What is second life?..

[Lindal Kidd]

Pussycat's got her history right.  Or at least "righter".

When I joined SL in 2007, there were two maturity ratings, PG and Mature.  There was also the Teen Grid, separate from SL and what we would consider "G" these days.

You were deemed to be an "adult" and capable of handling Mature content by the birth date you entered when you signed up.

Then LL got into a lot of trouble with underage kids getting propositioned by predatory adults.  That, AND adults with child avatars getting into sexual situation with adult avatars (Ag8play).  They explicitly banned ag8play.  They also implemented an age verification step.  You had to certify that you were "of age".  Eventually, they tried even harder.  They hired an internet data collection firm (I forget the name, I'm sure someone can come up with it) to verify your age via both the information you submitted, and the data they had on you from other sources.

That went over like a lead balloon.  Eventually, they went back to Go, and just accepted the birth date that people entered when they signed up.  ("Hey, if someone lies about their age, it's not OUR fault!")  Actually, I agree with that.

At the same time, PG and Mature regions were side by side on the Mainland.  We had cases where people with child avatars, who wanted a "clean" SL experience, were living next door to brothels and ***** clubs.

So, LL created the current maturity ratings of General, Moderate, and Adult.  All of the Adult mainland was moved to the far corner of the grid on a new continent, Zindra.  Owners of Adult content were given the choice to take down that content, or move to Zindra.  There were enormous howls of protest (me among them, even though I had no Adult content to worry about).

One of the unexpected outcomes of this was that, because LL changed the maturity settings on a lot of regions, but did not actually delete any land, suddenly there was a lot more Mainland than there had been before.  Exacerbating this was the creation by LL of the themed Mainland areas of Nautilus and Bay City.  This helped to create a serious land glut, and made it a buyer's market for Mainland for the next ten years.

Since there were now General regions on the main grid, LL closed down Teen SL and moved the 13 to 17 year old residents of TSL to the main grid.

[Selene Gregoire]

30 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

You were deemed to be an "adult" and capable of handling Mature content by the birth date you entered when you signed up.

When I first joined SL there was no place to enter a DOB. LL didn't ask for one in 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007. The last alt I made was in 2009 and they didn't ask for DOB then either. Age "verification" didn't start until after the teen grid was shut down in 2010.

 

ETA: I probably should mention that the alts I created didn't all use the same email addy.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Mollymews]

2 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

When I first joined SL there was no place to enter a DOB. LL didn't ask for one in 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007

i think you are maybe misremembering this.  You might be remembering pre-2005.  As I remember DOB was asked for when the Teen Grid came online in 2005. It determined which grid we were signed up to.  DOB has been and still is asked for when creating an account since and now. The signup DOB today determines whether we are restricted to G regions only, or GMA for 18+

a funny story about DOB, funny in the haha-you-weirdo way

when the TG was closed and RL under 18s were merged with the maingrid, I was at Wengen Infohub one day. The snow sim. I had got a pair of ice skates as a shop gift. So I went there to the ice skating pond to try them out.  In those days I pretty much always had my helpy tag on over my head

so skating away thinking this is cool. And this girl avatar came and walk out onto the ice. About 3 days old and barely naked. She says Hi can I help her. So I stop and say sure.  And then she says that she can't go to any places except PG. I say that need to tick the box in Preferences.  She says that is greyed out and can't change it

i go: How old are you? And she says 16.  And I go well under 18s can't go to M sims, and you have wait til your 18th birthday. And she goes: oh! umm! I am not really 16, I am actually older than that. And I go: So why did you say on the signup that you were 16? And she goes: I want to play on here as a 16 year old.  And I say: What you get to play as a RL 16 year old on SL is what you got now

then she goes silent for a bit, digesting I suppose what has happened

then she asks what can she do about changing her DOB ?  So I explain about filing a ticket to get an account change. And she asks if she will get in trouble for providing false details. And I say well! the Linden support person who handles your ticket is gunna be bit interested in your reasonings for signing up to SL as a 16 year old.  And they go: damn! I go: yeah! damn! And then I say: You must be quite getting chilly standing here in the snow and ice. Did you lost your coat ?

and they go: I have messed this up haven't I ? And I say: yes you have.  And then I tell them to delete the account. Make a new account and start over, and don't tell lies this time. Stick in your real DOB and you be able to roleplay on here as a fake 16 year old, and not pretend to be 16 in real life when you aren't. Which you will be happier doing, as will be everyone else you meet on SL. So they did that, deleted the account and went with the truth

Edited December 2, 2019 by Mollymews
typo

[Selene Gregoire]

15 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

i think you are maybe misremembering this.  You might be remembering pre-2005. 

Nope. I created alts in each of the years I listed (original account was created in 2004) and was not asked for DOB for any of them. I did not use the same email address for all of them. The last one I created was in 2009 and once last names were removed, I lost any and all interest I may have had in creating a new one.

I've only had to give LL my DOB once and that was when LL implemented the verification process after they killed the teen grid in 2010. Probably because I never signed up for the teen grid since it didn't exist until after I originally joined. I was in my early 30s in 2004.

Nothing wrong with my memory.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Alyona Su]

15 hours ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

Nope.

There were only 2 ratings before. Now there are 3.

I even had BOTH M and General land through the transition and they stayed the same. And teen grid was a few years later.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

And:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/History/Adult_content

Same page:

 

I did start on the teen grid - so I R RITE (because both grids.) That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Hahaha! (Thank you for slapping me straight! LOL)

[Caroline Takeda]

For the records:

Mainland (Including Zindra) sex regions are 1.3 % of the entire grid and 4.9 % of the mainland. All sex regions together (including private estates) represent 18% of the entire grid. In addition on M rated regions , there is also (behind closed doors) a lot of slex going on.
 

So, yes. Sex can be consider a main activity in SL, but not the only one obviously.

 

[Raspberry Crystal]

1 minute ago, carolinestravels said:

In addition on M rated regions , there is also (behind closed doors) a lot of slex going on.

I guess if that were happening in real life, one wouldn't consider it the main activity of whoever was doing it

[Caroline Takeda]

A main activity in SL not THE main activity. Even without counting whats going on on M rated regions.
18% A rated regions is quite a lot in my opinion.

[Raspberry Crystal]

4 minutes ago, carolinestravels said:

18% A rated regions is quite a lot in my opinion.

More than world of warcraft anyway (I'm guessing i don't play that game)

[Pussycat Catnap]

4 hours ago, carolinestravels said:

For the records:

Mainland (Including Zindra) sex regions are 1.3 % of the entire grid and 4.9 % of the mainland. All sex regions together (including private estates) represent 18% of the entire grid. In addition on M rated regions , there is also (behind closed doors) a lot of slex going on.

Meanwhile abandoned land comprises 82.eleventy% of the grid.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

5 hours ago, carolinestravels said:

For the records:

Mainland (Including Zindra) sex regions are 1.3 % of the entire grid and 4.9 % of the mainland. All sex regions together (including private estates) represent 18% of the entire grid. In addition on M rated regions , there is also (behind closed doors) a lot of slex going on.
 

So, yes. Sex can be consider a main activity in SL, but not the only one obviously.

 

I'm curious..When you say all sex regions,is that meaning there are 18% Adult rated regions?

Because that's not the same as sex regions..

The adult rating does not just mean sex.. Advertised and open Sex just falls under that rating.

 

Also,Just so people don't think I'm pulling numbers out of my bum from back then,I actually found a quote from the company back then..

Some may remember it or maybe not.. hehehehe

There was an active link at the time to the second life blog,but it's not active anymore..A lot of the links from that time have gone dead..

The company has estimated that "around 2-4% of content on the mainland would be considered Adult according to our current thinking on defining that. For all of Second Life, our content research shows it is around 5%."

The link at the top of the LL blog say's.

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Community-General/Upcoming-Changes-for-Adult-Content/ba-p/640976

[Beth Macbain]

What exactly is the 5%? The number of A rated regions? The number of people in SL having sex at any given moment? When I first read the statement, I took it to mean that only 5% of residents engage in slex, and that's just laughable. 

So what is the 5%?

[Mollymews]

On 12/1/2019 at 4:29 AM, Cindy Evanier said:

No

 

On 12/1/2019 at 4:29 AM, Syo Emerald said:

No. Why?

 

No. Why? Because

😺

 

[Mollymews]

17 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I've only had to give LL my DOB once

DOB has always been on the new account sign on page

this is the current:

https://join.secondlife.com/

[Erwin Solo]

According to @Tyche Shepherd

Second Life Main Grid size as of 1 Dec 2019
 

Ownership	Total	General	Moderate	Adult
Total	24516	2907	15409	6184
Linden Owned	8371	1735	6151	484
Private Estates	16145	1172	9258	5700

Ownership	Total	General	Moderate	Adult
Total	100%	12%	63%	25%
Linden Owned	34%	7%	25%	2%
Private Estates	66%	5%	38%	23%

 

[animats]

12 hours ago, carolinestravels said:

Mainland (Including Zindra) sex regions are 1.3 % of the entire grid.

Even Zindra isn't that sex-oriented. There are sex-related businesses, but they're a minor part of the landscape. Actually, most of Zindra is for sale or rent. The big activity in Zindra is not sex. It's  land-flipping. Prices are high and much land is vacant, with filler buildings. Most of the real sex sims are private sims off mainland.

[Erwin Solo]

10 hours ago, animats said:

Even Zindra isn't that sex-oriented. There are sex-related businesses, but they're a minor part of the landscape. Actually, most of Zindra is for sale or rent. The big activity in Zindra is not sex. It's  land-flipping. Prices are high and much land is vacant, with filler buildings. Most of the real sex sims are private sims off mainland.

 

	Total	General	Moderate	Adult
Total	100%	12%	63%	25%

As one can see, only 12% of the land mass is General, and so only 12% has Adult Activity forbidden on per  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Adult_Content_FAQ

 

Quote

What does "advertises or publicly promotes" mean?

The maturity ratings distinguish between publicly-promoted adult content, required to be on Adult regions, and non-public adult content, such as private homes with a sex bed, that can be located on Moderate land.

Adult activities cannot be advertised or publicly promoted on Moderate land. Such activity must occur privately, behind closed doors on Moderate land (see below), and is forbidden on General land. These restrictions apply regardless of whether the parcel has hidden avatars.

Advertising for SL search using adult words clearly requires being on Adult land. Other examples of advertising or publicly-promoting include renting signs inworld, listing on events, buying ads in newspapers, or distributing flyers or notecards to passersby.

Private invitations to friends are not considered advertising or promoting. Inviting everyone in a small private group that you control is not considered advertising. However, inviting everyone in a public group can be considered a promotional effort.

What does "behind closed doors" mean?

Adult activity on Moderate land must be conducted "behind closed doors," meaning that you must make every reasonable effort to ensure that the parcel is private. This means:

• Allow only a group or specific individuals access to the parcel. If it is group-access only, the group must not be freely open to join.
• Hide avatars (turn off avatar visibility) for the parcel.
• Enclose the area behind walls or other visual barriers.

 

[Syo Emerald]

23 hours ago, Raspberry Crystal said:

More than world of warcraft anyway (I'm guessing i don't play that game)

The answer would be zero, because WoW isn't structured like SL. 

[Raspberry Crystal]

@Syo Emerald Was intended to be a humorous remark  (unless you know something that I don't? )

Edited December 3, 2019 by Raspberry Crystal

[Ceka Cianci]

16 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

What exactly is the 5%? The number of A rated regions? The number of people in SL having sex at any given moment? When I first read the statement, I took it to mean that only 5% of residents engage in slex, and that's just laughable. 

So what is the 5%?

It was a number for adult content.. It was an old number from a time period when the grid had much more of a population and more activity..

More a guesstimate because of how much of it existed back then..So I figured I'd maybe hit it close..hehehehe

Back then the number wasn't based on regions but content that fell under their definition of adult content at the time..Slex/adult activities isn't always adult content..

if it's a show and open for the public and being advertised like a porn would be or adult entertainment,then it's adult content..if it's two people on their land behind closed door having slex trying to keep to themselves,it's not adult content,it's just adult activities/slex.

 

The OP was saying,should we just call SL a sex game..

My point was,there isn't enough content for it to be considered a sex game. Because not all adult content has to do with sex and the whole grid isn't filled with it..

There may be more than 5% adult content today,but nowhere near the amount that there used to be when it was 5%..

There is less regions ,less people and less content nowadays.

 

I really didn't expect to spend this much time in this thread hehehehe

 

[clone00345]

Market place is filled with sexual clothes, so revealing that only prostitutes would wear stuff like that in real life. Look at the appearal section under female clothes. Sex game it is then.

[Beth Macbain]

16 minutes ago, clone00345 said:

Market place is filled with sexual clothes, so revealing that only prostitutes would wear stuff like that in real life. Look at the appearal section under female clothes. Sex game it is then.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

34 minutes ago, clone00345 said:

Market place is filled with sexual clothes, so revealing that only prostitutes would wear stuff like that in real life. Look at the appearal section under female clothes. Sex game it is then.

Those clothes only make up 5% of the market..

 

 

 

I'm Kidding!

hehehehe

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, clone00345 said:

Market place is filled with sexual clothes, so revealing that only prostitutes would wear stuff like that in real life. Look at the appearal section under female clothes. Sex game it is then.

That means doesn't mean anything other than those creators are hung up on making that kind of clothing because it sells. It's a well known fact in advertising that "sex sells".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_in_advertising

There are plenty of us who don't buy clothing that we wouldn't wear in public in real life.

Apparel does not make the person nor does it make SL a sex game.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Eva Knoller]

1 hour ago, Selene Gregoire said:

 

Apparel does not make the person nor does it make SL a sex game.

 

Again for the cheap seats! 😃

Sure, the marketplace has tons of revealing outfits, but there are also tons of non-revealing outfits. IME the marketplace  is the worst place to shop anyway... you have to sift through pages and pages of poorly made and outdated crap to find the gems. In-world shopping is a much better bet.