What will 'finer-grained controls for content maturity' look like?

[Arwyn Quandry]

A post on the Canny Feedback site by Birdie Linden recently revealed that there's a plan to create what they described as "finer-grained controls for content maturity":

Quote

In order to move forward, we will soon be removing access to Adult-rated regions on the mobile app. In the longer term, we are working on finer-grained controls for content maturity in order to allow maximum freedom while complying with app store requirements.

This brings up a lot of questions about what these finer-grained controls might look like and what they'd be applied to. Do you think we'll see region ratings change from simply G, M, A to something new? Changes in how Marketplace content is classified? What kinds of content do you think would warrant a differentiated rating?

If you want to talk about the mobile app losing access to adult content, there's already a thread about that here. Please keep this thread focused on the maturity rating question.

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, Arwyn Quandry said:

Do you think we'll see region ratings change from simply G, M, A to something new? Changes in how Marketplace content is classified? What kinds of content do you think would warrant a differentiated rating?

We could guess all day, but without more information it's pure guessing.

Content that is not bought from the Marketplace has no "rating", so tying any new ratings purely to Marketplace items would not provide a very complete solution.

[diamond Marchant]

Only guessing, M will be split into more precise ratings, perhaps similar to movie ratings.

[Love Zhaoying]

26 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

Only guessing, M will be split into more precise ratings, perhaps similar to movie ratings.

That makes more sense, it would be similar to game ratings also: T, etc.

[Persephone Emerald]

5 hours ago, Arwyn Quandry said:

A post on the Canny Feedback site by Birdie Linden recently revealed that there's a plan to create what they described as "finer-grained controls for content maturity":

This brings up a lot of questions about what these finer-grained controls might look like and what they'd be applied to. Do you think we'll see region ratings change from simply G, M, A to something new? Changes in how Marketplace content is classified? What kinds of content do you think would warrant a differentiated rating?

If you want to talk about the mobile app losing access to adult content, there's already a thread about that here. Please keep this thread focused on the maturity rating question.

They could add M-V (for violence), M-N (for nudity), A-X (for explicit sex), and A-V (for extreme violence).

[Kathlen Onyx]

Well why not have another thread with us speculating with no real information until it dissolves in people arguing as to why it should be that way.

Have at it!

 

 

 

Edited May 19 by Kathlen Onyx

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

They could add M-V (for violence), M-N (for nudity), A-X (for explicit sex), and A-V (for extreme violence).

YES!!!!!!!!

Now is the time to split extreme violence from explicit sex!!!

[Istelathis]

Perhaps they will phase out adult content for "G" rated residents.  Adult furniture and occupants, just vanish, no longer visible.  

[Persephone Emerald]

2 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

Perhaps they will phase out adult content for "G" rated residents.  Adult furniture and occupants, just vanish, no longer visible.  

Can LL tell what animations inside of objects are Adult? 🧐

[brodiac90]

47 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

Only guessing, M will be split into more precise ratings, perhaps similar to movie ratings.

Sub-diving M would also solve the current grey area problems for child avatars who are allowed in some M areas but not others depending on what content / users are there. 

[Ineffable Mote]

It'd be far less work and a lot less disruptive to just expand on what's allowed in General rated regions. Maybe an MO (Mobile Only) rating for heavily screened (exclusive?) content, to function as a showcase.

[Istelathis]

Just now, Persephone Emerald said:

Can LL tell what animations inside of objects are Adult? 🧐

It would require a massive overhaul, but much like the latest changes it could become a requirement of the creators.  The alternative, is to do a massive overhaul to SL itself, divide each region and/or parcel by stricter ratings.  Imagine having the whole of Bellisseria having different ratings, all of the moving people would have to do, it would be a nightmare.

 

[brodiac90]

4 minutes ago, Ineffable Mote said:

It'd be far less work and a lot less disruptive to just expand on what's allowed in General rated regions. Maybe an MO (Mobile Only) rating for heavily screened (exclusive?) content, to function as a showcase.

Depends on what you mean by expand. If we're talking about allowing more content in G rated regions then I think that would be a bad idea. If anything, G land needs more heavily policing since for too long content that shouldn't be allowed there has been allowed to persist. Looser content controls for general regions would effectively mean there is no where in SL where child avatars can safely go. 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Why do I not seem to have permission to view this Canny page? I can log into Canny automatically from the email notifications I get there.

ETA: Is this because only Premium Plus currently has access to Mobile? I thought it was being opened to Premium as well?

Edited May 19 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Persephone Emerald]

6 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

It would require a massive overhaul, but much like the latest changes it could become a requirement of the creators.  The alternative, is to do a massive overhaul to SL itself, divide each region and/or parcel by stricter ratings.  Imagine having the whole of Bellisseria having different ratings, all of the moving people would have to do, it would be a nightmare.

I'm envisioning region and parcel owners being able to voluntarily add extra designations to the region and parcel descriptions. It could be as simple as checking a few boxes.

Is public nudity allowed in this region?

Is artistic nudity allowed in this region?

Are sexually suggestive items sold in this region,?

Are items for sexual use sold in this region?

Is sexual activity allowed in this region?

Is moderate violence depicted in this region?

Is avatar damage enabled on this region?

Are mature themes discussed or depicted in this region?

[Ineffable Mote]

21 minutes ago, brodiac90 said:

Depends on what you mean by expand. If we're talking about allowing more content in G rated regions then I think that would be a bad idea. If anything, G land needs more heavily policing since for too long content that shouldn't be allowed there has been allowed to persist. Looser content controls for general regions would effectively mean there is no where in SL where child avatars can safely go. 

LL's needing to keep everything watered down primarily for corporate behemoths, bankers and app stores; so still functionally child safe (virtual or otherwise). LL don't have the employees needed to manually clean up or forcibly move Moderate mainland parcels to make it app store acceptable, never mind estates. So mobile would get access to G and a new so far hypothetical MO rating with heavily screened and exclusive content.

Edited May 19 by Ineffable Mote

[Istelathis]

9 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I'm envisioning region and parcel owners being able to voluntarily add extra designations to the region and parcel descriptions. It could be as simple as checking a few boxes.

Is public nudity allowed in this region?

Is artistic nudity allowed in this region?

Are sexually suggestive items sold in this region,?

Are items for sexual use sold in this region?

Is sexual activity allowed in this region?

Is moderate violence depicted in this region?

Is avatar damage enabled on this region?

Are mature themes discussed or depicted in this region?

But then we get into all of the pictures people hang in their homes, the occasional dildo, and so on 🤣  We have to also include the rare zombie wandering around, eating the discarded limb of some noobs that crossed into the property.  When we come to homes that are put together such as Bellisseria, then it becomes a bit of a mess.  I can zoom into people's homes, see nekkid pictures, I mean, sex toys are all over the place, some BDSM furniture, and so on 🤣  I think it becomes a matter of all adult content being phased out (i.e vanishing from view from G rated residents), or a huge relocation of residents.

Edited May 19 by Istelathis

[Ayashe Ninetails]

15 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

YES!!!!!!!!

Now is the time to split extreme violence from explicit sex!!!

Does any rating system do that, though? It would be nice, but they're usually lumped together.

Reminds me of a Steam game I looked at the other day. The "Mature Content Description" was quick to assure players that the optional romantic choices/scenes would fade to black, but scenes moving past and interacting with headless bodies were frequent and un-skippable. I laughed out loud. Hard.

Yeah, thanks for keeping us safe, I guess. 🙃

Separate ratings here would be rad, but I don't see that happening. It'd take so much work and time to shift things around.

[Persephone Emerald]

Just now, Istelathis said:

But then we get into all of the pictures people hang in their homes, the occasional dildo, and so on 🤣  We have to also include the rare zombie wandering around, eating the discarded limb of some noobs that crossed into the property.  When we come to homes that are put together such as Bellisseria, then it becomes a bit of a mess.  I can zoom into people's homes, see nekkid pictures, I mean, sex toys are all over the place, some BDSM furniture, and so on 🤣  I think it becomes a matter of all adult content being phased out, or a huge relocation of residents.

I don't think LL is going to mess with Bellisseria. At most they might label it all Moderate-Residential. I guess that might mean there could be Moderate-Mixed Use for mainland. They can't possibly police what everyone actually has or does on their land. They can only post covenant rules and hope most people follow them.

[Persephone Emerald]

8 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

But then we get into all of the pictures people hang in their homes, the occasional dildo, and so on 🤣  We have to also include the rare zombie wandering around, eating the discarded limb of some noobs that crossed into the property.  When we come to homes that are put together such as Bellisseria, then it becomes a bit of a mess.  I can zoom into people's homes, see nekkid pictures, I mean, sex toys are all over the place, some BDSM furniture, and so on 🤣  I think it becomes a matter of all adult content being phased out, or a huge relocation of residents.

That dildo on the side table is an artistic paperweight. Those zombies in the woods are animated artistic decor.  

[Love Zhaoying]

14 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

That dildo on the side table is an artistic paperweight. Those zombies in the woods are animated artistic decor.  

All Pornography is "Great Art!"

[Scylla Rhiadra]

19 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Does any rating system do that, though? It would be nice, but they're usually lumped together.

Reminds me of a Steam game I looked at the other day. The "Mature Content Description" was quick to assure players that the optional romantic choices/scenes would fade to black, but scenes moving past and interacting with headless bodies were frequent and un-skippable. I laughed out loud. Hard.

Yeah, thanks for keeping us safe, I guess. 🙃

Separate ratings here would be rad, but I don't see that happening. It'd take so much work and time to shift things around.

I don't play enough games that would even require that sort of content warning to have any real idea about it. It doesn't surprise, given our growing insensitivity to extreme violence, gore, etc., coupled with the older but still pervasive hypocritical and contradictory attitudes towards sexuality, that a game would allow you to "skip" the latter while simply assuming that the former was acceptable.

My point, though, is that if they are now in the process of rethinking and making the rating systems more "granular," then this would be the time to press for it.

We know that Apple doesn't like sex. (Where on earth will all the little Apples come from????). But does it have the same reservations about violence? If violence is more permissible, then it might be LL's interest to separate the two, so that mobile users can access the one, even if the other is "out of bounds."

[Istelathis]

1 minute ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

We know that Apple doesn't like sex.

I just can't help it anymore, whenever I think of apple I get images of Adam and Eve..  LL partook of the apple, and now look what has happened!  

[Ayashe Ninetails]

6 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

(Where on earth will all the little Apples come from????). 

Clearly I need to take myself to bed, because this too made me laugh out loud. 

 

9 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

My point, though, is that if they are now in the process of rethinking and making the rating systems more "granular," then this would be the time to press for it.

Oh, I agree with you on this one. I just think it's a big ask. After a good three or four "what is violence, really?" discussions, everyone in-world has to get onboard with moving all their stuff around. Changing sims like musical chairs n whatnot. Maybe it's easier than I'm making it out to be. Not sure.

 

12 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I don't play enough games that would even require that sort of content warning to have any real idea about it. It doesn't surprise, given our growing insensitivity to extreme violence, gore, etc., coupled with the older but still pervasive hypocritical and contradictory attitudes towards sexuality, that a game would allow you to "skip" the latter while simply assuming that the former was acceptable.

The way I laughed. That attitude is so prevalent in games and films, but something about the "fade to black" part sent me. I've never seen anything - movie, game, TV show - come out and imply that "hey guys don't worry, we're hiding all that icky hand-holding and kissing." They used the word "romance," not sex! Had me straight up wheezing, lol. And they already secured that ESRB Mature 17+ rating from the other stuff so, why not go all in at that point, LMAO. 🤣

[Love Zhaoying]

So, there will be a Venn-style diagram of sex vs. violence, and we get to choose where we want to be. "I'll take consensual choking with a safe word, no marks, open-fist only."

Nope, not about kink at all!