Skin Maturity Level Guidelines

[Sierra Jakob]

Okay, folks. Here it is straight from Ilan--I don't think he' mind me sharing, this is such a great explanation.
In Ilan's own words, if you are selling Skins in the Marketplace, here are the guidelines for skin maturity levels, skin texture contents, and skin market display contents:

"First, in Kitely Market product listing pictures only show exposed female breasts or male/female groin areas in Adult rated listings. Even if they are Barbie Dolled (show no details) they can't show in non-Adult rated product listings pictures..."

"Second, the actual items you sell (the textures used in the products themselves) should be as follows:
1) General - only if the textures themselves have underpants as part of the skin texture.
2) Moderate - Barbie Doll skins. No pubic hair, no detail in groin area....(nipples are allowed on the product but cannot be displayed in the Market pictures)
3) Adult - Anything goes except naked children skins which are a VERY big no-no on Kitely."

[Ilan Tochner]

Thank you Sierra,

I'll update our product listing guidelines to include this language and notify existing merchants of the need to comply with these requirements (I've gotten reports that some of them don't comply with these listing requirements at the moment).

[Dundridge Dreadlow]

Perhaps the default skin ratings should ALWAYS be adult, and not moderate as with other products, and perhaps a full body should be provided - people will always want to know what they are getting. (and would prevent the need to review the product separately from the displayed pictures)

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Dundridge,

We want to remain accessible to children (with supervision) as well so our basic design concept regarding maturity ratings is that the default should be Moderate (i.e. PG13) and you would have to take a conscious decision to change it to General (family friendly) or Adult. That way there shouldn't be any accidents when merchants know what rules they must follow. The problem Sierra reported was created by people not getting enough guidance in our marketplace documentation. That is something we'll be correcting promptly.

[Dundridge Dreadlow]

Okies, just thought that if there are many instead of few adult skins under the wrong rating, default or switching them to adult would cover your bases. (..and any boy or girl parts)

Having merchants explicitly declaring underwear, or just plastic underpants and a trademark would help prevent confusion in this area. Defaulting to adult in areas of the market that are likely to have higher than usual adult content would help everyone.

[Ada Radius]

That actually makes sense Dundridge, I'll talk to Oren about it and see whether he agrees.

[Ada Radius]

It's not easy, this - what's OK in Rio or Cannes is not OK in Kansas City, nor Dubai, for that matter. I've had my male skins set to "Moderate" and now think they probably should have been "Adult" all along? If all nude skins should be Adult, that would work for me, even better if there were a pop-up or something, so that people who don't have "Adult" settings know to change them when looking for skins, if they're old enough.
If no new crises hit my RL, I'll be providing G rated skins early next year for educators. Meanwhile, please email me if you have a special request, and I'll prioritize accordingly.
Ada

That actually makes sense Dundridge, I'll talk to Oren about it and see whether he agrees.

[Ilan Tochner]

We'll discuss the issue of maturity ratings in this week's Kitely Mentors Group meeting: http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Ila ... ome-Center

As always, these meetings are open to any Kitely user who wishes to attend (you don't have to be a mentor).

[Sierra Jakob]

Suggestion: Market Pictures of Complete Skins
Skins seem to have been moved to the Moderate Maturity level. However, since, as always, merchants are not including pictures of the entire skin, neither the customer, the other merchants, nor Kitely knows what exactly is being sold. Currently, the only way to tell is to spend cash and buy the product. I think that as long as Kitely does not require full pictures of the skins to be posted, some merchants will try to place their skins in inappropriate categories. Right now, it only hurts the honest merchants. I know for a fact I lost lots of business because of the adult filters filtering out my skins, but showing everyone elses. But sooner or later, this deceptive business practice will also harm Kitely's reputation and business--clearly this is why Kitely created rules about what a general/moderate/adult skin product could actually contain. Now may be the best time to address this issue--while there are only a few of us skin merchants who can then lead the way and help to set the standards. Actually showing what we are selling on the market seems to be the easiest way for the categories to be monitored--then everyone can easily monitor without wasting time or money.

Suggestion: Slight Change for "Moderate" Requirements
Since bare breasts can not be in the market displays of moderate items, and since it would be very helpful for merchants to display the entire skin they are selling---may I suggest a slight change be considered, perhaps, in the "Moderate" skin requirements. This is just a thought. But it might make things more simple. What if Moderate skins, also had underwear, so that no nipples, pubic hair or other groin details were showing---BUT, the underwear could otherwise be very skimpy and very sexy. This would then allow all Moderate skins to be displayed in the market. And if someone wanted to show more skin, they would need to move to the adult section.

[Ilan Tochner]

That's an interesting idea Sierra, we'll discuss it in tomorrow's Kitely Mentors Group meeting. (here: http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Ila ... ome-Center)