Lab Gab April 2024 - Comments? Discussion?

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Kathlen Onyx said:

In order for you to register an account with Second Life you have to be at least 16 years old. If I make an avatar that looks 16 Is that considered a child avatar or an adult avatar? I would say that if an avatar came in looking 16 most people would considered them a child avatar,  yet why would you be banned from certain activities since that is the RL age you have to be to have an account.

 

16 and 17 year olds are restricted to General areas which is why some 17 and under people lie about their age when they register.

[Theresa Tennyson]

3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

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.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Adult_Content_FAQ

Note it says "activity" and not "objects."

[Kathlen Onyx]

2 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Note it says "activity" and not "objects."

THANK YOU!

[Rowan Amore]

4 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Note it says "activity" and not "objects."

Further down on that page...Which would apply to Moderate land also...

 

Are child avatars allowed on Adult regions?

Yes, child avatars are allowed in Adult regions, as long as they are controlled by a person who has verified themselves to be at least 18 years old. However, the avatar should not be in proximity to sexual content or activity; and must obey the policy prohibiting sexual *****.

Since Adult regions by design will often contain sexual content, child avatars should use caution in visiting Adult regions.

Edited April 21 by Rowan Amore

[BilliJo Aldrin]

14 minutes ago, Kathlen Onyx said:

Thank you. 75% of groups on M rated land that has adult furniture in it is able to be AR'd then. lol

Knock yourself out.

I had a clubhouse on mainland for years that was a massive AR waiting to happen.

I finally got smart and moved to Zindra

[BilliJo Aldrin]

15 minutes ago, Kathlen Onyx said:

Actually the later is a sex offense in some states depending on the age of the other person. 

It's statutory r a p e, but it's not kiddy diddling

[Henri Beauchamp]

40 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

child avatars should use caution in visiting Adult regions.

To be honest, and for being myself spending 95% of my SL online time in adult regions, I do not think any significant number of child avatars are roaming them (I could likely count them all on the fingers of a single hand in one year worth of SLing): also, most of the times I witnessed such a rare occurrence, they were either politely asked to change their look or leave, or were ejected by the region owner/moderators.

I personally have no problem at all with the principle of adult region = child avatars forbidden. The only problem I have is to determine what a ”child avatar” is exactly...

A change in the current policy, even if not more restrictive than the above principle could lead to another period of paranoid, knee-jerk reactions from land owners/moderators (or even any resident using them), with many non-child avatars being considered as ”too childish” to be accepted.

I already experienced such an issue, back when the first child porn hammer struck, while my own avatar, even if young (and rather effeminate-looking), is/was definitely not a child (as tall as myself in RL, clearly identified as adult in the profile, never wearing childish attire, never playing childish anims (AO & Co), and always role-played as a young adult, never as a child, not even as a teen): I then had to leave a few regions I used to RP in, because of such knee-jerk reactions, which never happened again ever since, in the past 15+ years or so... But I guess I might be faced with the same occurrences again, now... 🫤

Edited April 21 by Henri Beauchamp

[Theresa Tennyson]

18 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Note it says "activity" and not "objects."

It's a "guns don't kill, people do" thing...

[Rowan Amore]

5 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

It's statutory r a p e, but it's not kiddy diddling

And some states call it unlawful sex with a minor.  Splitting hair to make it sound not so bad?  Wow.  

[Luna Bliss]

6 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

It's statutory r a p e, but it's not kiddy diddling

Aside from considering the legality of these differences, yes the latter is more offensive. It's more offensive because of the greater abuse of power over those who are more vulnerable.  That's why we protect children.

 

[BilliJo Aldrin]

9 minutes ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

To be honest, and for being myself spending 95% of my SL online time in adult regions, I do not think any significant number of child avatars are roaming them (I could likely count them all on the fingers of a single hand in one year worth of SLing): also, most of the times I witnessed such a rare occurrence, they were either politely asked to change their look or leave, or were ejected by the region owner/moderators.

I personally have no problem at all with the principle of Adult region = child avatars forbidden. The only problem I have is to determine what a ”child avatar” is exactly...

A change in the current policy, even if not more restrictive than the above principle could lead to another period of paranoid, knee-jerk reactions from land owners/moderators (or even any resident using them), with many non-child avatars being considered as ”too childish” to be accepted.

I already experienced such an issue, back when the first child porn hammer struck, while my own avatar, even if young (and rather effeminate-looking), is/was definitely not a child (as tall as myself in RL, clearly identified as adult in the profile, never wearing childish attire, and always role-played as a young adult, never as a child, not even as a teen): I then had to leave a few regions I used to RP in, because of such knee-jerk reactions, which never happened again ever since, in the past 15+ years or so... But I guess I might be faced with the same occurrences again, now... 🫤

I'm wondering if I'll start being told to leave because I'm "only" 5 ft 5.

It is what it is i suppose.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

23 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Aside from considering the legality of these differences, yes the latter is more offensive. It's more offensive because of the greater abuse of power over those who are more vulnerable.  That's why we protect children.

 

-deleted-

Never mind, you were responding to them in the order I listed them in the post you were responding to, so yes we are totally in agreement, my bad

Edited April 21 by BilliJo Aldrin
fixing a misuderstanding I had

[Love Zhaoying]

16 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

And some states call it unlawful sex with a minor.  Splitting hair to make it sound not so bad?  Wow.  

Can we marry our cousin in Second Life? Asking for a frenemy.

[Asadora Summers]

On 4/19/2024 at 12:06 PM, Love Zhaoying said:

They at least reiterated the general policy and even used the "a-p" word.  It was nice to hear - for me at last - that they explicitly said there more information on the policy coming.  (Instead of saying "nothing at all".)

I didn't see Patch in the video.

He wasn't in the Lab Gab video; however, he was spotted at the Fantasy Faire auctioning off homesteads, memberships and some other things with two other Lindens. Someone tweeted it and posted the snap on their Flickr.
Out of personal principle I won't be attending the FF this year.

[Love Zhaoying]

Ok, we've covered 2K texture uploads, rules around child / sexual abuse, and only a couple other things..

Other topics in the video we could discuss:

 

• Second Life Mobile App - Developer Update Video (April 2024)
• Mobile Update: April 2024 - new builds, avatar updates!
• Premium Plus - Second Life Mobile Private Alpha Sign-Up
• Feedback Portal 
• Mirrors, PBR Terrain, and 2K textures
• Materials Featurettes Viewer 
• Accessing Aditi (the beta grid) 
• Second Life’s 21st Birthday (SL21B) Updates
• Follow our Featured News Blog for upcoming Policy Updates

[Persephone Emerald]

45 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

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.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Adult_Content_FAQ

The imprecise wording of these statements has long been a problem, but "Adult objects" only applies to items being sold on MP or in stores imworld. Any object could have sex animations in it, so it makes no sense to define some objects as Adult. Avatars can also engage in sexual animations by using a HUD that is never rezzed inworld.

"Every reasonable effort" is not clearly defined either. Some people assume that all of the examples have to be enacted, but enforcement has not shown this to be true. As an example, Bellisseria is all Moderate, but objects with sex animation are allowed in Belli even if they are not literally behind closed doors. Restricting access to Belli parcels only to a group is actually against the No banlines rule as well. Only one of those examples can be used to restrict visibility of sexual or otherwise Adult activity in Belli: turning on Parcel Privacy. Thus logic must conclude that one only needs to employ one of those examples, rather than all of them.

43 minutes ago, Kathlen Onyx said:

Actually the later is a sex offense in some states depending on the age of the other person. 

The Second Life platform is used internationally in countries and US states that define the age of consent in multiple ways. In some states in the US, a 14 year old can legally be married and have sex with their spouse if the parents of the 14 year old have given consent for the marriage. The usual age of consent in the US is 18, but it's not usually considered illegal if the age difference between partners is less than 2 years. For instance, a 16 year old and a 17 year old, or a 17 year old and an 18 year old.

What matters in SL is the age of a minor as defined by Linden Lab, which is 18 years old in real life. LL can't even define what is a minor or child avatar, because this would be impossible to do. A user might have an avatar that subjectively looks child-like, but which they say is a faery, a doll, or a vampire. It is thus left to parcel owners and managers to subjectively decide if an avatar looks and behaves like a child.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

2 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

 

 

LL is located in Cali where the minimum age is 18, so even if both parties lived in say Alabama where the age is 16, they would still be in violation of LL’s rules regarding underage s e x.

[Persephone Emerald]

5 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

 

Please add an explanation for the color coding on this map.

[CaitlinParker]

1 minute ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Please add an explanation for the color coding on this map.

The age of consent in every state.

Even with that, the age of 16 is still considered to be a minor and the act of engaging in certain actions with said minor can land a person jail time.

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Please add an explanation for the color coding on this map.

Not sure also, if the numbers were "age of consent" or something else. It was a random map with numbers on it.

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Please add an explanation for the color coding on this map.

I changed it once I saw the color coding was missing.

[Persephone Emerald]

43 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Can we marry our cousin in Second Life? Asking for a frenemy.

We can marry our child, our parent, or our dog in SL.

[Luna Bliss]

9 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

LL is located in Cali where the minimum age is 18, so even if both parties lived in say Alabama where the age is 16, they would still be in violation of LL’s rules regarding underage s e x.

I was referring to her blanket statement regard legalities in the US -- it was not accurate:

"Both are literally jailbait in the US as both are minors".

But how this plays out in a court of law (more weight being given to the location of a company, and in which situations), I don't know.  More importantly, I don't know how the laws could change in the future regardless of the current precedents.

Edited April 21 by Luna Bliss

[Persephone Emerald]

36 minutes ago, Asadora Summers said:

He wasn't in the Lab Gab video; however, he was spotted at the Fantasy Faire auctioning off homesteads, memberships and some other things with two other Lindens. Someone tweeted it and posted the snap on their Flickr.
Out of personal principle I won't be attending the FF this year.

Because people are guilty until proven innocent in SL. 🙄

[Orwar]

Just now, Persephone Emerald said:

Because people are guilty until proven innocent in SL. 🙄

   Meh, that's not just SL. It's the whole Internet.

   And who cares if they get proven innocent? That's a process that takes time, and most folks have the attention spans of-- Ooh, aeroplane ..