Clinging to the Fringe

If you're a regular visitor to my blog, you've probably already read the destined-for-infamy Linden blog post that basically declares open season on any Second Lifers whose prurient tastes veer outside the norm. Recent developments regarding sexual ageplay and child pornography in Second Life prompted Linden Lab's first official policies regarding what consenting adult residents can do on the grid, and this most recent proclamation makes the Lab's intentions clear: They don't need us anymore, and they want us to make room for the mainstream masses.

The change in tide began last year, when many wealthy and influential residents were scratching their heads over Linden Lab's apparent apathy over the fact that people were shutting down their businesses due to CopyBot fears. "Why won't Linden Lab listen to us? We're the reason people come here!" Well I'm not going to re-hash my feelings on that other than to say, the Lab only cares about numbers now. There aren't very many bright, imaginative, picky people out there- and most of Second Life's pre-2006 residents fall into that category. There are 67 times more residents now, though, and most of them have much more pedestrian interests than the pioneering few.

What I always loved about Second Life was that I didn't have to hide my tastes, my desires. I could walk the streets with a slave at the end of my leash with pride and joy rather than apprehension. I could find kindred souls and developed a hundred friendships as a result. I could build a home and a business that not only tolerated but embraced- no, celebrated- the very things that I work hard to hide in my real-life existence. And now, for a variety of reasons, I and my kind may have to slink back into the shadows and get out of the way for the teeming millions who are only interested in RL-corporate-backed content, MySpace-mentality social heirarchies, and disappointing soft-core relations.

Some residents are interpreting the blog announcement to mean that Linden Lab intends to ban ALL mature content from the grid. This simply won't happen. You can fully expect fit-for-HBO violent and sexual content in Second Life. The thriving MMORPG industry is built on violence, and although SL's not technically an MMO, it can exist by allowing the same content that other established, successful games allow. Regarding the adult content, there are a number of online 2D and 3D services that allow "regular" adult hetero and homosexual activities. These businesses are multiplying and some are doing well, so that kind of erotic material is going to remain safe in SL. The stuff that's at risk here is the edgeplay; any erotic play that involves non-consensual activities (even though all real-life participants are of course consenting) or simulates acts that are illegal in real-life, at least in some parts of the world.

Many people have already asked me what I'll do now, considering I've got several thousand dollars currently invested in SL real estate- to say nothing of the thousands represented in my inventory and and account balance- and I now stand to lose it all in an instant if the wrong person happens to see me engaging in my day-to-day activities with my friends and family in my own virtual home. My current plan is to do a sweep of my properties, get some opinions as to what counts as TOS-violating and what's okay, and then go with the Adult flow when the Lab rolls that out soon. It will mean a loss in business and some friends, and that breaks my heart- but I will be there, being ME for as long as Linden Lab will let me.

If you're worrying what your future in Second Life is going to be like several weeks or months from now, I've got some advice for you:

• Share contact information NOW. Folks flooded me with messenger accounts and email addresses last night, and most of my friends already know how to reach me outside of SL. (I'm often available via web-based live chat, just so you know.)
  
• Consider making your land group-only. This is tough for me and others who run public places. It WILL mean a loss in business and new visitors. But it may also mean survival.
• Clean up your land. Unless you own an estate, people can still cam onto your land even if they're not allowed on. Do not leave any obscene materials out. What's obscene, you ask? Search me- I'm hoping LL provides a sanitation service; a LL employee to drop by and identify which things violate TOS. (Haha, that'll happen.)
  
• Do scenes in private. This really hurts, because I love doing public scenes for the right audience and in appropriate circumstances. (I loves me an audience.) But this is just the kind of thing that will put you at risk; it only takes one stranger to take offense for you to risk losing everything.
• Conduct RP in IM. You can do conferences by selecting multiple people in your friends list and clicking the IM button. Again, this will make public scenes an impossibility, but IMs can't be logged by scripts or overheard outside parties.
• Investigate SL alternatives. Personally I've done this a bit and always came up dry, but everyone has different tastes. I've tried There.com, ActiveWorlds, Sociolotron, IMVU, and Red Light Center. None of them offer all of what SL currently does (and There.com is strictly PG-only.) There are other adult online communities out there- just lower your expectations please. One interesting possibility though are the rumors that Linden Lab might open source the SL server code. What this means is some enterprising folks could acquire the code and set up an adults-only private SL-style service. It will never be as big or varied as Second Life is today, but it might be our only real hope for some time.
• Diversify. The blog entry's not clear on whether they'll be issuing hardware/IP bans or just closing individual accounts. You might consider moving some non-fringe inventory to a squeaky-clean alt and spreading your Linden balance across alts as well. I'm not sure whether I'm going to do this personally, but it's something I'm considering. Definitely make sure you've got an alt in owner or officer role of any groups you own. Land- particularly islands- is really damn tricky. There's only one owner associated with an island. I don't know how we can protect those.

I'm a natural pessimist, and I've always felt I was sort running on borrowed time in Second Life. Walmartization is a fact of existence these days, and devoted mere individuals are virtually helpless to stop it. That said, I'm not going anywhere until the Lab shows me the door. I may not be as visible, but I'll be there with my pets in my own dark little corner of the grid, living the Second Life we've built together on passion, dedication, and love.