Wizard101 has a banner year amidst chat issues originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab has released the new viewer, bringing Second Life up to 1.23 a few days earlier than expected, off the back of a very short release-candidate cycle.

The new viewer brings three things with it: The new Adults-only continent (formerly Ursula and now Zindra), user-verification by documents or payment-status, and a new Adults-only content rating that opens up Second Life to more extreme sexual and violent content.

Continue reading Second Life moves to 1.23, opens adult continent, allows more content

Second Life moves to 1.23, opens adult continent, allows more content originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The 1.23 Second Life viewer with the necessary support for Adult content is still being rushed to meet a June deadline, the exact reason for which seems a little unclear. There's some outstanding issues with the viewer release-candidates, but it seems fairly low on actual showstoppers and looks likely to make an official release in the roughly one fortnight remaining.

Definitions for the content ratings have been finalized, though they show little noticeable deviation from Linden Lab's originally proposed drafts. It appears that all the changes have been simple explanatory wording changes. The PG rating holds a couple of surprises, though.

Continue reading Second Life adult content updates: Viewers, namechanges, grannies and grade-schoolers

Second Life adult content updates: Viewers, namechanges, grannies and grade-schoolers originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Thanks to a piping-hot, fresh build of the Second Life viewer, we've been able to get a better look at the upcoming content controls that are due in the next major release of the Second Life viewer.

As expected, there are now three content ratings available (though it is uncertain as to what their final names will actually be. Using "PG" as a content rating, for example, has legal issues): PG content, Mature content and Adult content.

While it hasn't yet been determined exactly what content will fit into each category (actually, we barely have any idea about the existing content categorizations half the time), the actual usage and integration looks pretty straightforward.

Continue reading Upcoming viewer changes for Second Life adult content

Upcoming viewer changes for Second Life adult content originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Chicago Tribune is carrying a story about Congressional Representative Mark Kirk of the district of Illinois. Kirk alleges that Second Life "is a risk for children, who could be sexually exploited" and has written a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission, urging them to issue a consumer alert to warn of this danger.

We're pretty sure that Kirk isn't going to get that consumer alert.

Continue reading Kirk says children at risk in Second Life

Kirk says children at risk in Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 May 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of Second Life's (non-sexual) child avatars -- let's call him "Joe" for the moment -- used Linden Lab's beta Age Verification system to forestall any issues of being possibly suspended for being an underage user.

Unfortunately, "Joe" was subsequently suspended after being abuse-reported as an underage user. Subject to an age-check, he had to provide copies of assorted government-issued identity documentation to Linden Lab's office, where, satisfied that he had proved he was an adult user, his account was re-enabled.

Unfortunately for "Joe", it doesn't end there.

Continue reading How many times do you have to prove it?

How many times do you have to prove it? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Age Verification (or Identity Verification, as it seems like it might be called internally again) implementation for Second Life has been a fairly fraught process so far, with no clear resolution in sight.

With allegations of dubious respect for privacy on the part of the verification provider, questions about the actual nature of the service being provided, difficulties closing the deal, policy changes about whether it will be mandatory or not and whether you will be able to tell if someone is verified or not, doubts about the effectiveness of the actual restrictions, that the system seems to be easily cheated, that Linden Lab doesn't appear to trust that successful verification is sufficient, and a slew of issues and open questions (not limited to the fact that it may be quite likely unlawful for you to provide your identity information if you are outside the USA due to assorted anti-terror laws and agreements) ... well, it hasn't been a smooth road in the almost-a-year since this started.

Continue reading Linden Lab: No stated plans to improve verification outside USA

Linden Lab: No stated plans to improve verification outside USA originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading What will happen to Second Life in 2008?

What will happen to Second Life in 2008? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been no less a tumultuous year for Second Life in 2007 this year than any previous year, frankly. There are a few standout items though.

This isn't the list that anyone else might make - We might completely skip over one of the things you see as standing out as a huge impact, based solely on that we don't actually think it was that big a deal in the scheme of things.

Continue reading Peering inside - looking back at 2007 [UPDATED]

Peering inside - looking back at 2007 [UPDATED] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab (who seem busier today than they did yesterday - but hey, it's an odd time of year) have scheduled a rolling restart of the Second Life grid for Wednesday morning, 2 January starting sometime between 10AM and 11AM SLT (US Pacific) - though, in our experience, a rolling restart almost never actually commences on time.

It's not said what's being done, exactly. Some sim crashes fixed, and 'fixes related to age-verification' - which honestly could mean anything.

Continue reading Second Life: rolling restart, Wednesday 2 January

Second Life: rolling restart, Wednesday 2 January originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Second Life Grid Grind's Jamie David got an email from Linden Lab for his alt account, Agelock Short. It appears someone reported Agelock Short for being underage, and the account was suspended pending an age-check, as is commonly done in these situations.

The problem is that Agelock Short was already successfully age-verified as an adult through Linden Lab's age-verification arrangement with Aristotle/Integrity. That apparently, is not good enough.

Continue reading Aristotle's age verification not good enough for LL?

Aristotle's age verification not good enough for LL? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've taken a long look at the way Second Life beta age-verification works (or fails to) as far as the age-verification provider Aristotle/Integrity is concerned. The next part ultimately is how does age-restriction actually work on the Second Life grid?

With the aid of a test subject and the latest release candidate, we took a look at the age-verification based access-restriction flag to find out exactly what it does.

Continue reading Age-verification restriction on parcels - what does it actually do?

Age-verification restriction on parcels - what does it actually do? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life users have found a way to deal with Aristotle/Integrity's age-verification service (who's non-USA failure rates seem to be awfully high, and who's data may be a touch less than comprehensive) and a straightforward and easy way to get themselves verified.

Famous people and dead people. Also famous, dead people. In fact, people are having more success verifying their accounts with the credentials of the deceased than with the living.

Continue reading Aristotle/Integrity: El Día de los Muertos

Aristotle/Integrity: El Día de los Muertos originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the fur continues to fly over Second Life's beta age-verification system, one of the aspects that has only really been lightly touched on is informed choice.

Before offering your identity documents and personal data to any third-party, there are things you need to know, otherwise you cannot be said to be capable of making an informed choice in the matter. So far, that information hasn't been comprehensively provided to you.

Continue reading Age-verification - a matter of informed choice

Age-verification - a matter of informed choice originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Robin Harper, Linden Lab's Vice President of Marketing and Community Development, has just put out a late update on the status of the new Second Life age verification beta.

Harper begins by acknowledging the very high failure rate among international verification attempts, "The failure rate is much higher than we saw in previous testing, and clearly is unacceptable."

Continue reading Linden Lab: International age verification failure rate "unacceptable" [updated]

Linden Lab: International age verification failure rate "unacceptable" [updated] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Age verification is now in beta on the Second Life grid. We think it's called Age Verification, anyway. It's undergone a couple name changes since inception. Initially, Linden Lab were calling it Age Verification, then Identity Verification (IDV) and now we're back to Age Verification again.

We're not really very sure if it is going to change its name again. There are a few things, though, that we do know ...

Continue reading Age verification arrives on the Second Life grid (updated)

Age verification arrives on the Second Life grid (updated) originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AgeLock: age verification by residents, for residents originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.