Comments on: Second Life cracks whip on adult content

New measures will restrict not-safe-for-work content to a separate "continent" in Second Life, in a move that may make the virtual world more appealing to corporations and educational institutions.

[codynews]

Like Yahoo, people still use second life? RLY?

[Angmarr]

I know right!?

[timber2005]

Just about every university and college has presence in second life. There is an entire region dedicated to them.
Also IBM, Cisco.... they both are two of the largest businesses using second life for training and product demos.
The 600,000 active users isn't a small number.

[Angmarr]

@ timber2005

it smaller than Runescape .. and that's as lame as they come, tho i've played Run-Escape once too = )

[Zeeshan47]

Was the title supposed to be punny? Dear god I hope not.
Cracking whips? Adult content? Too easy.

[littleM]

This seems like a huge change for Linden Labs, who espoused such an openly transparent virtual world that anyone could "attend" Linden Lab staff meetings which are held on Second Life. This red light continent seems like the first step toward real life.

[Lerianis3]

Well, I don't really have a problem with them putting adult content on a separate server, but they should have done it to BEGIN WITH as soon as they started taking user-made stuff. What if something is falsely reported as adult only? That's the problem with putting it into place now where you trust users to 'report' stuff. Better to have the MAKERS flag their stuff as adult only.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Second Life, where marriages are destroyed. I hope they get a massive virus that wipes out their servers so bad, they'll think twice about restoring or restarting.

[Lerianis3]

Get real. Second Life does NOT destroy any marriages, and the fact is that marriage is an archaic notion dating back to the Dark Ages that was created in order to cement national and familial alliances. It is NOT necessary anymore, not even 'for the children' who would be better off in a society where EVERYONE took responsibility for children and watching them.

[slsurvivor]

I hear that. And for the person who first answered you, well; marriage is a reality. No matter your perception, we took vows. And the month after my 13th anniversary, after six months of being ostracized and lied to, my husband informed me my marriage was over. Wasn't IN love with me, didn't even like me anymore. Was kicking me to the curb - fortunately I have a sister who opened her home to me.

So. August 1st, he dropped me off. August 4th (what, did she set a land speed record?) his SL partner was up for a visit. Brought her 9 and 12 y/o along. They moved in lock, stock and freakin barrel August 15th.

So yeah. Tell me again about how SL doesn't destroy marriages. Oh wait, yeah; good point. He hasn't filed for divorce yet! Guess that means they didn't destroy my marriage after all.

Guess she's not as special as she thinks.

[heavydevelopment]

Second Life: Where bored married men with male avatars met up with bored married men with female avatars to get it on. I spent about 10 minutes in SL once and that was enough for me to know that its a place for repressed, socially inept people to go and get their jollies. This may be the reason why it exists at all and SL may not have anyone outside of the "adult content" area. If wonder if Linden feels that Sony's PS Home is a competitor? Because basically that's what they are creating by removing the adult content elsewhere. I've tried PSH too and that is retarded for entirely different reasons. The biggest being that there is little 'true' individualization--it's like living in totalitarian capitalist state. George Orwell couldn't even dream up a worse nightmare because at least in 1984 you could rebel. Sure in 1984 you end up in a re-education camp, but hey, at least you get the initial choice!

[VirtualDavid]

Thumbs up for Linden. I, for one, don't want to run into that trash. Now, if they can just find a way to control the "griefers"; the nit wits who delight in ruining the SL experience.

[VWestland]

Second Life is not the sex only "Sin City" that many continue to portray it as. Since the 1st wave of media/hype-driven failed Fortune 500 advertising experiments of three years ago, thousands of colleges, businesses of all sizes and government agencies have established a successful ongoing presence in Second Life.

It's unfortunate many of the journalists who report on Second Life were not able to attend last month's Virtual Journalism Summit, presented by The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, in partnership with the McCormick Foundation. (1) I had the privilege of sitting in the front row of Washington State University's virtual campus and listen to Helen Thomas, former White House bureau chief and Bob Scheiffer, CBS News' chief &Washington correspondent discuss the history and future of journalism. Sitting around me in this virtual space were avatars representing the essences of current and future thought leaders from around the globe.

Today is Earth Day and all this week many of Second Life's residents will be gathering in-world to learn about and discuss topics like alternative energy, smart grids and the role of social values in creating sustainable societies. Participants in this weeks events will be taking tours of energy technology and applications, such as the Green Ideation Quest (2), that would be both financially and logistically impossible for a majority to attend in the physical world. Some of the discussions will almost certainly use various 3D idea-mapping and collaboration tools by ThinkBalm (3). These next-generation 3D applications are the type of leading edge tools and solutions being created and sold for real $$ every day in Second Life.

A number of companies, including my own, were featured in Business Week last year, for our work using Second Life as a "Virtual Prototyping" tool. This is just one of the many applications made possible by Second Life, that companies are discovering can save them significant $$$, while enhancing collaboration and team productivity (4).

Since the first Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) were established, "adult" content providers and patrons have used online venues to explore their sexuality and conduct commerce. The 2D Internet's single most profitable industry niche is classified by most Internet users as "porn." This does not prevent individuals or companies from using the Internet for education, commerce, social networking or any of the thousands of other uses it enables.

Second Life has always had some controls over adult content. Individuals and companies have had the ability to manage their exposure to undesired content, by making use of either PG or private locations. The goal of Linden Lab is to significantly improve the user experience for everyone, through virtual "zoning." The only people who will be affected by the new zoning are those who are selling adult content-oriented wares.

I invite anyone who is skeptical about Second Life to allow me to take them on a tour of the tremendously positive parts of SL you may have heard of. I would be glad to introduce you to some of the most intelligent, socially gifted and creative individuals you will find anywhere and show you some of the amazing ways they are using Second Life to make a positive difference in the world.
Respectfully,

Valiant Westland

(1) Virtual Journalism Summit - http://communication.wsu.edu/virtualjournalism/
(2) Green Ideation Quest - http://hyvebox.de/secondlife/
(3) ThinkBalm - http://thinkbalm.com/
(4) Business Week Prototyping in SL - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_68/s0808041522849_page_2.htm

[virtually_creative]

Hurrah for you Valiant !! I wish I was as eloquent.

I have been creating funky stuff (none of it 'adult') in SL since 2006, I initially tried it as I heard the user-content creation tools was like easy-to-use 3D computer aided design software for free, in a 'virtual reality'. Of course, like anything, its never quite like the picture on the packaging, but what I found was an outlet for creativity which has few boundaries. I have now learned the content building tools inside out, and am not bad at 'scripting' - programming where one can make your creations interact with the world, its users, and a virtual physics engine (yes - gravity, inertia, light, sound, friction... its all controllable and interactable).

Moving adult flagged content away to another 'continent' of virtual land will hopefully make the rest of SL more visible, with all the wierd and wonderful creations that the users have made. From cutting edge architecture to interactive games, superb fashion design, live musicians & DJ's, car racing, silly little games to make you laugh, educational benefits, prototyping, video game style combat, the list is endless.
If you can dream it, then somebody is probably trying to figure how to bring it into second life.
And if you cant find it, then you can create it ! (and then you can sell it to the rest of them, and withdraw the real $ ;-) )

Its about time the boundless creativity in SL is recognized. Til now its been shrouded behind the darker side. Let there be light !

[Angmarr]

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