20 November 2008

Cops and Whores

Charged with a glass of wine and cigarettes, I wandered through SL last night on my favourite type of quest: an interesting chat. Yes, I must admit that, as much as I like wandering, what I really adore is running into a random man or woman from a random place in the world and chatting them up for a while. To me, there are few things finer in the glorified chat room that is Second Life.


Last night, I came across a newbie (a/k/a person new to Second Life, for those who live only in the real world) and had a touching chat. He is a little over twice my age and is getting into SL because he was retired - but not retired by choice. Years of smoking had given him COPD, so his career as a police officer was cut short. We discussed things he could get up to in SL, and I am happy to report that, of all the things he said he wanted to do, have sex with me was not on the list. As I've said before, I enjoy a good virtual shag now and again, but after a 30 minute chat with someone about lives, careers and situations, I rather don't want to hear, 'well, let's fuck.' He did say I was hot a few times, but, hey, nothing wrong with that. No, in this case, at the end, the only thing I gave him was a folder of landmarks to various free places before bidding him adieu.


Later, I was on a desolate island (having put the word 'desolate' in my search engine) and met a whore. I could not glean much from her, as she was using a translator that itself needed a translator, but I did get that she was a whore in RL and a whore in SL. Regarding the latter, she's also a cheap whore - charging a mere 300 Lindens (about $1.20 in US currency) for a relatively standard cuddle/blow job/fuck episode. However, what struck me was she alternated repeatedly between saying "I want to quit" and "I want more customers." Each time I followed her down either line of thinking, she would jump to the other. She found the act fairly degrading after years of doing it in SL, and hated her avatar, which she had to distort beyond reason (big boobs, huge ass, wide eyes) in order to keep up her virtual lifestyle. Instead of escapsim, here was a girl who actively translated her own misery in the real world into a virtual misery in Second Life. I friended her just before I left, but I have no idea what I'd say to her if I saw her again.


It wasn't the most happy or exciting pair of people I met, and certainly it ranks low on the adventure-o-meter. But I hope that, having met me, they might have had a bit more of a smile. Am I being selfish or hopeful? Probably a bit of both, eh?

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