Child Protection
Attention
Children are not allowed to access adult material in Second Life. They should not even have accounts on the main grid, but instead should have them on the Teen Grid. Now Second Life is making changes in policy, design, and functionality to further protect children and others who do not wish to have access to adult content.
Tato Estates has always been a Mature estate according to traditional settings. Now SL is changing these settings and enforcing any island (region, sim) with sexual or violent content so that the land must be classified as “Adult.” Under these new terms and definitions, the SIMs of Tato Estates have always been adult in nature.
Changes in Second Life
Linden Labs has decided to change the policies and design of Second Life to be sure that people who are not legal adults are not exposed to adult content. Each region on the grid (each SIM, each island in the estate) which has content representing intense sexual content, sexual spaces, sexual activity, photo-real nudity, or violence must be classified as an “Adult” region. (see Maturity ratings: an overview)
Please read this article by Liana Linden for more information.
As a result, all SIM owners in Second Life, such as myself, must decide whether to designate each SIM as PG, Mature, or Adult.
Consider a few things:
1) Before this change, all content could be shown to minors, regardless of whether it is appropriate or not.
2) It is not appropriate to show adult content to minors (anyone who is not age verified).
3) All players on Second Life are supposed to be of a legal age anyway, or else they should be on the Teen Grid.
4) Typically, every island on the estate has adult content.
5) In order to ensure the maximum freedom for any land owner to publish their content, the SIMs must be set to ‘Adult.’
6) In order to ensure the maximum freedom for member of Second Life to visit any SIM they want to, they simply need to verify their age with Second Life.
7) Adult SIMs offer more freedom for land owners than Mature SIMs. Mature SIMs offer more freedom for land owners than PG SIMs. Adult SIMs offer the most flexibility for everyone, assuming that everyone is an appropriate age and verify that they are.
Therefore…
Therefore, I have decided to change all the SIMs in the estate to ‘Adult.’ Everyone must verify their age. (See How to become verified as an adult )
Please notify all your guests and visitors that they need to verify their age with Second Life. See also the Age Verification FAQ.
I will not do this immediately. However, everyone should verify their age As Soon As Possible (ASAP) to avoid any future disruption in service.
Commentary
I trust that this is just one of those transitions and changes that we have all experienced in Second Life over the years. Personally, I don’t think this is any big deal. However, because you may have visitors, guests, family, and friends who are not yet age verified, I wanted to let you know ASAP so that you could tell them about this change and so that they can verify their age.
Please keep in mind one thing… If someone cannot or will not verify their age, it’s probably because they are too young. Sometimes they do it on principle. However, I know that under age playing in virtual worlds has been a challenge for quite some time. I do think it is entire appropriate for under aged players to play online in environments that are appropriate for their age group. In Second Life, as it is with so many virtual worlds, it is difficult to ensure who someone is and what their age is. It is a bold move on the part of Linden Labs to support age verification. To ensure the safety of everyone within Second Life (i.e. to ensure that we are not sharing adult content and engaging in adult activities with under aged people) I consider this a reasonable approach to take.
As many of you know, I strive to keep Tato Estates a valuable environment in which to live and work in Second Live. To do this, I’ve put in place an agreement that we all have made to ensure that the quality of the experience is the best that it can be, while maintaining maximum flexibility and freedom for everyone.
