a single poseball that insinuates anything 'naughty' (romantically or not) will have to pack-up and leave? Will the PG-rated regions become virtual deserts with a dearth of any reasonable population?

To say these items may not be sold in PG regions (sims) makes perfect sense and is or should be quite self-explanatory (of course there always will be idiots on the grid.) The question comes in the meaning of being located in the region.

In other words, does this mean that some poor soul whose skybox in the middle of a PG region at 4096 meters high which has a sexbed in the bedroom is ripe for abuse reports and reprimand from the Lindens?

As this is written: yes.

In reality: I doubt it will happen very much because the owner can easily argue that it is a private space, even if it is on the ground. Besides, where the hell on the entire grid can you find a bed that doesn't have at least a few sex-oriented poseballs in it?

My point being this: the Lindens are not tyrants. Well, most of them anyway ~winks~.

I really don't think any Linden called to your home to investigate your sexbed will really say or do anything much as long as you are making a good-faith effort to keep it private and intend it for private use.

In other words, the way Robin Linden explained it back in the day still applies. The "being located" routine I believe still applies to "within plain and clear public view".

I, on the other hand do have a minor situation.

I sell the absolute best thrones in Second Life (no kidding - go check them out and you'll see I'm serious.) However, though they are hugely popular with various-themed role players and 'everyday' people alike, will the fact that a lot of Gorean role players who enjoy them cause my thrones to be an adult-item and cause my selling of them to be 'banned' from PG regions?

The very term Gor or Gorean is considered an adult term and will be filtered as such. Thus, I must now remove those terms from my descriptions. Fortunately, these terms do not affect the "adultability" on XStreet SL (XSL) - yet.

The other issue I have not and will not ask the Lindens about is this: As with 99.999% of all furniture on the grid, my thrones do include one menu choice (among the 10 others) that allows the 'naughty' to be experienced while on the throne.

Even though all the items in my store are "G" rated (more or less) - will that single menu choice get me an abuse report and a reprimand from Linden Lab? I don't know. Possibly, because I am selling those thrones.

It is my hope that the minor 'feature' that makes-up less than 5% of the whole will not affect my ability to remain where I am in a PG-rated region. And besides, the only way any "adult" activity can happen on my thrones is when the user chooses to rez the poseballs, chooses to sit on them and chooses to explore that area of the menu. In fact, my thrones are not "sexually oriented" - even though they do contain a little of that activity built-in. Again, it is the sum of the whole that we must consider, not one tiny portion. In truth, I suspect I am 'safe' - but prepared to react to Linden Lab's wishes if it comes to that.

So this leaves me with an option: shop for new land on a mature region and move (been thinking of this anyway as more prims never hurts), or remove that menu selection from the thrones so they are sterilized for PG use. Of course, I could simply do that for my display models, but deliver the 'full-featured' models on purchase. But does that mean I am "gaming" the rules? Certainly someone somewhere would accuse me of that. I am not so sure that 'feature' of my thrones is a decision-maker on purchase anyway, so I'm not too concerned about it.

You can see how complicated all this can be. Trying to ask a Linden in the forums or through any of the feedback channels will not get me a very good or more likely an inaccurate answer based on a misunderstanding on my questions.

I would have to write a very long question in the forums to be clear about exactly what I am asking. The reviewing Lindens already have massive amounts of reading material and no inclination (rightly so) to really spend any quality time reading my posts and then contemplating properly to come-up with a clear answer to my queries.

Thus the best option really is, in my case, to simply remain with the status quo, wait for an abuse report, then an investigating Linden and then make any required corrections at the time if asked to.

The point being: I have questions I shouldn't be asking because it will open a large can of worms. It is better for me and the Lindens to simply apply a little common sense (in every scenario) and then make minor adjustments on an as-needed basis should that time arise.

The thing is: the Lindens are not tyrants (I know, I said that already). And because they are not tyrants, there is no need to overreact in knee-jerk fashion, sweating bullets and developing ulcers over these new policies like so many others are.

People just need to take a deep breath and go along for the ride. There might be a small bump here and there, but overall, I think it will be a relatively smooth trip.

Art: Thess Writer; Purple Cows (by Skip Staheli); Rudolf Moo

Knowledge Base Article on Maturity Ratings