Great Expression, extremely unsafe
Hey guys, call me Callan. *this was my first review* Second Life allows for great expression and creativity and customization of ones avatar. The freedom is endless in Second Life. It is also extremely unsafe. There are no moderators. Noobs, as new members are called are preyed on by old time users. Stalking is not dealt with. There is no way to contact Linden Labs about abuse. The only option when one is stalked and harassed is to file a report. One is never given feedback about the report made. There no person to person contact dealing with abuse in Second Life. You can call the Linden lab number, they will tell you to file a report-and that they do not address abuse. You can contact them in chat as a premium member, they will tell you to file a report and that they can not address abuse. There is no person to person contact dealing with abuse in second life, so trolls run rampant. There is no warning when you enter Second Life about the safety issues that can arise in a virtual world. Predators prey on noobs that do not know better, trying to get real life information to stalk them more. There are good people and creativity in second life but it is run very poorly in terms of safety. Linden Labs does not seem concerned at all about matters of harassment and stalking within Second Life no matter how long you have been in Second life and no matter how much you have spent there or invested in your account, community and experience there.**************************this is my updated review********************************************* I have previously reviewed Second Life at least a few points for creativity. But I feel to make another review because one of the most important things on any virtual site or avatar forum, safety, is not handled well by Second life. Second Life is surely the most creative virtual world however when a resident encounters abuse in Second Life there is no one-on-one assistance. You are told to file reports, but you never know if anything comes from it and it seems most greifers, harassers, stalkers are not dealt with no matter how long it goes on. I find it disturbing that a site that allows anything to occur has no form of moderation or at least someone to speak to about abuse. It is amazing to be able to create an avatar however you want and to have freedom in a virtual world however it is a terrible experience to have what you built in Second life taken away when you are harassed non-stop. I am reading more and more about people having problems on this site. Issues of cyberstalking, harassment, abuse, hacking are not dealt with by Second Life. One of the things I also loved about Second Life, perhaps what I loved the most about it was the roleplay sims, especially the medieval and fantasy themed sims. The creativity and dedicated roleplayers who made amazing stories and characters was wonderful to be a part of but I dealt with a lot of harassment in roleplay sites. There is no moderation in the roleplay sites either and people are able to do cruel things and true harassment under the guise of roleplay. Also people form bonds with people they roleplay with and trust them and predators are able to use that. There is no protection in roleplay sims, some of the administration at these sims are involved in group stalking and harassment. Just because a sim says ‘general’ or ‘moderate’ rated does not mean it is safe, there are predators who find those they can victimize in those sims because they feel they can find less suspecting or vulnerable people at those sims, particularly women and sensitive men, but also those disabled etc. Stalking in Second Life can easily go to real life. Harassers and griefers who have been doing it long know how to hack computers, also they manipulate people into giving real life information then stalk the person collecting information from all over the internet etc. Once again, Second life has no moderators, not one. Second Life does have beautiful creativity but it is unsafe and there are no administrators/support/ moderators who help when there are abuse problems in Second life.