Should Journalists Cover Second Life Like a San Francisco Travel Brochure, or as a Complex, Often Troubled City?

Here's a spirited debate between myself and Second Life videographer Draxtor Despres (along with his co-host Jo Yardley), inspired by the post I wrote earlier this week, and the resulting backlash it inspired among some SLers. (Interview starts at about 8 minutes in.)

It was a fun, passioinate conversation, and I'm grateful Drax invited me to have it. To me it turns around the question of whether Second Life should be covered like San Francisco, including the city's many downsides, or should we just present the sanitized, travel brochure version? Having lived in San Francisco for about as long as I've written about Second Life (where its creator, Linden Lab, is based), I definitely have a strong opinion there. Give it a listen above, or click here to listen on Drax's site.

One point I didn't get a chance to address on the show, which I'd like to do now: No, I didn't write this post for "clickbait", nor did it get much clicks beyond NWN's existing readership. Here's why:

By and large, the mass media (especially the high tech press) has already decided that Second Life is a moribund platform, and rarely covers it now, except in relation to virtual reality. This isn't a totally fair assessment, but in any case, they and a mass readership certainly isn't interested in clicking on a post they think has already been settled. And in actual fact, the New World Notes posts which have gotten mass clicks in recent weeks (thanks to Kotaku, Reddit, and other large sites) are these: Remnants of Earth, a User-Made MMO in Second Life, and Seeking to Uncover Grand Theft Auto V's Mysteries, Players Discover Virtual Memorial to a Second Life Pioneer. So actually, if I wanted more clicks, I'd probably focus on posts which relate to SL but also appeal to hardcore gamers. But as I explained to Stephen Totilo when he wrote about this topic for the Columbia School of Journalism, I really do think you can write real news about a virtual place.

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Comments

[Ezra]

All of you ignore the fact that by default with a new account in Second Life, Adult sims, search results of all kinds, classifieds, events, marketplace listings, etc., they're all inaccessible. Adult content isn't something you can just stumble upon as a new user; you have to go through a process of verifying your age and even after that you have to manually enable Adult (and even Moderate) content in the viewer settings and other properties like Marketplace with similar filtering.

Your problem is you believe sex and pornographic content in Second Life is unavoidable. It's totally avoidable. You avoid it by default. It's a conscious decision to engage with it (outside of being griefed). It's not analog to unavoidable sordid sights in the real world where you do stumble across it unintentionally, Second Life is literally like most other social platforms and search engines on the web that by default keep you "safe" by filtering and not permitting you to see Adult content, but you have the option to enable seeing Adult content.

[Jim]

You might have to verify your age in the US, but you certainly don't in other countries. In the UK there is no way of doing so. You just click Adult, and off you go.

[Jo Yardley]

So you had a chat with Drax ey?
Are you sure there wasn't someone else there as well?

[Ezra]

@Jim "You just click Adult, and off you go."

Which means there's still filtering in place even outside of the US, no?

My point was, no, Second Life shouldn't be covered like San Francisco (or Amsterdam as discussed in the podcast) because the notion that adult content is always present and we always have to experience it is wrong.

Somewhere along the line Hamlet turned on Adult content, and is free now to turn it off, but is choosing instead to talk about getting bounced to adult telehubs and witnessing furries with dildos attached to their head. He asked for that kind of content by enabling it.

[Wagner James Au]

Like I mentioned in the podcast, I've been tele-dumped into an Adult sim without my consent. And like I also mentioned, people can thrust (heh) adult content on you even in non-Adult sims. Why do you think SL troll videos are so popular?

"Are you sure there wasn't someone else there as well?"

Ack, sorry, Jo, updating!

[Ezra]

"I've been tele-dumped into an Adult sim without my consent."

If you have Adult content enabled, that's your consent. To remove your consent, disable Adult content.

If you're saying you have Adult content disabled, but was able to enter an Adult region somehow, then what you experienced is a bug.

"And like I also mentioned, people can thrust (heh) adult content on you even in non-Adult sims. Why do you think SL troll videos are so popular?"

And that's griefing, which mute, ejection, bans and reports fix.

What's more important and actually relevant, a troll video being popular or what you actually experience in world? When was the last time you were trolled/griefed with pornographic content in a place it was disallowed? It's never happened to me no matter how many views a troll video on YouTube from two years ago has.

You mentioned how Minecraft has more than 100x the amount of users Second Life does; it probably has 100x the amount of troll/griefing videos on YouTube too. Yet you don't touch on that whenever you mention or write about Minecraft, or the numerous sex mods Minecraft has. Why? I imagine because you know in Minecraft, sex and griefing isn't the default experience. It'd be nice if you recognized that about Second Life as well.

[Better then Ezra]

I think It's effort to down play the impact adult content has had so when the new grid that's NON- ADULT opens they have had over a year to fill the search engines with..
'Second Life is way more then adult content'
'Most people in second life never see adult things'

Consider American journalism & Western European is very different in views while almost every time the media in Europe sides with the government..Even to this day i am not allowed as an adult woman in Germany to watch most of the YouTube channel because we must be "protected" from ourselves.

They are upset you will not conform and you speak a different truth while they will pacify themselves to stay on the labs good side while they envy you for being able to be so candid without punishment so they create punishment for you.

[H.H. Holmes]

Well my bots stats show between 2012 to 1st quarter 2015 the averages are. just a small amount of data

all land types regarding private parcels is as follows

67% to 71% owned a sex bed/rug at any given time
54% to 58% at any given time were using sex beds/adult poseballs

the average on wearing adult huds is 43% to 47%

The average age of someone being animated by a bed or poseball is under 97 days old

The average single resident travels over 10 regions each day for while engaging in sex with 3 to 5 partners

Male vs. female ratio is 39% male & 61% female

The average resident engaged in sex under 5 foot 1 tall is 4% to 6%

The average resident having sex with payment on file is 23% to 28%

The average amount of residents with a name brand sex attachment on (penis or vagina and those inbetween) is 66% to 71%

Just some stats as i watch everyone your whole lives online in second life from who you date to what you own..everything the bots can record then it gets smart processed in a database with each resident getting a file.

Btw hamlet is inworld often for his account age
at 18% to 24% weekly .

[draxtor]

Hamlet, thx so much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it - good discussion indeed, for all to hear :)

[Joey1058]

Well, seeing as how I've not listened to the program yet, I'm blowing off the silly comments about adult sims and griefers. But the main concept, is SF/SL:community. Personally, I think someone should cover the more mundane griefer stories in a weekly column. The challenge is for a reporter to hunt them down. Granted they should not be feature articles, otherwise why bother with going to a VR if you have to deal with low-lifes just like the default world.

[Rose]

@Joey1058

Exactly! good idea.

[Rose]

Well today Inara Pey came at hamlet from a different front attacking NWN.

The difference between her blog site & hamlets you will never see an article by them being critical of the lab,
yes at times the lab needs real public feedback that's not spoon fed to the masses that everything's ok & hunky dory all the time.

Kudos to hamlet.

P.s while i admire all bloggers promoting & helping second life grow. i do not like those who want to drag others down to build themselves up.

[zz bottom]

In My personal point i already disregard Hamlet points of view regarding Sl cause he is almost never there.
i truly hope he can focus on Open sim community and other virtual worlds, but about Sl, unless now he starts to come online more, is a waist of time.
Now, about Inara, I was wondering when she would reply, it took almost 3 days before she did but i must say her point of view is the same as mine.