Virtual World Platforms

Enforcing the TOS: One-Click Reporting and Adult Content

How can a bed without animation poses cause a problem? Or for that matter, a world in which attachments aren’t, um, Xcite! compatible?

Leave it to Lively - the cartoon chat virtual environment has a reputation issue on its hands if it doesn’t get its TOS enforcers into gear to track down all that smut and dirty living that has been the bane of other virtual worlds. In fact, Lively has been hard at work, shutting down rooms that don’t meet its standards. But how the TOS is enforced is open to interpretation, with some ‘adult themed rooms’ being reported but left standing, and others having the plug pulled. Or the furniture deflated. Or whatever it is you do to void a room.

Hey, at least there’s no commerce, then they might have a real issue and need to start policing content theft on top of exposed nipples.

Like most Terms of Service, it’s as much in the enforcement of the law as it is its expression. WebPro News comments: “And since some days, Lively got its first social phenomenon, too: the almost meme-like creation of cyber sex rooms.”

Memes??? Since when is sex and the Web a meme? How about “par for the course” or “as expected”.

They even go so far as to reference Wikipedia on the definition of cybersex, which kind of leaves me wondering what kind of Web pros those guys are, really, but maybe that’s my own stereotyping of geek coders and HTML hackers - I thought they all learned cybersex back when IRC was launched.

Lively addressed the sex and the Web issue head-on with a post on the site:

We’ve received complaints about recently created “sex rooms” in Lively, and we take these complaints seriously. When browsing or searching for rooms, some Livley citizens come upon these rooms as the top results, which can erode their Lively experience.

Lively is intended to be a place for Lively citizens to connect with each other and express themselves freely and in a safe environment. Our community standards prohibit sexually explicit images and rooms intended for sexual activity, even if virtual. When we become aware of “sex rooms” that violate or Terms of Service, we’ll work to remove them. We may also disable the violator’s Google Account and Lively access.

If you come across rooms with sexually explicit content or that are intended to engage in or solicit sexual activity, you can find out how to report a user or room at the Lively Help Center …

I have two words for Google: age verification.

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