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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Second Life and Real Life Society
Not all of us are old enough to remember when age play was commonplace in Second Life. It was lucrative for those who were willing to cross that line. One child prostitute made such a name for herself that even those who paid little attention to the age play scene knew of her. It was disturbing. What was more disturbing was Linden Labs' approach to the practice at the time.
I have a daughter in SL. A wonderful girl who I knew as an adult av before she began playing a child. My first partner and I adopted her and while she doesn't play much anymore, I love her dearly. She plays a child av as an innocent child, not to feed the perversions of others. Unfortunately her IMs would be capped because of men seeking age play with her. They would find her profile in search, with her pic as a child, and try to seduce her. Fed up, and the protective father I am, I contacted Live Help.
They were less than helpful. Their stance at the time was that if two real life adults were involved, it wasn't illegal, therefore they weren't getting involved. It's true that Second Life is a game for adults and Linden Labs makes an effort to keep children from accessing the world. Additionally, there are ways for land owners to keep those who fail to provide adequate age verification (I say adequate because any teen could grab Mom or Dad's information for verification) off property that is questionable.
However, allowing age play in Second Life is something that is harmful to children in real life, whether children know about it or not. The permissiveness of the youngsters on playgrounds and ultimately in bedrooms gives predators the sense that children in real playgrounds will share permissiveness. As a parent, that disturbs me.
Linden Labs banned age play following public outcry, but I'm sure it still happens in secret locations somewhere on the grid. The point is, Linden Labs can't police everyone and everything. That's what our real life systems are for. But we can hold to our personal value systems and understand what impact our actions may have on society as a whole.
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7 comments:
It's not totally banned yet...do a search for Adoption...you'll find age play still going on. But those found in these places are innocent, not twisted. I too had a daughter in world not long ago....she has sense not been seen for 3 months now.
Just get a prim baby.
Just to point out, there is a huge difference between child avs and age play. Age play involves sexual interaction of some sort. There are many children avatars in world who are simply there to play as innocent children. This can add to the overall feel of SL and if a child av is played well (as Lizzy is) it's like having a young person there. You almost feel like you need to send her off to school...
I thought it was all over after LL banned it. A mistake: it will always go on in a dungeon or isolated sim.
A child prostitute superstar? OMG, lol. Better now there is an outright ban, what you wrote about LL ignoring it before... /me shudder.
Thanks Dem! Quality journalism.
...disturbing. I really don't know what else to say.
Wow.. this touches home.. just the other night I created a child avatar.. for the strict purpose of playing in childs play sims (they have some really fun stuff there.. trampoline itself was worth it)
But.. this is a warning.. if anyone starts in on me as a kid like i've had ppl start in on me as an adult.. their nuts are toast and they should just wave goodbye 'cuz that avatar they have is gone. period.
One of the characteristics of human behavior that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is the ability to create "what-if" scenarios in our head. Language is the example, par excellence, of a medium for demonstrating this behavior. And humans seem to take pleasure in expressing these inner "what-ifs."
Paintings, literature, songs - all these are cultural ways of expressing fantasy. Problems arise when such expressions are either taken for being real or contravene some law or other. And in one sense, the Second Life environment is a huge canvas for pictures, or a gigantic book into which stories can be written.
Rape is a crime. But what if consenting adults indulge in graphic fantasy rape in Second Life? Is a crime committed? What if the action includes death, dismemberment, and cannibalism? Is a crime committed? A brief skim through any of the popular works of De Sade will turn stomachs despite the lack of graphics - yet it is not illegal to read them, sell them or even discuss them.
Second Life presents problems not because such things happen but because there is no way to know the ages or motives of the real life people using the technology. Even now, and as mentioned above, there is discussion going on about what exactly "age play" is all about. Creating a child avatar to role play being a child seems a far cry from creating three-year-olds for the purpose of having interactive sex.
Defining criminal activity in any virtual world is a challenge. When that relates to the area of human sexual behavior, there's not just a can of worms being opened but a veritable pit of snakes. Legislating against sexual activity has been, and still is, a significant problem in real life. And if that's the case, then trying to do so in a world of pixels is going to be a much tougher issue.
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