SL mimics RL, so be careful as you travel around Second Life.
Almost all residents you meet will be gregarious, outgoing, friendly, generous and helpful to you.
However, occasionally you might encounter an SL resident who is unpleasantly mean, intimidating or frightening to you.
Residents generally keep themselves anonymous in Second Life. Most do not freely reveal their real life names. Rather, they go by their avatar name that is open for all to see.
In the Police Blotter section of its May 2006 newsletter Second Opinion, Linden Lab acknowledged that assault and harassment are the two most-common violations of it's terms of service in its virtual world.
Griefing is a behavior where one SL resident harasses another just for the sake of doing so.
Griefer is an SL resident who deliberately sets out to discomfort other resident.
In the photo are right, Stone Semyorka is griefed by an unknown hidden griefer.
What do griefers do?
Generally, they intentionally bump, push, stalk or harass others. Sometimes, they inundate others with objects. Or they use an orbiter to throw a resident so far upward the resident cannot get back down in a reasonable timeframe without teleporting.
Griefers find this harassing, intimidating or frightening behavior funny or in some other way satisfying. It violates Linden Lab terms of service (TOS) and should be reported immediately.
What is harassment?
Harassing behaviors include activities such as impeding the free movement of residents, continuous instant messaging or other unwanted contact, and sexual harassment and verbal abuse.
Linden Lab says the motives and behavior of online harassers are not that different from real-world harassment. Here are some excerpts from a Linden Lab web page about harassment.
Dealing with harassment in Second Life
Law enforcement agencies estimate that electronic communications are a factor in from 20-40 percent of stalking cases. Forty-four states have laws that include electronic forms of communication within stalking or harassment laws. State laws that do not include references to electronic communication may still apply to those who threaten or harass others online, according to the National Conference of Legislators website.
Virtual harassment can be as frightening or seem as real as being followed and watched in your neighborhood or in your home, according to former US Vice President, Al Gore.
According to the Second Life Community Standards web page, harassment is communicating or behaving in a manner that is offensively coarse, intimidating or threatening behavior, unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors, or acting in a way that causes annoyance or alarm.
What is online or cyber harassment?
When you are being harassed and can identify some or all of these components -- malice, premeditation, repetition, distress, obsession, vendetta, or no legitimate purpose - you are probably dealing with online harassment.
It's not that different from real world harassment. There is a creep factor when the harasser is as anonymous and elusive as an Internet stalker can be.
Here is a web site that discusses on line harassment.
What is harassment in Second Life?
With the exception of assault, harassment is the single most common Community Standard violation in Second Life, according to the Linden Lab web page.
It is the third most common reason people are removed from Second Life permanently.
Harassment in world is as diverse as Second Life itself. For instance, common offenses include impeding movement through the use of constructed objects (primitives), continuous instant messaging and other unwanted contact, sexual harassment and verbal abuse, and the solicitation of abuse.
Push-weapons and orbiters were the tool of choice for griefers for quite a while, but those now are just about gone as all land areas become marked as no-push.
One dumb tool that might be used by a griefer is the cage-gun. When pointed at a resident, it rezzes a jail-like cage structure around the resident. To escape, the resident simply teleports away to anywhere.
Misinterpretation?
Sometimes the problem is interpretation. Harassment can be very subjective and one resident's harassment might be another resident's wooing.
Especially given the fairly context-less environment of Second Life's communications, where body language and other nonverbal subtexts are not well represented, the chance of misinterpreting someone's actions or behavior is very high.
On the other hand, the ease of interaction is also fertile ground for those who want to harass others through their unwanted attention, communication or other interaction.
What can Linden Lab do about it?
Harassment should be reported immediately. As with other violations of the Community Standards, Linden Lab investigates all reports of harassment.
Harassment is considered a serious violation of Community Standards and is treated as such.
"Any action or behavior that makes Second Life feel unwelcoming or unsafe is not a behavior we will encourage or condone," according to LL's Abuse Manager. "In other words, we are all here to enjoy our Second Life, whatever that may be. The deliberate harassment of others should not be a part of that experience."
How often does it happen?
The Second Life blog carried a story about the volume of abuse reports in which it was reported that Linden Lab receives 2,000 abuse reports per day from its 11 million residents.
How to file an abuse report
Whenever you see anyone violate the Terms Of Service (TOS), or the Community standards (CS or Big Six), or the Welcome Area Guidelines, you should file an abuse report.
There are some gray areas, of course. What constitutes hate speech or harassment? On the Mature/PG border, some things may be a borderline.
However, if it looks wrong to you, report it. If it doesn't look wrong, don't report it.
If you're not sure what you should do, then you should file an abuse report. If it's a gray area, there may not be a penalty beyond a warning.
What to do:
- Right-click on any person or object around you and work your way down into the pie-shaped menu to the third level. Choose Abuse Report.
- Select a category. If in doubt, choose MISC.
- If the problem is an object, use the blue button above the category box, and then left click on the object, if you can. That will include details about the object, it's exact location and the owner.
- Fill in the summary as clearly and briefly as you can. Include the offender's name.
- In the details section, write anything you think is relevant. Don't paste conversation there. Instead, use the INCLUDE CHAT HISTORY checkbox. You can also include IMs that way with EDIT > PREFERENCES > IM > INCLUDE IM IN CHAT HISTORY.
- If it's visual, you can use the INCLUDE SCREENSHOT checkbox. The screenshot is whatever your camera was looking at when you opened the report window.
- When complete, hit the blue REPORT ABUSE button at the bottom.
- Customer service will determine the level of disciplinary action to be taken. Lindens you may see in world will not be able to assist you in any type of abuse report follow up.
- A report should be filed immediately on anyone who admits to being under 18 years old. Include chat history.
|
