Is Second Life safe?

Second Life has been crippled by sensationalist articles written by outlets pushing juicy, sex-filled content as click-bait. But is that an accurate depiction of the popular online virtual world? Is Second Life safe?

Is the Internet safe? Is the web safe?

As Second Life is an open platform on the Internet with user-created content, you’d expect to see about the same proportion of “unsafe” to “safe” content that we see out on the web. Does that expectation match up to reality?

A very large portion of the web is devoted entirely to “adult content” websites (pornography, violence, gore, and other non-G-rated material), but do articles about the web usually lead with stories about the darker content, or do they lead with how useful the web is for communication, education, and commerce?

Linden Lab — the company that runs Second Life — exercises controls over what kind of content appears in Second Life through user-sourced reports. Users see adult or unsafe content outside of designated areas, and they send a report to Linden Lab with the expectation that Linden staff will remove the content and possibly suspend the culprit. In this way, Second Life ends up being more controlled than the rest of the Internet in general. Even regions rated with an A for “adult content” may or may not actually contain any unsafe material. The owners may simply want to restrict access to adults.

Given that the vast majority of Second Life content contains no nudity, sexual content, or explicit violence, why is Second Life’s legacy so tainted when the web’s reputation is largely positive?

Back when I started making stuff for Second Life, I told a friend about my work in the virtual world. He said —and I quote — “Isn’t that some kind of kinky sex simulator?” His only exposure to Second Life had been through articles that hunted down and inevitably found lascivious screen shots for their click-bait news sites. Sex sells, and flying with friends over a simulated ocean in a hot air balloon isn’t newsworthy. I get it.

That’s the legacy that Second Life users have to deal with now. I’ve spent over a decade making aircraft, parachutes, and various gadgets for Second Life. When I log in, it’s extremely unusual for me to see any adult content. Sure, if I looked for it, I’d find it, but then, what happens when you Google “nude”? See? Porn! The world wide web is more of a “kinky sex simulator” than Second Life.

Is Second Life safe? Well, it’s definitely safer than the rest of the Internet.