Your opinion needed: Maturity Ratings for avatar skins

[Ilan Tochner]

Overview:

General rated items are intended for supervised children under the age of 13, and for older people who use Kitely in organizations that can't tolerate nudity. Administrators creating accounts for such users will be able to lock their accounts so that they only see General-rated products in Kitely Market.

Moderate rated items should be appropriate for unsupervised teens and people who view Kitely Market without being logged in. This is the default maturity rating new accounts get so it can't be contentious but it doesn't have to be appropriate for young children.

Adult rated items are for the over 18 crowed that has no organization-enforced restrictions. Anything goes as long as it complies with our TOS.

We need to decide which of the following two options should be set as the minimum requirements for listing items that contain skins in the General and Moderate maturity ratings. Outside the specified areas, skins can be as detailed as you want. They can't, however, ever result in the wearer accidentally (or intentionally) resembling a real naked body using non-Adult items that are bought from Kitely Market. Once the choice is made we'll add images showing the minimally clothed areas to the Kitely Market Product Listing Guidelines.

Please remember the target audiences when selecting which option you prefer.

Please let us know which option you prefer and why:

Option A

General Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least short boxers and sleeveless shirts.

Moderate Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least sexy underwear. Female skins must include at least a sexy bra or bikini top (no nipples showing and no details from the pelvic area). Male skins may be topless and show nipples.

Option B

General Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least modest bikini bottoms. Female skins must include at least a modest bra or bikini top (no nipples showing). Male skins may be topless and show nipples.

Moderate Maturity Rating - Skins must be hairless, and must include flat and featureless skin patches in the pelvic and chest area. In other words, skins for both genders resemble naked dolls with no genitalia and no nipples.

[onyxty delta]

Option A is my preference. I would feel more comfortable with my children browsing the market under option A. In addition, any students that I invite to join me in Kitely for class may feel more comfortable under this option. One of the reasons I don't use SL to host my classes is because of the degradation of their marketplace.

Folks still have the option of an Adult section for items that suit their needs there. I'd like Kitely to remain a "safe" place for my kids to use for fun and learning.

[Ada Radius]

Option A, for General Rating - most appropriate for young children.

I don't like either of the "Moderate" options offered. I was already planning on sleeveless shirts and short boxers or knickers for my G-rated skins. I'd rather put my M-rated skins into Adult, than make Barbie and Ken dolls, which any 6 year old girl in America owns, or put someone else's definition of "sexy bra" on them, which can be just as pornographic, or more, than nude. It's sexist to allow male nipples and not female. Any teenager past puberty already knows what nipples and genitalia looks like, at least for their own sex; and we never have been able to put much detail in the groin areas of the avatars - not enough mesh there. Ken & Barbie vs "sexy underwear" is absurd and insulting. But I will comply, lol, resistance is futile.

(note - in the SL teen grid, the graphically gifted teenagers responded to the censorship there by immediately covering their underwear'd skins with tattoos to make them explicitly nude. I sympathize with educators of teenagers, but you're fighting a losing battle.)

Sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting! I'll bet it was a rip-snorter.
Ada

Overview:

Please let us know which option you prefer and why:

Option A

General Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least short boxers and sleeveless shirts.

Moderate Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least sexy underwear. Female skins must include at least a sexy bra or bikini top (no nipples showing and no details from the pelvic area). Male skins may be topless and show nipples.

Option B

General Maturity Rating - Skins must have clothing as part of the skin texture. Skins for both genders must wear at least modest bikini bottoms. Female skins must include at least a modest bra or bikini top (no nipples showing). Male skins may be topless and show nipples.

Moderate Maturity Rating - Skins must be hairless, and must include flat and featureless skin patches in the pelvic and chest area. In other words, skins for both genders resemble naked dolls with no genitalia and no nipples.

[Dot Matrix]

Could I suggest using Option B as a basis for most skins, but for child avies to add the General Option A coverage?

Option B will work for the majority of market users -- adults -- while preserving modesty for those who care about it (e.g. teachers, business people) and enabling them to search for usable skins without having to use the "Adult" switch. Any baked-on underwear can restrict the subsequent choice of clothing by increasing the likelihood of showing beyond. The featureless skin option would allow those individuals to choose to wear swimwear without potential embarrassment.

Under the attribute "Department" are "Boys" and "Girls". Add a stipulation that these are for pre-pubescent children only, and have the requirement that skin for both girls and boys "must wear at least short boxers and sleeveless shirts".

[Dagon Xanith]

Truthfully I don't have opinion either way but I do recall that paypal has restrictions around recieving money for pornographic or adult content.
I am not sure how SL skin artist work around that.
Personally my opinion is naked bodies are natural and we all have them. But yeah in certain cultures and settings one doesn't want to see nipples and genitalia.
My question though is who even in virtual world going to undress in those situations especially if they are over thirteen?
Only kids I know who undress their dolls are really young kids, not teenagers

[Dot Matrix]

Glitches can happen where clothing layers are lost, e.g. when teleporting. In those situations it helps to have underwear that can't get lost in transit (so to speak).

[Dundridge Dreadlow]

B - keep it simple. Everyone can use B.

[Johnny Magic]

My vote would be for Option B. I think this give more flexibility for making clothing. As far as the pre-pubescent thing goes (Dot's comments), I don't have a problem with Option A but I think that just opens the door for another grey area re:what is a pre-pubescent avi? Option B is cut and dry and easy to understand and should satisfy most educators. As a teen educator for the last forever years, I can tell you now that they will overcome any of these obstacles within minutes if they so choose to! Actually, a lot of pre-teens would be able to to it as well, I'm sure. Over the years, I've found that adults (especially in schools) are more obsessed over this whole sexual thing online a lot more than teens are. Most of them couldn't care less lol. Now in RL, it's a different picture!

[Graham Mills]

I agree with Dot but that's largely based on trying to find a one-size-fits-all solution (an appropriate metaphor, no?). Perhaps a one-time alert as to the nature of the presentation of skins would allay concerns that students might accidentally encounter stuff they or their institution might deem off-limits. And yes, there is at least one institution in the UK where use of SL on campus can only take place under the direct supervision of staff. Generally, however, I am more concerned about the (absence of) choice regarding starter avatars than the marketplace, e.g. ethnicity (unless that's changed -- I haven't made an alt lately).

[Deuce Halsey]

I vote for Option B. It should work well in nearly every case.

If you insist on having special rules for skins intended for use in child avatars, then just go with the intentions stated by the merchant in the market listing. It has been my experience that most vendors of child avatar shapes and skins clearly define the age the avatar is intended to represent. That's simply catering to their market - it seems most people who use child avatars are going for a particular age/look in their avatar.

I think it would be just be simpler to specifically state in the Kitely TOS that any avatar intended to represent a child must have a skin that meets the requirements for a "General-rated" skin, whatever you finally decide that should be. That would ensure that all child avatar skins have baked-on underwear.