IMVU Submitted Virtual Goods Rating Policy

Last revised 09.04.07

The purpose of this policy is to layout a framework for acceptable user
generated content, or virtual goods, submitted and/or either sold or
distributed via the IMVU catalog. This policy does not
cover user behavior with or without goods, in any of IMVU's social
mediums, please refer to the IMVU TOS for any use behavior specific
guidelines.

For the purpose of this policy a virtual good are considered:
any product submitted to the IMVU catalog for distribution or sale by
any party (IMVU or User) that can be used in any of our social
channels, but not limited to: 3D objects, 2D objects, meshes,
poses/animations, textures, services, interactive games, multi-state
objects (3D & 2D), gadgets/widgets, streaming objects, compilations
of objects (outfits, collections, etc), packaged experiences or any
combination of the previous items (ex. A 3d object + pose + texture).

IMVU is a large global community made up of both adults and
teenage users. Because of the diversity of our community IMVU needs a
comprehensive virtual goods rating process in order to satisfy the
needs of various communities, be it by age, culture, or local laws in
order to provide the best possible user experience. Therefore IMVU's
policy goals are to:

(1) categorize virtual goods with the purpose of being submitted to
IMVU's catalog for distribution into three easy to understand and
segmented categories,

(2) limit IMVU's business to the first two categories, General Audience
(GA) and Access Pass Only (APO); with the APO category restricted by
the Access Pass.

Categorizing content into three categories

Our three rating categories are:

• General Audience (GA; accessible to everyone)
  
• Access Pass Only (AP; accessible only to pass holders)
  
• Unsuitable for IMVU (not allowed at IMVU)
  

IMVU's content policy strives to do its best in identifying
clear guidelines between categories, but as with any policy it is
impossible to do so without incurring some disagreement. Flexibility is
necessary for any longstanding policy. We feel this policy will allow
IMVU and the community to adapt to global cultures laws, and to
accommodate our community's virtual goods needs as best as possible.

Rating names

The rating names are as follows:

General Audience (GA) - Goods available to all users. Users are required to be 13 years or older, as laid out in the IMVU TOS;

Access Pass Only (APO) - Goods available only to users aged 18 years
or older who have purchased the Access Pass product. The Access Pass is
only available to users who are 18 years of age or older, regardless of
parental permission;

Unsuitable for IMVU (UFI) - Goods rated UFI will not be available anywhere on IMVU's website nor will they be usable in any IMVU social platform.

Every product within the IMVU catalog will also carry an extra mark
designating whether or not it has been reviewed by someone other than
its creator. Ex - if the product has been reviewed by IMVU customer
service, peer review, etc.

Review marks will fall into one of two classifications, those
that have been reviewed, and those with pending reviews. Any item with
a pending review mark may have its classification changed in the future
should the item be brought to IMVU's attention and require
reclassification (ex. From GA to APO). Appropriate steps will be taken
at that time to handle any issues that arise with reclassification.

Clarification on ratings

IMVU's rating policy assigns a virtual good a rating based on
how well it fits within the one or more of the various categories
below. It is possible for an item to fit into multiple categories. Due
to this issue if an item falls into any of the APO or UFI categories,
then it will be classified as APO or UFI, as appropriate, regardless of
other attributes.

Virtual Good categorization

Rating
General Audience
Access Pass Only
Unsuitable for IMVU

Suitable Content Categories

• Cartoon violence
  
• Blood
  
• Body Modification
  
• Cartoon Violence
  
• Comic mischief
  
• Crude humor
  
• Edutainment
  
• Fantasy Violence
  
• Gaming
  
• Informational
  
• Mild Violence
  

Alcohol Use and Reference

• Animated blood
  
• Blood & Gore
  
• Mature Humor
  
• Nudity
  
• Profanity
  
• Sexual Themes
  
• Tobacco Use and Reference
  

Intense violence

• Copyrighted/TM material
  
• Cruelty to Animals
  
• Discriminatory Products
  
• Drug Use and Reference
  
• Harm to Minors
  
• Hate Products
  
• Malicious Content
  
• Nudity: aroused genitals
  
• Personal Data
  
• Real gambling
  
• Sexual Violence
  
• Strong sexual content
  
• Suicide
  
• Violence
  

Exceptions

• No copyrighted/TM material
  

Content sub-category definitions

General Audience (GA)

• Alcohol Use and Reference (APO) - Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages. The consumption of alcoholic beverages.
  
• Blood (GA) - Depictions of blood
  
• Body Modifications (GA) - Any alterations to the avatar's physical form (ex. Robotic limbs, tattoos, piercings, etc).
  
• Cartoon Violence (GA) - Violent actions involving
  cartoon-like situations and characters. May include violence where a
  character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted.
  
• Comic Mischief (GA) - Depictions or dialogue involving slapstick or suggestive humor
  
• Crude Humor (GA) - Depictions or dialogue involving vulgar antics, including 'bathroom' humor
  
• Edutainment (GA) - Content of product provides user with
  specific skills development or reinforcement learning within an
  entertainment setting. Skill development is an integral part of product
  
• Fantasy Violence (GA) - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life
  
• Gaming (GA) - Users can play a game, including those of chance, without betting or wagering real or virtual currency.
  
• Informational (GA) - Overall content of product contains data, facts, resource information, reference materials or instructional text
  
• Mild Violence (GA) - Virtual goods depicting characters in
  mild unsafe and/or violent situations. Also includes realistic weapons
  that are not used against other avatars or whose intent is not obvious
  or aggressive harm of other avatars.
  

Access Pass Only (APO)

• Alcohol Use and Reference (APO) - Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages. The consumption of alcoholic beverages.
  
• Animated Blood (APO) - Animations involving blood
  
• Blood and Gore (APO) - Depictions of excess/gratuitous blood or the mutilation of body parts
  
• Mature Humor (APO) - Depictions or dialogue involving "adult" humor, including sexual references
  
• Nudity (APO) - Virutal goods depicting full or partial
  nudity, including but not limited to nude humans, nude avatars, skins,
  and/or products (transparent or otherwise) that cover less than the GA
  minimum coverage guidelines below.
  
• Profanity (APO) - Obscene, lewd, or abusive language. To learn more about what IMVU considers profane, click here.
  
• Sexual Themes (APO) - Mild to moderate sexual references and/or depictions. Also includes lingerie and undergarments. For additional examples click here.
  
• Tobacco Use and Reference (APO) - Reference to and/or images of tobacco products. The consumption of tobacco products.
  

Unsuitable for IMVU (UFI)

• Copyright/TM violation (UFI) - To learn more about Trademark violations and IMVU's Copyright (DMCA) policy, click here.
  
• Cruelty to Animals (UFI) - Any act, depiction or suggestion of violence/sex toward animals.
  
• Discriminatory Content(UFI) - Anything that overtly
  harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or
  group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual
  orientation, race, ethnicity, age, nationality, lifestyle or disability
  
• Drug Use and Reference (UFI) - Reference, consumption and/or images of any drugs, including that of paraphernalia.
  
• Harm to Minors (UFI) - Any act, depiction, or suggestion of violence, or sex, to/with minors (anyone under the age of 18).
  
• Hate Products (UFI) - Virtual goods which represent,
  promote, advertise, or in any way support, display or depict
  characterizations of hate-based organizations (ex. Neo-Nazi, KKK, gangs)
  
• Malicious Content (UFI) - Any virtual goods created to intentionally or otherwise malign or degrade another user.
  
• Nudity: aroused genitals (UFI) - Depictions of aroused genitalia and/or unrealistc or overly detailed genitals
  
• Personal Data (UFI) - Anything that includes personal or identifying information about another, real-life person
  
• Real Gambling (UFI) - Any betting or wagering of real or virtual currency
  
• Sexual Violence (UFI) - Any act, depiction, promotion, or suggestion of rape or other violent, non-consensual sexual acts.
  
• Strong Sexual Content (UFI) - Graphic references to and/or
  depictions of sexual acts including, but not limited to,
  penetration/intercourse, and/or oral sex with or without another avatar
  or any other object; additionally, this includes any overt sexual toys
  and/or aides.
  
• Suicide (UFI) - Any act, depiction, promotion, or suggestion of/to suicide.
  
• Violence (UFI) - Virtual goods involving aggressive
  conflict. Includes but is not limited to realistic weapons used against
  other avatars or whose intent is obvious, aggressive harm of other
  avatars; any realistic weapons with blood or gore depicted on them or
  in their use; graphic and/or realistic-looking depictions of physical
  conflict, graphic violence, dismemberment, self-mutilation, homicide;
  anything depicting extremely grotesque images or acts.
  

How ratings are assigned and can be determined

Under the current system, ratings are assigned by the content creator
creating the product or by customer service upon review of a flagged
product. Users have the ability to determine if their product is GA or
APO, however please bear in mind that if a product originally rated as
GA is flagged and found by IMVU customer service to be APO then it will
be hidden and/or re-rated APO until the original creator can resolve
the issue. Virtual Good Ratings only apply to a finished product
submitted to the catalog, and it is up to the final product submitter
to comply with the rating policy, and address any concerns.

The final rating of an object depends upon all of the
attributes of that product and what sub-categories those attributes
fall into. So it is possible for a product to be both GA & AP at
the same time, but only one rating in the end can be applied. If a
product does apply to multiple sub-categories and thus has multiple
ratings, then a simple rule applies: APO trumps GA, and UFI trumps All.