2024 - Will LL finally fully acknowledge the Adult side of SL?

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Alwin Alcott said:

i had to look that up ... i'm so old fashioned...

I learned it in the early 2000's. Mostly of Japanese orgin, I think.  

[Henri Beauchamp]

35 minutes ago, UnilWay SpiritWeaver said:

I don't want there to ever be a navigable channel between it and any other rated land. For me, one of the main flaws of mainland is you can walk and cam between M and G land. Ratings should be more isolated from each other or they kind of lose meaning.

The channel could be several sims long (such a channel already exists between Sansara and Heterocera, between Nautilus and Corsica, and between Corsica and Gaeta V: the one to Zindra could even be longer if at all needed), and be rated adult all along. This way, there is no chance some non-Adult could ”cam between” (and even less move) to Zindra, coming from G or M rated seas...

Note also that, server-side, LL could implement (if not already done) a restriction for non-Adult accounts, forbidding the Adult sim servers to connect at all with a viewer logged in with a non-Adult account.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Henri Beauchamp

[gwynchisholm]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

if newcomers open search, which I always recommend instead of the destination tab, then navigate to the destination GUIDE, they'll find adult places although sticking them at the very bottom was a bad idea.   

The more stuff thats in this, the better

This is what most new people and as mentioned, casual users, are looking at. It doesnt matter if other means of finding content are more in depth, people are looking at this thing. This needs work, it should be square oriented instead of horizontally scrolling (if you expand it any larger than that pic it doesnt expand the content in it). Reading descriptions on hover in there is a pain.

But thats where all the stuff is. Having adult categories that show up in there with adult content enabled would be a great way to get more attention to major adult spaces of a few types.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

My scepticism that this involves anything very much more from adult Linden Homes stems from the fact that there is a difference, in terms of public relations but also liability issues, between a platform "permitting" certain kinds of content and behaviours, and it actually offering and running those.

Saying "You can do X on Second Life" is a very different thing from saying that the platform has been built to facilitate X.

Moral qualms aside (and I actually don't have many of those, generally, about this), I think LL would be NUTS to shift from permitting to actually offering adult content. It IS going in the opposite direction that most platforms are now moving in, and it's a potential PR and possibly even legal nightmare.

[Orwar]

3 hours ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

anything that reduces the perceived need for the awfulness of skyboxes is okay with me!

   Skyboxes are pretty much a necessity though. There's both too much stuff on ground level (making it laggy, so you have to reduce your draw distance so you can't see your neighbours' stuff from your plot - in which case you might as well live in a skybox), and at the same time the prim allowance isn't anywhere near enough to properly deck out a home (as they're all huge, have too many rooms, and they're scaled to the 'SL standard' 8' avatars - mine can barely reach the door knob). 

[gwynchisholm]

2 minutes ago, gwynchisholm said:

snip my own post

And heres why i dont use these very often, and why very few people i know ingame use these, just in general. The events tab, i dont think ive ever opened this until now:

Its a browser window, and goes to the SL website, and its uhhh...

I have a 4k display and play about 2' away from it,  i cannot read this. Even if not for that, this is cluttered, oldschool web design. And then if im trying to find events, theres a "featured events" section in the destinations tab.

 

The search tab, ive used this a bunch but its not my goto for one big reason:

I dont want to find anything specific, i want to find stuff in general categories. Its why i like the destinations tab and why a lot of casual players use it. Im not looking for anything with keywords, im looking at what places are just considered "nature". And while the search thing can do the same if i just type in "nature", id rather have the semi curated results that come in the destinations tab.

Id much rather have places in the destinations tab, and an expansion of the destinations tab, already in the fairly clean and simple format it uses, just adding more to it.

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Orwar said:

 Skyboxes are pretty much a necessity though.

Handy for disposing of the remains after the "adult" activities. Either open a trapdoor, or just push them off the porch.

[Love Zhaoying]

22 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

 

The theme is already in alpha stages. I managed to take a first picture:

Adult Linden home theme. Showing The Vault.
It seems PBR enabled.

Are we locking people in, or locking them out?

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

29 minutes ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

The channel could be several sims long

I feel you should always need to use a teleport to move between one rating and another. More than that - I'd not allow experience based nor RLV based teleports to move people between regions. It should need an active user act - even between G and M.

And the camera should not render anything in a rating different from the one you're in.

I'd even recommend having a confirmation box pop up. This would even be when going from your own land to your own land. You should always be aware when it's happening.

 

Ratings need to mean something, or just be removed.

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by UnilWay SpiritWeaver

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, UnilWay SpiritWeaver said:

I feel you should always need to use a teleport to move between one rating and another. More than that - I'd not allow experience based nor RLV based teleports to move people between regions. It should need an active user act - even between G and M.

And the camera should not render anything in a rating different from the one you're in.

 

It would be cool if users with the appropriate rating could cross freely (without teleporting), but those without the appropriate rating are "stuck at the border"!

[Love Zhaoying]

6 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

6 hours ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

"New from LL, ADULT Venues, no lewdness permitted, rated PG-50"

Well, yeah.  Exactly my point.  LL doesn't want to police that kind of thing.  They wouldn't need to police adult LHs any more than they do moderate ones.  

Does that mean no Alphas swaggering around shirtless in jockstraps?

[Henri Beauchamp]

4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

but those without the appropriate rating are ”stuck at the border”!

This is already the case... I do not see any need to further movement restrictions, as long as you have the appropriate age for the rating.

But LL could easily implement a way to forbid any connection to sims not corresponding to the logged in user rating, to prevent even rezzing in the distance of anything they are not allowed to see...

Edited December 21, 2023 by Henri Beauchamp

[LittleMe Jewell]

45 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i had to look that up ... i'm so old fashioned...

Ditto

 

 

47 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Don't forget "lemon".

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lemon

I tried to go to the link, but will have to wait until after worked cuz my wonderful employer blocked it.

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, UnilWay SpiritWeaver said:

I feel you should always need to use a teleport to move between one rating and another. More than that - I'd not allow experience based nor RLV based teleports to move people between regions. It should need an active user act - even between G and M.

And the camera should not render anything in a rating different from the one you're in.

I'd even recommend having a confirmation box pop up. This would even be when going from your own land to your own land. You should always be aware when it's happening.

 

Ratings need to mean something, or just be removed.

 

Other than the under-18 folks that are in SL, I figure it is up to every adult to control their own experiences.  LL shouldn't need to make things harder for the average user.

Edited December 21, 2023 by LittleMe Jewell

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

52 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Don't forget "lemon".

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lemon

I tried to go to the link, but will have to wait until after worked cuz my wonderful employer blocked it.

Generally referred to fanfiction of a "sexual nature".  I most often saw it in the context of Japanese anime etc. fanfiction, originally in the early 2000's.  Then, it became ubiquitous enough I assume/assumed most people "of a certain age range" know it.

[Extrude Ragu]

50 minutes ago, gwynchisholm said:

The more stuff thats in this, the better

This is what most new people and as mentioned, casual users, are looking at. *snip*

If you ask me, they should replace this dialog with this page, or at least link to it somewhere on the dialog. It'd help users find so many more places. (https://secondlife.com/destinations)

Edited December 21, 2023 by Extrude Ragu

[Rowan Amore]

59 minutes ago, gwynchisholm said:

And heres why i dont use these very often, and why very few people i know ingame use these, just in general. The events tab, i dont think ive ever opened this until now:

Its a browser window, and goes to the SL website, and its uhhh...

I have a 4k display and play about 2' away from it,  i cannot read this. Even if not for that, this is cluttered, oldschool web design. And then if im trying to find events, theres a "featured events" section in the destinations tab.

 

The search tab, ive used this a bunch but its not my goto for one big reason:

I dont want to find anything specific, i want to find stuff in general categories. Its why i like the destinations tab and why a lot of casual players use it. Im not looking for anything with keywords, im looking at what places are just considered "nature". And while the search thing can do the same if i just type in "nature", id rather have the semi curated results that come in the destinations tab.

Id much rather have places in the destinations tab, and an expansion of the destinations tab, already in the fairly clean and simple format it uses, just adding more to it.

In your second picture, all you need to do is hit the Destination Guide in blue in the middle of the page.  All categories and sub categories plus Adult are listed.  It's how I use destinations and it's how I tell new residents to use it.  I never suggest the tiny windowed one .   just seems easier and more informative to me.  

[Ayashe Ninetails]

46 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

My scepticism that this involves anything very much more from adult Linden Homes stems from the fact that there is a difference, in terms of public relations but also liability issues, between a platform "permitting" certain kinds of content and behaviours, and it actually offering and running those.

Saying "You can do X on Second Life" is a very different thing from saying that the platform has been built to facilitate X.

Moral qualms aside (and I actually don't have many of those, generally, about this), I think LL would be NUTS to shift from permitting to actually offering adult content. It IS going in the opposite direction that most platforms are now moving in, and it's a potential PR and possibly even legal nightmare.

Yeahhhh. I'm just getting around to skimming the whole post, and I'm getting strange vibes from this. Admittedly, I got more caught up in the AI integration bit than the whole Club Desire thing (the less said about the random shift into that news the better, IMO), but if all this is the plan for 2024, Imma just...not. *insert Ight Imma Head Out meme*

You're very correct about platforms struggling to find a balance (and ultimately backtracking all over the place and going with the safest option) and how risky it is for any one platform to lean way in the opposite direction. That move is just weird to me. Doesn't bother me, but it's odd without some other policy changes (unless those are coming). On the other hand, the whole AI thing is a nope from me.

[Extrude Ragu]

Honestly speaking the 2024 roadmap doesn't sound all that interesting to me aside from maybe the GLTF Scene import/ Heirachy/Mirrors etc.

I can't say participating in an LL owned adult venue sounds like something I wanna do. Although to be honest adult themed places just make me feel a bit queasy in general.

As for AI stuff. Let me say I've already messed about with LLM's (Large Language Models) myself and even run LLM powered npc's in my region that I personally developed.

Quote

including experimental use of smart AI-driven chatbots to help greet, educate, and mentor newcomers

I'm telling you now I don't think this will end well. LLM's when they don't know something, they make ***** up (aka. Hallucination). They even hallucinate new facts when they do know the true information. All they are is autocomplete on steroids. Using AI LLM's in SecondLife is well placed for entertainment sure, and I've developed that in my own region. But for education? I don't see it ending so well.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

5 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Yeahhhh. I'm just getting around to skimming the whole post, and I'm getting strange vibes from this. Admittedly, I got more caught up in the AI integration bit than the whole Club Desire thing (the less said about the random shift into that news the better, IMO), but if all this is the plan for 2024, Imma just...not. *insert Ight Imma Head Out meme*

You're very correct about platforms struggling to find a balance (and ultimately backtracking all over the place and going with the safest option) and how risky it is for any one platform to lean way in the opposite direction. That move is just weird to me. Doesn't bother me, but it's odd without some other policy changes (unless those are coming). On the other hand, the whole AI thing is a nope from me.

Yeah. I think if LL itself gets into the "Adult" business, through clubs or god-knows-what-else, the platform is going to stand out like a sore thumb. It will shift it in people's perceptions and its categorization by other platforms from "mainstream but weird and iffy" to "Only Fans for Cartoons" -- or worse.

Who knows? Maybe that's what they want, and Coffee is right: SL needs to pivot forcibly in the direction of sex to succeed in LL's view?

But if SL has a "perception problem" now as a haven for "weird kinky fetishists," this would double down on that. I really think that LL should bear in mind the company it would be keeping, and how they are perceived, if it makes that move.

As for AI -- lol.

I'm imagining LL training its welcome bots using SL chat and IM databases.

"welcum to SL wear youre dreams come tru wanna do the seks now?"

[Ivanova Shostakovich]

   All of this reminds me of my disbelief when I learned (or merely read) how surprised LL was, in the beginning years, at the things residents began doing, how unexpected they found some of the uses people made of the platform and of the tools at their disposal.

[Istelathis]

Quote

bold and innovative new adult-friendly initiatives.

I think it is likely just going to be a built in dating app.  Grindr for Second Life, swipe left or right kind of stuff.  I say this because the word initiatives was used, it sounds like it is going to be more so dating or adult  tools than adult themed locations. 

Perhaps they will integrate some sort of masturbation toys to SL 🤣 Just hook up your MasterTron 2000 to your computer and viola!  Your partner gets to control it, remotely,  ya know,. 

Okay, I'm done, sorry.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Istelathis

[Ayashe Ninetails]

26 minutes ago, Extrude Ragu said:

As for AI stuff. Let me say I've already messed about with LLM's (Large Language Models) myself and even run LLM powered npc's in my region that I personally developed.

I'm telling you now I don't think this will end well. LLM's when they don't know something, they make ***** up (aka. Hallucination). They even hallucinate new facts when they do know the true information. All they are is autocomplete on steroids. Using AI LLM's in SecondLife is well placed for entertainment sure, and I've developed that in my own region. But for education? I don't see it ending so well.

I work on training projects for chatbots as my current freelance gig. As I'm sure you know, bonkers hallucinations are only a tiny part of the absolute chaos these things are capable of reigning down on unsuspecting users. 🤣 Like you said - unless they've got a very large, dedicated, international team working around the clock for months and months training these bad boys to the letter, this will not end well.

 

25 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

But if SL has a "perception problem" now as a haven for "weird kinky fetishists," this would double down on that. I really think that LL should bear in mind the company it would be keeping, and how they are perceived, if it makes that move.

Maybe it's just me being extremely petty, but given the chosen name, I can't help but think this basically going to be a basic dipping the toe in venture rather than a full on Fetlife experience. I hope, lol. But yes - even now I see amusing reactions when people bring up SL in random gaming communities. I imagine this won't help!

 

39 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

As for AI -- lol.

I'm imagining LL training its welcome bots using SL chat and IM databases.

"welcum to SL wear youre dreams come tru wanna do the seks now?"

RIP, lmao!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

10 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Maybe it's just me being extremely petty, but given the chosen name, I can't help but think this basically going to be a basic dipping the toe in venture rather than a full on Fetlife experience.

Oh, I think so. It will be timid and sterile and very very tame, I'm sure, if they DO move in this direction.

But that is only going to ameliorate the perception problem a little. It's not as though anyone criticizing, judging, or evaluating such a move from the outside is likely to actually try it themselves.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

As for AI -- lol.

I'm imagining LL training its welcome bots using SL chat and IM databases.

"welcum to SL wear youre dreams come tru wanna do the seks now?"

The thing about Artificial IIdiocy based chatspam for support, is that those things, even on a good day, are only as good as their input.

So, the Noob Island MentorBots, will be dependant on a pool of knowledge about "how to do SecondLife", largely supplied by ...

... People who log in twice a year, once during SLB, for the annual staff group photo, and once at Xmas for the annual staff vs cashcows snowball fight.

 

How well will a MentorBot advise a noob about using that Free Lelutka head they picked up, when it's been trained by Back-Office-Admin-Clerk-From-Billing Linden, who has been with LL for 7 months, and wears a Noob Island issue "SuxRa Suburban Jogging Mom" avatar?

And that's on a GOOD day.

Don't ask what it will be like on the days when it just makes crap up with it's "Word Association Football" Artificial Idiocy routines.

 

Quote

Tonight’s the night I shall be talking about of flu the subject of word association football. This is a technique out a living much used in the practice makes perfect of psychoanalysister and brother and one that has occupied piper the majority rule of my attention squad by the right number one two three four the last five years to the memory. It is quite remarkable baker charlie how much the miller’s son this so-called while you were out word association immigrants’ problems influences the manner from heaven in which we sleekit cowering timrous beasties all-American Speke, the famous explorer. And the really well that is surprising partner in crime is that a lot and his wife of the lions’ feeding time we may be c d e effectively quite unaware of the fact or fiction section of the Watford Public Library that we are even doing it is a far, far better thing that I do now then, now then, what’s going onward christian Barnard the famous hearty part of the lettuce now praise famous mental homes for loonies like me. So on the button, my contention causing all the headaches, is that unless we take into account of Monte Cristo in our thinking George the Fifth this phenomenon the other hand we shall not be able satisFact or Fiction section of the Watford Public Library againily to understand to attention when I’m talking to you and stop laughing, about human nature, man’s psychological make-up some story the wife’ll believe and hence the very meaning of life itselfish bastard, I’ll kick him in the Balls Pond Road.

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Zalificent Corvinus