What do Second Life's new content ratings actually mean?
by Tateru Nino 
Apr 27th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds
That's the question we've been getting asked since the announcement of the new definitions of PG, Mature, and Adults-Only content for Linden Lab's Second Life. We've been working on that question ever since. Interestingly, the new published definitions allow some content that was previously expressly forbidden.
According to Linden Lab, "Real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depiction of sexual or lewd acts involving or appearing to involve children or minors; real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depictions of sexual violence including rape, real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depictions of extreme or graphic violence, and other broadly offensive content are never allowed or tolerated within Second Life."
Well, until now.
The new definitions now allow "Representations of intensely violent acts, whether or not photo-realistic (for example, depicting death, torture, dismemberment or other severe bodily harm)" in Adults-Only rated areas, whereas previously they were expressly forbidden in Second Life at all.
Adults-Only regions also permit "photo-realistic nudity". We must assume that that means imported photos or video streams, as no Second Life avatar or skin would meet the basic definition of photo-realistic.
Lastly, Adults-Only regions permit "Expressly sexually themed content, spaces or activities (whether or not photo-realistic)". That seems straightforward enough, though a bit fuzzy.
Obviously, having been relegated to Adults-Only areas, none of the above will be permitted in Mature or PG regions.
That leaves only the question of what is permissible or impermissible in either PG or Mature regions. That's the big question we're being asked.
We're sorry to say that we can't figure it out. Granted, it's supposed to be a working draft, but even so it is particularly hazy.
Prior to this, we had three essential definitions of PG and Mature content ratings: Documents published by the Lab, public policy statements by Linden Lab staff members on the blog and in-world, and actual enforcement actions by the Linden Lab governance team. While these three sets were similar enough to have some considerable overlap, they remained inherently contradictory and confusing enough to cause confusion and occasional distress.
It's hard to find any two Second Life users who agree on the definitions of PG and Mature in Second Life, and even then, we wouldn't expect that to match whatever definitions and criteria that Linden Lab uses for enforcement.
We're even less certain about the division between PG and Mature now. Linden Lab has previously indicated that it does not wish to make any clear delineation available, which is somewhat understandable. Given a hard line, some few people will step right up to it and be as disruptive and offensive as is practicably possible, without actually crossing that line. Unfortunately, blurry definitions only seem to perform a disservice to the majority who do not engage in such behaviors.
All we can do in response to your queries at the present time is make an educated sort of guess as to what is intended, based on what has been written.
We've already covered Adults-Only. PG, we believe means, essentially "All-ages", "Safe For Work", or is roughly equivalent to the MPAA "G-Rating" or an ESRB "E For Everyone" rating.
Linden Lab says: A Region may be designated PG so long as it does not advertise or make available any content that is suggestive of any (even mildly) sexual or violent themes, or references to social drug or alcohol usage.
The MPAA says: A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of the Rating Board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. ... Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture.
The MPAA's G-rating seems the best fit, and uses very similar language to Linden Lab's PG description.
As for Mature? By a process of elimination, it must represent anything stronger than Linden Lab's PG but milder than Linden Lab's Adults-Only.
Taking the Lab at face-value, a lot of users were asking for Adults-Only content-ratings. We rather think that even more users are asking to have the guesswork and risk taken out of the ratings system.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Marianne McCann said on 12:17PM 4-27-2009
Kid avatars have had to live under a shifting, vaguely worded policy for two years. We’ve had to watch what we do, be aware of where we were, and otherwise step carefully lest we be accused of doing something wrong.
Now everyone gets to share the joy.
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Uccello Poultry said on 12:30PM 4-27-2009
Soooooo ... I should tell my friends they can't use my place on the mainland for sex?
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Ciaran Laval said on 1:15PM 4-27-2009
Yes there are parcels clearly breaching existing policy and yes Ursula does appear to allow some of that content to be displayed, whether all of it can be is a different matter.
Linden Lab have a selling point with Ursula, the place of more liberal advertising.
However, they've redefined PG from the definition you have as far as I'm aware, the social reference to alcohol nonsense is being pulled and they're going back to saying it's something you'd be comfortable doing in front of your granny.
If there are two ways of doing something and one of those ways is going to be extremely confusing and cause ridiculous inconvenience, it appears Linden Lab will choose that route. There are much much easier ways of doing this.
Next up will be the comedic value of the word filters, they're already causing quite a titter. They mentioned in their brown bags that they didn't want to get into a situation like Amazon did, well they're going in the direction to make a far bigger mess of things than Amazon.
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Moe Greene said on 1:21PM 4-27-2009
Ratings systems do not work. The MPAA is notorious for a subjective application of ratings that favor the major studios. Independent producers and directors are routinely held to a higher standard. Ask John Waters about how his films are rated by the MPAA.
LL is notorious for subjective enforcement of their policies. They have never had the staffing to effectively police their grid. This content rating system is pretty much just lip service. I cannot see them even wanting to test out enforcement of this unless there is some really horrendous activity in a mainland mature sim that warrants it. Otherwise, it will be business as usual.
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Jacek Antonelli said on 2:13PM 4-27-2009
The working draft says that a region must be designated Adult if it _advertises or publicly promotes_. That would seem (I think?) to suggest that what goes on in closed skyboxes isn't affected by the new policy. But, who can say for sure what it means?
Personally, I think their definitions are far too vague, and -- depending on how you interpret the vague wording -- far too restrictive.
Does a cartoon anvil falling on someone's head count as "severe bodily harm"? Or how about a role-playing game where you can slay a dragon? Is that a "depiction of death"? Or the beloved "FUEGO!" freebie? Having your entire body set on fire seems like pretty "intense violence" to me, so perhaps all the freebie gardens ought to move to the new continent, just to be safe.
Does a discussion about preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted disease count as a "sexually themed activity"? It _might_ be okay due to its "educational function", but the only way to know for sure would be to abuse report them and wait to see if they get punished. And that would only indicate the subjective assessment of whichever Linden handled the report; another Linden could very well decide the opposite.
Does a gallery of Man Ray nudes count as "photo-realistic nudity"? I'd guess so, but maybe its "cultural function" would be enough to spare it. But what about a gallery of artistic nudes by a lesser-known artist? Still photo-realistic nudity, but it might not be deemed "cultural" enough if the Linden handling the report didn't recognize the artist's name. Again, you'd have to abuse report it to find out.
P.S. Depictions of "social drug and alcohol use" are prohibited in PG regions, so if you've got one of those funny paintings of dogs smoking and playing poker with glasses of whiskey nearby, you'd better take it down. Just to be sure someone won't abuse report you.
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Jay said on 6:37PM 4-27-2009
And taking your questions further Jacek, does the cartoon depiction of a 22 year old having sex with the cartoon depiction of a 10 year old count as "Paedophillia"?
If the answer to this is yes, then the answer to your other questions is yes too.
TigroSpottystripes Katsu said on 10:48PM 4-28-2009
what about antisocial drug (in my opinion alcohol is also a drug) usage? Xp
anyway, wouldn't those skins that are photos of real human bodies, or appear to be sampled from photos of real human bodies (but in some cases are completly "handmade") be considered photorealistic at least enough to be ARed ?
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Tateru Nino said on 10:54PM 4-28-2009
Photorealism's a funny word. When applied to paintings (which is where the term derives from), it refers to levels of detail and an image quality that is *reminiscent* of a photograph. When it's applied to computer-generated imagery, however, the term is generally taken to mean that it is almost or completely *indistinguishable* from a photograph.
And neither avatars, nor avatar skins come anywhere close to that lofty ideal.
TigroSpottystripes Katsu said on 11:08PM 4-28-2009
I wouldn't count on people knowing about that little detail, I've heard of people being ARed about an allegedly sex related offense that were way more innocent than a polygonal human model covered with remapped photographies of naked humans...
Tateru Nino said on 11:23PM 4-28-2009
There we hit an issue I tend to harp on: Definitions. If a term has multiple meanings, how are we supposed to know which meaning is in use?
Without clear definitions, we can argue until the cows come home (as they say) and still not have anything better than guesswork to show for it -- and that puts users of Second Life at risk of administrative sanctions, for acting in good-faith.
Tateru Nino said on 2:03AM 5-02-2009
The Lab apparently agrees with me on the photorealism thing. Avatars and avatar skins don't count as photorealistic nudity, we've been told.
Nadine Neddings said on 7:19AM 4-29-2009
The thing that persists in bothering me--and I am sure every other property manager in SL--is that grey area between Mature and Adult Only.
If I rent to residents who want to use their private skyboxes for "adult" activities, does that now mean my entire sim needs to be flagged as Adult Only? Certainly the sim is not being advertised for that purpose.
I guess it will in fact come down to being AR'ed and subjectively judged by a Linden in the future.
At this point I'll just be taking a wait-and-see approach. If my scenario warrants the same rating, literally, as sims that are actively promoting gratuitous rape fantasies then I'd imagine nearly every residential sim on the grid will have to shift to Adult Only. Seems rather counter-productive!
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Brenda Archer said on 3:25PM 5-01-2009
Tateru, you are absolutely right. It's the vagueness and uncertainty brought on by the new policy that is so punishing. The moderate middle of SL users have no idea where to turn.
MISC-2727 is increasing in votes at a rate of about one vote per second; I've never seen anything like this before - it might even eventually overtake the jira vote about the Openspace price hike. In less than 24 hours, I think, it's now at 1229 and climbing. (MISC-2727 Terminate All Installation of any "Adult Content" filtering, Relocation, Banning, Viewer Modifications, Server Modifications reported by RichD Tomsen)
Once I had calmed down a little I posted the following there:
An adult rating is something I could support, if it was implemented in such a way that it was helpful to businesses and groups who wished the additional protection of such a rating.
The system that is being proposed now, both the changes in Adult and the changes in PG, seems deliberately designed to punish the moderate middle. If it is true that PG is being changed to G in anticipation of merging the adult and teen grids, or in anticipation of letting in "families," I must object, as I do not want to inadvertently interact with any minors in SL.
Without clear explanations, it's impossible to know how to comply with the rules and impossible to know how to plan. This is the worst part of the new plan. Even a flawed plan could be coped with, if it was clearly understood. Otherwise we're all just sitting ducks to lose years of work to AR griefing and zealots.
The subculture that is getting picked on this time is Goreans, but I wonder who will be next. I don't believe the mainstream is ever going to join SL as long as the new resident learning curve is so steep. I don't think a level of sanitization of SL that is sufficient to permit minors to enter, can be achieved while content creation is a free-for-all, and without freely created content SL can't exist.
Second Life is already an adult world and should remain so. I voted in support of MISC-2727.
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