Linden Lab Should Have Created a PG-Rated Showcase Continent for Second Life, Instead of an Adult-Only One (Comment of the Week)

ZEXPO 2011 photo by Ginette Pinazzo

Responding to a recent report that 1 in 4 Second Life sims are now Adult-rated, longtime SLer and blogger Emilly Orr blames this on Linden Lab's move to create an Adult-focused continent called Zindra in 2009, writing in Comments:

This entirely fails to surprise me, for what it's worth. This was EXACTLY why so many of us were begging the Lindens to make Ursula-now-Zindra a showpiece of how good PG content could be, instead of the new 'adult' continent. We knew trying to funnel everyone who wanted adult content in SL to one place wouldn't work.

But they didn't listen.

And if you think Ms. Orr is saying this because she's personally opposed to graphic content, the opposite is the case:

I work on an Adult sim in an Adult business. I have zero problem with virtual sex in nearly every regard. But the point remains: Linden Lab would have been better served to make a single PG continent, and dumped all the refugees from the Teen Grid THERE, [rather] than make it an adult content. What do we have now? Half of Zindra used, half of it wasteland, and sex all over. How is this different in any way from not having a dedicated "adult" continent?

The experiment was a failure, because they don't understand their own grid.

I just had an e-mail exchange with Linden Lab on this topic and will discuss that in detail later this week. To Emilly's point, I will say the massive growth of SL-like, teen-focused Roblox -- now with 80 million monthly users, dwarfing Second Life's 500,000 or so -- definitely proves there's a larger virtual world market for PG, than NC-17.

Comments

[Gingir Ghoststar]

Agreed. Double agreed. Triple Agreed. I've said for years that if SL would provide a maintained PG to PG13 area that it would thrive. I get it, it would be work, possibly increased cost of living and the argument"nobody wants to be told how to live" but I beg to differ. LL thrives on all the private sims that they're paid to host that are then locked down with strict land rules, building rules ect and people pay through the NOSE to live on these super landscaped country club like estates. There is a market for it. If LL could create a continent and build it up like an actual city and enforce land/build codes I can almost guarantee that it would fill up in a heartbeat.

[Ami]

agree we need to move the teens and under 21 to another grid , they are turning SL into a free sex, shooting X box game!

[Adeon Writer]

1000% agreed. VRChat made me leave Second Life, but the reason it did so, so easily, was Second Life had become nothing but Adult content, and I never wanted any part of it. There was simply nothing left for me.

Now, of course, I would claim Linden didn't do a PG content showcase because they wouldn't have been able to have much content. And I'd be wrong about it, because I'm just cynical and jaded.

But it would have been nice to have been wrong about it.

[sirhc desantis]

To amend original, I read it as "75% of Second Life Land Mass NOT Adult-Rated for Extreme Sex & Violence" because that would be the bits I visit :)

I know, you did add a caveat to the body but still amused me.

That said, Ser Orr is right, yeah why not a PG continent. Would suit me fine - in fact shunt off all the current mainland PG regions to it, as there is only one I knowingly visit and not even there in a year. Save me from worrying about it when motoring around. Have to censor the license plate...

[Rob Knop]

At the time, the adult continent was created to clearly keep that separate. There were real worries at the lab the political attention was coming, and that if the adult stuff was freely mixed with the "family friendly" stuff, they would face real trouble. In retrospect, the hype wave had passed, and SL was just then reaching the highest usership it would ever have; SL was about to be completely forgotten by the world at large. (This was also during the dark M years; don't forget that about 1.5-2 years after he came on, Linden had to lay of 1/3 of their staff.)

A PG showcase continent could be a good idea. However, at the time, Linden did have reasons to believe that separating adult content was urgent.

[irihapeti]

there has been an all-PG continent on the main grid since beginning 2011. The old teen grid, refered to as Sharp Continent

Is heaps of land on Sharp continent (and always has been) available under the parcel claim programme, to any premium member who wants a total PG experience

That more premium members on moving out of assisted housing (Linden Homes) have taken up residency at Zindra than at Sharp is not down to Linden Lab. Is down to us as users

[Ciaran Laval]

There were many arguments in favour of a PG continent, mature regions bordering PG regions had made some parts of PG regions pretty redundant anyway.

The Adult region stat is still a tad misleading because some regions flag themselves as adult to avoid arguments about content or give themselves more flexibility, rather than being completely adult oriented. This is a similar reason as to why mature reasons thrived.

[Hamlet Au]

"some regions flag themselves as adult to avoid arguments about content or give themselves more flexibility, rather than being completely adult oriented."

That's exactly the problem. It's like paying good money to see a movie rated NC-17 that turns out to have no hot sex or violence whatsoever. Or just as irksome, going to an unrated movie which, based on its poster and description, looks like a nice, family-friendly indie comedy, and the first scene is a cannibal orgy.

[Summer Haas]

I'm surprised to see no one talking about the fact Linden Lab does have a PG showcase. It's called Sansar, it's more beautiful and technical capable than SL, and no one wants it, which is why there is no PG continent in SL. It would be a ghost town.

Also, there is something to consider we all tend to get used to really fast and even tend to ignore, maybe even mentally block. The fact that everywhere you go your clothes don't always rez first. We've pretty much all seen each other walking around with our pants sideways next to our naked avatar. There's no way that is suitable for children. They would have a major hurdle to overcome ensuring every avatar not only rezzed in a G rated fashion but was G rated to begin with. It's simply not what the product is or does.

[Clara Seller]

I was on board with Emily Orr's convincing argument, at first, but others brought up some good points. It's very difficult to limit your whole experience to the PG realm and not start to feel imprisoned. It's not just how you look, but how you talk. There's also not universal agreement on what is considered adult. Some people feel that simply being gay or any gender-related issue is qualifying for "inappropriate". When you start nit-picking, then you get into what is appropriate dress and what about some questionable body part sizes?

As Summer Haas pointed out, the product makes allowance for adult content and modification and people are going to use it. SL doesn't have the convenient boundaries that RL has. It's a hard sell to charge adult prices and require people to live in a Disney experience, but I would love to see some of Gingir Ghoststar's ideas about building codes and visual organization happen.

[Gingir Ghoststar]

There are some good points here. I take G as not having naked folks walking around, no huge signs for rape play or sex bars/beaches. No sex on the g sims, no sex beds, no sex furniture. Just no sex. I don't care what you sex you are, your sexual identity, preferences, ect. Just no sex. You've got moderate and A sims for that. You can be gay on a G sim. You can be straight on a G sim. You can be furry, purple, winged, whatever on a G sim. Just no sex.

I can't help but feel that a lot of online communities have dropped the ball in the last decade when it comes to interaction between their communities and their staff. I know many folks within the gaming world have remarked upon this and you can see it within SL's history too. SL used to have an active staff involvement within the world. Whether they were the Lindens themselves or the mentors. I've only ever in my 9+ years in SL seen a Linden maybe 3 or 4 times. I missed out on the time of the mentors. I think bringing this sort of interaction back could help grow the SL community and allow for better policing of the G/M/A standards.