Your2ndPlace

Something that might have answered more questions than Daniel Linden's post 'Keeping Second Life Safe Together' would be the video 'How They Got Game Workshop 1' done by the Stanford Humanities Lab.

In the video, apparently published on Saturday, April 14th, has Daniel Linden speaking in person about a few interesting things - such as 'baby furs' (where he says he may make a t-shirt, thus the title of this entry- turnabout fair play rule):

What is the age of consent for a Weasel?
SecondLife.com

What he failed to say was that while they intended real age, they left it vague- Linden Lab never specified real age or role play age. So while he may have believed he was clear - he wasn't - and for someone who says that Linden Lab listens to the community - Linden Lab has given no official stance on roleplay age and real age. When cornered, Tateru Nino did get some feedback which goes against what Daniel said in this workshop.

Daniel goes on, sounding like an expert, talking about the Community Standards which in Linden-speak are 'the big six'. They somehow expect residents to know all of this by osmosis, because they certainly don't write much on the weblog about it. And as far as the 'big six' go, they are very open to interpretation. For example, number 4 of the 6, 'Disclosure', does not protect a resident's privacy. Of course, Daniel laters says that 'Disclosure' is going away because it is 'impossible to enforce'. Well, they probably could enforce it but I suppose maybe it is too hard. Look over here! Voice. Sculpties. Windlight.

Further, there is no transparency into the abuse report system - which would give the SecondLife community established precedents for where the limits are.

But Daniel says that they are good enough, and may get boiled down to 3 community standards! A hint here would be that the community doesn't have any idea where the borders are for the 6, and people may unwittingly cross them or report on things that are not in violation of the community standards. It is a mess, but apparently Daniel thinks everything is trucking along well. I don't. I believe I am not alone.

He also says that no one gets special treatment... yet the official guide was written by Linden Lab employees and people within SecondLife, and there is a history of releasing information to specific people (such as the Linden Lab hike of island tier announced to a select group of people before being publicly announced). While I'm not a big fan of Prok's FIC, it is easy to see how something like this could be seen as a possibility. My experience with the Lindens when asking straight questions has been less than stellar. Maybe I just don't have the right friends, or maybe my directness rubs the Linden Lab folks the wrong way. Maybe I'm too tough with questions. I like direct. I hate wasting time. I want answers. If you're too fragile to answer questions, well - what can I do? I thought people were there to answer questions, not be petted and coddled...

Throughout, Daniel talks about how great the 'nebulous rules' are. Well, maybe they are great for Linden Lab - it doesn't appear to be so for parts of the community that I am in touch with. But then, I am often accused of interrogation when asking questions. You make your t-shirt, Daniel. I'll carry a rubber hose and a bright light.

It was interesting, though, to see what the people talking about us - SecondLife residents - talk about. Daniel did speak about some things which I think everyone in SecondLife should be aware of - such as Trademarks and so forth - but what bothers me most is that he was willing to talk like this to members of Stanford Humanities Lab - and speak openly - when Linden Lab doesn't seem very interested in doing the same with the community. From Landbots to land glitches to governance issues to simple exchange limits, Linden Lab hasn't been doing a great job of listening in a way that has results... or giving the community useful information other than pulling the, "New features" trick to keep everyone off balance.

What I would like to see is the directness, and perhaps earnestness, applied to communication with SecondLife residents. Why is it that residents are discussed like lab rats where we can view it publicly? And what if the lab rats actually started studying them? How can you say that the community will decide things when... the community isn't involved in discussion in a meaningful way?

and... Hey! Who moved my cheese?

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