Tag: Twitch

Over at New World Notes, Hamlet Au has posted : Twitch Bans Second Life as Adult-Only Because Twitch Understands How Second Life Actually Works. I disagree, strongly. Now before we get into this, I want to ask people to not abuse Hamlet (or me) for having differing opinions. I was most disappointed when I returned from my holiday to read a blog post from Canary Beck entitled “Please Stop The Social Shaming Of Hamlet Au“. I fully support Hamlet’s right to an opinion, no matter how much it differs from mine.

The Second Life community can at times get heated, but generally, they are far more tame than other communities I’ve been part of. Hamlet and myself should be free to disagree without name calling, insults, or twitter abuse.

Now on with the show. I disagree with Hamlet on the Twitch issue, rather strongly and one of the main reasons I disagree with him is that the idea that something can unexpectedly happen in Second Life whilst streaming is something that can also happen when humans are involved, and yet Twitch aren’t silly enough to decree that no humans should be on screen in case something unexpectedly adult appears on the screen.

One of the most surprising points Hamlet makes in his post is :

Twitch, which actually has former Linden Lab staff working for it, knows how Second Life actually works.

How on earth can a company with a former Linden working for them be so wide of the mark when it comes to how Second Life works? Yes, there’s adult content in Second Life, but there’s a hell of a lot of non-adult content and when this furore blew up initially, it was over a stream where someone was scripting, not stripping.

Look, it’s possible to roam Second Life without seeing anything overtly adult for hours on end. Can adult content appear unexpectedly? Absolutely, but Twitch’s rules of conduct make allowances for the unexpected :

Sexually explicit acts or content: Nudity can’t be a core focus or feature of the game in question and modded nudity is disallowed in its entirety. Occurrences in game are okay, so long as you do not make them a primary focus of your stream and only spend as much time as needed in the area to progress the game’s story.

I’ve stated many times on this blog that I’ve been to an adult region whereby I’ve witnessed no overtly adult content. Having an adult rating on your region does not mean your region is full of porn and it gets tiresome seeing this myth about Second Life being about nothing other than adult activity repeated time and again.

Continue reading “Twitch Bans Second Life as Adult-Only Because Twitch Do Not Understand How Second Life Actually Works”

Back in February and March there was a bit of a hoo-ha over streaming service Twitch apparently prohibiting the streaming of Second Life. A Second Life user who had not been streaming anything remotely adult via Twitch had received a suspension. The user had actually been streaming script creation in Second Life.

This caused a bit of confusion as nothing on the Twitch site seemed to suggest Second Life was not allowed. However adult content was forbidden. Eventually, Iris Ophelia over at New World Notes received a reply from Twitch :

Second Life is not permitted for streaming and those accounts reported for doing so will be suspended. Content in this game is unrated and often sexually explicity, which is content we do not allow on our services. We also do not permit Adults-Only rated games and games where nudity is the core focus, feature, or goal.

Discussion then ensued as to whether nudity was a core feature or goal of Second Life. I still maintain it isn’t! The ambiguity from Twitch was also a frustration but their rules of conduct have recently became far less ambiguous. In a blog post entitled Rules of Conduct Update: Adult Oriented Games, Twitch explain :

Previously, we made game-specific decisions about which games would and would not be available for broadcast – sometimes due to overtly sexual content, sometimes due to gratuitous violence. This is unsustainable and unclear, generating only further confusion among Twitch broadcasters. We would like to make this policy as transparent as possible.

Today, we’re updating the RoC with regard to Adult Only (AO) games. Simply put, AO games are not welcome on Twitch.

Furthermore, there’s a list of titles that are explicitly listed as prohibited by Twitch and Second Life is amongst those titles.

Continue reading “Twitch Explicitly Prohibits Second Life With Rules Of Conduct Update”