Zindra Expo Meeting Summary

Unfortunately I have RL commitments for each Saturday noon and missed the meeting. However, the meeting transcript  is posted. So, I looked through it to get the meat of the meeting. The hope is that we can create a group that can have influence with the Lab. We seem to ne having problems with the new management doing more and more things in secret and then springing them on us. The result is land owners are leaving SL for other grids. This meeting is about building an influential group to improve communication with the Lab. You may want to follow it to how it does or does not work to pattern a group after it or avoid its mistakes.

Facilitator

Ginette Pinazzo instigated the meeting and facilitated it.

Ginette runs a city called Future Femdom, in the Zindran region of Popke. Also she is one of the continuing officers in the Zindra Expo group. She is generally active in developing Adult Content within Second Life.

Purpose

The underlying purpose of the meeting is gathering those of like mind interested in promoting various adult activities and businesses in Second Life and the Zindra Adult Continent. That coincides with the purpose of the Zindra Expo Group.

Adult Content in this context is about what interests adults. That includes but is not limited to sex.

Gathering Land Owners and interested residents is an effort to gather a group that can work with Linden Lab and discuss the SL user interests with the Lab. A primary focus is gathering the Land Owners as it is felt their voices will carry more weight with the Lab.

Importance

A group of diverse people will see things differently. One view of Zindra is that it affects all Adult Content development in Second Life. Since Adult regions are about 9.6% of the regions in SL one has to wonder how one sees adult regions as the dog rather than the tail.  After all only 352 (11.9%) of the 2,980 adult classed regions are Lab owned.

Understanding the importance of Zindra requires some knowledge of what the Lab will be doing with Second Life promotion and promotion of adult content. Yes, surprising there are rumors and statements from the Lindens that the Lab will do more to promote age verification and adult content.

Zindra will be the entrance point or introduction center for those interested in adult content. From there they will start to find adult content estates. So, Zindra will be a first impression for many new users. So, whatever the Lab does with Zindra will have an effect on all adult content regions because it will provide a first experience to new users.

Presumably the first experience of many new users and users checking out adult content in SL will be the new Adult Welcome Center or gateway. The details of the Gateway Proposal process have yet to be announced.

Group Influence and Authority

First, understand no SL group has authority over the Lab or residents. At best a group may influence the Lab and/or residents. It is hoped enough Land Owners will participate in the group to increase the groups influence with the Lab.

Historically the user group has had considerable influence with the Lab. Recently that seems to have changed. We have seen a shift in a few Lab development teams away from open planning and communication. The viewer team is again working in secret and developing a user interface. The commerce team is in hiding. The Adult Content group is changing too and its influence seems to be decreasing.

The hope is a new user group of Land Owners can form an influential group.

Direction Basics

For many Zindra means sex and kink and that is synonymous with adult content. The difference is best explained in a small marketing plan submitted to LL Marketing. See: Marketing Adult SL: Getting Past The Sex. Adult movies deal with adult content beyond sexual issues and pornography; I suspect most will understand when I suggest that the movie Saving Private Ryan is adult content. It is a violent move about a WWII veteran wondering if he was worthy of the lives given so that he might live.

A basic direction in promoting adult content is getting past the sex.

Use of the Destination Guide is another direction and area of interest. The Guide is now available to those promoting adult destinations. The key here is understanding the difference between adult destinations and sex destinations.

Promotion of the Zindra Help Vortex is another direction. The Vortex has a web site: Zindra Help Vortex. Today the site is broken, but it is being worked on (Google hosted site).

The purpose of the Vortex is to provide help and mentoring for those building adult content. The vortex is a public sandbox in an age verified region. It regularly has build contests.

Promotion of the Zindra Expo Island and it’s promotion of adult events. This year it has hosted Art Maze 2011, and ZEXPO 2011. The process of having events there has been interrupted. It is hoped it can be restarted. LL is considering selling it to a private commercial group. So, its status is unknown. Since LL is not discussing their intent residents and land owners no input nor can they make any plans.

Action List

  1. Find other land owners with an interest in adult content and invite them to be involved. Use group invites and whatever means available to reach other land owners that may be interested.
  2. Friend each other, so we can remain in contact. Good networking.
  3. Let the group know about your blogs, web sites, and/or in-world locations. You can also add them to the SL Wiki page: Zindra User Tips.
  4. Consider attending regular adult content meetings, Zindra Expo, Zindra Alliance, and Adult Content User Group.
  5. Ask land owners to join the Zindra Expo group.

Concerns

Several of the attendees have concerns. Some are concerned that the Lab is closing off communication with those in the adult content group. While we understand the Lab’s goal is to ‘increase communication’ the result is less communication.

A few attendees want to know how the group can help them, a fair enough question. To one I wrote:

Hi,

I’m reading through the Zindra Expo meeting transcript for a blog article. Ginette and I have been discussing how to resolve some problems the Lab is making for land owners and especially those with adult class land.

You never got an adequate answer to the question, what is in the group for you? Simply put we hope to add land owners to the group to increase its influence. If you know of a group that has more influence with the Lab, join it and please let me know its name so I can join.

All that is in the group for you is an opportunity to have more say and influence with the Lab. If you are looking for a way to MAKE the Lab do something, I doubt there is such a group and this group certainly doesn’t have that kind of clout, yet. But, we have to start somewhere.

The only way to change things is to join together. If we get 25% to 50% of the adult land owners to join, we should have considerable influence. Your choice is to participate or not. I hope you’ll chose to work toward change.

Thx Nal           

Summing It Up

This meeting outlines the direction users are taking in Second Life. Users are moving toward a more hands on approach. The Crowd Funding of the Mesh Deformer Project and the Kirsten Viewer project are examples of users finding ways around the Lab to achieve their goals.

The effort in this group is about organizing a confederation of land owners ot have influence with the Lab. We’ll have to see how it works out.

Those Participating

ACES is the Adult Community Education Society network. It consists of 20 individual sims in the education network specifically focused on education, munches and discussions. The group has been alive since December of 2009 and has 1420 members in the network. They have 80 facilitators and offer announcements in a protocol of education only. They are part of the freedom continent and have been actively working towards real life nonprofit status.

 

JeZeBeLe Dagger is the headmistress of ROSE School Realm of skills and education and active member of 2 mentor groups in SL. Mentoring and education are my focus in SL. She is involved in ACES and other educational groups.

Aprille Shepherd: I’m the Owner and Madame of Toy Slaves Brothel and Toy Slaves (Family) – 200 girls…45 Dominants…15 Groups…10 Portals…5 Sims…1 Mall and 1 Radio Station http://www.ToyBrothel.com

Blacksilk Sorbet: I own one adult estate, named Blacksilk Forrest. I am rarely online the last year and the entire sim is rented out and managed by others. May eventually be more active, time will show.

BROKEN Bodenhall: I am Owner of Pure Extacy and Naughty Land, We are an adult hang out for BDSM and Nilla alike. I am an Estate Owener of Auzure Island III.

Kandi Luminos: I’m one of the Toy Slaves Madames and have the Pleasure Dolls group – almost 2000 doll fetishists and aficionados on the Doll sim, which is also part of the Toy Slaves family (and I didn’t rehearse).

Innula Zenovka: i’m a private estate owner, along with my partner in crime Vesta Martynov. Vesta and I own the Something Spunky business — Vesta’s the animator and i do the scripts — the Freedonia region and a few residential homesteads and bits of land on Zindra and the mainland both.

Zena Zemlja: Owner of Art sim Body, Mind & Spirit, owning 14 galleries on my own sim and 4 on other land as well, also owning a teaching area on my sim and teaching my workshops there. Last but not least also spiritual and D/s consultant.

Angela Kahealani (celeste.python): I am a student of life, and a professional healer, I work with every issue in the entire human conditon, and none are more challenging than the issues people feel repressed about, and the greatest repression is sexuality, so I’m keeping up on the latest developments in SL.

Lady Jade (bluejade.yip): i am just a curious person i own nothing live anywhere i want or where they will have me:)

Starr (starr.bloobury): Im Starr, Im really no one I am here merely to learn.

Tinika Jakob: I am the owner of Triskelion, a new BDSM club and facility which is just being built now. I am also a member of the Latex dolls on Fetish Voodoo a latex based, bdsm environment with over 100 dommes and subs on our books which has been running for getting on 5 years.

Raimund DeCuir: I am Raimund, or Rai (or ‘Oi!’) – I am more an interested observer – I have owned sims and parcels at Sabra and Cheosan on the mainland in the past and ran an adult-friendly rental service – I have been out of SL for a while, due to relationship conflicts in SL, but I am back and considering getting up to my old antics.

Angela Kahealani (celeste.python): I have my own homestead, and switched it from Adult rating to Mature, because of the legal requirements for Adult rating presently demand you submit and take the Biblical Mark of the Beast (that’s a long story)

Ginette Pinazzo: Im Gina. I run a city called Future Femdom, in the Zindran region of Popke. I also am one of the continuing officers in the Zindra Expo group, which is the reason I am chairing this get-together today.

2 thoughts on “Zindra Expo Meeting Summary

  1. May I just correct one potentially misleading impression your article may inadvertently give? While it’s certainly the case that I attended the meeting and participated, I did so as an interested observer, rather than as someone who is involved in this project.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *