These are great points. NSFW can be fine, but adult content can be a concern for many people. The bigger question is: what should the right approach be? How should virtual worlds handle this while still allowing freedom for creators?
Oh dear Cthulhu... I've had this discussion so many dozens and dozens of times from people trying to sell me a baudlerised "alternative" to what I'm already using, that I really should start charging. In RL, what does someone who
claims they don't want to view NSFW stuff do? Anyone with at least one functioning brain cell would say that the liberal, democratic, freedom-lovin', free speech thing to do would be to:
- not buy porn at the newsstand or even look at it;
- not frequent porn cinemas;
- not visit porn websites;
- not go to sex shops;
- not seek the services of sex workers;
- not go to beaches where sunbathing / swimming / walking around topless is allowed;
- not go to beaches where wearing thongs (swimwear, not flip-flops) is allowed;
- not visit nude beaches;
- and, finally, STFU and understand that they don't get to dictate what others do with their lives and bodies.
Same goes with the internet. If you fear seeing a nipple or a bit of cleavage will give you an aneurysm, you have filters in your preferred search engines - use them. In SL, we have the same principle:
you get to decide what content you get to see, with the three ratings (General, Mature, Adult).
You assume responsibility for what search results you allow SL to deliver, what regions you allow your avatar to visit, and so on. As it is in RL. Pity we don't have the same ratings for profiles: it would allow for people to
safely express themselves on their profiles without fear of abuse reports based on profile pictures and "adult" text
and it would allow those who don't want to see the profiles of people who use SL for sexual exploration to, well, not see these profiles (they could get a notice like "this profile's maturity rating does not conform to your maturity choices).
