Rules & Safety

The same rules that apply on the real life (RL) Caltech campus apply here, including the Honor Code, the rules against harassment, and the laws of California and the United States.  But more importantly, the golden rule and common sense apply.  Remember, these are real people behind the avatars, and some are or will become your friends.  Treat everyone with courtesy and respect, just as you would like to be treated.  You can find Caltech's Code of Conduct at https://asic.caltech.edu/code-conduct

VIRTECH ACCESS

Only the members of the Virtech group can access it.  If you sign up through the VIRTECH ACCOUNT CREATION, you will be automatically in it.  Other people can be added by Prof. George Djorgovski (SL: Curious George) or Santiago Lombeyda (SL: Newrealityexplorer) if needed.  No one else can enter the Virtech.

ADULT CONTENT RESTRICTIONS

By design, Caltech-issued avatars cannot access the adult rated content in SL, but can go anywhere else.  No adult rated content or activities are allowed within Virtech itself.  The same protections against sexual harassment that apply on the Caltech campus also apply here.

SAFETY

Everyone you meet in Virtech will be either a member of the Caltech community, or from another academic institution or education oriented group and approved by us.  Outside Virtech, by and large, people in SL are friendly and helpful to the new residents, but If you encounter any problems, you can get out of the situation by either teleporting home (in the World menu on your browser), teleporting somewhere else safe, or simply logging out.  Please send a msg about the incident to either Curious George or to Newrealityexplorer.  If anyone is sending you unwanted messages, you can mute them by pulling up their profile (click on the avatar and select Profile) and clicking the Block button (don't you wish you could do that in Real Life?).  If they are harassing you in any way, report them to Linden Lab by clicking Report on the same pop-up menu.

Do not accept any items from the people you don't know - they may contain viruses.

PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

Please protect your privacy and the privacy of others by not having any RL identifying information in your profile, e.g., your full name (just the first name is OK), the contact information, etc.  You can of course share whatever you want with your friends directly, it just should not be publicly accessible.  You can and should put other things in your profile, e.g., your interests, as that would make it easier to connect with the other people sharing the same. While you are in the Virtech, there will be an additional nametag floating above your avatar, to make it easier to connect with other members of our community, but it will not be visible anywhere else.

Other than that... have fun and let your imagination guide you!  Your SL will be what you make it, and it can give you some great experiences.  Enjoy!