Saudi Arabia, right?

Thought so.
Same old shit, new name.

You make some valid observations but I’d like to pick up just one point?

“Let’s make no mistake here, at 300+ sims, Gor, not 70′s fantasy artwork, does a lot to define the sexual mores of the SL RP community at large”

I think you’re mistaking my point. I never implied that the artwork of Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta et al were the present influences behind attitudes found in virtual roleplaying games such as are found in Second Life. Rather I attempted to show that modern virtual roleplaying games are perhaps drawing inspirations in the same way that traditional roleplayers did in the 1970s i.e. from the artwork of the period. Whereas in the 1970s we had Vallejo and Frazetta, these days we have the internet and websites like http://www.hawtness.com and http://www.motivatedphotos.com. I’m not saying that these sites are somehow the same thing but they are certainly a source of influence to the internet generation in the same way that Vallejo/Frazetta were influencing 1970s/1980s traditional roleplayers.

As a further point, it has only just occurred to me about the Gor connection. Look at the period those early books were written in and look at the associated cover artwork such as this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tarnsman_of_gor_vallejo_cover.jpg

Haha, I just saw that this cover artwork was drawn by Boris Vallejo. To quote Jessica Holyoke, therefore I win 8D

To reiterate, in my opinion roleplayers are often influenced by contemporary artwork/literature. I can even give an example (provided by one of my gaming group anyway, they’re reading this). There is an iconic image (http://www.hardhatdesign.co.uk/snowtrooper/matty/3D_gubbings/joe_pineapples/ssmljoe2.jpg) of Joe Pineapples from Simon Bisley’s initial run on the ABC Warriors. A few years ago, that image was recreated as a miniature by Games Workshop (http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1250134_99060108077_INQDHVindicareexitusriflemain_873x627.jpg).

Artwork indirectly inspires roleplayers, perhaps more than the actual roleplaying games themselves do. You could probably even add movies to the list of influences. It just happens that in the example of Gor, that influence has remained constant since the late 1960s to the present. As Gorean roleplay was such a large early influence in Second Life, it’s certainly plausible that it has influenced other forms of roleplay, either directly or indirectly. Whether it actually counts as valid roleplay or not is another argument of course and one that is a personal call as much as anything. In my own opinion, virtual roleplay bears almost no relation to traditional roleplay. The mileage of others may vary naturally.

The first is wish fulfillment. I’d say at first glance that 90% of SL avatars come in as the user’s definition of physically perfect. That’s probably the precise inverse of real life. Sims with strong sexual content will, likewise, cater most visibly to those things you can’t get in real life. Even the bike designers featured elsewhere on Alphaville Herald are providing a wish fullfillment fantasy with their virtual replicas of massively expensive motorcycles. SL is seen as a safe, anonymous place to do things you couldn’t do in real life. You can be a slave, hooker etc. without any of the real world fears of abuse, STD’s etc.

The second is the monetary incentive. Every sim, RP or otherwise has to generate its $300 a month just to stay open. That can come from sales in stores, rental of land, user donations or (and this is a big one) paid out of pocket by a person or group. So sims that focus on fantasy fulfillment have to cater to those fantasies that are worth actual money to people in order to generate their teir. Basic supply and demand dictates that the harder to find a given niche product is, the more a sim owner can charge for it. Similarly, more users support more sims of the same type of content at the same price. Also, the more hardcore a given interest, ie the more of one’s life and identity definition it encompasses, the more willing a player will be to spend money on it.

So taken as an average, Second Life looks a lot like people would imagine Hollywood to be. Everyone looks beautiful, has neat stuff, can have casual sex with two or three partners a day and generally live a simulated high life. Go to a big club any day of the week and you can see people trying to live up to their media defined idea of cool. Again at a first glance, places and items catering to that breed of cool probably occupy about as much in the way of SL resources as shows and movies selling the image do of mass media resources.

Individually, sims tend to rise and fall with the fantasy they fulfill. There are fewer Femdom type places than male dominant/femals slave type places because the latter fantasy is more popular with people who log on. When it comes to Gor, don’t discount the fact that this is a huge, largely underground niche community that has made SL its home. In the same way porn made the VHS work, Gor (and Steampunk) is probably responsible for keeping SL alive in its early days. It gave people an experience they couldn’t get elsewhere and they were willing to invest their energy (money) to have it. I can see where, after years of being told women are supposed to be treated as both equal AND objects of sexual desire, a segment of the male population would be willing to pay for the ego boost of being the “stronger sex” again. Let’s make no mistake here, at 300+ sims, Gor, not 70′s fantasy artwork, does a lot to define the sexual mores of the SL RP community at large.

Sl in some ways functions as a visible Collective Unconscious of Americans who can afford a computer and high speed Internet (75%+ of the user base at an eyeball). There is no nature, everything built was designed by a human hand to fill a percieved need in SL. Every avatar is a series of deliberate choices by the user about the image they wish to convey to the SL world.

Caledon has been larger than the entire original SL grid for years now and spawned several other Steampunk communities. In some ways, this rise could be said to prefigure the growth of the Steampunk movement in the public consciousness. At the same time, most of the original cyberpunk sims have fallen by the wayside as that style has fallen from grace. Those are easier to notice because they’re the kind of things people are willing to discuss in public. How many people at your office wish they were a character from the James Spader movie “Secretary”? Well, they’re not as likely to discuss that for the asking. Do Gor, the prevalance of collars, the continued existence of brothels etc say something aobut our culture at large that people aren’t willing to admit? I don’t have the research to back it up, but the possibility is intriguing.

Live from the grid, I’m Professor Outlandish.

Yep. Your point is well taken, particularly with reference to the prevalence of “sexy” fashion. I mean, why CAN’T I buy a blouse or sweater that doesn’t have a neckline dipping somewhere below the navel????

But, ahem, maybe that’s a discussion for another day . . .

@Damien

Fear not. I’ve been passing around the LM and SLURL to ALL of my friends, and sent it out in notices to the 900 or so women enrolled in my various feminist groups . . .

You forgot to mention my place in your list.

“In passing, I wonder . . . IS SL really so sexually-oriented as we all seem to think? I think it will appear much less so if we make a distinction between those who become involved in sexual relationships in the course of their social lives within SL (who certainly are numerous), and those who come here primarily for the sex (who, I suspect, are much less so, but are higher profile). The distinction might be similar to that which we could make between people who become involved in a cyber relationship through Facebook, MSN, or any number of social networking applications, and those who specifically seek out sex-oriented networking sites online.”

That’s a fair point that makes me realise that perhaps my earlier point should have been clearer. When I said this:-

“Perhaps Second Life roleplayers have appropriated it simply because primarily the demographic is male and also because the general Second Life culture is so sexually oriented?”

I should have explained my point better. By “sexually oriented”, I don’t necessarily mean that people visit Second Life to have relationships or to have sex (although you can’t deny that experience says that sex is a major component of the Second Life culture. What I was actually more referring to is the prevailing culture and fashion. You can visit pretty much anywhere and you’ll see muscle-bound, shaven-headed males, stripped to the waist, exuding masculinity. By the same token, female fashions are often heavily derived from fetish wear and even those fashions that aren’t are rarely representative of the fashions that you’d see walking down the street in your local town. There is a definitive bias towards sexy clothing with lots of bare flesh. I really have to add that I see no problem with this, it’s harmless. So now do you see a little more about what I was trying to explain when I was talking about sexual orientation? It’s not just about relationships, sex sims and clubs – it’s about general fashions. Even if people aren’t specifically involved in sexual activity, they often wear clothing and using animation overriders which add an element of sexuality (overt and covert) to their avatars.

Hopefully that helps flesh out my point a little more

I’m tempted to suggest that the possibility that “the roleplaying sims found in Second Life hark back to the earlier times of roleplaying” is a reflection of the somewhat older demographic of SL, which has a median of something like 35 or so. The problem with this is that many of the roleplayers here are probably also roleplaying on MMOGs, such as WoW, that feature a much younger demographic. But perhaps there is a divide within such games between the ways in which younger and older players represent women?

In passing, I wonder . . . IS SL really so sexually-oriented as we all seem to think? I think it will appear much less so if we make a distinction between those who become involved in sexual relationships in the course of their social lives within SL (who certainly are numerous), and those who come here primarily for the sex (who, I suspect, are much less so, but are higher profile). The distinction might be similar to that which we could make between people who become involved in a cyber relationship through Facebook, MSN, or any number of social networking applications, and those who specifically seek out sex-oriented networking sites online.

Dinah:

Brilliant! If ever there was a cultural phenomenon susceptible to an analysis in the light of Edward Said’s theories, this is it . . .

How long before you’ve finished writing it??? I look forward to reading it.