Child Avatars Not Welcome at SL5B
Last night I and Marianne McCann met with a the Linden assigned to the organising of Second Lifes 5th Birthday celebration (SL5B). Some of you are old enough to remember our community last year showcased itself with camp duck itch and the Giant SLC Sand Castle.
This year we have unfortunitly been told we will not be allowed to represent or promote our community at SL5B. From what we could understand the reason being that Linden Lab (LL) do not want the world to see our community being sponsored by them in the current climate of hysteria created by a certain US politician. This MAY also mean that Child Avatars will NOT be allowed at the SL5B celebrations.
While shocked and disappointed that LL have decided to exclude us from such a celebration of everything in SL, I ask everyone in the Child Avatar community to stay strong and to not seek retribution. I reluctantly acknowledge that LL want us to lay low until the smoke of Real World Politics blows over or risk the entire world of Second Life being torn down by uneducated Politicians seeking fame and glory.
I say reluctantly because we have tried so hard to be recognised as a respectable important group of imaginative, talented and caring people. Being asked to go underground works against our already tarnished image. Anyone who hears of the drama of SL5B will wonder what we do that causes LL to fear being associated with us.
Ive heard of people deleting their child avatar accounts because they can not cope with the prejudice against them from other residents and even SL Mentors. I am TELLING YOU that we will get through this as long as we stick together. We have a great collection of Sims devoted to our community with great owners who will look after us.
And we WILL continue to have adventures in SL!
Posts
11 comments:
The SLC should not be giving in, fine.. we can't do a display, however we can protest. We can attend the birthday en masse.
If we give into this (and it happened a month ago) in a months time they will find another reason...
They will not be happy until we are locked away, or forced to become adults.
This is the time the SLC needs to represent Kids.
Hmmm .... I (and some other kids) might be helping on a build for another community there. Not a kid community, but it happens to have a lot of kids there and is very kid friendly. An adult happened to be the one to sign the form. It would get interesting if they denied us permission to be there simply because it was a kid-friendly group and kids were participating in the build.
Well, mommy and I may watch this carefully, an maybe we'll attend the event as mother and daughter.
Guess I can see some reason for not highlighting SL as "a place for kids", 'cause some grown-ups don' bother ta think beyond surface appearances. But LL should realize that G-rated, family-friendly play should also be a selling point in SL, and not just the grown-ups-only stuff.
"hysteria created by a certain US politician"
Just who are we talking about here? Let's name names!
Is it U.S. Rep Mark Kirk R.-Ill? After reading several news articles I can say I agree with him that SL could do more to keep out minors, although I strongly disagree with his apparent goal of creating a big government nanny state.
It would seem that Linden Labs has totally missed the point on this issue.(AGAIN!) Baning child avatars has NOTHING to do with restricting access. If politicians would stop trying to persecute and divide we could probably find some common ground to work with, but given the current hysteria inducing talk radio political climate, that is probably asking too much.
While there are those who for whatever reason think child avatar equals real life child, most understand that this is not the case. I would suggest that if some shallow minded person confronts you, step out of character and give them a VERY adult response. Dees peoples needs an egimication!
Sean - "They?"
No giving in here, though. And I'm for the idea of some fighting bak. I heard a good idea on the SLC list this morning about recruiting other SL5zB presenters to our side, too. I like that a LOT.
Caitlyn - See my followup post.
Reusuki - By all means! One of the ideas the Linden representative we had to talk to suggested was doing something that highlighted the family stuff -- even potentioally in a way that co-opts the co-opting of the word "Family" by the forces that Rep. Kirk is representing.
Ranandar - Names named in my follow-up, and I *totally* agree with you.
I feel disappointed, really. I can't do much, but I will attend with my child avatar.
Wilde - I may as well, but I have to admit: this doesn't make me feel much like celebrating.
Hmm .... will be interesting how the logistics of this play out as I volunteered with my org to help before we even submitted a proposal.
Post a Comment