KB2/Maturity ratings

• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Maturity_ratings:_an_overview
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:How_to_become_verified_as_an_adult
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Age_Verification_FAQ
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Setting_your_maturity_preferences
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Adult-oriented_content_controls_FAQ
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Maturity_ratings_and_inworld_search
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Maturity_ratings_and_media_access
• http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Do_my_alternate_accounts_need_to_be_age-verified_if_I_verified_my_main_account%3F

Maturity ratings overview

What are maturity ratings?

Maturity ratings are a way to designate what type of content and behavior is allowed on a region.

There are three maturity ratings in Second Life: General, Moderate, and Adult.

Differences between Maturity Ratings

General

There are some landowners and Residents who desire a Second Life experience distinct from the activity that occurs in Moderate and Adult Regions. Region owners who wish to host this sort of Second Life experience can (but need not) designate their Regions as General. A Region may be designated General if it does not advertise or make available content or activity that's sexually explicit, violent or depicts nudity. Likewise, sexually-oriented objects such as "sex beds" or poseballs may not be located or sold in General regions.

As we've also often said, General regions are areas where you'd feel free to say and do things that you'd be comfortable saying and doing in front of your grandmother, or a grade school class. Institutions such as universities, conference organizers, and real world businesses, for instance, may wish to designate their Regions as General. Likewise their users (and others) may wish to employ Second Life's General search setting to deliver further targeted search results.

If you're unsure whether your region is General or Moderate, or feel there's some ambiguity as to whether your content and activities are allowed in General regions, it's probably best to designate your region as Moderate.

Please refer to our FAQs for further guidance on the implementation and enforcement of this policy, information on our account verification procedures, and information on how we will transition our Region owners and merchants to this system in an efficient way.

Tip: Bookmark our Community Standards and Terms of Service so you have our overall rules close by!

Moderate

Second Life's Moderate Designation is intended to accommodate most of the non-adult activities that are common in Second Life. For instance, social and dance clubs (unless those clubs promote sexual conduct or use adult search tags), bars, stores and malls, galleries, music venues, beaches, parks (and other spaces for socializing, creating, and learning) all support a Moderate designation so long as they don't host publicly promoted adult activities or content.

Thus, Residents in these spaces should expect to see a variety of themes and content. For instance, stores that sell a range of content that includes some "sexy" clothing or objects can generally reside in Moderate rather than Adult Regions. Dance clubs that feature "burlesque" acts can also generally reside in Moderate Regions so long as they don't promote sexual conduct, such as through pose balls (whether in "backrooms" or more visible spaces). However, if any of these businesses uses adult-oriented search tags, it may be categorized as Adult and also blocked from appearing in non-adult search.

Groups, events and classifieds that relate to this broad range of activities and themes generally should also be designated as Moderate.

Adult

The Adult designation applies to Second Life® Regions that host conduct or display content that is sexually explicit or intensely violent, or depicts illicit drug use. Any Region must be designated Adult and therefore require account verification, if it advertises or publicly promotes the following:

• Representations of intensely violent acts, whether or not photo-realistic (for example, depicting death, torture, dismemberment or other severe bodily harm)
• Photo-realistic nudity; photo-realistic means that an image either is or cannot be distinguished from a photograph
• Expressly sexually themed content, spaces or activities (whether or not photo-realistic); we will broadly define what is "sexually themed" to include any sexually oriented activities and conduct

Groups, event listings and classified ads that reference these themes or content must also be designated Adult. Linden Lab will enforce these rules. However, we can't monitor all ephemeral content and conduct within Second Life. We will therefore rely on several factors in implementing these Adult designation requirements:

1. First and foremost, Regions, groups, and event or classified ad listings that employ search tags plainly suggestive of adult behavior or content will require the respective Adult designation, and not be viewable to Residents who are not account verified.
2. Second, we will conduct proactive monitoring and rely on abuse reports that identify adult content or conduct that is promoted or advertised publicly. Where adult content or conduct on a Region is publicly advertised or promoted, that Region must be designated as Adult (or such content must be removed). We will re-designate such Regions if adult content is not removed.
3. We may take into account whether apparent or reported adult content or conduct on a particular Region serves only an extremely limited or passive function, or an important educational or cultural function, and therefore would be appropriate for all Second Life audiences.
4. As with all reported activity in violation of our policies, we will actively review all reports of adult conduct and provide Residents with a channel for rebuttal.

In the linked FAQs, we offer examples as to what types of Regions are and are not considered Adult, based on, for example, distinctions between "public" and "private" content, as well as distinctions between content that is "expressly sexually themed" and content that is not. Linden Lab has created a special-use "Adult Continent" — a "mainland" alternative where Adult content and activities can be located and found by Residents. Landowners wishing to host Adult activities or make available Adult content can either

• Locate on this Adult continent - Zindra
• Locate on a Region that has been designated by its owner as Adult

Region owners are responsible for designating a Region's maturity level. Occupants of Regions will be expected to locate in a Region suitable to each occupant's content and conduct.

Setting your maturity preferences

Maturity preferences can be set once you are logged into Second Life. It is necessary to use Viewer version 1.23 or higher to access the maturity preferences. Download the latest Viewer.

From the Viewer menu:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences.
2. Select the General tab.
3. Select a maturity setting from the Rating drop down menu.
4. Click Apply.

Note: Access to the Adult maturity preference requires account verification. To learn how to become verified as an adult, see the following Knowledge Base article: How to become verified as an adult.

Using Maturity Settings between Viewer versions

If you have downloaded the latest Viewer and have changed your maturity rating, that rating will stay set if you change to a previous Viewer version, such as 1.22. If you want to change the setting again, you need to use the latest Viewer 1.23 or higher.

General Information

Maturity ratings affect many aspects of Second Life such as Search and land. There are over 30 articles about maturity ratings in the Knowledge Base. Search for "maturity" to view them all!

Maturity ratings and search

Warning: Parts of this page don't reflect user interface changes in the new Viewer 2. We hope to update it soon.

Second Life® content can be located through either our website or the Viewer. In both locations, there are multiple options for locating content, searchable by keyword or browse, to help you find just what you need. Beginning with Viewer 1.23 and higher, results are filtered by maturity, to help you narrow down the type of content that you are searching for. For more information about maturity ratings, see Maturity ratings: an overview.

Web Search Options

Locate content in Second Life without logging into the Viewer, from any one of these three Second Life web pages:

Second Life Search

Use Second Life Search to find results by keyword in:

• Events
• Groups
• People
• Places
• Second Life Wiki
• Secondlife.com

Select All of Second Life from the dropdown to search all categories at once. Results are ranked on both relevance to your search terms and on popularity of the item. Only General results are available through Second Life Search. If you'd like to search for Moderate and Adult content, you will need to download the latest Viewer. See, Setting your maturity preferences for more information about how to view additional types of content in Second Life.

Community: Classifieds

Browse through the Classified Ad listings in Second Life. You can narrow your results list by category:

1. Click +More Options
2. Select a category from the dropdown
3. Click Submit

Anyone can view classifieds that are listed as General. However, you will need to log into the website to be able to browse through Mature or Adult listings. The ability to filter based on maturity is located under More Options > Rating. You also need to have set your maturity preferences in the Viewer to General, Moderate, Adult to view adult Classified listings. See Setting your maturity preferences for information.

Community: Events

Second Life events are created on the Events website. In addition to creating events, this site can be used to search for inworld events. By default, the event listings are ordered by the current date, starting with in-progress events up to upcoming events. Use the calendar to search for future events by clicking a calendar date. The event search tool includes a dropdown. Select a category from the menu to narrow your search selection.Anyone can view events that are listed as General, but you will need to log into the website to be able to browse through Mature or Adult listings. The ability to filter based on maturity is located under More Options > Rating. You also need to have set your maturity preferences in the Viewer to General, Moderate, Adult for access to Moderate or Adult events. See Setting your maturity preferences for information.

Viewer Search Options

All tab

All Search provides results for Events, Groups, People, Places, and Wiki. The search category dropdown provides the ability to search through any one of these categories, or all of them by using the Any Category option. Results on this tab are ranked according to relevance to the keyword, and popularity of the item. This is the same search used on the website, but also includes Mature and Adult content. Beginning with the latest Viewer, search results can also be sorted by content rating. Residents who are adult verified have the option to search for Adult content in addition to General and Moderate content.

General Content

If your preferences are set for General and Moderate or General, Moderate, Adult, you can still search for General-only search results. Check the box next to General content on the All tab search window. Type your search into the Find: box and click the Search button.

Note: General search results are anything listed on a General or Moderate region that is not set to Moderate, and which does not contain adult keywords.

Moderate Content Include Moderate content in your search results by checking the box next to Moderate content in the search window.

Note: Moderate search results are anything listed on a General or Moderate region that's been flagged as containing mature content (in the Options tab of the About Land window, select the Moderate Content checkbox) and does not contain Adult keywords.

Adult Content Similarly, checking the Adult content box adds Adult content to your search results.

Note: Anything on an Adult region is Adult content. Refer to the "Transition" section below for further information.

Classifieds, Events, Land Sales, Places

Adult content search is available on these tabs when:

1. An account is verified
2. Adult Preferences are enabled
3. Adult content box is checked on the search tab.

If an Adult keyword is entered in search without account verification, Adult preferences set, and the Adult content box checked, the Adult keyword will be filtered from the search query, providing results using the remaining keywords entered.Classified and Events Tabs New classifieds and events created in Viewer 1.23 or higher will be filtered for maturity content. Residents attempting to create a classified or event using Adult terms on non- Adult land, will receive an error message. There may be Classifieds and Events that were created before the release of Viewer 1.23 that could turn up in non-Adult search results. During the transition phase, these listings should be edited by Residents who created them to show in the appropriate maturity rating. They will also phase out once the classified term or event expires. These types of classifieds and events will not show in the All search results. If you find a classified or event listing in an inappropriate maturity category through search, please file an Abuse Report.Land Sales TabOn this tab:

• General only search results in General region listings
• Moderate search results in Moderate region listings
• Adult search results in Adult region listings.

Parcels on Adult regions show in Land Sales search results only if the region they are in is Adult.Places Tab Similar to the Land Sales tab, parcels on Adult Regions show in Places search results only if the Region they are in is Adult.

Note: During the transition period, the Adult checkbox is listed as part of the About Land settings. Once the transition period ends, this option will no longer be part of the About Land window.

Showcase

The Showcase tab includes sortable links of the Showcase listings found on our website. All listings have a maturity rating of Moderate.

People tab

We do not filter keywords when searching for avatar names or profiles. Information in Resident profiles should be General. Please refer to our Community Standards to review our policy.

Groups tab

Searches conducted in the Groups tab will filter the same way as with All search. Groups can be marked as Moderate or left unchecked for non- Moderate groups. Use of Adult keywords in the group's name or Group Charter will cause the result to be filtered and only show up in Adult searches.

Transition

There will be a transition period while Adult content is moved to Adult regions. During this transition some Adult listings may still show up in General and Moderate searches, however the maturity ratings policy is still in effect. If you have mature content objects set to show in search, check the Mature Content box on the About Land > Options tab on the parcel where the object is rezzed. If your parcel is Adult-themed, you will want to make sure you are located on an Adult region. You can help us refine our Adult filtering by submitting a support request if your listing is showing up or is blocked incorrectly. If you find search results listing objects that do not match General or Moderate search filters, please submit an Abuse Report. If you have objects on General or Moderate land that use adult keywords, those objects should not be shown in search to avoid Abuse Reports filed for your objects.

FAQs

I can't access all of the content checkboxes. Why are they unavailable?

By default, each Resident account on Second Life "main grid" has access to General and Moderate content. If you have verified your account, Adult content is available after you set your preferences to view Adult content.

I'm getting an error and can only access General content. What do I do?

If you're seeing the word "Error" on the search page next to the maturity checkboxes, and only the General checkbox is enabled, your Viewer may not have sent the correct authorization token. To reset your authorization, close the Viewer and log back in. If you continue to receive the error, make sure you're using the latest version of the Second Life Viewer before filing a support request.

Note: Third-party viewers may not support Moderate and Adult searching. For best results, use the official Second Life Viewer published by Linden Lab.

I want to make sure my objects show up in search with the correct maturity rating. What can I do?

Information about the region you're in, including region name, coordinates, maturity, and parcel name are located at the top of your Viewer.

If your region is listed as General, make sure any objects you set to show in search are also General. If your region is listed as Moderate and you'd like to show Moderate objects in search, check the Mature Content box in the About Land window's Options tab.

I don't see the Adult option in my Preferences. How do I add that option?

Using Viewer 1.23 or above and account verification are necessary to access the Adult setting.

Maturity ratings and media access

Your own maturity setting, as well as the maturity setting of land parcels near you, can affect your ability to hear sounds and voices in the Second Life world.

Voice and maturity ratings

Regions that use the Adult maturity rating use a separate Estate channel for voice communication. This means that if you are in an Adult region, you can only speak with other Residents who are also in nearby Adult regions. If you are in an Adult region and you stand near the border of a General or Moderate region, Residents in the other region cannot hear you speak, and you will be unable to hear them speak. Text chat crosses region borders normally, regardless of maturity ratings.

Note: Group and private voice chats are not affected by region maturity ratings, and always function the same way regardless of your location.

Gestures, sounds, and maturity ratings

Gestures and other sounds played in Second Life are handled differently than voice chat; your personal maturity rating determines whether or not you are able to hear sounds originating from a General or Adult region. Your personal maturity rating must meet or exceed the maturity rating on the region you wish to hear sounds from.

Examples

• If your rating is set to General, you can only hear sounds and gestures that originate from a region that is also rated General.
• If your rating is set to Moderate, you can hear sounds and gestures that originate from regions that are rated General or

Moderate.

• If you are age-verifed and your maturity rating is set to Adult, you can hear sounds and gestures originating from any nearby region, including Adult regions.

Parcel media and maturity ratings

By definition, parcel media content is confined to the parcel for which it is set. If your avatar is not authorized to enter a land parcel, you cannot view or hear streaming media that is playing on that parcel.

Alternate accounts need to be age-verified separately

Age verification is tied individually to each Second Life account; getting age-verified on one account will not affect the verification status of any of your other accounts.

What documents do I need to prove my identity?

Exact documents may vary depending on your country of residence, but may include:

• Passport
• Driver's license
• National ID number
• Social security number

Do I have to get age-verified?

No. This is completely voluntary. Becoming age-verified permits you to enter land in Second Life in which the landowner has limited access to only those who are verified adults. Residents who choose not to age-verify and do not visit land that requires age-verification should not see any difference in their Second Life experience.

How does it work?

Residents will provide a few simple details about their identity; generally, this includes things like:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Address

Additionally, Residents will be asked to provide specific identifying information dependent on where geographically the Resident is based, such as:

• A driver's license number
• Passport
• National ID card number
• The last four digits of a Social Security number

This is then cross-checked against pre-existing databases of public record to verify that Residents are of legal age. Our verification provider will assess the consistency of the provided information and return a match code; at that point, a Resident becomes verified. The entire process takes less than two minutes, and will be available internationally. Our verification provider will only use information to provide a match code and the only information stored by Linden Lab will be whether or not there was a match. Click here to get age-verified.

How do Estate and Parcel owners limit access to their land to only those who have verified that they're adults?

Estate and parcel owners now have the capability to limit access to age-verified Residents in the Estate and Parcel management tools. (See an upcoming Knowledge Base article for a detailed description of how to manage land access). Access to such flagged land will then be limited to age-verified Residents. Residents who are not age-verified will be blocked and will see a message about how to get age-verified.

Note: This functionality is separate from region and parcel owners flagging their land for mature content.

The mature content flag and age-verification feature offer various degrees of notice and protection to Residents. Flagging parcels for mature content provides notice to adults that content contained in the area may be objectionable to them. Banning non-age-verified residents provides an added layer of protection against minors who may have gained unauthorized access to the world of Second Life.

Will you store my personal information? Will it be kept private?

Absolutely no personal information that is supplied for the automated age verification process is stored or otherwise retained by Linden Lab or its verification partner Aristotle-Integrity. We keep only an indicator that tells us whether there was a positive match for the information you have provided.

Thus, this information will be used only for the purpose of verifying that a Resident is an adult, and will not be transferred or retained unless that is required by law, i.e., pursuant to a law enforcement investigation and proper legal process.

I'm outside the US. Does it work the same in each country?

The exact information required for age verification may vary from country to country, but the system works in generally the same way around the world.

Will the fact that I am "age verified" or "non age verified" be published or made available to other Residents?

Other Residents will not be able to view your age verification status -- for example, within your profile. However, if you are on a parcel that requires age verification, other Residents on that parcel (or having access to your location information) may be able to deduce that fact.

Why would an Estate or Parcel owner want to require age verification?

Estate and parcel owners would want to limit access to age-verified adults if on any regular or ongoing basis their land hosts, displays or encourages activities considered suitable for adults only, in particular, excessive violence or graphic sexual content.

What happens if I experience problems when I try to verify my identity?

The new age verification feature is in beta. Please be patient as we continue to improve the feature. We are committed to making sure the process is as smooth and user-friendly as possible; however, we understand that this represents a change for Residents. We have also tested the system extensively with our systems provider, Aristotle-Integrity, which has delivered this type of technology to other companies. If you continue to have problems verifying your identity, please go to the Second Life Support Portal and submit a ticket (select Special Questions - Basic account or Guest Login from the Ticket Type dropdown, select Account Issues from the next dropdown, and choose Manual Age Verification from the next).

Please attach an electronic (scanned) copy of one of a Government issued identification that has your name and date of birth clearly displayed. This identification could be one of the following:

• Birth Certificate
• Driver's License
• Passport
• State or National ID

How to become verified as an adult

If you would like to access Adult search results and Adult Regions, you need to do the following things:

1. Your account needs to be verified
2. You need to opt in to view Adult content by changing a setting in the Preferences window

This article explains how.

If you followed a link from search results and are interested in verifying your account and viewing Adult content, read and follow the instructions below.

Validate your account as Adult

Linden Lab has implemented maturity ratings in the Second Life^® virtual world that are used to indicate the type of content that can be found and created in various locations inworld. For more information about maturity ratings, see Maturity ratings: an overview.

Most Residents are already Adult verified. Your account should already be verified as Adult if you have ever:

• Had a payment relationship with Linden Lab.
• Added US$ to your XStreet account using a verified PayPal account.
• Gone through the Age Verification process.

If you have participated in one of the above account options, your account is verified as Adult and you can now opt in to view Adult Content.

If you are having trouble verifying your account, refer to the support instructions at the bottom of the article.

Note: You may find that some search terms relating to activities that are against our Terms of Service won't appear even after you have verified your account. These activities primarily relate to gambling and casinos.

If you have not participated in one of the above options and would like to verify your account, there are three ways to do this:

• Add payment info on file for your account with Linden Lab.
• Go through the Age Verification process.
• Put USD on your XstreetSL account from a verified PayPal account.

Set up a payment relationship with Linden Lab:

1. Login to your My Account page.
2. Select Update Billing Information under the Membership section.
3. Select Update Credit Card Info or Continue to PayPal.
4. Enter either a credit card number or a verified PayPal account.

Allow a few moments for your account information to update. If your account information does not update within a few minutes:

• Delete and re-enter your payment information.
• Check status updates for any service disruptions.
• See I can't update my payment information.
• Contact Support for assistance.

Note: Linden Lab only accepts PayPal payments through Verified PayPal accounts. Please check your PayPal Account Overview page or review the PayPal support documentation to ensure your account is a Verified PayPal account.

Inworld Profile

Before establishing a payment relationship with Linden Lab, your inworld Profile will show "No Payment Info on File" on the 2nd Life tab in the Account section. Generally, within an hour after payment information is added to your account, this information changes to "Payment Info on File". It may be necessary to log out of your account, then log back in to view this change in your Profile. The duration between adding payment information to your account and your Profile update is dependent upon processing time from payment providers. If you elect to use your payment information on file, such as buying Linden Dollars, or paying account or land tier fees, your profile will reflect "Payment Info Used". It is not necessary to use your payment information for account verification.

Age Verification

Information you provide will be used by our verification partner Aristotle to determine if you are an adult and will not be retained by either Linden Lab or Aristotle. For more information about the Age Verification process, see the Age Verification FAQ.

Important: Aristotle does not store or retain your private data. Your data is used for verification only.

Put US Dollars on your XstreetSL account with PayPal

1. Log into XstreetSL with your Second Life name and password.
2. Select My Account.
3. Select My Funds.
4. Select Deposit next to USD.

Note: Please allow a few minutes for your information to process.

How to opt in to view Adult content

In order to have access to all Maturity Rating options, you will need to use Viewer 1.23 or higher. Download the latest viewer.

Note: From your Viewer menu, go to Help > About Second Life to check your Viewer version.

With the latest Viewer, you can see options for Adult content. If they are disabled, you need to opt in to see Adult content. From the Viewer menu:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > click on the General tab (or Ctrl-P).
2. Select PG, Mature and Adult from the Rating dropdown.
3. Click Apply.

This video shows you what happens:

<videoflash type="vimeo">5400005|640|480</videoflash>

Once you set your Preference to include content with the Adult maturity rating, the Adult option is enabled on your account. You may change this preference at any time to set the maturity rating of content you would like to access. See Setting Maturity Preferences for further details.

Note: You need to verify and opt in to see Adult content for each separate avatar that you use, but there are no limits on the number of avatars you can verify.

Different types of account verification

Warning: Parts of this page don't reflect user interface changes in the new Viewer 2. We hope to update it soon.

In order to access Adult Content in Second Life, your account needs to be verified.

You may have heard the terms "Account Verification" and "Age Verification". While related, they are in fact different! Here's what you must know:

• Account Verification is an umbrella term which contains different ways of being Account-Verified.
• Having "Payment Info on File" means you're "Account-Verified" , but not necessarily "Age-Verified". You can be neither, either, or both. For example, if you purchase goods from Xstreet with a credit card, you have Payment Info on File status, and are "Account-Verified". But, you're not Age-Verified unless you explicitly go through the Age Verification process.
• Furthermore, even if you have both Payment Info on File and are Age-Verified, to access a Region, your Preferred Maturity must be the same or greater than that Region. For example, to access an Adult-rated Region, you need to set your Preferred Maturity rating to General, Moderate, Adult. Similarly, to access a Moderate-rated Region, you need to set your Preferred Maturity to General and Moderate or General, Moderate, Adult. This diagram explains:

  

Tip: If you need to change your Preferred Maturity setting, you can find it in Edit > Preferences, then click General tab. Look for the dropdown next to I want to access content rated. The highest level is General, Moderate, Adult.

Land access levels

Land can be set to restrict access at three different levels. In order of highest to lowest order and capitalized for ease of understanding, they are:

1. Estate - Found in World > Region/Estate under the Estate tab:

   

2. Region - Found in World > Region/Estate under the Region tab:

   

3. Parcel - Found in World > About Land under the Access tab:

   

Note the related controls.

Access at a higher land level always overrides a lower level. For example, even if you allow someone who's not Age-Verified to enter at the Parcel level, they can't enter if non-Age-Verified accounts are banned at the Estate level.

Important: Unfortunately, due to limitations in the Viewer user interface, Estate control settings (found within World > Region/Estate) can't be seen if you only own a Parcel in a Region. The next best thing to do is ask the Estate Owner or Manager what the permissions are.

Use this flowchart to figure out why you may be able or unable to access a Parcel of land within a Region (which in turn belongs to an Estate).

Remember, your Preferred Maturity rating must be the same or greater than the Region you're trying to access. Even if you meet all other qualifiers, you won't be able to access an Adult-rated Region — and will be informed of such — if your Preferred Maturity rating is lower than General, Moderate, Adult.