'Red-light district' makes virtual world safer

San Francisco-based Linden Lab, which runs Second Life, has sequestered adult content and activity in the virtual world onto a new continent called "Zindra." Residents of the virtual world have to verify that they're adults before they can search for anything on Zindra or go there (here's the page that explains how the age verification process works). The entire "world" is now classified as either "Adult," "Mature," or "PG." As Linden Lab explains these, "Adult" is what most of us think of as adult content or activity – sexually-themed or explicit, inappropriate for minors. "Mature" seems to be more about the shopping and socializing, or non-serious, side of virtual life, where there's nothing really inappropriate for kids to see but also where grownups don't particularly want to mix it up with 13-to-17-year-olds (who themselves would probably prefer Teen Second Life for socializing). Linden Lab describes the "Mature" classification this way: "Social and dance clubs, bars, stores and malls, galleries, music venues, beaches, parks (and other spaces for socializing, creating, and learning) all support a Mature designation so long as they don't host publicly promoted adult activities or content." "PG," obviously, is for everyone – the label for all educational and business activity (virtual classes, meetings, talks, etc., where only time zones are a barrier for gatherings of people planet-wide).

"The other day, when I logged back in after quite a few weeks," writes digital-media maven Chris Abraham in AdAge.com about checking back in after all this happened, "Second Life told me so in so many words that if I want to party, I need to explicitly commit myself to that lifestyle; otherwise, I had better just be happy with PG-13. Second Life didn't kick out the brothels and porno theaters, it just put them on a different plane of existence." All of which makes high school classes and other educational programs (see links below) in Second Life much safer and more feasible now (e.g., this from ABC News Brooklyn on science class in Second Life).

For visual aids, here's a 3 min. video interview with Second Life creator Philip Rosedale with little clips from in-world and a PG13-rated look at Zindra (on its opening day, 7/4/09).

Related links

Machinima of Rochester Institute of Technology's virtual campus in Second Life (machinima is video taken in-world, so it looks like animated film)

"US Holocaust Museum in Second Life"

"The Virtual Alamo" museum in Second Life

A video at Teachers.tv in the UK about student projects in and with virtual worlds and my post about it

"School & social media"

"Young practitioners of social-media literacy"

Rate all English-language sites?

Believe me, it's been thought of. But the idea of rating Web sites the way movies and videogames are rated is being revisited by the British government. British Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said his government "plans to negotiate with the US on drawing up international rules for English-language Web sites," the BBC reports. It adds that Britain's NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), which has already called on "computer manufacturers and retailers to install security to stop children finding violent or sexual content," said it welcomes Mr. Burnham's suggestions but acknowledges that it would be hard to enforce them. Here's Reuters's coverage.

NSFW 'rating' useful to parents

It stands for "not suitable for work" and, in effect, it's a Web content rating. "NSFW" is "used to indicate that the content of the message or Web page is not appropriate because it is off-color at best or sexually explicit at worst," according to the GetNetWise blog. Like IMHO ("in my humble opinion") or even POS ("parent over shoulder"), it's one of those grassroots Internet terms that just takes off, usually because it's supremely useful to a lot of people. That would include parents, who probably wouldn't want to see it in the Subject field of an email message a child could view or among the search terms among those used for "homework." GetNetWise points out that sometimes it's in the invisible code behind a Web page. The Firefox browser "has a plug-in which allows you to avoid links tagged as being NSFW." Parents might consider downloading that plug-in (or "add-on," as Firefox calls it) and restricting at least younger kids' browser use to Firefox.

New game ratings for UK

Britain is working on a new game-ratings system to replace its old, unworkable one, The Guardian reports. "A legally enforceable cinema-style classification system is to be introduced for videogames in an effort to keep children from playing damaging games unsuitable for their age." The system will make it illegal to sell a game to a child below that game's recommended age (maybe not to a parent unaware of the game's rating?). Under the current system, videogames aren't affected by the UK's Video Recordings Act unless they depict "'gross' violence to humans or animals" or sex. Those require age limits, leaving "up to 90% of games on the market" rating-free. Some games are also classified voluntarily by a European system. "Policing such regimes is difficult as it is possible to buy games over the net and simply tick the box stating the purchaser is over 18."

Parents using game ratings

Contrary to what has been reported, parents are pretty smart about videogame ratings these days. They’re increasingly relying on them “to guide their decisions about what titles to allow their children to play,” TechNewsWorld reports. “In fact, 73% of parents said they make a point of checking the Entertainment Software Rating Board's rating every time they consider either a game rental or a purchase.” In other finds by a recent study the ESRB commissioned, 60% of parents with kids under 17 never allow their kids to play M-rated games; 91% take a game's rating into consideration when deciding to purchase a game, 52% call it “a very important” part of the purchase decision, and 17% call it “the most important” part.