Category: Simulator User Group

2024 SL SUG meetings week #24 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Bella’s Lullaby, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday,  June 11th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, June 11th, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment due to a bug in the Spring Break release.
  • On Wednesday, June 12th, all RC channels should be updated with the bug fixed version of Spring Break, if it clears QA.

SL Viewer Updates

The rest of the current official viewers in the pipeline remain as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • The server team has recently switched over to Gitflow as their workflow. This may enable the team to provide very bleeding-edge simulator channels on Aditi (the Beta grid), where the curious can poke at code that is mostly untried and certainly untested.
  • For the current week, the server team is engaged on a bugsmash run: suspending work on their core projects and spending a week(ish) focusing on resolving bugs and smaller features for inclusion in a future simulator release. Further requests for simulator-side fixes were taken at the meeting.
  • Monty’s work on smoothly the impact of teleports into regions is starting on its way to being included in a simulator update – no time frame on when it will surface, however.
  • Leviathan Linden pointed out that there is a public github repository for the official “master message template”. This is the file which describes all of the “message” blocks that can be packed in the UDP SL protocol, both between the viewer and the server and also between the backend servers, and which can be used during local builds of the viewer. However, the  repository has been stale for 7 years, and he is now updating it with up-to-date information.
  • A discussion on avatar physics shapes, physics on avatar attachment (none), avatar physics shapes and hit boxes (the latter related to future Combat 2.0 work).
  • General discussions on features and options (not all of them simulator-related).

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL SUG meetings week #23 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Place in the Sun, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, June 4th, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, June 5th:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel will be restarted.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts should be updated with a re-deployment of the Spring Break Simulator update.

Upcoming Deployments

The major deployment for June is set to be Summer Fun. Among other things this should include:

  • Leviathan Linden’s game controller event work to support game controllers – although these will require a viewer-side update to expose the updated viewer UI.
  • Rider Linden’s work on the SL Combat System (SLCS) 2.0 updates (see my Combat User Group summaries for more).
  • LSL updates:
    • A new parameter to llRezObjectWithParams REZ_PARAM_STRING – allows the passing of a 1024 char string to the object being rezzed.
    • llGetStartString() to retrieve the string.
  • A fix for the notecard cache so that it a fixed amount of memory (enough memory to store 48 max-sized notecards) rather than the count of notecards.
  • A fix for the “flying on logging-in” issue.

Those wishing to test any of the above in advance of the deployment of Summer Fun (due some time in June), can do so in the region Riders Test Channel on Aditi (the Beta grid).

The July simulator update is to be called Picnics, but there is no information on what it might contain at present, other than EZ_PARAM_DIE_IF_NO_REZZER, and llDerezMyObject.

Bugsmash Work

  • Bugsmash is the term given to a dev team suspending work on their core projects and spending a week(ish) focusing on resolving bugs and smaller features for inclusion in a future simulator release.
  • In recognition of this, it was suggested that if there are specific, niggling bugs people want looked at, they raise them at this meeting and the Tuesday, June 11th meeting. There is no guarantee any specific issues will be addressed during the Bugsmash period, but having a list  – and update to bugs on Canny will help the Lab assess what might be examined / fixed.

SL Viewer Updates

On Tuesday, June 4th, the Materials Featurettes RC viewer updated to version 7.1.8.9357006492.

The rest of the current official viewers in the pipeline remain as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.7.8820696922, April 29.
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • A discussion on further LSL functions / updates.
  • Commentary about avatar animations states / syncing between viewers / the simulator in terms of updates being passed back and forth.
  • The batting of ideas around particles and the particle system.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL SUG meetings week #22 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mirai Melody, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, May 28, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, May 29th:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel should be updated with a re-deployment of the Spring Break Simulator update, after this had to be rolled back in week #20, and didn’t make the cut for week #21.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts will be restarted.

Upcoming Deployment

The major deployment for June is set to be Summer Fun. Among other things this should include:

  • Leviathan Linden’s game controller event work to support game controllers – although these will require a viewer-side update to expose the updated viewer UI.
  • Rider Linden’s work on the SL Combat System (SLCS) 2.0 updates (see my Combat User Group summaries for more).
  • LSL updates:
    • A new parameter to llRezObjectWithParams REZ_PARAM_STRING – allows the passing of a 1024 char string to the object being rezzed.
    • llGetStartString() to retrieve the string.
  • A fix for the notecard cache so that it a fixed amount of memory (enough memory to store 48 max-sized notecards) rather than the count of notecards.

SL Viewer Updates

No official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the pipeline as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • A further discussion on potential HTTP updates (such has the ability to read HTML).
  • A question on increasing the memory limit for scripts – in short, nothing in the works at present.
  • Both of the above sparked a general and overlapping discussion – please refer to the video below.
  • A request was made for a SL Combat 2.0 feature – the ability to teleport vehicles (which obviously could be used for other applications).
    • As Rider Linden pointed out, just one issue here is that regions (and parcels within them) can block object entry, and thus could cause teleports of vehicle at scale to go awry at times, as the teleport would have no way of knowing if vehicle entry is permitted at the destination location.
    • However, he requested the idea be submitted as a feature request so that it can be discussed internally.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL SUG meetings week #21 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024 - click any image for full size
Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 21st, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, May 21st, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, May 22nd:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel should be updated with a re-deployment of the Spring Break Simulator update, after this had to be rolled back in week #20.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts will be restarted.

Upcoming Deployment

The major deployment for June is set to be Summer Fun. Among other things this should include:

  • Leviathan Linden’s game controller event work to support game controllers – although these will require a viewer-side update to expose the updated viewer UI.
  • Rider Linden’s work on the SL Combat System (SLCS) 2.0 updates (see my Combat User Group summaries for more).
  • LSL updates:
    • A new parameter to llRezObjectWithParams REZ_PARAM_STRING – allows the passing of a 1024 char string to the object being rezzed.
    • llGetStartString() to retrieve the string.
  • A fix for the notecard cache so that it a fixed amount of memory (enough memory to store 48 max-sized notecards) rather than the count of notecards.

SL Viewer Updates

No official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the pipeline as:

  • Release viewer: Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247, dated May 8 and  promoted May 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.8.9103842320, May 17.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 8820696922, April 29.
  • Project viewers:

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • The feature request to prioritise 2K support for Bakes on mesh is gathering a lot of support.
    • This sparked discussion on VRAM being maxed out, and a reiteration that the viewer show only download textures at the resolution required to match their screen size (e.g. if the texture takes up 512×512 pixels – that’s the resolution downloaded and used), and only download and use the full 2K version when zoomed right in, then discarding higher resolutions and clearing VRAM on zooming out. This also lead to comments as to the overall effectiveness of this approach.
  • llSetContentType and setting it text/html:  a discussion on the restriction whereby if the requesting html viewer is not owned by the server object, or is not the built in html viewer, the sent content type is just “text”, and the implications of removing that restriction (e.g. to make media on a prim (MOAP) more generally usable).
  • Further discussion on the notecard cache change.
  • Monty Linden noted that the issue of the Friends list being unreliable in reporting people’s on/of-line status is being reported again (he referenced this report). He requested that anyone experiencing issues with on-line friends showing as off-line (or vie-versa) to please comment on the report.

 

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL SUG meetings week #20 summary – updated

Posted on by Inara Pey
Lenixus Project ~ Chapter I : The Snail Princess, May 2024 – blog post †

Update: May 15th: The WebRTC test region is WebRTC Voice 1. Read more on WebRTC Voice in this official blog post.

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 14th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, May 14th, the Main SLS channel was restarted without any deploy,
  • On Wednesday, May 15th:
    • The BlueSteel RC channel will be updated with the Spring Break Simulator update.
    • The rest of the RC simhosts will be restarted.
    • A small Snack channel has been set-up for WebRTC testing (sorry, no region name available).

SL Viewer Updates

  • Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.7.8974243247 and dated May 8th, was promoted to release status on Monday, May 13th.

The rest of the official viewers in a pipeline remain as:

  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.7.8820704257, May 6.
    • Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.7.8883017948, May 2.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes), version 7.1.7.8820696922, April 29.
  • Project viewers:

PBR Materials + Blinn-Phong Support

[Video: 7:45 and (discussion) 46:05-meeting end]

  • Concern was raised over a quote of a comment by Runtai Linden I carried from the May 10th TPV Developer meeting; specifically:
Sometime between now and then, we’ll likely start making the LSL scripts that modify Blinn-Phong parameters modify their PBR equivalents, or do nothing when a PBR material is applied. So llSetColor, for example, would set the base colour, not the diffuse colour. That should make life a lot simpler for scripters going forward, as scripters have been giving us feedback that trying to do something simple like that with existing scripts is impossible as they have to do a check to see if a glTF material is applied, and if there is then use llSetPrimParams and if there isn’t, use llSetColor.
  • This caused concern at the SUG meeting, and so Brad Linden Offered the following:
So, not officially speaking for Runitai, but I think his most important concern is that SL is trying to move towards standards compliance. and for objects with GLTF content attached, the only standards compliant way to display it is to fully implement GLTF PBR exactly as the Khronos group specifies it. so if an object has PBR attached, then displaying anything else is a “MUST NOT” behaviour: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2119#section-2.
Defining fallbacks for older viewers that have not implemented the spec, is potentially negotiable.
Any face that has a PBR material applied MUST be displayed using PBR
  • Brad also pointed to a Feedback request where there is further discussion towards the issue of “PBR llFunctions”, including colour .
  • The major source of concern raised on Runatai’s comment and Brad’s expansion is the belief that some SL users are unable to display PBR materials as they are too taxing on their systems; so if creators cannot offer a fallback position, they well leave SL due to the amount of content they cannot see correctly, couple with the view that maintaining the ability to keep llSetColor “as is” does not break with the glTF requirements, but allows those users to stay with SL until such time as they can upgrade their hardware.
  • The counter to this was that there are users still on SL who have hardware unable to correctly render mesh, and that LL are a) working hard to get PBR performance up to a level where the majority of user hardware can support it and b) they do not want to pressure creators into having to support two different content creation / rendering approaches / specifications.
  • Please refer to the video below for further comments on this issue, plus expect further discussions at upcoming Content Creatin meetings (see the SL public calendar for details of the latter).

In Brief

  • [Video: 28:52-46:00] A discussion on Key Frame Motion and on the impact of scaling on KFM + possible, including an idea from Rider for a llSetScaleLimited function, which would scale an object as specified – unless doing so hits a defined LI limit (e.g. “increase the object size to 5x5x5 or stop scaling if the LI exceeds 8”) – the idea being to prevent an animated object from exploding in LI on scaling. This also saw a further suggestion of having a universal timestamp (server and viewer) to better sync operations,

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL Governance meeting week #19: Child Avatar Policy

Posted on by Inara Pey
Vindfjell, May 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Thursday, May 9th, 2024 Governance User Group (GUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Governance User Group to a forum for the discussion of topics relating to safety and security in Second Life. Please note this does not include:
    • Direct discussion of filed Abuse Reports the outcome of investigations, or potential actions taken in abuse cases; this includes providing feedback on reports and / or addressing questions relating to hypothetical situations.
    • Matters related to copied or stolen content, DMCA or copyright issues / filings.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
    • Every second Thursday of the month, starting at 14:00 SLT.
    • May be a mixture of voice and text.
    • Are chaired by Keira and Tommy Linden.
    • Held at this location.
  • They are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

General Notes for May 9th Meeting

  • The Thursday May 9th, meeting was subject to a special discussion on changes to the Second Life Child Avatar Policy, as announced within an official blog post issued a few hours ahead of the meeting.
  • This meeting was entirely in text, and these notes are drawn from both Pantera’s video (embedded below), and copies of the chat transcripts forwarded to me be several attendees – my sincere thanks to all who did so.
  • No: this is not a full transcript of the meeting. However, I have tried to include all relevant comments made by Keira and Tommy Linden.

Initial Meeting Discussion

The role of Governance and the GUG Meetings

[Video: 8:08-24:18]

  • Tommy Linden provided an overview of the Governance Team and their responsibilities, primarily for those who may not be fully aware of the team’s role:
    • Handling Abuse Reports (and appeals).
    • Handling reports of fraud reports.
    • Account security (with a recommendation that users should use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for added account security).
    • Marketplace moderation and forum moderation.
  • Keira Linden then added:
Going forward with these monthly meetings we intend to increase Resident education as it pertains to account security, as well as being more transparent with the community on Abuse actions by publishing some meaningful data around abuse reports. We will also be regularly reviewing and updating trust and safety policies, procedures, and tools based on evolving threats.
What I mean by that [“meaningful data”], is that we intend to publish data pertaining to abuse issues as were able to.
  • It was further noted that LL is currently in the process now of evaluating several different products and systems to help with proactive moderation.
    • No specific details were made available, but it was indicated that the tools being considered “will help the team identify potential violations of the” Terms of Service or Community Standards.
    • This drew speculation that AI tool will be used and questions asked on real-time chat monitoring. Keira responded by stating (Video: 18:42):
We are not going to discuss the specifics around the tools at this time. As more decisions are made we may be able to offer more information. Right now, we are looking at a number of different tools that have different capabilities.

Abuse Reports

[Video: 14:16-22:01]

  • Tommy expanded on how the team approaches such investigations, starting with the initial Abuse Report (which needs to be correctly completed (please see my Abuse Report tutorial on this, to which he and other members of the Governance Team contributed for notes on completing ARs), and to which he added:
Each report is thoroughly investigated as we understands that there are always 3 sides to every story. While we always try to take an educational approach first when responding to reports, there are some issues that are so severe that it will result in a termination instead. We also want to clear up the misconception that the submitting of multiple reports from Residents, also known as AR parties, does not mean that action will be taken, or even be taken in a quicker timeline.
  • On the appeals process, he stated:
Appeals are thoroughly investigated by someone other than the initial agent in the investigation. This reviewer treats this as a new investigation and again looks at all the criteria available before making their decision. In addition, as part of the full review process, the appeal does get reviewed by a committee before a final decision is made. We don’t take action before completing our investigation, unless we need to hold an account temporarily for its own security. Action is only taken after an investigation is completed. Without disclosing how our internal tools work, we have taken every measure possible to remove any potential bias in every investigation.

Child Avatar Policy

[Video: 25:00-]

Background

  • Enhancing Our World Together: Important Updates for the Second Life Community – Linden Lab official blog post, May 2nd 2024.
  • Official Child Avatar Policy
  • FAQ relating to the above (and a work-in-progress at the time of writing).
  • Second Life Maturity Ratings.
  • Please also refer to the official General Discussion section of the official forums for multiple discussions on this topic, and specifically, this thread.

Meeting Discussion and Quotes

This limits of this discussion were set by Keira Linden at the opening on the meeting (Video 5:47):

We understand many of you have come here to potentially protest, or debate the changes we have made to our child avatar policy, and while we understand that not everyone agrees with the changes, we are not here today to debate the policy. That said, I am completely open to feedback. If you have feedback regarding the policy, we encourage you to submit a support ticket, or use our feedback portal.
General Notes
  • The primary forum thread on the subject is being read comprehensibly by Tommy Linden, and as a result, the FAQ is being updated to provide further information and clarification. As such, it should be seen as a living reference document.
Modesty Layers for Child Avatars

[Video: 27:37-end]

  • New images have been added to the FAQ to illustrate what LL is looking for with regards to child avatars.
Male child avatar modesty layer example provided by Linden Lab
  • It was noted that there have been requests on the forums to have the [presumably the upper] back of the modesty layer for female avatars be optional, and Keira indicated that might be possible, but is currently subject to review and approval.
  • Whatever approach is used – (e.g. baked into the skin at creation or otherwise), the modesty layer cannot be intentionally removed / ignored (or, presumably, intentionally masked). Keira (video: 52:20 and 52:51):
Cannot be removed means just that. It cannot be removed by any means. If a new [skin] is applied then it will need to have the modesty layers.
  • In terms of how the modesty layers should work, Keira stated (video: 28:24):
The other concern in regards to the modesty layer is how it will impact existing content. To be clear, we are requiring skin sellers to have the areas shown in the images use a modesty layer on the skin files. However, for existing content, bake layers and alphas can be a viable temporary solution but we would STRONGLY encourage everyone to move to a more permanent solution.
Female child avatar modesty layer example provided by Linden Lab
  • Keira confirmed that modesty layers will be required by any avatar “presenting as under the age of 18”, and there will be a period of adjustment (video: 28:58-30:44 – comments concatenated here for ease of reading):
We understand there is some confusion regarding the age range that would be expected to follow the new policy, so we want to clarify that anyone presenting under the age of 18 will be required to follow the policy in regards to child avatars. Regarding enforcement of these new policies, I do know that there will be an adjustment period We fully intend to take an educate and inform approach to these issues, and not actively seeking to strong arm enforce these unless there is an egregious violation of the terms of service, such as sexualized age play.
General Comments / Concerns
  • In response to questions related to the use of furry avatars (e.g. will cubs her required to have modesty layers), anime characters (who can appear to be under 18 even when not), petite avatars, Keira Linden stated (video: 31:36-35:01)  – comments from each concatenated for ease of reading):
I can assure that appearance alone is not the deciding factor in most cases, when we are looking at abuse reports.
As was mentioned before, we do have an appeals process that I believe allows for many evaluations of that appeal. If that proves to be insufficient, we will re-evaluate the process. There are some things that we cannot change, but when it comes to processes and policies I believe that those require frequent review and tweaking to keep up with current Internet trends and community use.

With Tommy further adding:

As someone who has worked on the Governance team for the past 12 years both as an agent and the leader of the team, I can say that we have very rarely taken action on just appearance alone, there has almost always been additional factors leading to action.
For those asking about clarification on age, regardless of your gender, whether or not you are a furry, or participating in the anime community, if you are presenting as under the age of 18, that is required to follow our policy regarding child avatars.
  • (video from 35:02 onwards): Various concerns and questions were raised, relating to (responses quoted, where given):
    • The use of non-human avatars, and the use of modesty layers.
    • The requirement for female babies to have a “bra” modesty layer potentially sexualising them.
    • Whether anyone in an under-5 avatar can requires the “bra” modesty cover when just the “panties” cover should suffice.

Keira Linden (video: 48:57) :

I hear you all on the modesty layer on infants, and is something I am willing to consider, but I can’t promise that any change will be made at this time.
    • Had the fact that by enforcing baked modestly layers in skins potentially “breaks” the baby / young child skin market (which is currently unisex).
    • Can the technical aspects of the modesty layer can be discussed in more detail between creators and the Lab.

Keira (video: 41:15):

I am open to discussing it further. Feel free to email me or send in a support ticket to my attention.
    • How is “presenting as” treated? Many have Profiles which present as children, but adopt adult avatars for certain aspects of their SL. Are they allowed to visit with friends who have homes on A-rated regions, or A-rated combat regions? If they have a Profile referencing being as a child and are reported for being child whilst visiting an A-rated region, how would the report be evaluated? What happens if someone as a child avatar inadvertently teleports to an A-rated region and gets reported?

Kiera (video: 43:38, 44:16 and 48:02 – concatenated into a single response for readability):

You can still go there just not as a child avatar  If you are reported and you are in an adult avatar that is how we will evaluate the report.  If a report is made we do look at the intent of the Resident. We can tell if someone popped into a region then immediately left.
    • Are adult bodies such as Maitreya allowed for teens (Maitreya has some geometry in the groin that cant be removed); does the need for child avatars to be “G-rated” mean they are unable to purchase / wear M-rated items (jewellery, hair, etc.)?
  • Questions passed as unanswered will hopefully be addressed through other means.

 

 

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.