Sex in Online Gaming, pt. 2 Cybernookie

Last week, we looked at sexual stereotyping in the avatars of popular online computer games. I suggested that if male avatars were as sexualized as female avatars, they would be going into combat wearing little more than G-strings and sporting avatar erections.

This week, we'll look at sex in Second Life, a multi-player online game that attracts women players by the thousands. Then we'll look at how sex happens in some of the upcoming games whose entire focus is hooking up as opposed to combat, and I'll finish by registering my doubts. (Links to all sites mentioned at the bottom of this page.)

The online computer game Second Life (SL) is a vast virtual world that has been built by its players. Players, or residents as they are called, create their avatars who can then build their own homes and businesses. A central part of SL is its thriving marketplace and booming economy. Residents can buy, sell and trade with other residents. There are, however, no real estate zoning laws in Second Life, which makes it an urban planner's nightmare.

Sex was never intended to be a major component of Second Life, but there is now so much sex that the creators have had to come up with a teen version of the game that prohibits cybernookie.

Sex in SL occurs in sims or simulated areas that have been created by residents. Take, for instance, Heaven Above The Clouds, where the furniture is plentiful and avatars have sex on it. There is music, dancing, and porn playing on TV screens. Another club called Le Cimetiere has everything from goth and dancing to vampirism. At Club Dark Dreams, there is a sex venue upstairs and a BDSM dungeon downstairs. One SL resident has even created a successful version of Hustler magazine called Slustler.

[Second Life has become so popular that the renowned news service Reuters has opened an actual bureau inside of SL. The avatar for the Reuter's bureau chief goes by the name of "Adam Reuters." While Adam is an upstanding news reporter by day, it's entirely possible he has a stack of Slustlers hidden under his virtual bed, and maybe he goes clubbing at Le Cimetiere or Club Dark Dreams.]

Communication and role playing are important elements in Second Life, with an updated release of SL this past August helping to further these functions. Also, for a sim-like world with a sci fi motif, there's EveOnline. EveOnline's main focus is not sex, but it does have its share of intergalactic hos.

For gamers who want sex as the prime focus in a multi-user setting, there's Red Light Center(RLC). RLC is a virtual erotic community that has nightclubs, hotels, bars, movie theaters and stores. RLC even provides players with sex robots. Cybernookie afficianado Noche Kandora describes her RLC sex robot as being handsome and nicely proportioned, and standing at attention by her bedside until she invites him to have sex. He graciously gives and receives oral sex and stimulation by hand, as well as intercourse in any number of positions to her liking (read more at www.Apogeevr.com). Red Light Center is also getting a gay bath house and steam room, and BDSM shouldn't be too far off.

The last multi-player online game we're going to look at is Naughty America: The Game. It is being developed by the porn website NaughtyAmerica.com, which bills itself as providing "good, wholesome, American adult entertainment." In this game, players become cartoonish looking characters who party, get naked, and have lots of sex. Players can set their own personal "raunch level," which governs the level of sexual depravity and fun. An important aspect of NaughtyAmerica is that players can interact with each other in real-life private chat rooms as their cartoon characters dance, chat, get naked and have sex.

Other adult games on the horizon include Roboho (great name!) and Rapture Online, which looks like the one with the most promise. Rapture Online will also allow players to meet in chatrooms, and there appears to be potential for using vibrators and vibrating sleeves that plug into the USB port of your computer.

Will these new games have unbridled success? I'm not so sure. The psychoanalyst in me believes that computer video games provide a far more direct portal to the aggressive side of human nature than to our sexuality. I think it is inherently more satisfying to kill in games than to have sex in them. (Maybe this wouldn't be true if killing were allowed in real life!) If the sex in an online game is a reward for conquests or a fun diversion, great—but as the whole gaming enchilada, I have my doubts. I have listed several sex and gaming links at www.GuideToGettingItOn.com.

"Sex in Video Games" by Brenda Brathwaite
Sure to become the bible on the subject of sex in gaming and essential reading for anyone who wants to know about sex in video gaming.

Adult Game Reviews
"Your guide to Interactive Erotica since 2000." Covers sex games, virtual sex, 3D erotica, nude skins and nude sims.

Apogeevr.com
This is the very intriguing website of Noche Kandora. It covers adult avatar relationships, sex simulation and the culture of cybernookie inside Second Life and Red Light Center.

Black Love Interactive
"Our mission at Black Love Interactive is to design, develop, and market high-quality interactive erotic entertainment software to satisfy adult consumers of all genders, preferences, and orientations, while advancing the state of the art in interactive entertainment design by expanding the scope of human experiences that games can communicate well."

CRPGs Defined
This Wikipedia entry is comprehensive and worth a look. It notes an interesting contrast between tradtional RPGs, which placed more emphasis on story telling, and CRPGS, which place more emphasis on combat and statistical character management rather than storytelling and character development.

For the Transgendered Joystick
Another truly excellent look at sex in cyberspace and 3-D Virtual world from the perspective of a very smart player and observer who is not bound by the notion that your genitals need to define your gender.

Hentia/Anime Porn Games
"Seduce hot shy anime babes... An exciting anime porn experience you never won't forget!"—this copy is straight from the website itself, including the "never won't forget" quote! Appears kind of fascinating, in a hentai-tentacles-up-your-vagina-sort of way. Full of wide-eyed, big busted babes who often present themselves as walking bullyseyes for the 2-quart wads of any male characters who just happen to ejaculate on them!

Heroine-Sheik
Bonnie Ruberg's very perceptive blog about technology, sex and gender. As the banner says, "Not your mother's tech culture blog..."

MMORPGs Defined
For a brief but solid introduction to MMORPGs or Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, check out this Wikipedia entry.

MMOrgy
The name says it all. A very competent, intelligent, informative site on sex in online gaming.

Rapture Online
A working peek at the development and evolution of what promises to be THE most interesting sexual online role-playing/fantasy sim on the web.

Red Light Center
RedLightCenter.com is a 3D virtual reality space, or a MMOR (massively multi-user online reality). It is a sophisticated, state of the art adult virtual reality universe. It is an online erotic community site that offers users virtual nightclubs, hotels, bars, movie theaters and stores. And it offers opportunites for your avatar to have sex. Lots of sex. Consider Noche's (Apogeevr.com) description of one of the sex robots on RedLightCenter: "He doesn't talk. He never wears clothing. He's handsome and nicely proportioned. He tirelessly stands at full attention by the bedside until you invite him to have sex. When beckoned, he unquestioningly jumps into the sack with you and follows your lead as you take him through a variety of fuck positions. You can give him a hand job, pleasure him with oral, or have him spank your behind while he bangs you doggy style, among an array of other choices." In addition to het sex, RLC is building a gay bath house and steam room, and BDSM shouldn't be too far off, as well.

Rendered Women
In a word—WOW! You won't find more rendered women anywhere with only one click of a mouse. An online museum of sorts, this used to be Bel's House of Rendered Women.

Second Life
Second Life (SL) is a 3-D virtual world entirely with a vast number of social components, sex being one of them. SL is built by its residents. It is a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. You create your avatar (online persona) and can build your own home or business. Residents retain the rights to their digital creations, and can buy, sell and trade with other residents. There is a thriving marketplace. As for sex, it can occur in different sims in SL. Consider the posting on Apogeever.com by a SL member: "Speaking of public fucking, for the past couple of days I've been dropping by Heaven Above the Clouds, one of the more popular public sex sims in SL. Yeah, you've got avatars there just doing it with each other out in the open. You've got porn clips playing on video screens. You've got access to a cornucopia of pose balls, beds, sofas and sex blankets, and even a few BDSM contraptions. You've got sizzling hip-hop tunes pumping in the background." Another free SL sex club is Le Cimetiere, which includes everything from BDSM and goth to dancing and vampirism. There's also Club Dark Dreams, which includes a sex club upstairs, and a BDSM dungeon downstairs.

Sex & Games Blog from the IGDA
"The definitive news source for sexual content in games," and they aren't kidding. Published by the IGDA's Sex SIG, and in particularly, by the EXTREMELY knowledgeable Brenda Brathwaite, author of "Sex In Video Games."

SimSexy
Kelly Rued's up-to-the-nanosecond blog on some of the more fascinating aspects and issues involved with online sex games, and sex beyond.

Skins, Mods and Patches
This review by James Francis ont TwitchGuru is more than a year old, but will give you and idea that there's nothing new about naked skins and sex mods in mainstream gaming.

Slashdong
"Slashdong is about the cominbation of sex and technology, created by a mad scientist (read: robotics engineer) and accidental teledildonics expert in his rather uneventful mid-20's." Has what is, without a doubt, the coolest graphic of a techno-dildo you will find anywhere for its banner or mast.

Sociolotron
"Sociolotron SM is an interactive multiplayer online RPG game for adults only. Furthermore, we take pride in being a highly politically incorrect game.... a highly politically incorrect form of roleplay involving sexually explicit situation, roleplay of crimes, vampirism, demonism and any other adult fantasy."

The Psychology of MMORPGs
Not about sex per se, this is Nick Yee's highly intelligent look at the psychology of MMORPGs.

Yiffstar.com
A site devoted to sex in the furry community, or "anthropomorphic erotica" as they call it. This kind of sex is definitely a beast (or kitty) of a different color....

Absolute Obedience—Androgynous Amine
A new interactive dating-sim game for adults, Absolute Obedience is a "boy's love" (also known as "yaoi") anime simulation game featuring romantic and sexual male/male themes in which the player must play through different game missions while in the role of one of two different male characters. Seems once you complete enough game missions, your boy character gets to have his own emissions with other boy charcters. Seems that 80% of the players of these boy-boy amine sim games are girls, according to the company who makes the game. This makes sense, given how I had to read the avatar captions to determine if they were male or female! They kind of drip androgynous. Don't know what what pops up when the avatar's pants go down, but the rest of them look a bit transgendered in an amine sort of way. Windows computers only.