Zoe Llewelyn, owner of the child-safe, PG roleplay region and business Dolltopia has had to regretfully close Dolltopia (the region, and the business) due to the risks inherent in what she sees as unwritten and unclear policies from Linden Lab's Governance and Community Development teams.
Llewelyn's Dolltopia hearkens to an age of innocent fantasy, and talking, living dolls that so very much partake of the memories of our youths - that many of us still take pleasure in experiencing on television, video and in cinemas with our own children and grandchildren.
Even at first glance fresh from the vendor, Llewelyn's doll avatars are clearly unusual. The box doesn't just buck the trend of boring, single-prim product boxes, it blows the conventional away with sheets of wonder. Prims and textures used in ways that recall earlier, more innocent times in Second Life where creativity and style were the hallmarks of success, not simple prim counts. Llewelyn's creative genius goes far beyond Barbies and bling and conjures forth an almost unsettlingly magical transformation.
Llewelyn's work accomplishes the goal that any doll avatar owner can admire. Llewelyn takes prims and textures and creates true wonder, the sort you thought you had long forgotten.
Ironically, more than one Linden Lab staffer owns and periodically proudly displays Llewelyn's Dolltopia products, and Linden Lab featured Llewelyn and her dolls in their January newsletter. Obviously, what we have here is a functional disconnect between Linden Lab's policies and the clear and unambiguous communication of those policies to the residents who are Second Life.
Llewelyn feels threatened by policies and rules that are not clearly articulated or available for reference. Linden Lab clearly has no time to clarify or expand on them further, otherwise it would have already done so, in response to the many public queries from Second Life residents. Or perhaps they cannot see the risks as they stand from the residents' point of view.
Dolltopia is - was - detailed, inviting, clean, innocent, safe, and welcoming. And now it is shuttered away - I can only think of dolls huddled together, in fear of what might come.
Zoe Llewelyn in her own words:
R.I.P. Dolltopia
This is a hard announcement for me to make, because I put so much effort and several months into the Dolltopia sim and had a lot of hopes for it being a cool, safe and innocent place for people in Second Life like me who needed a better view of childhood to experience the wonder and joys we should have had in this imaginary world. Unfortunately, under the current climate of sexual ageplay witchhunts that seem to run the risk of inadvertantly targeting innocent child avie users or sim owners, I don't feel I can afford to risk the ever-changing policies and currents of Linden lab's whims on undefined rules and standards by operating any sim catering to adults playing child avatars, no matter how innocent the idea or how strictly enforced my rules. So, as of this time, Dolltopia is dead even before it opens.
I think it's very sad really, after reading so many comments from people on the official blog post about the German news expose, and Linden lab's resulting policy changes and actions. I myself, am a child abuse survivour as I have mentioned here before. Though Zoe is short compared to the 8 foot amazons running about SL, she is not a child avatar...but I do have a child avie alt. Like many grown adults who choose to play a child avie at times, SL allowed me to try to experience an innocent, carefree renewal of a childhood that for me was very violent and horrific at times. playing my child alt was liberating, safe, comfortable and very therapeutic. It allowed me to create a new childhood for myself that replaced the one I never had.
The vast majority of adults who play children in Second Life do so for I think similar reasons. Just based on my talking to those I know personally. yet, in the comments to the LL Blog post, I saw so many people asking LL to ban child avies altogether, and questioning the reasons why we as adults might want to play one...with the assumption being we are all perverts and take part in sexual activities, which is simply as far from the truth as you could get. I feel victimized all over again now by these witchhunters and by Linden lab and their media-craze induced ever-shifting policies that they will not even define for us. It's sad that in the name of supposedly protecting abused children, they re-abuse many of us that were abused children by taking away a very helpful means of healing after our destroyed childhoods. I will no longer feel safe even logging into my child avie alt now.
With no clear written legal policy on what is acceptable conduct for innocent roleplay of innocent child avatars and what is not going to be acceptable, i just can not feel safe running a sim like Dolltopia, even though it was designed to offer the sort of safe haven, therapeutic place for people like me to heal that is the very opposite of what LL and the ageplay witchhunters claim to be aiming for. If someone comes into my sim and propositions someone, will I be held responsible for running the sim, even though it's PG and has a strict covenant against any sexual behaviour by anyone, period? I can't say I have any faith in LL to fairly decide my fate in such cases, so I will avoid the situation by keeping the sim closed and killing the idea entirely.
I am not sure if I will continue making doll avatars either. I saw far too many people use the term "doll" in the same context as child avatar recently as they expressed opinions that LL ban them entirely. I may have to err on the side of caution there as well, and drop The Heart of a Doll brand for good.
While I am 100% for stronger laws in life to prevent child abuse like happened to me, and happens daily to millions of children around the world, and while I feel its a good idea for LL to be strict on anything from casinos to sexual ageplay inside SL that could compromise the platform legally...I feel the current method of handling the issue...namely a total lack of written legal policy and guidelines for legitimate businesses to follow and feel safe that they are acting within...only feeds hysteria and witchhunts, and causes people like me trying to offer positive views and options for child avies in SL to run like hell to avoid the loss of our businesses and income if LL decides to shift their unwritten policy in the wind of media attention as it has shown it is want to do.
If Linden lab ever wakes up and decides to start operating like a legitimate business platform developer, and starts stating ALL policies in clear legal language for business investors here to follow, i may reconsider Dolltopia. But for now I can't risk being involved with anything oriented towards children in Second Life, no matter how positive it was going to be. My apologies to anyone who may have been looking forward to the Dolltopia sim.
-- Zoe Llewelyn
The above is the official announcement from my blog made May 12th, 2007. The full blog with comments may be found at http://boneflower.blogspot.com where any and all future announcements will also appear.
Please do note that my choice to close Dolltopia and The Heart of a Doll were not rash, nor reactionary ones. My choice is based on sound and logical business sense. Any business would be foolish to operate, and thus risk censure or account seizure under such circumstances where legal policies that may affect the account holder globally are unwritten and unacknowledged in any legal sense. I operate 5 estates in Second Life, only one of which was designed as a child-oriented safe place roleplay sim for dolls, toys and adults using child avatars to interact safely and in a truly childlike and innocent way. The rest of my businesses and estate islands risk being seized or banned and closed if Linden lab later decides I have violated a new policy that they openly refuse to legally clarify or state in firm writing. That would be unwise of me to risk, as these businesses represent my family's sole income, and a significant investment.
In addition, Linden Lab has shown some very troubling and reactionary responses since the blog announcement was written and swift changes to even the previously stated aspects of their new policies covering child avatars and the adults who play them in Second Life, as well as a disturbing lack of context and a tendancy to be clearly out of touch on many related issues. Such as their recent ban on searching for the term "Lolita", which has potentially done huge harm to many in the SL fashion industry who create in the world wide, accepted fashion style of "Elegant Gothic Lolita". Linden Lab's lack of understanding of the term and apparent determination to associate it with child sexual ageplay in SL when it has legitimate fashion style use in the real world illustrates a lack of knowledge that does not fill one with confidence in their ability to adequately police their own policies in a fair and unbiased manner. If to Linden Lab, "Gothic Lolita" fashion clothing equates to illegal child porn, then how might they view doll avatars, especially ones which use the Gothic Lolita fashion style clothing in their look? i feel as long as the policies remain unstated in clear legal writing, and continue to shift and be interpreted differently by each Linden depending on day, it is only wise to keep Dolltopia closed, and to Discontinue sale of my Doll avatars from The Heart of a Doll.
If at some point, clear legal guidelines are stated in writing concerning such policies, I may rethink my decision.
1. I was fortunate enough to have viewed these dolls and fallen in love with their craftsmanship back when they were a highlight of Second Opinion.
I'm primarily an animalistic avatarist: I buy avatars and rig them primarily to be furry, or animal-like to a significant extent if not totally. I have never bought any avatar or skin that wasn't furry or animal.
The dolls mentioned here are definitely meant to be innocent in their intended uses. To put it in perspective, the original Ninja Weasels Studios Chibifoxes were meant to be innocent too.
A scalpel can be used to cut to heal, or to create art. or it can be used to stab or maim someone greviously. Is it the creator's fault if this is how it is used?
While the avatar is nocopy and notransfer, I wouldn't mind passing along pics of what could potentially (and unfortunately) become a lost piece of SL art. IM me if you're curious.
Posted at 6:49AM on May 28th 2007 by Patchouli Woollahra