ZOMG b00biez! ... Or not

[unixronin]

The FTC says kids can find adult content in virtual worlds.  You know, like Second Life.  And as we all know, God forbid our delicate, emotionally-fragile kids should see a low-detail, poorly-animated boob on a cartoonish avatar.

Comments

[ithildae]

Someday, someone will be able to explain to the nanny state the difference between pushing something in your face, and having it so a diligent searcher can find it.

Additionally, if we never present children a choice of behavior and consequence as children, how do we expect them to be able to make those choices as adults?

[unixronin]

But ... if we let them growing up understanding choices and consequences, how can we ever expect them to just shut up and vote the way they're told to?

[ithildae]

Not a problem I have the capacity to address.

[hugh_mannity]

I play Runescape (oh, shush! yes, it's a kid's game. So bite me!). Although it's aimed at teens and supposedly requires a minimum age of 13, a lot of younger kids than that play.

Needless to say, it was the teens and not the adults who play, who discovered that if you have one player character standing *here* and doing *this* action, and a second player character *here* doing this other action it looks as if they're having (clothed) sex.

At that age (early puberty) EVERYTHING has sexual content. My son's classmates took to calling puberty "cheese" for reasons that were never explained. Gave a whole new thrust to the slogan "behold the power of cheese!". I got some wonderful embarrassed eye rolling out of that one :D

Kids are not pure innocent little angels until they reach the age of consent or get married at which point they miraculously know everything they need to know about sex without you having to tell them. They're grubby-minded little horrors who're going to experiment at every opportunity.

[unixronin]

Yes, but there are people to whom details of reality like that one are deeply, intensely threatening.

[merlinpendragon]

I'm reminded of Aldus Huxley's "A Brave New World" or George Orwell's "1984". The social machine does not care for individuality or reasoned response. It wants predictable cause-effect relationships. Anything that presents views other than what the social machine enforces is a threat, and threats must be nullified.

That said, one of my favorite plug-in's for "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" is one that adds realistic nudity (still somewhat cartoonish) to the NPC's of the game. I got a similar plug-in for "TES IV: Oblivion" because it always seemed rather silly for someone to go swimming in their underwear. Not swim suits, underwear.

[unixronin]

Heh ... I hear you there.

[merlinpendragon]

But, I'm 47, and my wife is getting close to 40. We have no minors living in our home. If we're not allowed to have some "adult content" around, who is?

[unixronin]

Sometimes I wonder how many ways the general health of our society would be improved, were it not for those who stridently insist that (to borrow Heinlein's analogy) we must all live on strained baby food because the baby can't eat steak.

[ithildae]

I believe that the US social phobia against nudity and all things sexual is a pathological disorder. I do not promote that it be on display everywhere and constantly talked about, but it is a vital part of life. Children of a certain age find out about it, either from parents or friends. That too, is life.

[guppiecat]

I'd caution you to not bring up the "low-detail" and "poorly-animated" part of the issue, as the last thing you want the FTC to be in charge of is boob quality control.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

You have a point. Not like the government doesn't have its fingers in enough places they don't belong already....

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

The report doesn't say what CNN's summary says. Sample from the actual report:

Fourteen of the 27 online virtual worlds in the Commission’s survey were open to children under age 13. Of these 14 virtual worlds, the Commission found at least one instance of ex- plicit content on seven of them. Significantly, however, with the exception of one world, Bots, all of the explicit content observed in the child-oriented worlds occurred when the Commis- sion’s researchers visited those worlds as teen or adult registrants, not when visiting the worlds as children under age 13.

Moreover, in six of these seven child-oriented virtual worlds, the amount of explicit content observed was low. Only in the seventh child-oriented world, Stardoll, did the Commission find a moderate amount of explicit content. Because the Commission’s researchers examined these worlds with the express purpose of uncovering sexually and violently explicit content, it is unlikely that a typical user would stumble upon such content unintentionally.

I'm wondering if the Leibowitz quote is even accurate.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Old story, isn't it? "You can see WHAT, Mabel? Ooooh, shocking, Mabel, absolutely shocking! Pass me the binoculars!"

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

(Big grin)

[ehintz.livejournal.com]

Won't somebody think of the children?!?!

When I was a child, such content was horribly difficult to find: I had to stay up late, tune in the local PBS affiliate, and find re-runs of Monty Python's Flying Circus. I don't know how society will survive in these evil modern times.