While we talk about age and identity verification that is to be introduced to Second Life, the other side of the see-saw is hardly mentioned. What will be "adult content" that is expected to be flagged and prohibited for unverified users is hard to tell. Linden Lab is expecting that community will do that part of the job. Second Life is, as is often stressed, a world made by its residents. It would be, at least, unfair to expect that somebody else, even Linden Lab, do the flagging of "adult content". But not all fair and good ideas develops in good practices.
First that comes to the mind is that Linden Lab is trying to wash their hands of what is going on in the Second Life. This way they can show themselves as clean in media affairs that are yet to come (and no doubt they will come). If all the content is ours then it is also the responsibility for it. That is OK, what worries me is what will happen once we start to implement censorship upon ourselves and our fellow residents.
If we take one quick look on the content we make, we see some great builds but also a huge amount of mediocre things and some measure of malevolent things like griefing devices, objects with clear intention to offend and objects that attacks the grid and the system. We enjoy the first group, second one is what makes the world go round and we have problems with third. Mostly we haven't learned to deal with those problems.
There is no reason to believe that it will be any different with other side of our creativity. We will have some appropriate flags around content which will without ambiguity deserve it (with no negative connotation from my side). We will also have some measure of problematic flagging which will produce a lot of noise around the world. Just imagine all the possibilities for revenges, business misbehaviour, political tricks and other dirty games. And then, the majority, both in generated content and marking of it, is gray zone. What is perfectly normal and even considered as safe for minors in my opinion may be unacceptable for you. And vice versa. Our backgrounds, opinions and aims may be different. That is the great thing which makes both planet Earth and the metaverse diverse, creative and fun. But, it is also the reason for wars, hatred and all kind of problems.
Additional problem in "gray area" will be the mere (lack of) definition what "adult content" is. As Lindens stated in their blog:
We trust that common sense will prevail. As a general rule, "Adult Content" is any content that is explicitly sexual or excessively violent in nature.
Well, that is nice way to say nothing. But, it would be no self-regulation if somebody else told us how to do it and leave us just for implementation. Community is not only to flag the things around but to make the rules and definitions. But, while other types of content are not obligatory for the rest of the world, these rules are meant to be.
We can deal with mature content. Whether we are willing to admit that, most of the teens can that too. Question is are we mature enough to deal with censorship that is put upon us?
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