4 ms·

SecondLife is a cautionary tale for anybody wanting to start a "metaverse" type project. If you give your users unlimited freedom and allow people to make mone

SecondLife is a cautionary tale for anybody wanting to start a "metaverse" type project. If you give your users unlimited freedom and allow people to make money you end up with endless strip malls full of Cybersex attachments for avatars. Anybody who tries to do "legit" events is in danger of being spammed by helicopter penises. If you want anything else you need to incorporate and enforce standards and practices right from the start, but then you'll be perceived as corporate and lame.

dingosity 5y ago
You say "in danger of being spammed by helicopter penises" like it's a bad thing. Vladislav Surkov doesn't work for Putin anymore, so the likelihood he'll be griefing Kasparov with flying penises is pretty low. But you make a very valid point, some online experiences are probably better when restraint can be enforced.
- jandrese 5y ago
  The irony is that complete freedom ends up being quite limiting. You can't do kids events or anything where you expect the major press to show up. Sponsored events end up being pretty hard to do. Your platform won't even be available in many countries due to restrictive laws regarding pornography, including highly populous countries like China.
qdot76367 5y ago
I'm an ex-Linden employee that now runs a cybersex attachment startup (https://buttplug.io https://buttplug.io). What exactly are we warning people about?
- dingosity 5y ago
  hmm... you say "flying penis" and it only takes 40 minutes for QDot to show up. I think that means the internet is still working.
  - qdot76367 5y ago
    30 minutes or less, or your next flying penis is free! This would've been funnier if it weren't 11 hours later.
    - dingosity 5y ago
      but we're all getting older, so a flying penis in 30 minutes might just be too soon.
- jandrese 5y ago
  Your platform becoming a joke and the only people using it being furries and other such weirdos. If this is what you want then that's fine, but it doesn't mesh with "The Metaverse" as it is typically envisioned.
  - dingosity 5y ago
    Maybe before saying furries are "jokes" and "weirdos" you should talk to a furry. Calling people names says a lot more about you than it does about furries and "weirdos." I am happy you are in no way responsible for defining what the metaverse is or isn't.
  - echelon 5y ago
    > furries and other such weirdos They're people just like you. They also run the internet. [1] [1] https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/11-01-2022/who-runs-the-internet-furries https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/11-01-2022/who-runs-the-interne...
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      > They're people just like you. So are serial killers. If people can't judge you by what you say and do, it really limits the range of human interaction.
      - whatshisface 5y ago
        You have to judge people, but if you make all of your judgements on the basis of who's gay or furry or whatever you won't be making your judgements on the basis of stuff that actually matters. You can only have one set of criteria and every item competes with the others for weight.
      - dingosity 5y ago
        dude. no one uses ReiserFS anymore. get over it.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
Animats 5y ago
That happens very rarely in Second Life. Being a jerk in Second Life has an annoyance radius of about 100 meters. The world is the size of Los Angeles or Greater London. This gives the system considerable resistance to annoyances. Space is what keeps everything from being in the same place. Unlike the 2D web, there's not much ability to annoy large numbers of people. There's no way to broadcast spam. There are no "retweets". If you hold an event on your own land, you can block people, or require they be in a your group just to get in. You can prevent objects owned by others from entering. You can kick people out and send them to their home location. You can even use weapons they can't use on your property to apply large physical forces to their avatar and kick them up a few thousand meters. That's usually considered overkill. Property owners have more than enough tools to deal with problems. This is why Second Life needs only a tiny "governance" unit. I have a virtual motorcycle shop in an adult area of Second Life and I'm not seeing annoyances like that. All the action is in nightclubs and people's own houses, just like real life.
drzaiusapelord 5y ago
This is exactly the corporate kiss of death I've seen over and over. If I can't use your product/community/whatever without being assaulted by the sexual fetishes of others, then it's just ultimately chase away customers who don't subscribe to those fetishes. Now your growth and future outlook is just much less than a competitor. A common con in capitalism is to sell people on "free-speech" and "anti-corporate" agendas in your capitalist corporate product. I think most sensible people see through this, but there's a segment who just take to it pretty well and they tend to have marginalized and very questionable ideas about politics, race, religion, age of consent, boundaries, and justifiable terrorism. Every "free speech" equivalent to the big players has failed and badly. Voat can't touch reddit. Parlour can't touch twitter, etc. The real problem with these companies is that ultimately they want growth and profitability, thus when they try to expand out you now have the "Nazi Bar" problem, where the marginalized end up owning the establishment and chasing away everyone else. Good moderation, protection of minorities, protection of LGBTQ people, protection of women, curtailing all hate speech, strict penalties, etc is the formula for success whether the tech libertarian crowd likes it or not. This is why your company has HR policies like this too. Once you let in the first Nazi into your bar, its over.
- dingosity 5y ago
  I suspect the protocols defined in the link provided do not require protocol users to be assaulted by the sexual fetishes of others. If you don't want to be assaulted by the content on Porn Hub, don't go to Porn Hub.

dingosity 5y ago

You say "in danger of being spammed by helicopter penises" like it's a bad thing. Vladislav Surkov doesn't work for Putin anymore, so the likelihood he'll be griefing Kasparov with flying penises is pretty low. But you make a very valid point, some online experiences are probably better when restraint can be enforced.

jandrese 5y ago
The irony is that complete freedom ends up being quite limiting. You can't do kids events or anything where you expect the major press to show up. Sponsored events end up being pretty hard to do. Your platform won't even be available in many countries due to restrictive laws regarding pornography, including highly populous countries like China.

qdot76367 5y ago

I'm an ex-Linden employee that now runs a cybersex attachment startup (https://buttplug.io https://buttplug.io). What exactly are we warning people about?

dingosity 5y ago
hmm... you say "flying penis" and it only takes 40 minutes for QDot to show up. I think that means the internet is still working.
- qdot76367 5y ago
  30 minutes or less, or your next flying penis is free! This would've been funnier if it weren't 11 hours later.
  - dingosity 5y ago
    but we're all getting older, so a flying penis in 30 minutes might just be too soon.
jandrese 5y ago
Your platform becoming a joke and the only people using it being furries and other such weirdos. If this is what you want then that's fine, but it doesn't mesh with "The Metaverse" as it is typically envisioned.
- dingosity 5y ago
  Maybe before saying furries are "jokes" and "weirdos" you should talk to a furry. Calling people names says a lot more about you than it does about furries and "weirdos." I am happy you are in no way responsible for defining what the metaverse is or isn't.
- echelon 5y ago
  > furries and other such weirdos They're people just like you. They also run the internet. [1] [1] https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/11-01-2022/who-runs-the-internet-furries https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/11-01-2022/who-runs-the-interne...
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    > They're people just like you. So are serial killers. If people can't judge you by what you say and do, it really limits the range of human interaction.
    - whatshisface 5y ago
      You have to judge people, but if you make all of your judgements on the basis of who's gay or furry or whatever you won't be making your judgements on the basis of stuff that actually matters. You can only have one set of criteria and every item competes with the others for weight.
    - dingosity 5y ago
      dude. no one uses ReiserFS anymore. get over it.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

Animats 5y ago

That happens very rarely in Second Life. Being a jerk in Second Life has an annoyance radius of about 100 meters. The world is the size of Los Angeles or Greater London. This gives the system considerable resistance to annoyances. Space is what keeps everything from being in the same place. Unlike the 2D web, there's not much ability to annoy large numbers of people. There's no way to broadcast spam. There are no "retweets". If you hold an event on your own land, you can block people, or require they be in a your group just to get in. You can prevent objects owned by others from entering. You can kick people out and send them to their home location. You can even use weapons they can't use on your property to apply large physical forces to their avatar and kick them up a few thousand meters. That's usually considered overkill. Property owners have more than enough tools to deal with problems. This is why Second Life needs only a tiny "governance" unit. I have a virtual motorcycle shop in an adult area of Second Life and I'm not seeing annoyances like that. All the action is in nightclubs and people's own houses, just like real life.

drzaiusapelord 5y ago

This is exactly the corporate kiss of death I've seen over and over. If I can't use your product/community/whatever without being assaulted by the sexual fetishes of others, then it's just ultimately chase away customers who don't subscribe to those fetishes. Now your growth and future outlook is just much less than a competitor. A common con in capitalism is to sell people on "free-speech" and "anti-corporate" agendas in your capitalist corporate product. I think most sensible people see through this, but there's a segment who just take to it pretty well and they tend to have marginalized and very questionable ideas about politics, race, religion, age of consent, boundaries, and justifiable terrorism. Every "free speech" equivalent to the big players has failed and badly. Voat can't touch reddit. Parlour can't touch twitter, etc. The real problem with these companies is that ultimately they want growth and profitability, thus when they try to expand out you now have the "Nazi Bar" problem, where the marginalized end up owning the establishment and chasing away everyone else. Good moderation, protection of minorities, protection of LGBTQ people, protection of women, curtailing all hate speech, strict penalties, etc is the formula for success whether the tech libertarian crowd likes it or not. This is why your company has HR policies like this too. Once you let in the first Nazi into your bar, its over.

dingosity 5y ago
I suspect the protocols defined in the link provided do not require protocol users to be assaulted by the sexual fetishes of others. If you don't want to be assaulted by the content on Porn Hub, don't go to Porn Hub.