Your2ndPlace

I arrived just in time to get the tail end of the protest on censorship related to Cheen Pitney's sculptures being censored. It is on a PG sim, but the sculptures were hardly offensive from what I can tell, and they most certainly weren't pornographic.

Commentary by Grace McDunnough points the finger at the Burning Man 2007 leadership, and it is hard to argue - the addition of 'Censored- This is a PG Sim' does seem a bit over the top. I'm not too worried about Burning Man 2007, as it is - I didn't find the instructions for participation very clear, as I noted here, and as far as I'm concerned it is just another 'friend of a friend' sort of organization as related to participation. It looks to me to be just another rendition of the same tune in that regard - but that doesn't surprise me.

That Cheen reportedly lost his sculptures when 'moving' them doesn't surprise me either. That a few people have told me, 'they change the rules at a whim' doesn't surprise me. That there were nude avatars dancing in protest doesn't surprise me.

What I am interested in, however, is where the lines are drawn on PG sims. This was not a Linden Lab call from what I gather - this was done by one of the organizers (however they got to be where they are). We all know when something is considered to be offensive, and in this scenario it is hard for me to say that the artwork was offensive.

Where is the line drawn? No one knows. Where should the line be drawn? That is the question.

Technorati Tags: Culture Linden Lab Miscellaneous Op/Ed SecondLife censorship burning life burning life 2007 linden lab art porn metaverse 3d