Can we please just be adult about this?

On April 21st, Cyn Linden posted an “update” relating to changes to Adult Content in Second Life. As is usual with such postings from Linden Lab personnel there was much talk about about discussions with residents, brown-bag meetings and implementing the changes “in the least disruptive way possible”.

This has amounted to a case of being the good, the unfortunate and the ugly.

• The good: LL have apparentlybroadened the means of Age Verification to include having Payment Information Used as a means of verification (although this has yet to be confirmed on the Age Verification page) – so as long as you’ve used a credit card to purchase linden dollars in-world, you’re “verified” – the only problem you may encounter is if a sim owner opts to set the “Age Verification” flag on their sim, in which case you will need to be age verified to enter
• The unfortunate: the Adult Continent is a fact of life (Ursula), despite Linden Lab’s previous assurances the option of a ring fenced PG region would form a part on-going discussions in the matter
• The ugly: Linden labs seem determined not to engage with those of those active in the SL BDSM community as to what is considered “Mature” – as opposed to “Adult” – content.

That LL have opted to push ahead with the Adult Continent (indeed, have built it) should come as no surprise. Let’s face it, they’d already determined this would be the case before the first announcement relating to “adult content” was ever made – just as they’d already determined their course of action with regards to OpenSpace sim long before the initial announcement relating to them was made last year.

What is of concern, however, is the lack of engagement of the definition of “adult content”. Make no mistake, the current definitions, by-and-lage, are far too broad to suggest D/s and the majority of BDSM activities / products are “safe” from an “Adult” classification. Indeed, so subjective are the definitions, its fair to say that currently, BDSM could be said to fall squarely into the “Adult” category.

• Representation of intensely violent acts? Well – a whipping would, in most social circles, be regarded as a violent act. As would a kidnap role-play (taking someone ostensibly against their will)
• Photo-realistic nudity? – yup, tends to occur in both advertising and in the fact many subs prefer to be nude or at least semi-nude at at times
• Expressly sexual themed content? Hmmm….one might argue that D/s and BDSM is not purely about sex, but within SL few could argue that a large part of BDSM play is related to eroticism and “sexual themes”

Clearly, the big differentiator in matters is that D/s and BDSM are consenual acts – and this is the first thing the current definitions fail to address.

But it goes far beyond this, and right now, the one thing Linden Lab (again) appears unwilling to do is actually engage with people raising genuine concerns. There is much about D/s and BDSM that can be taken outside of the context of either “sex” or “violence” (again; is it really violent if the parties involved are clearly consenting to the actions in which they are participating (using a precept such as RACK)?); so where does it fall in the scheme of things?

Yet Linden Lab – specifically Cyn and Blondin Linden – repeatedly duck the issue when asked for clarification. And even when they do comment, they manage to increase concern and confusion.

For example, on the one hand we’re told “representations of intensely violent acts” are “Adult”, but then Blondin Linden pops into the forum an states that combat sims are merely “Mature”…

Given that combat sims frequently include mutilation, shooting, violent street fighting, knifings, dismemberment and many of the more advanced forms of violent death, it is hard to see how they don’t fall under the banner of “Adult” – yet Blondin open states this is to be the case!

AND….in the same breath Blondin intimates that a stip club will be “Mature” unless it uses certain “adult keywords” for search purposes, in which case it will be classificed as “Adult”. This gets even more confusing given that Blondin also states that while such a “keyword list” is being defined, LL will not release it as they don’t want it “gamed” – but if the list is not published, how are venue owners supposed to know when the have crossed the line from “Mature” to “Adult”?

And this is the crux of the problem: how are we supposed to enter into an adult discussion on and adult topic which will have far-reaching implications for the whole of Second Life when Linden Lab employee cherry-pick the questions they will answer?

Well, for one thing, we should – and must – avail ourselves of the one channel of expression they’ve given us: the forum thread. PLEASE, if you haven’t done so, take 5 or 10 minutes out to go over the thread and add your reasoned arguments as to why LL need to be more open and clear-cut in defining what constitutes Adult Content.

At the same time, to take a leaf right out of Dari Caldwell’s book, IM Blondin Linden and again politely let him know that simply ignoring questions and turning a deaf ear to legitimate concerns is not the manner in which responsible adults behave.

SL has suffered significant setbacks in user trust over the the 12 months (and I’ll refrain from making a major comment on how that “coincidentally” matches the time Mark Kingdon has been at the helm). While there may well be legitimate issues for introducing better “Adult” controls to SL (at least in some measure) the way they are going about it at present is very negative and risks further erosion of their credibility among adult users….