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Stroker Serpentine

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Stroker Serpentine (RL: Kevin Alderman) is the founder of Eros, LLC, a U.S. based company specializing in virtual world development, consulting, and marketing. He is also known for his work on intellectual property rights and combating intellectual property theft in virtual environments - mainly in the popular virtual world of Second Life where he participates as the avatar "Stroker Serpentine". Serpentine is arguably Second Life's prominent cybersex mogul.[1] Alderman received international attention in 2007 by initiating landmark litigation that utilized the application of copyright law to protect unauthorized duplication and sale of his virtual goods. In late 2007 Alderman began development of his own adult-only 3D virtual world "Eros-3D" capitalizing on his successes with avatar eroticism and motion capture animation technology.

Strokerball08

Kevin Alderman as Stroker Serpentine. Image Courtesy of Rikomatic.com

History[]

Alderman worked for twenty years as a third-generation residential/commercial plumbing contractor by day and dabbled in virtual worlds by night. Alderman initially created a presence in the adult-only virtual world of Seducity as "Str<->ker". Motivated by the sale of virtual goods between residents and the right to retain intellectual property rights, Alderman registered a user account in Second Life in November of 2003 and created his "Stroker Serpentine" avatar.


Virtual World Influences[]

Virtual World Economies[]

Second Life grants residents the freedom to exchange the integral "Linden Dollar" for the tangible international currency of their choice through the "Lindex Exchange". This revolutionary capability has created an e-commerce phenomenon centered around the sale of user-generated content.

As an early adopter of Second Life, Alderman recognized the potential for creating a career built solely around the resale of digital objects and developmental services. Benefitting from his experiences in other Internet platforms and popular e-commerce sites such as IRC, Seducity, PayPal and Ebay, he soon built a successful organization within the virtual space catering specifically to immersing cybersex enthusiasts in creative scenarios. "Strokerz Toyz" still operates as one of the most recognized and successful outlets for adult virtual animation devices within Second Life. [2]

In May of 2006 Alderman sold his plumbing business to devote his career full time to virtual product sales, motion capture animations and cybersex evangelism.

Virtual Goods and Branding[]

"Stroker Serpentine" began his Second Life enterprise by selling virtual sunglasses in a tiny kiosk and eventually moved on to incorporating erotic animations into his creations such as digital furniture and bathroom fixtures. The popularity of his products lead to the collaborative "SexGen" line of cybersex oriented creations, starting with the SexGen bed and moving on to digital genitalia and interactive BDSM devices.

Alderman purchased a Second Life server area in 2004, called a "Sim", He named it "Amsterdam" after the famed Netherlands city and turned it into one of the most popular destinations within Second Life. The virtual Amsterdam was complete with shopping and digital prostitutes, meticulously re-creating the famed Red Light District.

Alderman later listed the Amsterdam simulator in March 2007 on Ebay for a sum of $50,000.[3] The Amsterdam sim was purchased by 3dutch.com (a division of Netherlands-based media company Boom BV). The sale made international headlines as the first publicly sold virtual world only properties sold on Ebay. 3dutch.com utilizes the simulator as an online social network and cooperative marketing medium for their established web presences.

In August 2008 Alderman received USPTO trademark registration number 3,483,253 for "SexGen". This registration is regarded as the first ever trademark granted to cover a line of virtual products only available in a virtual world.


Virtual Law[]

As as result of Alderman's "Sex Bed Case", many lawyers and firms such as Francis Taney of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, who represented Alderman in his landmark case(s), have created teams of attorneys and legal analysts devoted specifically to "Virtual Law". Virtual law encompasses the application of intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent), criminal law, property law, contract law, securities law, tax law, and civil procedure as it relates to content creation, developmental considerations and micro-economies of virtual worlds.

In April of 2008 Benjamin Duranske of the Pillsbury law firm published "Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds", relying heavily upon Alderman's case.

Eros LLC v Catteneo[]

Near the weekend of July 4th, 2007, Alderman's company Eros LL filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a Second Life avatar named "Volkov Catteno", temporarily named "John Doe" in court documents, for copying and reselling his virtual SexGen beds. Through several subpoenas served to Linden Lab, Paypal, AT&T and Charter Communications, "Volkov Catteno" was named to be Robert Leatherwood of Azle Texas.[4]

Leatherwood did not respond to the copyright infringement complaint within the allotted 20 days, during which time Alderman was able to persuade the court that selling virtual goods for Lindens, a convertible digital currency, does constitute a "use in commerce". A default judgment was entered against Leatherwood pursuant to Chapter VII of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The international legal community characterized this lawsuit as an "Avatar vs. Avatar" litigation, with far-reaching implications in applying copyright law to virtual goods.


Eros LLC v Kenzo[]

Later that same year in October of 2007, Alderman spearheaded a six-person lawsuit against New York native Thomas Simon (aka "Raze Kenzo" in Second Life) for unauthorized copying, resale, and general distribution of the multi-platintiff's intellectual properties. Simon was duplicating and reselling[5] various types of content from several different Second Life content creators.

The Honorable Judge Townes from the East District of New York specified the cases' settlement to include the stipulations that Simon pay any monetary gain back to the plaintiffs, that he make his PayPal and Second Life transaction logs available to the plaintiff's attorney, and that Simon will notify the plaintiffs of any new alternate names or accounts he uses in the virtual world of Second Life. This lawsuit and settlement represents the first collaborative effort of content creators against copyright infringement of virtual world property.


Cyber Sex & Beyond[]

Cybersex & Alderman[]

Cybersex is the interaction of two individuals fantasizing a sexual experience through the use of a digital medium such as a virtual world or chat room. Often defined as "interactive porn", the use of 3D avatars, voice, streaming video and animations is considered by many to be the evolution of online pornography. As an evangelist, Alderman has been spotlighted as a pundit in this arena. He lectures at adult-related conferences and is an author of many articles related to the subject. Alderman's emphasis is on creativity, role play, overcoming inhibitions, dislocated partners and dysfunctional therapy.

In September of 2008 Alderman partnered with developer OhMibod[6] to create an interface that would allow avatars within the virtual world of Second Life to remotely actuate the OhMiBod device of another Internet partner. The teledildonic application utilized a heads up display or "HUD" to play customized soundtracks to enhance avatar to avatar cybersex.

The OhMiBod interface has since been abandoned for use in Second Life due to aggressive enforcement [7] of the broad teledildonics patent.


Motion Capture[]

Alderman expanded his interests in virtual world development by founding StroCap Studios in 2007 as a subsidiary of Eros LLC. StroCap Studios are strategic partners with Motionwerx of Emoryville California, U.S. distributors of the Animazoo IGS-190 System and the CyberGlove II. By combining the resources of StroCap and Motionwerx, Alderman utilizes innovative gyroscopic inertial systems[8] and motion capture optical systems to provide platform developers and virtual world entrepreneurs with realistic character animations.

Eros 3-D[]

Eros-3D was first conceived by Alderman in 2000. His passionate curiosity of virtual worlds and interpersonal online relationships lead him from platform to platform as a participant and content creator. In 2003 Alderman joined Second Life with the hopes of finding a comprehensive online experience that would combine user-generated content, a virtual economy and massive scalability.

Alderman soon realized that Linden Lab's business model and policies made protection of his intellectual property difficult at best. Combined with the adverse publicity of ageplay [9] participants discovered within Second Life, Alderman began to research alternative virtual world developers to create a contemporary online space for accountable adults.

In 2007 Alderman met Robert Flesch of Prototerra at a virtual worlds conference in San Jose California and soon developed a relationship to address the continually changing demands of virtual world residents. Flesch is best known for his work on the virtual world "Red Light Center" by Utherverse.

Alderman's development team includes a wide variety of industry professionals and content creators, including people such as Randall Crockett of CardBiller. Crockett's extensive background in digital rights management and electronic commerce added a necessary component to the structure of Eros-3D's conceptual development and the incorporation of a virtual economy.

Eros-3D is slated for public launch in February 2010.


References[]

Template:Reflist

External links[]

Kevin Alderman on the Web

Kevin Alderman & Articles on Stroker Serpentine

Template:Uncategorized

  1. ↑ Lynn, Regina: "Stroker Serpentine, Second Life's Porn Mogul, Speaks" Wired, March 3, 2007, most prominent cybersex mogul.
  2. ↑ Lynn, Regina: "Second Life Gets Sexier" Wired, August 25, 2006, most recognized and successful outlets for adult virtual animation devices within Second Life.
  3. ↑ Wagner, Mitch: "Second Life Sex Business Sells On eBay For $50,000" InformationWeek, March 27, 2007 a sum of $50,000.
  4. ↑ Richards, Jonathan: "Second Life sex bed spawns virtual copyright action" TimesOnline, July, 4, 2007 Robert Leatherwood of Azle, Texas.
  5. ↑ Boniello, KathiAnne: "UNREALITY BYTE$" New York Post, October, 28, 2007 duplicating and reselling
  6. ↑ Lynn, Regina "Teledildonics takes a step: OhMiBod and Second Life (corrected)" Regina Lynn's SexRev 2.0, October, 24, 20082007 developer OhMibod
  7. ↑ Masnick, Mike "Who Says Patent Lawsuits Aren't Sexy" Techdirt, May,9, 2008 aggressive enforcement
  8. ↑ Feldman, Curt "Second Life's Stroker Serpentine Bringing MoCap to the Real World" , Virtual World News, May 9, 2008 innovative gyroscopic inertial systems
  9. ↑ Dobson, William "Second Life "Wonderland" scandal hits mainstream media" Massively.com, October, 31, 2007 adverse publicity of ageplay
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