Linden Lab brings PG, Mature and Adult regions to Second Life
Linden Lab introduces initiative to offer its virtual world users on Second Life enhanced experience
Creator of arguably the most popular virtual world, Second Life, has today
announced new initiatives that it hopes will make the virtual experience more ?predictive?.
Linden Lab says that it will soon be allowing users to customise their own experience; one way of doing so will be giving users the added ability to filter content by adjusting their search settings. The six year old company says that by handing this control over to the user, they are able to preserve the ?founding principles? of Second Life, which is to create ?an open environment that emphasised creative freedom and individual expression.?
Linden Lab chief executive officer Mark Kingdon explains, ?Preferences and community standards vary tremendously across industries, countries and cultures; our goal is to retain as much of the freedom as possible while continuing to push the medium and our platform forward.? Kingdon continues, ?As we continue to grow, it is crucial that we maintain the diversity of user-generated content while providing enhanced control to support a wider range of users.?
Under the new initiative,
Second Life ? which will remain an 18+ environment ? will implement a three tiered rating system for users to define the type of content they wish to see. The three-tiers will follow standard format; PG, Mature and Adult. If a user wishes to access Adult flagged content, they will need to verify their accounts either through a credit card system or an age verification solution. Mature will be the default setting for all Second Life users, and Adult content will migrate from Second Life?s mainland to its own continent ? further details of which Linden Lab will announce in the second quarter of 2009.
?From the beginning, Linden Lab has led the way in the development of virtual worlds and has set the standard on many cultural and social issues involved with virtual communities. We made this decision, and defined and developed this program based on the direct requests and feedback we received from the Second Life community,? concludes Kingdon.
Read more