Linden Lab Official:Clarification of policy disallowing ageplay

Policy

Second Life is a platform made for adults. Minors 16 years of age and above are subject to our Age-Restricted Content policy. If you are 13-15 years old, you may be allowed if you are restricted to the estate of a sponsoring organization. For more information, see Teens in Second Life.

Linden Lab is committed to the safety of children and has zero tolerance towards any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation. The sexualization/sexual exploitation of children is strictly prohibited. This includes but is not limited to the following:

• Visual depictions of a child or child avatar engaging in sexually explicit or sexually suggestive acts.
• Sharing fantasies about or promoting engagement in child sexual exploitation.
• Sexualized commentaries about or directed at child-presenting avatars and/or any individual that identifies as a child.
• Links to third-party sites that host child sexual exploitation material.
• Expressing a desire to obtain materials that feature child sexual exploitation.
• Recruiting, advertising or expressing an interest in a sex act involving a child, or in harboring and/or transporting a child for sexual purposes.
• Sending sexually explicit media to a child or child-presenting avatar.
• Engaging or trying to engage a child or child-presenting avatar in a sexually explicit conversation.
• Trying to obtain sexually explicit media from a child or child-presenting avatar, or trying to engage a child or child-presenting avatar in sexual activity through blackmail or other incentives.
• Identifying alleged victims of childhood sexual exploitation by name or image.
• Promoting or normalizing sexual attraction to minors as a form of identity or sexual orientation.

Residents presenting as Child Avatars shall be prohibited from the following:

• Entering any Region rated Adult. Residents must change to a non-child or non-childlike avatar to visit Adult rated regions.
• Engaging or participating in any event or location where nudity and/or sexual activity is present, encouraged and/or expected.
• Wearing genital/sexual attachments including clothing, attachments or HUDs created for and/or worn by child avatars to indicate genitalia, whether visible or not.
• Being fully nude. There are two ways in which this can be achieved: a modesty layer which is baked on to the skin or body, is not transparent, does not match the skin tone, and may not be removed, or the use of BOM layers that do not have any accentuation or present as any type of anatomy in the area it is intended to cover.
• Child avatars where the focal point of the body is on the breasts, pelvis, or buttocks
• Participation in lewd or sexual acts in which one or more of the avatars appears to represent minors (or the depiction of such acts in images, video, textures, or text).

Content for Child Avatars being sold inworld and/or on Marketplace must comply with the General Content Rating and adhere to the following:

• Content intended for Child Avatars must be listed as General maturity.
• Content intended for Child Avatars must not be sexual and/or suggestive in nature.
• No Adult or Moderate keywords in Marketplace listings on Child avatar content.
• Child avatar content creators are required to add a modesty layer which is baked into child avatar skins or bodies, is not transparent, does not match the skin tone, and may not be removed.

Enforcement

Linden Lab reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate the accounts as well as remove content and assets of Residents who violate these standards.

Discussion

In some cases there may be an element of subjectivity as to whether an avatar (or other image) appears to be a minor. Objective factors which will be used to decide include whether an avatar has childlike facial features, is child-sized, has clothing or accessories generally associated with children, and whether, based on the circumstances, an avatar is speaking or acting like a child ("My Mommy says...").

Note: Merely having a childlike avatar does not violate this policy. It is not our intent to banish childlike avatars in and of themselves.

If you are in doubt as to whether an activity may be interpreted as ageplay, we request you err on the side of caution and desist. Please note that some countries' laws may impose penalties for graphics, drawings, or anime that resemble child pornography, even where no children have been involved. To report a violation of the policy, select Help > Report Abuse in the Second Life Viewer and follow the instructions given.

A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page regarding this policy is available here: Child Avatar FAQ