Escort services and sex industry of Second Life will go down

Everett Linden just posted about the identity verification in Second Life and with this refresher, I just can’t help but think of things that will be mostly hurt by this upcoming feature.

Bye bye to free sex

It’s everywhere and can be seen in the popular places search of SL. Of course, when the IDV kicks in, lots of people won’t be able to access those orgy and free sex areas especially those who are just new to Second Life. However, they will be able to access it if they will verify that they are 18 and above.

Robin Linden mentioned that the verification will be available at the account page when the feature leaves beta testing.

Escorts will become more valuable

Let’s face it, if everybody will be required to verify their age before accessing an Adult Only area or a Rated-R, then escorts will have lesser customers, thus, their price may go higher. (Law of Supply and Demand – of course, it may not be as applicable in SL) Another thing is, the population of escorts might go low since one reason why they become escorts is because they need big cash quick and the verification will slow them down especially those who don’t want to verify their age.

Second Life is not for minors

This is the point, there’s a TEEN version of Second Life for minors since the main SL is for 18 and above. This is mentioned all over the place by linden labs on the SL site so it’s not hard to miss.