Virtual pedophilia in Net 'world'

It's not against the law because real children aren't involved, CNET cites legal experts as saying, but some players in the Second Life virtual world are speaking out about "age play." "This age-based role-playing can take on various forms," according to CNET: "It can be as innocuous as people acting out a family dynamic, or as potentially troubling as two adults engaging in sexual role playing, with one of the avatars made to look like a child." Second Life avatars can be animals, elves, monsters - just about anything the imagination can dream up. The adults-only game has 170,000 players and is growing by about 20% a month (there's also a Second Life for Teens – see my 8/12/05 issue). The game's management, which acknowledges "age play" is occurring, says it's reluctant to ban any role-playing activity that isn't illegal because role-playing is so integral to an alternate world, but "if a critical mass of 'Second Life' participants were to ask that something additional be done about sexual age-play, [its creators] Linden Lab would tackle the issue in some way. So far, there hasn't been a general outcry," CNET reports. This is an example of how the gray area between legal and illegal activity seems to be widening as the Web becomes increasingly user-driven and peer-to-peer, other examples being the use of music in home-made videos (see PC World) and "self-published child porn" (see my 1/20/06 and 8/27/04 and issues).