I've spent last couple of nights in a nice and vibrant place called Red Light District. Pretty little town square with a fountain, some shops, a church and, you guess, a lot of escorts. I am not sure if escorting is the oldest occupation of second life but one of the most active it surely is. And one that can give you a nice dose of surprises and questions as well.
One would expect that escorts keep their first lives behind the secured wall. Avatars do that for much less naughty things they do on the grid. But then, customer is the king. And so many of those guys with lousy avatars wants to be sure that they won't end up in a cybersex session with a male human. So, it is quite common to see a photograph in the 1st life tab of an escort. Like that is some kind of insurance. Like that cannot be a photo taken from the web, be it stranger's, friend's or ex-girlfriend's. But then, if the guys feel better that way, why not? It sounds more like they are buying a relief for their homophobia than security, but what's the difference anyway?
Selling photos of the humans seems to be a nice business in the Red Light District. Wait! They are paying lindens for the photos of naked girls? Isn't web oversaturated with those? One doesn't have to be a surfing genius to get a ton of those for free. So what's the catch? On one side we have an avatar that does dirty talking or typing, anims and stuff, on the other we have human sharing photos. Those two hardly go together. One either plays cybersex or surfs porn, each to its own. In this case, it seems more like that second life, all the avatars and tiny flexi skirts are just a front window for the good old Internet peep shows. Meet on the grid, but then let's get rid of the buggy client and switch to Skype and photos. Sure that is the case when webcams are mentioned in the profile.
Just for a second, let's see what is going on in that mixed reality event. Sure that the guy is aware that photo might not be real. They are accepting the game. Just as we all do when we engage in the communication via avatars. So what's the catch? Is there a touch of "reality" that photos offer? I don't think so. Is it in any way similar to that OOC cybersex experience I was writing about a year ago?
But not all the girls are doing photographs. Some are very explicit about "what happens in SL stays in SL" and there are no photos, let alone any other means of communication offered. No kissing on the mouth, to use the meatspace analogy. Native metaversal cybering. Interesting thing is that, by the customs we usually see, those two tribes should be separated and probably in permanent conflict, not standing on the same square. At least, that is the case with all the other businesses. Just take a look on never ending immersion and augmentation story.
And, once again, there is a huge question how many of those photos are photos of the humans that actually sits behind the keyboards. Browsing profiles shows that most of the girls have highly augmantative avatars. Yes, they are looking more gorgeous in avatar form as expected. But there is a resemblance between two images. Maybe somebody takes that as more believable. Other thing is that photographs are rarely of super-hot porn-like girls. That can be also a signature of trustworthiness. Or of a girl that is wise enough to sell the story about ordinary looking girl next door that gets wild in the metaverse.
Which leads us to the next and maybe the most important question: How many of them are really doing this just because they love to get wild in the metaverse? We all have our kinks, this one should not differ then others. For most of them, working as an escort in the second life is not a source of any significant amount of money. Except in the cases of working with webcams or spending hell of a time on the streets, it might pay the rent for virtual apartment and a couple of new dresses, not more than that. Sure they are not trapped in some nasty trafficking and are not forced to do what they do. I guess the number is huge. We have professionals working with love and dedication, it seems.
Well you already know I was expecting this post…
unfortunately I have any more clue to add cause (strange enough) I share your very same point of view about this.
One thing I know for sure is that now, (thanx to your pics…) I’ll have to trash a nice dress… (grrr!)
But maybe we should get deep within the argument and give a try to these “girls” :P
No, you are just prohibited to wear that dress on the specific location :)
I want all the details if you run into the next level of adventure.