I Believe The Stink Of Adult Activities And Related Social and Political Issues Hold Back Second Life

[Kathlen Onyx]

57 minutes ago, JacksonBollock said:

As for the rest, and speaking directly to @Zalificent Corvinus now, I'd just say keep doing what you're doing. Yours is an important voice here, albeit your style is somewhat 'interesting' and sadly might obscure your message for a few.

All the Best,
Jackson

 

Do you think maybe she is doing it on purpose?  She's probably very nice in person, or maybe not. lol

She certainly is heard, I'll give her that.

[MissSweetViolet]

23 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

In the not-so-distant past, I could have skimmed through the Saturday Sale flyer on Seraphim even if my grandkids were in the room and my monitor visible. I can't shop in any event or check any event details in Seraphim when anyone happens to be in the room with me. The level of blatant sexually explicit clothing is just too much. Honestly, I'm tired of what has become the

norm for what qualifies as fashion in SL these day. Okay .. go ahead throw rocks at me. I don't care. *puts on extra padding*

I agree with this, there's so much clothing out that is so over the top right no, that my clothing shopping has nearly come to a halt at the moment. Every now and then I find something nice [Thalia Heckroth and Ison have some nice on sale sometimes, though they don't have sales every week], but most of the stores are offering stuff far to revealing for my taste.

-----

As for my Opinion on the OPs post. I fall in to the camp of people who don't and likely never will engage in the adult content of SL. I'm not sure it's so much a question of if they could survive, if [and that's a big if] they had the right strategy, they probably could, but I don't think it's in SL's best interest. Even I can recognize that many people here engage with and enjoy adult content to varying degrees, I don't think just adult content is what drives SL, but is a large enough population, that if they did away with it, it would be a major income loss, and I don't think currently SL could replace the users fast enough to replace those who would leave to make it up. So the answer is maybe, but not worth the risk. Besides, for all the issues it can cause, it's also one of the things that makes SL unique.

Also, as someone who has both been on other social platforms, and a online gamer. If you think other online games/platforms have no adult content, then you aren't paying close enough attention. The platforms may not encourage it, and the content may [or maybe not] be under the radar, but it is absolutely there. That actually in my opinion makes it worse then SL, because people let kids on those games thinking their safe, when the reality is anything but, at least with SL you for the most part at least, know what's there.

Edited May 12 by MissSweetViolet
Spelling corrections.

[Lysistrata Szapira]

Maybe someone has already said this. Probably someone has already said this, but I'm not digging through the past pages.

The OP must not ever look at events listed on SeraphimSL.  If anyone needs convincing that s#x and adult activities are a major financial driver of the world, send them there.   I mean someone MUST be buying all of that blatantly s#xual stuff in vast numbers or these stores wouldn't keep making it in vast numbers.  Look at how many people got excited yesterday because a certain store finally released its female genital parts for LaraX. Look at the Bonniebots attachment list today and #8 on the list is the It's Not Mine! system (not going say what kind of system but it's s#xual in nature obvs). 

Kink clubs, strip clubs, s#x workers, voice sex clubs, Gorean sims, heck, even RLV wouldn't exist were it not for the people who want adult activities in world. Adults in large numbers want s#xual experiences online.  There's another virtual world that is entirely s#x-based (Red Light Center), but people leave that world and come to SL because it's much more expansive. 

Either OP is a troll, a prude, or naive to an absurd level.   If it weren't for all the money generated by s#x related things sold in SL, SL wouldn't exist.

[Paul Hexem]

Adult activity is literally all SL has going for it.

Everything else you can do in SL can be done better in other games, full stop. Get rid of adult activities and SL wouldn't be able to compete at all.

[Garnet Psaltery]

10 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Adult activity is literally all SL has going for it.

Everything else you can do in SL can be done better in other games, full stop. Get rid of adult activities and SL wouldn't be able to compete at all.

No it isn't.  My friends and I have plenty to enjoy without it, and unless they all suddenly decided to go to one other platform there's no good reason for me to leave.  How well SL would do without the A-rated activities I couldn't say but it is not all there is to attract people.  Do you really not appreciate that?

[Arielle Popstar]

6 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

No it isn't.  My friends and I have plenty to enjoy without it, and unless they all suddenly decided to go to one other platform there's no good reason for me to leave.  How well SL would do without the A-rated activities I couldn't say but it is not all there is to attract people.  Do you really not appreciate that?

I know of a couple Tinies that thoroughly enjoy sitting in the laps of pretty girls when given the opportunity and would miss it if that wasn't available, even if they themselves don't use a human avatar.

[diamond Marchant]

32 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Adult activity is literally all SL has going for it.

Everything else you can do in SL can be done better in other games, full stop. Get rid of adult activities and SL wouldn't be able to compete at all.

The deal breaker for me would be lack of shopping* (which is awesome). I also build stuff,  fly/sail and watch Moles to see what they are up to.

*I buy a lot of plants, for friends of course

Edited May 12 by diamond Marchant

[Sammy Huntsman]

I just wanted to say this. Adult activities are more than just the sexual stuff. I mean I may not partake in the sexual stuff, I do partake in the other ones. That and adults should be able to freely express themselves however they want. As long as it doesn't hurt themselves and others. Part of a free society is for humans to have freedom of expression. In all aspects of life, that includes  their virtual and digital lives. 

[Sadvhi]

The only activities that I enjoy (aside from exploring) are crafting, farming, mining, fishing, and raising animals. When I first joined Second Life many years ago, it was a very magical and healing experience for me. I think that's the primary reason I continue to spend time here, even though it's not designed to be a solo RPG:-)

[Paul Hexem]

1 hour ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

No it isn't.  My friends and I have plenty to enjoy without it, and unless they all suddenly decided to go to one other platform there's no good reason for me to leave.  How well SL would do without the A-rated activities I couldn't say but it is not all there is to attract people.  Do you really not appreciate that?

 

1 hour ago, diamond Marchant said:

The deal breaker for me would be lack of shopping* (which is awesome). I also build stuff,  fly/sail and watch Moles to see what they are up to.

*I buy a lot of plants, for friends of course

That's good that you do other things in SL. I never said you can't do them. Only that every single one of them, other games do better and SL wouldn't be able to compete.

Some people like using hand drills instead of electric ones for wood working. None of those people are a large or successful business.

[MissSweetViolet]

19 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

 

That's good that you do other things in SL. I never said you can't do them. Only that every single one of them, other games do better and SL wouldn't be able to compete.

Some people like using hand drills instead of electric ones for wood working. None of those people are a large or successful business.

I don't know about this, I've yet to find any place with the level of avatar customization that SL has, maybe OpenSim would come close, wouldn't know though because I've not tried it out. I've heard that just about anything goes there for rules though, which does not make me want to check them out.

[Paul Hexem]

1 minute ago, MissSweetViolet said:

I don't know about this, I've yet to find any place with the level of avatar customization that SL has, maybe OpenSim would come close, wouldn't know though because I've not tried it out. I've heard that just about anything goes there for rules though, which does not make me want to check them out.

There are definitely games that have as many or more body sliders than SL. They do have less clothing options though- because they're not catering to all kinds of different adult clothing.

[MissSweetViolet]

5 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

There are definitely games that have as many or more body sliders than SL. They do have less clothing options though- because they're not catering to all kinds of different adult clothing.

I wear plenty of clothing that is not adult in nature that I have never seen else where, in fact I don't own any skimpy clothing. Also clothing/accessories/etc is part of creating a look, what good is getting the body right if the rest of my look, clothing, etc, can't match.

If you think the clothing needs to look adult in nature to be varied, look at more clothing sites.

[Flower Caerndow]

35 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

That's good that you do other things in SL. I never said you can't do them. Only that every single one of them, other games do better and SL wouldn't be able to compete.

Please tell us what other game or world out there has as much content for landscaping as well as avatar customization - like the landforms, rivers and waterfalls from Skye, the trees and grasses from HPMD and the flowers from Konoha.  If you are not familiar with those stores than perhaps you are not aware of the wide variety of content available in SL, and not just for avatars!

[Ayashe Ninetails]

28 minutes ago, MissSweetViolet said:

I don't know about this, I've yet to find any place with the level of avatar customization that SL has, maybe OpenSim would come close, wouldn't know though because I've not tried it out. I've heard that just about anything goes there for rules though, which does not make me want to check them out.

Avatar customization here is really good, but it also comes with a pretty steep learning curve that's completely non-standard and non-intuitive (buy my head and body in different stores? My head skin doesn't come with my body skin? Etc.). Other games that do it well often just have a single head/body on a single avatar that can be gripped, grabbed, twisted, molded, slid, yanked, and shaped into pretty much anything (see Dragon's Dogma II). 

And yeah, while there are absolutely a LOT of people who could easily spend 3+ hours in character creation, so many often hit Randomize a few times (another feature we don't have) and settle on something so they can get into the game and go. Here, you can get very stuck and very visually "broken," requiring some Googling, foruming, or searching for people in groups or Discord to help. I've seen a few people get to that point and log out in total frustration.

Short version - our customization takes a lot of patience and practice. Completely ideal for people who love that sort of thing, but terrible if you just want to log in and focus on something else entirely. Senra's designed to help with that but...yeah.

Edit: Oops, I believe we do have a randomize feature, but only for new residents making their Senra in the web customizer.

Edited May 12 by Ayashe Ninetails
Added Stuffs

[MissSweetViolet]

3 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Avatar customization here is really good, but it also comes with a pretty steep learning curve that's completely non-standard and non-intuitive (buy my head and body in different stores? My head skin doesn't come with my body skin? Etc.). Other games that do it well often just have a single head/body on a single avatar that can be gripped, grabbed, twisted, molded, slid, yanked, and shaped into pretty much anything (see Dragon's Dogma II). 

And yeah, while there are absolutely a LOT of people who could easily spend 3+ hours in character creation, so many often hit Randomize a few times (another feature we don't have) and settle on something so they can get into the game and go. Here, you can get very stuck and very visually "broken," requiring some Googling, foruming, or searching for people in groups or Discord to help. I've seen a few people get to that point and log out in total frustration.

Short version - our customization takes a lot of patience and practice. Completely ideal for people who love that sort of thing, but terrible if you just want to log in and focus on something else entirely. Senra's designed to help with that but...yeah.

I completely agree. I'm lucky that I was on a platform prior to SL that had a similar setup [but far less range] and inventory system. So between that and gaming experience, I got use to the UI quickly.

I'm one of those who would fall into the 3+ hour group, in just about anything I'm on, the amount of time I've spend customizing on Sims 4 alone. XD

Yes, it's confusing for most of the newer users for sure, but I also love the level of customization. If that ever went away, I'm not sure how long I would last in SL.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

2 minutes ago, MissSweetViolet said:

I completely agree. I'm lucky that I was on a platform prior to SL that had a similar setup [but far less range] and inventory system. So between that and gaming experience, I got use to the UI quickly.

I'm one of those who would fall into the 3+ hour group, in just about anything I'm on, the amount of time I've spend customizing on Sims 4 alone. XD

Yes, it's confusing for most of the newer users for sure, but I also love the level of customization. If that ever went away, I'm not sure how long I would last in SL.

Saaaaaaame! Even in pixel games, I'll sit there forever making my little pixelated face with no nose and two little squares for eyes. 😂 The Sims 4 + custom content, though? DAYS to get myself in-game, lol.

And I agree - if customization/shopping and photography went away, that'd pretty much be the end of SL for me. Those are the only things I even do here anymore!

[Paul Hexem]

10 minutes ago, Flower Caerndow said:

Please tell us what other game or world out there has as much content for landscaping as well as avatar customization - like the landforms, rivers and waterfalls from Skye, the trees and grasses from HPMD and the flowers from Konoha.  If you are not familiar with those stores than perhaps you are not aware of the wide variety of content available in SL, and not just for avatars!

Many modern voxel based games have way more landscape customization than SL has- you don't need third party addons to vary the scenery when you can literally build mountains and dig caves. Everything from Minecraft to Seven Days to Die has that.

Virtually all eastern RPGs and MMO's have as much if not more base avatar customization than SL, without third party content.

Once you start adding third party content and mods, you get even more options. Look how all Gorean players left for Conan Exiles, because with mods it did everything they were doing in SL, but better.

Even off the shelf Steam games are even starting to do adult content better than SL, with physics collisions and whatnot.

If you really think SL has any features that you can't find done better in another game, you're not looking.

[MissSweetViolet]

3 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Many modern voxel based games have way more landscape customization than SL has- you don't need third party addons to vary the scenery when you can literally build mountains and dig caves. Everything from Minecraft to Seven Days to Die has that.

Virtually all eastern RPGs and MMO's have as much if not more base avatar customization than SL, without third party content.

Once you start adding third party content and mods, you get even more options. Look how all Gorean players left for Conan Exiles, because with mods it did everything they were doing in SL, but better.

Even off the shelf Steam games are even starting to do adult content better than SL, with physics collisions and whatnot.

If you really think SL has any features that you can't find done better in another game, you're not looking.

I'm a major Minecraft player, in no way does the terrain in Minecraft match what you can find in SL, not even with shaders. Not if your going for a realistic look anyway.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

5 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Many modern voxel based games have way more landscape customization than SL has- you don't need third party addons to vary the scenery when you can literally build mountains and dig caves. Everything from Minecraft to Seven Days to Die has that.

Virtually all eastern RPGs and MMO's have as much if not more base avatar customization than SL, without third party content.

Once you start adding third party content and mods, you get even more options. Look how all Gorean players left for Conan Exiles, because with mods it did everything they were doing in SL, but better.

Even off the shelf Steam games are even starting to do adult content better than SL, with physics collisions and whatnot.

If you really think SL has any features that you can't find done better in another game, you're not looking.

Agree with all of this. While SL is my first choice for avatar customization, it's my absolute last choice for crafting/building/decorating/landscaping.

I have no desire to learn 3D to build myself a house.

[Codex Alpha]

Off topic in my own topic whoops.

 

Edited May 12 by Codex Alpha

[Paul Hexem]

1 minute ago, MissSweetViolet said:

Not if your going for a realistic look anyway.

Then you can pick another game that looks better than SL- there's lots of those, too.

The criteria was "landscape customization done better", not "customization but that specifically looks sort of realistic and really laggy if you add third party content".

[MissSweetViolet]

Just now, Codex Alpha said:

Paul didn't make a claim that SL an Minecraft terrain options were the same..

As of shaders.. well..   (and I lost the best picture with full Sodium + shader libraries). Try MC with shaders.. it truly is amazing change.

I have played Minecraft with shaders, of course it's beautiful....for Minecraft. But if I want realistic, no shader is going to make Minecraft suddenly not a block world.

Meanwhile in SL; 

[Istelathis]

2 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

Adult activity is literally all SL has going for it.

Everything else you can do in SL can be done better in other games, full stop. Get rid of adult activities and SL wouldn't be able to compete at all.

I don't do adult activity, and I do agree almost everything you can do in SL can be done better in other games.  I think that is probably the same for adult activities too though, especially games made specifically for sex, such as VR sex simulators. 

One thing SL has going for it, is the variety, it is a jack of all trades.  You can do just about anything you could imagine, that is what appeals to me about the platform.  I might feel like driving, but at the same time, I may want to explore, perhaps I want to build something or just play a zombie shooter.  It is laid back for the most part, does not require me to load different software for whatever I want to do, I just teleport and it is done.  It is like the ultimate ADHD platform, I might just be wandering down a trail, see a horse, and think.. I want to go riding!  Then my mind wanders off to a huge tree I see in the distance, then I have an urge to build a tree house, then while building the tree house I imagine Gozilla rising from the ocean, and start working on a gigantic monster, then I think since it is an ocean I would rather that giant monster be a rubber duck, then I want the rubber duck to move in a certain direction and knock down buildings, so I set up a few buildings, and put a script in the rubber duck..

 

Then I decide, I've had enough and I want to go bowling, so I rez my bowling lane, throw a few bowling balls, then decide I want to go exploring again, but want to just sit back passively as the environment passes me by, so I hop on a train, then I think it would be fun to create a train.. etc, etc, etc.

 

[Hymn Celestia]

3 minutes ago, MissSweetViolet said:

I have played Minecraft with shaders, of course it's beautiful....for Minecraft. But if I want realistic, no shader is going to make Minecraft suddenly not a block world.

Meanwhile in SL; 

Second Life for the win!

It's not an adult activity that brings me to SL and I know I'm not alone.