Age verification in SL and the new 'ADULT' rules

"First, they came for the communists, but I didn’t object, I wasn’t a communist. They came for the Socialists, and I didn’t object, because I wasn’t a Socialist. They came for the Labour Leaders, and I didn’t object, because I wasn’t a Labour Leader. They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to object"
(Pastor Martin Niemoller)

First things first. I implore ALL readers of the SL newspaper to search for Bixyl Shuftan’s excellent work (opens in new window) on the topic of age-verification in this very paper, and to read it carefully and digest fully.

Then I ask all readers of this paper to get the word out to their online friends about the matter, to point them in the direction of this paper, and urge them to join Xantarius Cain’s “Revolting Adults” group (it’s free) to register their objections to age-verification. Assuming the protests match my online times, you will see me on the picket lines.

Ladies and gentlemen, six weeks after my previous piece on the ill-thought process of age-verification, I’m back. While it has been hugely tempting to contribute other pieces to this paper on a variety of issues relating to SL, I have resisted, spending the time wandering the sims of SL with a view to a follow up article on how, exactly, it might affect my -and your- Second Life.
Until this week it all seemed rather much of a storm-in-a-teacup because, despite my best efforts, I had only discovered one sim from which I was denied access on the grounds of it requiring age-verification. My best efforts to be denied entry to orgy theatres, BDSM sims, freelance escort clubs and so on all failed, and my febrile imagination eventually gave up on trying to find “adult” sims from which to be turned away.
However, that changed this week, and I’m angry. Now, to quote from Pastor Niemoller’s poem, they ARE coming for me.

Your correspondent is a keen naturist/nudist, in real life as well as in SL, and likes nothing better than a week soaking up the sun in Spain or Croatia without swimming trunks on. Part of the appeal of SL was the chance to indulge, virtually, in long dark winter months and dream of the next naturist holiday planned. Not all SL naturists are the RL variant, but along the way I have met and enjoyed conversations with RL naturists with whom I’d share experiences, tips on good restaurants and so on, and for me it appeared to be an example of SL at its very best -a social networking facility from which valuable knowledge could be utilised back in RL.

This week, rather sadly, came the news that Manatee Naturists is to close, although I’m not altogether certain that this is related to age-verification, but rather the result of dwindling numbers. It’s a shame. Back in those dark winter months, as a newbie, I was able to log in and share a little while with fellow naturists, dancing naked in the sun with people who have become firm SL friends, and with whom I converse regularly.
Sex? Well, no. We danced naked in the sun and discussed the global economic crisis, pretty much a replication of interaction at a RL place, where the nudity is incidental rather than central.
This week comes notice that another naturist sim, Sunset Cove, is going to opt for the adult route, their group notice suggesting that it might be best to do so now because Linden Labs will charge for this in the future. This is where they DO come for me. This is where the time comes to add my voice to the “Revolting Adults” group and object any which way I can.

Readers are advised to read Firehorse Rearwind’s article (opens in new window), also in this paper, on the topic. I paraphrase:

“You can’t wander through a pg shopping mall with your xcite bits swinging, although as a European I have to wonder why anyone would be offended by nudity”.

Well said, that man.

There are global cultural differences, and Linden Labs broad-brushstroke approach takes little account of it. As another European, I have to say that it’s sometimes rather more surprising to see a bikini top on a beach in RL, such is the widespread acceptance and toleration of bared female breasts (and in front of children and adolescent boys, too!) To us, it’s normal behaviour. Now, do I invite one of my SL female friends to join me on one of SL’s many beaches, and chat away on a variety of subjects while she sunbathes topless? How can a beach sim possibly designate itself to mature or adult in such circumstances? How can Linden (or sim owners) even make it workable? Oh, I forgot: they’re based in a country where Janet Jackson’s nipple caused more public comment and outrage than the rather more disturbing pornography of violence, usually referred to as “the news”. Pictures of dead Iraqi’s=OK. Janet Jackson’s tit=a scandal.

As Bixyl points out in his questioning of Blondin Linden, pony players have succeeded in having their roleplay removed from the filter system because they argued that there doesn’t have to be anything sexual about pony play. Here’s some news for you, Blondin, neither does naturism, either in RL or SL. One excellent naturist sim, Harbour Village, perhaps reflects RL naturism more accurately than anywhere else in SL. Not a single sex poseball exists on the sim, just as you’re not likely to see any acts of intercourse on a RL naturist beach. But according to Linden Lab’s rules, Harbour Village should be adult.

What a bunch of mixed, confused, “make it up as we go along” messages we’re getting from Linden Labs. Slavery and whip marks, in the context of a Gor sim, may be OK? But the naked human form is not. Combat zones, guns, grenades and such like are OK? But female breasts (or the genitalia of either sex) are not.
Pony players may be satisfied, for now, at their exclusion from adult filtration but, mark my words, and those of Pastor Niemoller, Linden Labs will be coming for them shortly.

Despite my European identity, which renders many of the elements of age-verification useless, I could attempt to age-verify in an instant. But I won’t. I may, perhaps, just take to wandering the malls of SL with my xcite bits swinging, until the Linden Labs Nazis come for me, too.

Submitted by Howie Lamilton