Originally written by Isabelle Pavlova for mmorgy.com
Second Life is a world full of user created sex. Flying through any
random swath of land will usually get you a few of someone very
scantily clothed, if not a complete view of a couple fucking in their
front yard (I seem to be very good at picking neighbors that enjoy
this pasttime).
In this article, I'll give a full rundown of the who/what/how of sex
in Second Life. This doesn't mention any places or people (we'll get
to that in later articles), just the basic mechanics of it all.
How
Sex in Second Life happens through a combination of poses, animations,
scripts, and typing. The main ingredient is known as Poseballs.
Poseballs are objects with scripts in them that trigger a user's
avatar to play certain animations or poses. For sex, two (or more)
poseballs are placed close together, with titles above them that say
the position the user will take. These poseballs can be on the ground,
in the air, on objects, or anywhere else one could ever think about
having sex.
Poseballs and scripts can get very complex, binding animations and
animation speeds to different keyboard keys, which gives users more
choices for their animations.
Now, poseballs only change poses, and while two avatars bumping and
grinding against each other might be hot, there's no default
genetalia. That's right, if you want privates, you're going to have to
buy them. The models run the full spectrum of quality, from a phallus
made of 4 shapes (a cylinder and 3 spheres) to fully scripted and
textured vaginas, complete with orgasm sounds and particle systems.
Genetalia is one of the costliest yet best-selling products in SL,
with the best models going for 1500+L$ (~6US$).
Good scripted genetalia reacts to touch events (which are triggered by
mouse clicks). A series of clicks will "excite" the object (some
objects will link to other parts of the body, i.e.
nipples/neck/etc...), which causes the genetalia to switch to an
arroused state. After more touches, a specified amount of time, or a
given command, the genetalia will emit a particle system and play
orgasm sounds.
Who
Depends on the person, but a large portion of the population are part
of sex groups (Group listings are shown in user profiles).
Quite a few people use Second Life to talk to others about fetishes
and explore new boundaries, since safe words are as quick as a click
of the Teleport or Close button.
Where
The only places where sex is explicitly not allowed is the "PG" sims
(land regions). These usually have large public gathering places
contained in them, such as the Welcome Area (which is where all new
users are sent to when they are first created). Having sex (or doing
anything deemed offensive) in these areas will get you warned first,
banned second. However, these areas are VERY few and far between.
Most of the world is made up of "Mature" sims that are really anything
goes, though this is regulated by the owner of the sim or parcel
(subdivision of a sim) that you are currently on. There are even
themed sims, with BDSM, Gor, Furry, or other themes. Going to one of
these sims is a surefire way to meet people, though the sim rules must
be followed in order to stay very long.
Fetishes
All of them. Literally. This is what brings people to the world. You
can do anything, be anything, build anything, and that's exactly what
people do.
That being said, BDSM seems to be the most popular fetish in the
world, with furry following a close second. BDSM is popular mainly
because of the experimentation available in the environment. Instead
of putting down 3000US$ on a nice pony gear setup, you can spend
1000L$ (4US$) on virtual gear and play to your hearts content. If you
don't like it, you can resell the equipment and buy a fast food meal
with the cash you make, versus being out a sizable amount in real life
on something that most people don't like to buy used.
Furry and other fetishes with visual elements flourish because of the
huge level of avatar customization available. You can attach shapes to
your avatar, meaning people can be humans, robots, foxes, plywood
cubes, or plywood robot foxes with wings.
So, between user-driven content building, particle systems, scripting,
and all of the stuff I've mentioned above (customizable avatars,
scripted genetalia), it's easy to see how every fetish imaginable (and
some you've probably never though of) are possible.
Privacy
Privacy is a big issue in Second Life, and how it's handled depends on
how much money and building skills a user has.
The main issue with privacy is the fact that there is no camera
collision. The camera can easily rotate through any material in the
world, meaning that as long as you can come within a ~25m radius of a
certain position, you can most likely see everything in it.
The first and most popular option is known as a skybox. By default,
avatars can only fly up to a height of around ~250m. However, objects
can be (easily) placed at up to 768m. This means that you can build a
box very, very high off the ground, where most people won't see it.
However, there are objects that will let you fly to infinite height,
and with no camera collision, people can fly up and see what you're
doing.
Users can buy land and prohibit anyone not on an access list from
entering. However, this once again falls pray to the camera collision
issue, and there are also ways to get around the access list and into
the land (which I will forego mentioning here for the sake of all the
poor people who believe this is keeping their lives private). There
are scripted security systems that keep people off land also, but they
fall to the same access hacking methods (not) mentioned above.
Finally, there's the ultimate in security, buying a full sim. This is
a VERY LARGE chunk of land that no one can access but the owner and
whomever they delegate. It won't even show up on the maps of those not
allowed in. The problem with this is cost. A sim costs roughly 1200US$
to create, and 195US$/month to upkeep, making it prohibitively
expensive for those who just want a little quiet time.
All of this may make SL sound like it's full of peeping toms and that
users never get a moment alone, but most people are nice enough to use
the honor system and not bother skyboxes. Just don't plan on flying a
plane too far without running into one.
Cost
The cost of sex in Second Life really depends on how fancy it gets,
know what products are available, and how to find them at a good
price. Any newly created avatar can fly to a public sex area or
dungeon, click on a poseball, and instantly start humping away.
However, most will want genetalia, with the good ones being around
1500L$ (~6US$). If privacy is wanted, poseballs and sex furniture can
be bought at prices of 250-1000L$ (1-4US$), depending on the
complexity, number of poses, and pricing terms of the creator. Many
different scripted toys are available, ranging from free to 500L$
(2US$).
Services
It's not difficult to find a willing partner in world, with "Free Sex"
areas showing up in the event listing many times every day. However,
if a user is looking for that certain itch to be scratched, there are
a multitude of escort services and slave rentals available. Escorts
can provide anything from simple conversation all the way to full on
sex. Their prices vary depending on the service and requirements, but
ballpark average seems to be around 300L$ (1.50US$) per half hour of
play, usually meaning various pose balls and the usual text cybersex.
For the BDSM set, there are many slave stables available catering to
all fetishes. Prices here seem to match the averages of escort
services.
If users are looking for privacy but don't own land or are not skilled
builders, there are many rentable skyboxes around the world. These can
be had for around 50$L (.50US$) per hour, and usually come prestocked
with basic poseballs and furniture.
Porn theatres and magazines about. Users can easily find listings for
porn theatres using Find or by checking the event listings. Theatres
are most times free, showing streaming movies of varying quality.
Magazines can be bought for under 200L$ (~.75US$).
