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$).