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

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

I just wanted to say.. um 😐 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

35 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Oh, I never said I wanted it to be a Fetlife experience (I'd like quite the opposite, in fact, given how much I've seen over thar yonder). My statement to Scylla was basically a "don't worry, this will probably be tame" reassurance.  

It's gonna be like sports illustrated level vs Playboy level!! lol

Kinda looks like a mall or something.. maybe teleports or something? Go in this door for this area or this door for this area.. kind of like that teleport hub thing they have when you first get out of orientation..

Either way if it's adult rated area kids won't be getting to whatever this club or whatever it is..

I can't seen them doing anything but a really watered down version of things or maybe  a lot of information there or something..

Honestly if you think about it, it's better than them getting handed all kinds of LM's from whoever is glomping on them as soon as they come out of the orientation.. hehehe

[Nalates Urriah]

This is not the first time the Lab has thought they would do something with the ADULT part of SL. Since I came in (2008) they have done this a couple of times. Nothing really came from the previous efforts. We did get an Adult sandbox which is a griefer heaven and seems mostly ignored by Linden maintenance and governance.

From talking with Lindens over the years it seems there is an in-house stigma on those agreeing to work on the Adult projects. I suspect that is still likely. If so, this will be another short-lived effort. As best I can tell anyone that ever 'volunteered?' to work on one is no longer with the Lab. So, not a good career move.

While most corporate teams shy away from sexual and political affiliations or associations the tech world is changing as younger people enter the ranks. Plus the Woke and liberated young are more accepting of formerly taboo topics... or maybe its just that they don't know they were ever taboo.

The Lab is data-oriented. They track all sorts of SL info and use patterns. They may see something that says this will be a good move.

We know sex sells. Often very well. It is always just a matter of how it is presented. Does the Lab have some novel new approach for a virtual world? I suppose we will find out.

So far the ideas people have had here seem rather limited... which I suspect is less a personal imagination problem than an opinion of the Lab's imagination. 🙄 We'll have to wait and see if they surprise us. But, since they are not working on this one in cooperation with the residents, it probably isn't going to go all that well.

But.... I can hope...

[Ceka Cianci]

33 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

This is not the first time the Lab has thought they would do something with the ADULT part of SL. Since I came in (2008) they have done this a couple of times. Nothing really came from the previous efforts. We did get an Adult sandbox which is a griefer heaven and seems mostly ignored by Linden maintenance and governance.

From talking with Lindens over the years it seems there is an in-house stigma on those agreeing to work on the Adult projects. I suspect that is still likely. If so, this will be another short-lived effort. As best I can tell anyone that ever 'volunteered?' to work on one is no longer with the Lab. So, not a good career move.

While most corporate teams shy away from sexual and political affiliations or associations the tech world is changing as younger people enter the ranks. Plus the Woke and liberated young are more accepting of formerly taboo topics... or maybe its just that they don't know they were ever taboo.

The Lab is data-oriented. They track all sorts of SL info and use patterns. They may see something that says this will be a good move.

We know sex sells. Often very well. It is always just a matter of how it is presented. Does the Lab have some novel new approach for a virtual world? I suppose we will find out.

So far the ideas people have had here seem rather limited... which I suspect is less a personal imagination problem than an opinion of the Lab's imagination. 🙄 We'll have to wait and see if they surprise us. But, since they are not working on this one in cooperation with the residents, it probably isn't going to go all that well.

But.... I can hope...

I just think as much as they have tried to suppress it since the adult rating came on board, that it's hard to see them looking to let loose of the reins..

Honestly, it was a pretty exciting SL before that third rating came about..

Myself I'm just stabbing in the dark really, like always.. I'll probably come a mile short and a day away like always.. lol

Edited December 22, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Istelathis]

35 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

So far the ideas people have had here seem rather limited...

Even the remote controlled toy idea?  I thought I did well on that one 😢

They could be working on this technology though,  John Spartan was not at all impressed with it though.  But then,  John doesn't even know how to use the three sea shells *giggles* 

[animats]

3 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

But the key point, surely, is that it will only be able to spit out the kind of information one can already find online. What it's NOT going to be able to do is hold a noob by the hand (so to speak) and lead them through a process. "Can you show me a screenshot of your inventory" is not going to be an option here.

That's the basic problem with large language models at this point. They're good at general information, if it's in the training set. Coupling them up to the "real world" (virtual or otherwise) for context is not yet working well. It's not impossible, but it's a research topic, not just buying a ChatGPT account. Lots of interesting research going on in game dev AI. Give it a year.

[SandorWren]

3 hours ago, Istelathis said:

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.

When I look at the image and the teaser caption, I don't get that "feel" though. And why bother coming into SL to use a dating App? There are lots of RL ones around. 

The ability to control someone's RL toy already exists with Lovense.  Only a cheap SL HUD is required to make an expensive RL Lovense toy controllable by a partner in SL. It's actually not as much fun as it sounds though. It's too easy to put the HUD setting too high for the other person's comfort, or forgot that's still on, when it shouldn't be. So, I doubt LL would implement this.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

or forgot that's still on

lol

Pix or it didn't happen.

 

 

Actually, on second thought, maybe not.

[SandorWren]

34 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

lol

Pix or it didn't happen.

 

 

Actually, on second thought, maybe not.

I think it's just wiser for you to trust me on this one LOL. And wiser for me as well.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Bagnu

[Istelathis]

19 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

The ability to control someone's RL toy already exists with Lovense. 

SL could do better, a haptic sex suit, complete with pressure points throughout, and they could couple it with the puppetry tech they had abandoned.  I am so tempted to link a yahoo news article animated gif here, you know, for science... but don't think that would go over so well 🤣

 

[SandorWren]

The biggest issue with that would be cost. A lovense toy costs roughly $200 USD, give or take. I couldn't even imagine what a suit like that would cost. 

[Istelathis]

1 minute ago, Bagnu said:

The biggest issue with that would be cost. A lovense toy costs roughly $200 USD, give or take. I couldn't even imagine what a suit like that would cost. 

The closest I could find on Amazon only covers the torso and costs $329 USD.  I found a company called TeslaSuit 🤣 They are selling them for $13,000 but I am not so sure about that company, I mean, it looks pretty sketchy.  I did not stick around long enough to do very much research, $13,000 seems a bit much.

I found another one that is not available yet, going for $279 USD, but it is preorder and I wouldn't trust it either.  

[SandorWren]

8 hours 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.

I am thinking more of a "gateway", where people would be able to meet and mingle, in a somewhat adult setting. The Satyr club does just that. Dancing, music, and MAYBE sex, while making it comfortable for everyone. I know people who enjoy that club simply for the music and dancing, without the sex. People can meet and mingle, and do a bit of everything there,  and then go into more extreme things somewhere ELSE. IF they want to. Something like that would acknowledge the adult side of SL, without exposing itself to anything more, since the resident's take over past that point. LL really wouldn't be offering anything, just acknowledging and permitting.

If the sex were only allowed in private rooms they provide, that's no different than people going to a RL club, and saying "Hey, let's go somewhere more private,  but wait... we can do that here in one of the hotel rooms, and we don't have to drive,  so we can have a couple of drinks."

 

[Coffee Pancake]

2 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

From talking with Lindens over the years it seems there is an in-house stigma on those agreeing to work on the Adult projects. I suspect that is still likely.

This has always been the problem.

Quote

 

Linden Labs Thinks It's The Sex That's Keeping Businesses Out Of Second Life

The trend of company after company announcing they were setting up shop in Second Life proved to be little more than a fad. Perhaps it was good for an initial publicity stunt, but many of the companies that entered the virtual world found it to be fairly worthless, from a marketing standpoint. The company behind Second Life, Linden Labs, doesn’t seem to think this is why companies are staying away, rather it’s because of all the sex-related activity that goes on there...

https://www.techdirt.com/2009/03/17/linden-labs-thinks-its-the-sex-thats-keeping-businesses-out-of-second-life/

 

You can't put corporate schmoozing next to an orgy tent.

Serious business hasn't wanted anything here in well over a decade. So LL leant in to remote working during the pandemic ... which was literally the very last thing everyone working from home wanted. More ways to ruin something fun by making it about work. Good job.

Always trying the same losing strategy over and over and over, amplifying the same tired use cases no one cared for, all while the tiniest vocal minority gleefully clutch pearls; Now, finally, as the curtains are drawing in and we're all feeling the pinch...

A voice whispers .. "hey, you know " ..

IMVU are several times bigger than we are. Let that sink in. We lost to that warm miserable garbage. 

It's going to take some serious, dedicated and long term commitments to the adult side of SL (that has literally been paying for this folly for two decades) before anyone will take any of this seriously.

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THAT TENT

We don't need an event or some "sauce" (whatever the fresh hell LL think that might be). Move Zindra with the rest of mainland. Make some adult Linden Homes. Add some more adult Land or Horizons .. maybe repurpose all that empty G rated stuff no one wants (yet we still have to pay to keep online). Stop hiding away from the product on the website or trying to sell vague notions of how "surprising" SL is. Raise the minimum age to 18. Delete the "meetings in SL" mini site.

Accept the userbase for who they are and appreciate what drives us to be here. Find ways to reach more people like us. Be the actual Second chance at Life so many need now more than ever.

One clear message.

Your World Your Imagination; and when that world turns out to be full of smut, believe us when we say "we did that on purpose".

 

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Bagnu said:

And why bother coming into SL to use a dating App? There are lots of RL ones around. 

True, but we still get tons of people in SL looking to find a partner and they want the relationship to go to RL.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 hour ago, Bagnu said:

I am thinking more of a "gateway", where people would be able to meet and mingle, in a somewhat adult setting.

This brings us back to the plausible idea of a dating service.

After all, most so-called "dating apps" in RL are as often as not used for hook-ups.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

47 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

This has always been the problem.

You can't put corporate schmoozing next to an orgy tent.

Serious business hasn't wanted anything here in well over a decade. So LL leant in to remote working during the pandemic ... which was literally the very last thing everyone working from home wanted. More ways to ruin something fun by making it about work. Good job.

Always trying the same losing strategy over and over and over, amplifying the same tired use cases no one cared for, all while the tiniest vocal minority gleefully clutch pearls; Now, finally, as the curtains are drawing in and we're all feeling the pinch...

A voice whispers .. "hey, you know " ..

IMVU are several times bigger than we are. Let that sink in. We lost to that warm miserable garbage. 

It's going to take some serious, dedicated and long term commitments to the adult side of SL (that has literally been paying for this folly for two decades) before anyone will take any of this seriously.

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THAT TENT

We don't need an event or some "sauce" (whatever the fresh hell LL think that might be). Move Zindra with the rest of mainland. Make some adult Linden Homes. Add some more adult Land or Horizons .. maybe repurpose all that empty G rated stuff no one wants (yet we still have to pay to keep online). Stop hiding away from the product on the website or trying to sell vague notions of how "surprising" SL is. Raise the minimum age to 18. Delete the "meetings in SL" mini site.

Accept the userbase for who they are and appreciate what drives us to be here. Find ways to reach more people like us. Be the actual Second chance at Life so many need now more than ever.

One clear message.

Your World Your Imagination; and when that world turns out to be full of smut, believe us when we say "we did that on purpose".

 

 

Page 7.

We're on PAGE 7!!!

Where have you been??????

[Lexxi Gynoid]

On 12/20/2023 at 2:10 PM, Luna Bliss said:

Does this mean we'll soon see naughty Linden bears?

I'm confused by your question.

Coco Linden's bear. Picture from 2008. 

[Ceka Cianci]

37 minutes ago, Lexxi Gynoid said:

I'm confused by your question.

Coco Linden's bear. Picture from 2008. 

That location looks like it is by The Great Wall

[Lexxi Gynoid]

3 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

That location looks like it is by The Great Wall

I used to have a "The Temple Ruins in Nautilus City" place. So, the picture location is, or I should say was, in Nautilus City.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 12/20/2023 at 2:10 PM, Luna Bliss said:

Does this mean we'll soon see naughty Linden bears?

I'm old enough to remember that Linden bear in the BDSM get-up. The guy was the liaison for Zindra. 

I fully expect this "steamy new region" to be as robust and functional as....

...the Helios Casino and Lounge.

Say, did they ever get the swag stuff put in there?

 

[SandorWren]

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This brings us back to the plausible idea of a dating service.

After all, most so-called "dating apps" in RL are as often as not used for hook-ups.

I see what you're saying.  But there are already dedicated dating services in SL. I stand by my statement that a club that offers music, dancing, and the possibility of sex would be the most logical and realistic. If it's PURELY a dating service, only those wanting to actually DATE would go there. 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

I see what you're saying.  But there are already dedicated dating services in SL. I stand by my statement that a club that offers music, dancing, and the possibility of sex would be the most logical and realistic. If it's PURELY a dating service, only those wanting to actually DATE would go there. 

I suppose a less misogynistic version of the "gentlemen's clubs" (ick) that proliferate -- which are kind of hybrid social spots / dance clubs / OH-LOOK-HERE'S-A-BJ-POSE! places -- would work.

I still tend to think that even so indirect a provision for sex from LL itself would be risky, but maybe they've decided it's a risk they can afford to take. We'll see! It's all speculation for now.

So long, obviously, as it's fully open and inclusive, whatever it is.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Scylla Rhiadra

[BilliJo Aldrin]

4 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This brings us back to the plausible idea of a dating service.

After all, most so-called "dating apps" in RL are as often as not used for hook-ups.

I suppose someone could create a dating app hud, I'd love to swipe left on every loser on the app

[BilliJo Aldrin]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I suppose a less misogynistic version of the "gentlemen's clubs" (ick) that proliferate -- which are kind of hybrid social spots / dance clubs / OH-LOOK-HERE'S-A-BJ-POSE! places -- would work.

I still tend to think that even so indirect a provision for sex from LL itself would be risky, but maybe they've decided it's a risk they can afford to take. We'll see! It's all speculation for now.

So long, obviously, as it's fully open and inclusive, whatever it is.

I really don't see any advantage of LL actively promoting adult content. The perception already is that SL is nothing but sex perverts. For LL to come out and confirm it, I think would harm them far more than help.