Posting an update on the Second Life community blog, Cyn Linden offered a sneak peek at the new Adult Only continent while attempting to provide a layer of transparency into the company's policy and decision-making process regarding the geographic separation of adult content; filtered search results; and requiring age verification for account holders.
"Following our initial announcement, we've been discussing this initiative in the forums, and in several targeted in-world 'brown bag' meetings that we held to discuss specific groups affected by this initiative and the definitions behind the new maturity rating system," Linden wrote. "These conversations have been very productive, and Residents have shared some valuable insight with us, which has helped to further our plans and refine the definitions we're working on to ensure that this initiative is implemented in the least disruptive way possible and is aligned with the standards of the community."
She went on to identify several major areas of concern, including enforcement, definitions, scope, business impact and more, which are addressed in an updated FAQ.
The company has also published a draft of the definitions it will use to define PG, Mature and Adult content and activities; which it hopes to finalize this month after additional feedback on the proposed definitions from stakeholders and community forum members. It also has made available a series of findings from its forums and recordings gleaned from discussions with Solution Providers, Educators, Merchants and Landowners within the realm of Second Life, for those interested in a more detailed look at the many considerations and thought processes behind the scenes.
The preliminary results of Linden's initiatives are scheduled to be on display next week with the release of its Viewer 1.23 software, said to be the first to include the new filter. While a release candidate and not the final version of the viewer, it will reportedly offer an early glimpse at maturity ratings and filtering search results.
Second Life plans to roll out its new adult policy after the full version release of Viewer 1.23, scheduled for late June; when, according to Linden, the implementation process will begin.
"All regions will need to be maturity-rated, search will be filtered for everyone, Adult content on the mainland will need to move to the new continent, and access to Adult regions and search results will be limited to Residents with verified accounts," Linden stated. "This process will of course take some time and the feedback we've received from discussions so far will help guide the details of the implementation process."
Linden expects that the implementation period will last through August, and promises to keep stakeholders informed of new details and developments as the company works towards finding a solution that is beneficial to all parties.
"The level of engagement we've seen has been terrific — the time and effort you have put into explaining your sensitivities and concerns is much appreciated," Linden concluded. "We look forward to continued dialog as we work on this challenge together."
