Second Life: Complaints Spark Creation of 'Red-Light District' 

You walk into a dimly lit lounge with posh bar stools and leather couches. The bar doesn’t seem that busy yet, but you know it’s still early. There’s a couple at the bar sipping on martinis and sharing a private joke.

“Oh baby, you’re so hot. You’ve got one of the nicest pieces of ass that I’ve seen around here in a long time. Why don’t you come and sit over here next to me.” The voluptuous redhead slowly saunters over to the couch and languidly reclines on the pillows next to her suitor, in a position that purposefully accentuates her already exposed cleavage. He slides his arm around her shoulders as she leans up to kiss him…

What follows later? I think we can all guess.

This scene could have been taking place in a variety of settings, in any number of locations. So, why talk about this one? Perhaps because it is not happening in the “real world,” but instead in the virtual world of Second Life more commonly just called SL.

The San Francisco company Linden Lab first launched this world in 2003. The program was designed to provide a world for people to meet others and socialize. It was set-up with all of the everyday activities: buying property and leisure items, trading goods and services, building houses and planting gardens, having sex, going to bars and clubs for entertainment, visiting art galleries.

In other words, Second life became a life away from real-life, and over the next few years it quickly gained popularity. It is known worldwide as a tool for business and education as well as for its creative, social and moneymaking capabilities. The designers’ mission was to allow the users, called Residents, the ability to establish the world as their own community.

Now fast forward to 2009. There has been a particularly troubling debate budding within the community and on forums about Second Life. Some residents have been complaining about the sexual content that permeates the world. They have said that their experience while in-world has become unpredictable and they find some of the sexual content offensive. Linden’s response: establish an “Adult” content and activities continent separate from the mainland, resembling something like Amsterdam’s “Red-Light District”.

But what has the Red Light District done for the real Amsterdam? Improved tourism certainly, but what about the image of the city in the eyes of the global community? Amsterdam is known not for its beautiful picturesque canals, amazing culture, food and history. It is known for its accessibility to legalized sex and drugs.

Could the same thing happen in Second Life? Could the current controversy inflate the role sex has in this world? Will the global community lose sight of all of the other important non-sexual activities that go on?

A Whole New World

Second Life is free and upon logging in, users create an avatar, which they use to navigate the world. Think of the avatar as a visual representation of your digital body. You will interact, explore, and communicate through this avatar, and while in Second Life the avatar is representing you. How to categorize SL is still debated, though many refer to it as a MUVE (Multiple User Virtual Environment) or just a virtual world. Unlike other games like the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, SL only serves the purpose of social networking, since there is no game play or objectives to complete.

Second Life came to international attention in late 2006 and early 2007, especially in regards to developments in the economic arena. As of June 2006, Second Life had a population of over 7,250,000 users with over 1,700,000 having logged in within the last 60 days, with a rate of 30,000 users online at the same time in a virtual landscape spanning over 65,000 “square acres”. Second Life’s popularity has only continued to grow with Linden Lab’s estimate of over 15 million registered accounts in 2008.

Why so popular? One of the reasons is that Second Life allows for the freedom to create an avatar that is completely unique and fully customizable. “Your World. Your Imagination”—is Linden Lab’s motto. This freedom not only extends to the avatar, but also to the world itself. All content that you create in the world belongs to you and is copyrighted to your avatar. The designers have allowed residents to decide how they want to shape the land, what to build, make, design, sell, and purchase with no restrictions on content, including how avatars interact with each other. (Though there are certain safety guidelines set up that allow residents to report others that are harassing them or being exceptionally derogatory.)

All this may soon change.

Linden Lab’s Response Sex Complaints

Currently there are two content options when searching for places to visit in SL, “PG” and “Mature”. One cannot help but question the creators’ use of the familiar MPAA rating of “PG” meaning “parental guidance” in a space that is presumably occupied by adults. There is another sister world called TeenSecondLife, for those not above the age of consent.

Of course the creators are caught in the same conundrum as others when it comes to the verification of age on the Internet, but with these new developments, Linden has decided to implement more extensive age verification procedures. This includes using social security numbers or bank account numbers. However, considering SL touts itself as a global space that is unbiased and equal, a problem could arise for international users who have different forms of identification or none at all.

As for creating a separate space for adult content, SL is promising to make the transition as smooth as possible and not to inhibit any resident’s gaming experience. They claim that this will enhance the experience for all Second Life residents without infringing on anyone’s creativity or expression.

Still, this has caused concern to many residents, since the definition of what “explicit sexual content” actually means is quite ambiguous, especially when you are dealing with an international crowd. Are we talking nudity? And then how much is too much? Are we talking about making-out? When does it cross the line into the “explicit”?

Though there are many unanswered questions, we shouldn’t be surprised by Linden Lab’s action—it is usually sex that people end up feeling uncomfortable about. We can watch extremely violent television and movies, yet we become uncomfortable with an explicit, yet passionate sex scene. A “gentleman’s club” or Hooters can operate without protest in the real world, while sexuality in a virtual community brings complaints and compels new rules to be written.

Consider this: The SL community is made up of people (supposedly all 18 and older) with virtual bodies and digitalized and pixilated sex. True, any good Second Life resident knows that the sexual animation overrides (animations that can control a person’s avatar) and genitalia can be quite realistic (and creative), but we are still talking about a computer-created body. Why would some be so uncomfortable with this? A guess is that the virtual has become more real than ever thought possible.

Finally, one must ask: What does this mean for Second Life as a virtual community? I am going to avoid overused hyperbole here and not say that this is the end of SL as we know it, that it will never be the same, that Linden is limiting creativity and is going to start controlling all of the in-world content.

I understand the position that Linden Lab is in. They do have to deal with complaints from users saying their experience in-world is being impacted by people’s sexual products, expression, and behavior. However, do the complainers really need protection? Why is it that so often conservative voices have so much power, while others get pushed aside?

Marik Xavier-Brier is a Masters candidate in the Sexuality Studies Department at San Francisco State University where he researches identity and sexuality in virtual worlds. His current research interests include the construction of gay identities, sexual interaction, and sexual citizenship within virtual environments. He is an avid online gamer and has been a resident of Second Life since 2006.