http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-4181
If you are serious about a workable solution to the ratings crisis, please vote for my JIRA for a content ratings system at the link above.
Create a content ratings system to prevent offensive content rezzing in sims with the wrong rating
What we really need in SL is a content ratings system.
It is clear to many of us that a land and search rating system, though well intentioned, is not sufficient in any way. Age verification via passports/drivers licenses and other public information has been ruled as insufficient by many countries, and payment information for age check is forbidden by credit card companies, so this idea makes no use of the ideas that have no legal validity.
This idea puts the control back on the sim owners, where the control should always have been. It puts the control to the buyers of content, so they know the maturity level of the items they buy. This is so that content can be sold better, and controlled better by the users of that content. This idea states that Linden Lab has a responsibility to the users, to make sure they have access to the kinds of content they expect to see in their sims, and can screen out what they do not wish to see in their sims that they pay land fees on.
Now. The main issue for sim owners both individual and corporate was the inability to prevent the rezzing of adult and offensive content on sims meant for general audiences only.
Some of these corporations wanted to both keep their local content in, and only allow screened content from the outside in.
It is still impossible in Second Life to truly block offensive and/or adult content before it is rezzed in inappropriate circumstances.
My general idea is as follows:
Second Life allowing avatars to move from grid to grid, and have access to a filtered inventory – according to the filters set by the sim owners.
Create an OPT IN system, allowing content creators to prescreen content into PG, M and AO ratings. This content would be available to the Main Grid as usual, and the option would be to allow this screened and rated content to flow across grids. Say PG could flow into other grids like the Teen Grid, and PG content could flow back from TG back into Main Grid.
Avatars wearing rated content can be filtered. Avs wearing unscreened/adult content will be unable to rez into a sim that bars unscreened and/or adult content.
This should be a system that content creators would have to pay a small fee for – perhaps a percentage of money from each transaction (XStreetSL could be the rating auth, as they have a substantial risk displaying unrated content – ideally it should not display any unrated content at all), but open to other monetization methods.
PG content should be tightly screened under this system, so that it can be bought and allowed across grids and sims without fear, especially to those educational and corporate customers who need strong controls on inflowing content. Ideally ALL content submitted for ratings should be screened.
Unrated content should be treated as it is right now, allowed on the Mainland, but unable to be ported from grid to grid, or to sims that bar unrated content. This is a solution that would restore some greatly needed confidence to the inventory system. It will also lower the costs of Second Life content for standalone corporate and educational customers, who will be able to choose from a competitive market of individual content creators, making Second Life a more attractive platform.
I understand it will not be easy. A big issue will be the permissions system. I believe the permissions system can be handled via the licensing of the standalone platform to customers. (that it will have to be enforced to have access to Second Life inventory services)
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April 30, 2009 at 11:51 pm
JIRA! « Clockwork heart … Pixellated soul
[...] system to prevent offensive content rezzing in sims with the wrong rating. Her rationale is explained on her blog. She also has a challenge to LL’s supposed justifications for the new content rating [...]
May 2, 2009 at 9:57 am
Hypatia Callisto
I would submit that sims rated mature should still be allowed the option to have AO and unrated content rezzed into the sim (allow these to be toggles), but have the choice to block teleportation into the sim by avatars wearing AO and/or unrated content. They should be able to toggle AO and unrated content rezzing.
PG sims should have a choice to toggle rez of mature and unrated content but should always block AO content by default, and block all avatars teleporting wearing AO content, with a choice to block/allow teleportation of mature and unrated.
AO sims would allow all rated content, but allow blocking of avatars wearing unrated content to control griefing.
PG sims could allow the optional forcing of underwear, and I submit that probably we should have a skin rating system – with normal skins rated mature, and allow for a PG rating of skins (minus genitalia).
I will state that I hold no intellectual property over these concepts I have submitted to LL, and anyone reading it anywhere can use it. I don’t limit it to just LL.
I absolve all my rights in this idea. I will only be gleeful if someone does it. But its out here in black and white, so if anyone tries to patent it, I will point you to this JIRA and/or my blog where I said “anyone can use it, anywhere” (it’s prior art)
Have a nice day!
May 2, 2009 at 10:30 am
Hypatia Callisto
Please note, that I will cover further development of a general concept for ratings of user generated content along these lines, for the use in Opensim or other services under a BSD license.