Linden Lab blinks
Filed under: Culture, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Legal
As you would know by now, Linden Lab recently changed policy on the resident-run Second Life fifth anniversary, essentially switching from a role of donating the virtual land resources for the event to an active management role, overriding the organizing committee and excluding certain community groups, switching the whole event from a predominantly mature event to an entirely G-rated occasion.
Linden Lab's representatives told those involved that in the current political climate they feared a potential partial or complete shutdown of Second Life through legal avenues. Some organizers quit publicly, others simply hunkered down and quit operating silently, and some groups pulled out of the whole event.
Now, it appears, Linden Lab has blinked.
In a post today, Everett Linden has announced a partial reversal of the policy, while studiously avoiding any specific mention of the groups that had been excluded. This is the first official statement of policy on the matter by Linden Lab, and it contradicts direct statements made to users by Dusty Linden and Everett Linden (Update: and also Robin Linden -- see below) through unofficial channels.
So, either Linden Lab has blinked and changed their minds, or those earlier statements did not constitute Linden Lab policy. At this point, it is difficult to tell which.
It's clear, though, that Linden Lab is the top of the totem pole in for this event. The post hasn't left any doubt in our minds that it has adopted editorial control over the fifth anniversary -- a departure from previous years.
The whole event this time will be PG (for the USA and many other countries that is the equivalent of a G-rating in film terms) rather than the predominantly mature event that was originally planned.
Linden Lab is extending the event from one week to two, and tellingly is extending the deadline for submissions. The most obvious deduction to make is that too many groups pulled out of the event, or being very mature communities were excluded by the change in content policy -- or both.
What reasons does Linden Lab officially give for the changes? These two:
- The increasing complexity of these events requires more staffing and infrastructure than an all-volunteer organizing team.
- We are responding to calls by Residents to take a more active role in improving the quality of life on the Mainland.
We're not sure how the second one is even relevant. Maybe this accidentally got copy/pasted from a post about Bay City. Gentle readers, what is your take?
Update: (10:35PM SLT) We've just been given word that at least two SL Kids builds have been approved.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jay said on 12:20AM 6-04-2008
Jayden,
M Linden passed your concerns on to me about child avatars being excluded from the upcoming Birthday celebrations.
I want to be clear that child avatars are welcome to attend the celebrations, and we look forward to seeing you there. We believe a community sponsorship, however, is not in the best interest of the event or of Linden Lab, so we have to respectfully decline your participation at that level.
Best regards,
Robin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robin Linden
Office Hour: Tuesday 11AM SLT
Ambleside (96,26,26)
====
My take is that they will still ban kids builds, but to be honest who cares? Kids5B is now well underway in build with 2 sims so far,
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Marianne McCann said on 12:23AM 6-04-2008
I will be resubmitting my own entry, and am encouraging other child avatars to do the same. As my own presentation was definitely of the G rated variety, I am largely confident it will be approved. This time.
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Erbo Evans said on 1:48AM 6-04-2008
I'm not convinced. As nice a guy as Everett may be, he still doesn't MAKE policy, just passes it on. I want the unvarnished Word from On High before I'll be convinced there's any substantive change.
Lindens, if you're scared to death of Mark Kirk and his spiritual brethren, JUST SAY SO. At least then we'd know for sure, and we'd have gotten an honest answer.
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Cincia Singh said on 7:28AM 6-04-2008
Ok so now children are in ... but Gor, BDSM and other fetishes which might be "PG challenged" are out?
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Tateru Nino said on 7:32AM 6-04-2008
Actually we don't know that they're back in yet. Only that they're welcome to apply. There's still a gap between application and acceptance.
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Tharkis Olafson said on 8:45AM 6-04-2008
The whole thing sounds like a pantload to me. I won't be attending in any form. I enjoyed the last few, but I will not be going to this one. Why? It seems to me, that LL is trying to take credit for the success the events have had in the past. (Even though they were run by residents.) I think this year it will not be so successful. Of course, this is all just speculation...
On another note, I'd like to see someone (maybe even you Tateru) draw a parallel between LL and our current government. It might make an interesting piece.
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sirhc DeSantis said on 11:52AM 6-04-2008
I never thought I would see the day when I would be on the same side as those of Gor but LL actually managed it. Can't we run an alternative celebration? If we actually want to celebrate....
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Tateru Nino said on 5:23PM 6-04-2008
By which, you mean some sort of... resident-run event, I guess?
Tateru Nino said on 5:25PM 6-04-2008
It seems to me there *was* one of those in the works. It was planned for about a year, and it came apart when they went to Linden Lab for land a week or two ago.
Marianne McCann said on 2:12AM 6-05-2008
I have gotten approval of my build, and Second Life Children has also gained approval for their original design.
Mari
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thaumata said on 7:29AM 6-05-2008
"On another note, I'd like to see someone (maybe even you Tateru) draw a parallel between LL and our current government. It might make an interesting piece."
I'm sure it would be interesting, if you first realized that we don't all live in the same country, under the same government.
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Eric Reuters said on 4:14PM 6-05-2008
It's true that Linden's "PG" is a US film "G", but Linden's "M" is a US film "NC-17." Second Life lacks a grey area.
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Amira Beaumont said on 6:13PM 6-05-2008
Yay! Congrats marrianne for being accepted in your chosen venues. I personally will not be attending SL5B...but i def. will be attending the RESIDENT RAN SL5B for kids...
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dandellion Kimban said on 7:14PM 6-05-2008
Jay, may we know what was your submission?
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TigroSpottystripes Katsu said on 6:34PM 6-06-2008
congrats for having them accept you again! :D
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