Digital Trends

In what may be a sign of things to come, virtual world Second Life is unrolling a "voluntary" identity and age verification for its members.

The virtual world Second Life has announced it will implement a "voluntary" identity verification system, lifting the often-thin veil of anonymity in its online environment. Although many users of virtual worlds make no secret of their real life age and identity, many virtual world users rely on online anonymity. Second Life creator Linden Labs is implementing an identity verification system not only as a way of letting users offer their real world bona fides for in-world activities, but no doubt also as a way to protect itself and participants in its in-world economy. Not the least of which would be keeping minors out of "restricted" areas of Second Life with sexual or violent content.

Second Life has contracted with Washington D.C.-based Aristotle, which operates an identity verification service called Integrity. The idea is that Second Life residents can voluntarily offer information (such as name, date of birth, address, driver's license number, portion of a social security number, or other identifiers), and Integrity will return a match code to Linden Labs indicating whether the user's information "checked out." Specific information required of residents will depend on their real-world location. According to Linden Labs, neither Aristotle nor Linden Labs will retain any personally identifying information; in-world avatars will merely indicate whether specific traits—such as age, gender, and name—have been independently verified.

In theory, users under 18 years of age are not allowed on the main Second Life grid; instead, Linden Labs operates a separate Teen Second Life for users aged 13 to 17. However, underage users apparently wander the main Second Life grid with relative impunity, since no age verification system is currently in place.

Use of the identity verification system will be voluntary for both Second Life users and "estate owners," which are individuals or businesses which operate discrete areas within the Second Life "grid." However, Linden Labs will be encouraging land owners to flag adult content as "Restricted" to safeguard themselves from offering inappropriate in-world content to minors, as well as protecting minors. A beta of the system is now online for estate owners; individuals will be able to use the system once it has cleared beta, at which point non-verified avatars may be restricted from in-world locations. Users with multiple avatars would have to verify each one independently.

Second Life will initially offer verification for free; however, Linden Labs says it will eventually charge a small fee to subscribers (who already pay a monthly fee to Linden Labs) and a higher fee to users with free Basic memberships. Basic members cannot own "land" in Second Life.