do all anime Av's fall under LL's age play policy

[jadenSun]

My self  and 3 others  have just  opned a new  Adult rp Fantasy sim where adult thing can hapen out in the open and full view  of others. there is some debat betwen us Owners  on what LL concciders a child Av  or a Av that  can fall under the ageplay Policy.  as of my under stand  throw reading the LL tos  and comunty standards as well as  reading this http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Clarification_of_policy_disallowing_ageplay

anime Av's do fall under  age play how ever last night  we hand a Av  come on to sim that showed intres in joing but they  hand this AV on linked from sl MP  

now  back to the Wiky link as it  say at the  botom of that page before the  how to file a AR  for Ageplay it cleary states "If you are in doubt as to whether an activity may be interpreted as ageplay, we request you err on the side of caution and desist. Please note that some countries' laws may impose penalties for graphics, drawings, or anime that resemble child pornography, even where no children have been involved. "  how evey some players in Sl don't it see that  way and see it as my self  and the other owners being discriminatory to theme wan in fact we  are  just covering  our buts in the  end. other then the things i have linked and noted  on reading is there and other visuel aides  i can ues  to help my fellow  oners staff and pontanchule players  to under stand what ll's  stance  is on  anime Av's in adult sim where  sex act might  take  place  out in the open or right in front of theme. 

any insight on this would be a grat help thank you

[Amethyst Jetaime]

This is a tough one. 

A lot of anime avatars do look like children or teens to a lot of people that have other types of avatars, although a lot of people that have anime avatars deny the are depicting someone under 18. You are right too that LL has encouraged people to that have any suspicion of age-play and to err on the side of caution. 

Anime characters are cartoon characters. In popular RL anime it almost always revolve around high school age teens or younger.  There are a few exceptions to this though, particularly those characters that are mystical beings, for example gods or goddess.

There are those that say that since they are RL adults it's not age play.  But that's false as many legal jurisdictions consider any depiction of children or apparent children, whether it's realistic or a cartoon and even if all involved are adults, illegal. LL could ban the owners of any venue that knowingly allow age play to go on.  It is also true that a jurisdiction can hold the owner of a venue responsible and can bring RL civil and/or criminal legal action against them.  My state does. The law in this regard includes, intenet sites, clubs and other venues, bookstores, theaters etc.  They actually have bought action against the owners in a few cases.

The TOS states you can not post, display, or transmit Content that is obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.   LL takes no action against landowners that don't allow non human or cartoon charactes on their land.

After considering the above, ultimately, it is your decision as a landowner who you want to have access to your venue. Other things to consider are:

• Landowners can eject and ban anyone for any reason or no reason.  They can also set up any rules they want to on their land.  So you're safe whatever you decide.
• Some venue owners don't allow any anime avatars so that they don't have to sort out if they are kids under 18 or not. 
• You can also consider other guests that come to your venue and how many are uncomfortable around anime characters.  If they are, they will be unlikely come to your venue again.  You can consider the overall atmosphere of your venue too.  If your venue is for depicting RL humans in types of situations RL humans engage in RL or in RL fantasies (other than age play), then having cartoon characters there may interfer with this and discourage people that want this kind of atmosphere.
• Are you allowing other cartoon characters, furries, or other animal or non human avatars to come?

If you decide to allow anime avatars then you will have to train your staff well as to what qualities or characteristics you want to consider when deciding if a specific anime avatar is an adult or child.  You may want to require they notecard their reasons for their decision, as well as the avatars name, date and time and pass it to you since you are the one avatars that complain will contact and it's helpful, in my experience, to have this information.  It is also helpful to have so you can review the reasons to decide for yourself if the decision was wrong and to take steps to correct it.  Be sure to tell them NOT to put any IM or chat logs on the notecard as that is against the TOS without the permission of the other person.  Instead they should give a summary or paraphrase any discussion they have with them.

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm involved in the management of several adult regions (though I stress I'm writing here in a purely personal capacity).

We've had to deal with this same problem, and I think you are absolutely right to be as cautious as possible.    You -- the owners of the region -- are at risk if LL receive, and accept, complaints that you are allowing "age play"  take place on your lands, and you have to protect yourselves.

We take the view that if a fantasy avatar  (anime or anything else) looks to us or our guests as if it is based on a human child or adolescent, we're not going to take any risks.   We'll politely ask people to change their avatars and if they don't, we send them home and ban them.   

We don't just go on the avatar's appearance -- we also look at the profile and the groups, which can  be very illuminating, and also at how the avatar behaves.    Our staff are encouraged, if they in any doubt at all, to get a second, or even a third,opinion from other staff members or owners.

The image of the mesh avatar to which you link is an edge case, I think.   The face looks very young to me, though I'm prepared to be persuaded it's an older teenager.   I would ask for a second opinion on it, but I certainly wouldn't criticise anyone who did ask that avatar to leave.     As I said, the resident's profile, groups and general behaviour would help guide any decision I took.

Bottom line, though, is if you feel uncomfortable having the avatar there, then tell her to change or leave.

[Callum Meriman]

As a person who roleplays an SL-Kid who has run a number of clubs and as someone who is sometimes an Anime I will throw my hat into the ring too.

First Ageplay is not against the TOS, Sexual Ageplay is.

In addition to the valid points that the others mention please be very aware that the Lab have a trigger finger on Sexual Ageplay. The kid community has just undergone a large purge, quite a few avatars and their alts gone after AR. At least one estate of 4 sims was also deleted with it's owner. The shops and people behind two major clothing brands were deleted. 

It is well known and long proven the Lab will ban without question, without hestation, and without mercy. The ban is permanent and includes all alts that they know of. There is no recourse, no appeal, you will lose your entire Second Life, all L$, and all US$ you have on your account.

Scared? Good! 

 

As you have seen it is highly subjective, the M3 anime head plus Avatar 2 or Kenmono or orange nova can resemble children, but they can also look like 18 year olds. So it's quite difficult as you have seen with the marketplace ad you show. You will also get a lot of people who become upset, they claim they are adults and expect entry to your sex sim.

Because these are cartoon avatars that can be 18 some anime places do it with a bare minimum of an acceptable height, using a height orb script. If you are over 172cm to be allowed in, under 172cm to be kicked out and banned.

The places that use height might also require that profiles, gestures, and language is always grown up. That is, the use of any child speech or gestures an insta-ban. (As you well know most anime gestures are of kid like voices). To take it further, using the word Daddy or Baby-Girl is insta-ban.

They add prominant large posters with disclaimers against Sexual Ageplay and how all avatars are expected to be 18+ in look and actions. Some need features past puberty, such as breasts and pubic hair.... and even all that may not be enough if you have someone come in hunting to AR.

Be aware that if an angry/psychotic person (and they DO exist) goes out "hunting" to AR sexual ageplay will often achieve it; using a hacked viewer and a sacrificial account so the Lab can't track them and then entrapping your guests into sexual ageplay in IM is the known common method.

And if too many people are banned in your sim then you, as an officer or owner will be investigated and are possibly at risk for facilitating ageplay.

To make it worse you are not going to get an answer on this from the Lab either, they will always say to "err on the side of caution".

And that's what I would do, err on the side of caution. If you must allow Anime avatars you should certainly have a ruthless zero tolerance attitude here. No excuses, no second chances. You are going to need the height checker orb, rules and disclaimers covering the sim, welcome scripts to make sure people are reminded each visit, very strong rules and a very solid history of banning people.

And, you and all officers will need to be squeeky clean. Cover your butts well. And after all that, it may not be enough.