Second Life, the virtual world where users can create new personalities, is to insist its members identify themselves in real life if they want full access to the service.
Linden Lab, Second Life’s creator, today unveiled an identity verification system for residents.
The company said users identifying themselves would be voluntary, but necessary if they wanted to access restricted regions in the metaverse where explicit sexual or excessively violent content was available.
The service is in its beta testing phase and uses Aristotle’s Integrity technology. The process of providing information such as digits from a Social Security number, driving licence or passport takes place in the “My Accounts” section and should take less than two minutes. Data will not be stored by Linden Lab or Aristotle.
When real-world rules have been introduced in the past, Second Life residents have protested that their experience has been diluted. Linden Lab’s latest move has received a similar reception in comments on its blog post about Integrity.
“Sorry folks. RL [Real Life] and SL [Second Life] need to be separate. Move your servers to some other country that doesn’t require such levels of scrutiny,” says one.
Robin Harper, head of community development, described the move as “an important and necessary step in the development of Second Life.”
"Anonymity has long been both a benefit and a challenge for online communities: a benefit because it offers opportunities to reinvent yourself; a challenge when it comes to the creation of trusting relationships. With the option to verify aspects of their real life identity, such as age and name, Second Life Residents can begin to build trust and safety systems inside the virtual world and their virtual community."
Of course, Linden Lab may be responding to some of the pressure it has been coming under of late. It banned gambling last month after FBI agents had visited in-world casinos and earlier banned material related to child pornography after the Dutch public prosecutor threatened legal action.
