Feted Inner Child

October 23rd, 2009 by Marianne McCann

Before folks think I’m going off into “zOMG Dramaz0rz,” let me start by saying I respect the opinions of the others involved in this discussion, and hold no ill will or any of that. The specific incident is irrelevant, but it points to what i want to talk about.

Recently on Plurk, an SL clothing designer was pointing out some cute real-world kids’ clothing. One person suggested making some clothes for kid avatars based on this. I also chimed in that I would love to see some clothing like that.

You see, while I love some of the kid designers out there, a lot of the clothing fits a specific “thing.” It’s babydoll tops and poofy skirts, 90% of the time. I don’t mind these, but I’d love to see a bit more variety. I want to see more of the Gap Kids or Justice look. Nice looking stuff I can still play in, you know? Never mind that all those babydolls and poofy skirts end up with my hands and arms interpenetrating them all the time.

And yes, most of the adult designers I simply can’t wear the clothing of. Either they’ve spent a bit too much time working on “boob shading,” (which I simply don’t want or need), or they have non-modifiable prim clothing bits that can’t be sized down, or the clothing is too sexy/revealing/etc.

Anyway, so this discussion went out on doing some more kid fashion stuff. It’s something I’ve wanted to see for some time: a top SL fashion designer actually take on the kid market, and turn their talents, if even for a one-off, to kid stuff.

But then the inevitable happened. Another posted made it clear that if kid avatars were to shop at that store, they would not. Even tossing in a comment about throwing up. Now they might have been being a bit over dramatic, or even joking — and see my note above again — but I believe that her comments were not out of line with how others might feel. This is somewhat sad to me.

There is such a stigma attached to kid avatars at times. I think it has changed a small bit, but it’s still very much out there. Some people are (and in some ways legitimately so) “creeped out” by kid avvies, while others assume that any and all child avatars they come across are perverts in pretty packaging. I could go onto pages about all this (and have before), but let’s simply say that its out there an we know it.

but as a result, it perpetuates the stigma. Without good people making good things and welcoming kid avatars to shop at their stores, people do not see kid avatars — and therefore they remain creepy if only because of their scarcity.

A friend of mine attended an event at Inner Child Camp at Burning Life, and was amazed at how many kids were there. From my point of view, there weren’t all that many compared to some of the circles I travel in. A lot of kid avatars really do not “mix” with the general population — too much hassling, mostly focused at kid safe locations, or spending time in their family units.

Anyway, I’d love to see some designers give it a shot some time. For one, I’ve long wanted to get some “retro” kid clothing from the 50s, 60s, and 70s from some of the places that specialize in that. I’ve love some modern cool stuff too. Mostly, I just want to have something nice and new to wear that looks good for my avatar. That’s all.

September 4th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

So this week’s big drama is about Robot kids, huh?

F’r the last few days I’ve had random friends I’ve not heard form lately IMing me out of the blue to ask my opinion on the whole KidsBotz Controversy. For those who don’t know what this is, an avvie named Naughty Dreamscape set up some, well, kid bots. People can rent them and have them as their SL sons and daughters. Some have raised concerns about how they might get used.

Anyway here’s my feelings:

1. Yes, someone could presumably pay a lot of Lindens, take one of these home, and use it for some sick purpose. I think it’s more likely that someone would just make their own ‘bot to do that, or even just get an alt of their own, rather than bother to pay someone for the use of their ‘bots. It may not be much ado about nothing — but it’s pretty close.

2. I think that any potential SL parent who would rent a ‘bot for their SL kid is the sort of person I would not want to see in an RP scenario with any of the “real” (meaning “with a human behind the keyboard”) SL child avvies. These are the sorts who clearly don’t seem to get the whole “interacting with real people” thing.

3. Frankly, from the examples of chat with these ‘bots that I’ve seen, I think most would get bored with these ‘bots pretty quickly. I honestly don’t see this as any sort of long-term, viable business. That this is being discussed so much however, means the maker of ‘em is getting some great free publicity.

4. There are far bigger issues and concerns in this world than someone who makes a business out of renting ‘bots.

June 23rd, 2009 by Marianne McCann

It’s time for the Second Life 6th Birthday, or SL6B, and us kids are fully a part of the event! My parcel is one of four that I know of that are put together by SL kids.

This is “Make the Future Your Playground,” by me, with Pygar Bu Robin Howe, and Johnathon Spad. Been great fun to put together! There’s lots to do, from bouncy craters, planets you can ride, lots of informaton (don’t forget to click the piccies for even more), and lots of hidden stuff. Here’s a YouTube “trailer” to whet yer appetite:

It opens June 23rd at 10:00 a.m. SLT, and is in SL6B Cryo.

Hope you enjoy it!

June 16th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

I did want to point that out though, just so it was clear. Policies towards child avatars have not changed. We still can’t do the same things we could not do for the last two years, on Zindra or anywhere. We *can* do the same basic things we’ve done elsewhere on the grid.

I can be in public areas. I can go into privately-owned parcels and islands (within the rules of that particular landowner, of course). I can own land in any place and with any maturity level. What I *can’t* do is be involved in sexual ageplay. I cannot make a place that is designed for sexual ageplay (for example, making a ’sex playground’ or something like that). I cannot solicit for sexual ageplay. I cannot walk into someone’s private parcel or sim – or SL public space, for that matter – and perform or solicit (or in some cases, appear to solicit) sexual ageplay.

Further, I cannot say that I am underage in my first Life (never minding that I am not underage in my first life). I *can* claim a RP age in Second Life, but that can end up causing some troubles with people who do not understand the difference between role play and first life actuality.

Anyway, that’s all that. For myself personally, I’ve looked at Zindra, it has some nice architecture and is far from the “ghetto” people might have anticipated (One can argue that a golden cage is still a cage, of course, but I digress). The moles did some very nice work there, and I applaud ‘em for it. There might be a couple other spots there I’ll want to take a peek at, but the majority of my “Zindra time” will be up soon regardless of who is or isn’t allowed there.

June 16th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

My, it’s been an interesting 24 hours or so.

Yesterday ’round 6 or so, I received word that the adult continent, Zindra, was open for preview. So — as I’d told many that I would — I went to check it out.

My logic on this is simple. When the support tickets go in and when the land sales start, I’d not really going to want to be there. I chose those words carefully: it’s not an issue of rules, but desire. Many of the locations that will be there will be full of sexual or violent content, and neither hold my interest in the virtual world.

What does hold my interest, amongst other things, is exploring. In my three years in Second Life, I’ve managed to explore several of the new land masses in their earliest states. I rose my horse on Corsica, Gaeta, and Nautilus (I think Satori too, but I’m not 100% sure) before they were populated. I explored Bay City and Nautilus City by land and air. I sailed the Blake Sea, the Gulf of Lauren, the DeGrand Channel, and the channel in Jeogeot when these were in their earliest moments. I watched the Linden Memorial Garden and the Bay City Municipal Airport as they went from flat land to fully built.

I love exploring new lands, enjoying the bare fields that will one day be covered with Resident builds, or poking around Mole builds to see just what they’ve hidden this time. To be honest, I usually enjoy this more than seeing the land after. I remember when one of my only LMs in then-new Nautilus got sold and became a sex club, or the flat, terraces, “for sale sign” festooned land of Gaeta, or seeing dark, modern skyscrapers in Nautilus City. Such is the march of progress, to be sure, but that’s when I tend to lose the interest of exploring.

So last night I got my chance to explore the new continent, Zindra. my first stop was where everyone else was, the sim of Mosh, right at the Port of Kama City building. It’s a beautiful building. Under other circumstances, I would even be half-tempted to have land there.

Anyway, I hung out there for a while. Watched a parade of Linden Lab staff come and go, even including M Linden, their CEO. Talked with some of the other folks Im friends with from off the SL Forums and elsewhere. Eventually, Blondin Linden tossed some music in on the parcel’s stream, and we all had one of those random dance parties that spring up. It happens.

Meanwhile, some of the other avatars there played with their avvies, doing the “my avatar is bigger than yours,” including some sort of stone indian, a Tiamat-style dragon, an anthropmorpic elephant thing and, yes, a cartoon penis that was one avatar for about five minutes.

So it was interesting when, a couple hours later, some guy told me that I was featured on a particular blog, because I was “dancing with a penis on the Adult Grid (sic.).” I was informed that this proved I was a fraud or whatever. At the least, that it pulled into question the purity of my actions over the last three years in Second Life. Hogwash.

Here’s what the place looked like that I was at.

Shocking, huh? So thick with sexual innuendo and rife with adult content. Avatars. Fully clothed. Standing around.

Anyway, there it is, the shocking story. FWIW, I think I’ll write another post here, on the more general issues.

Edited to add: here is a photo, courtesy of 3Ring Binder, that can give a real good idea of the proximity of said penile avatar to my avatar (and the elephant thing, and Tiamat). I wasn’t exactly close — or even within camera range. I was definitely there at that time.

March 31st, 2009 by Marianne McCann

A few months ago, a RL friend of mine who happens to have been a Linden did a favor for me. They went up the ranks, attempting to get one little word added to the abuse report categories.

The goal? Get the word “Sexual” amended to the word “Ageplay,” so as to clarify the action. At the time it was declared unnecessary, and did not happen.

Why is this important? In the real world, th’ term ageplay refers to both a sexual and a non sexual activity. Not all who ageplay are doing it in a sexual fashion. Wikipedia covers it in more detail than I’m gonna get into here.

But since the beginning of the controversy, Linden Lab has referred to sexual ageplay as simply “Ageplay,” without any clarification. This has led to more than a year of false reports against all child avatars, assuming they are involved in sexual activity. It also means that people who come to SL with a first life knowledge of ageplay risk account troubles by identifying themselves as ageplayers.

I still hope this will change, and we’ll continue to work with LL to see improved language for this category.

March 21st, 2009 by Marianne McCann

Last week I witnessed something amazing.

Another Second Life kid, Abby McDonnaugh, had to be rushed to the hospital. She was facing a serious, life-threatening health condition and had to be rushed into surgery. The response form the other SL kids was to do what they could to help their friend.

Over the course of the weekend, L$409,000 was raised for her, with L$178,262 of that in an auction hosted at HardKnock Elementary. At L$259 to US$1, this is a sizable amount of real money we’re talking about. Given the sort of medical bills she will be facing from surgery and aftercare, it is likely a drop in the bucket, but it’s a whole lotta money in either world.

If you listen to the most people Second Life is a game, a pasttime where people go and have throwaway relationships. No one really cares, and heck, few of the people there are really people anyway. It’s a ghosttown.

Further, all the virtual kids are creepy at best, deviants and perverts at worst. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

None of that makes any sense when you got back up a couple paragraphs. People opened their hearts to someone who they know only in pixel form, who has touched their lives, and who they’re willing to drop hundreds of real dollars for. Heck, people who did not even know Abby, but who knew and trusted people they knew who knew Abby, dropped money into the kitty.

Cool. huh?

That is the amazing part. I’ve seen people give selflessly in hours, dollars, and anything else they can muster for a good cause. Abby’s story is not an unheard of one. Many others in need have found themselves several thousand Lindens richer thanks to the caring souls in their lives. This community wants to help each other.

I think that culture of caring is the single most important thing to me in Second Life, beyond the exploration, the building, any of it. It’s seeing the heart that is within each avatar, somewhere beyond the prims, the mesh, and the pixels.

March 20th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

Oh, and while I’m thinking about it, a special thankoo to Zai Lynch f’r helpin’ move my page on Child Avatars in Second Life off my namespace and into the main SL wiki area.

It’s a page I made some time ago for explaining to people who’re givin’ me guff about bein’ a kid, or saying I wasn’t allowed to be in SL, so maybe they would educate themselves. I like to think some do. At least the smart ones.

Anyway, you might get something out of this page too.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Child_Avatars

An see? I do talk about kid stuff here too, after these last couple posts. Hope to have s’more news soon, too, but it’s stuff that’s a sekrit yet.