The Thrillist
By JENNIFER BILLOCK
“Hey, nice legs. Want a massage?” Joey asked from behind me. I stood back for a better view of my calves and thighs. He was right, they were pretty nice. I’d been standing on this beach, nude with the exception of some boat shoes, for only about five minutes before Joey arrived. I figured — rightfully so — that this was the easiest way to get people to talk to me.
Just before Joey and I teleported to his massage studio, I saw a humanoid cat walk across the beach in front of me with a woman in full bondage gear. And so started my initiation into the fetish scene in Second Life.
For those who don’t know it, Second Life is a computer game (although without winning or losing) in which players create avatars inside of a 3D, virtual world. Started in 2003, it’s among the oldest alt-reality simulators where players can “live out” just about any scenario and interact with fellow avatars from all over the world. Users have conversations, form relationships, even get married in-world, all while exploring a gigantic database of locations. And some of those places can get pretty racy — there’s an entire section of adult-themed spots, like the beach I was visiting.
Former Second Lifers argue that the game is now in its twilight years; since it began, monthly users have decreased to about 900,000 from a peak of 1.1 million, and the market’s been flooded with alt-reality worlds boasting much larger fanbases. And yet, Second Life has maintained a few strongholds… particularly over the BDSM and fetish communities, who enjoy 118 different adult-only areas within.
Fetishes, BDSM activity, and avatars are all about alternate realities
See, the world of Second Life can function as an outlet for people who feel like they can’t be themselves in the real world. Either they’re too shy, or as one player told me, they suffer from a disability that leaves them wheelchair-bound or otherwise unable to interact with people outside the game. And that makes the game extremely popular in the BDSM and fetish world.
Avatars in the game are highly animated, detailed even down to the perk of a cold nipple or a regal pubic bush (some players actually make their real-world living selling nothing but pubic hair for Second Life characters), and are able to realistically accomplish kinky tasks that are impossible outside the game.
In one dungeon-themed room, my avatar climbed atop a man covered in gold leaf who was bent backwards and bound wrist to ankle, and rode his obscenely large and perky manhood to virtual ecstasy. He stayed in that position for more than an hour while I explored the rest of the dungeon. The scene is so popular in-world that some locations even offer workshops and seminars on how to be more open with dirty talk, or classes on how to use the robust amount of BDSM gear made specifically for the game. There are full virtual libraries with BDSM books players can read. …