image from MMOrgy.com
There's a lot of sex in virtuality, and quite a disproportionate amount in Second Life, the virtual world from Linden Lab oft covered on these web pages. We've talked about the out-of-world implications for interactive jiggery pokery already, but it's come to my attention via a superb article from last month on the sex-in-online-worlds site MMOrgy.com that there's pregnancy and childbirth in SL. Curious. I admit I've checked out a couple of baby factories in the world, but haven't yet gone the way of Greg or Keith (in digitalia, that is).
At the moment, the offspring which any resident can bring into the virtual world is not resultant of a digital tryst; like with most things in the space, it's economic. You can buy a baby in any of the boundless infant clinics which are popping up all around the digital landscape as avatars rush to bring forth progeny into the digital sphere. I imagine there may be an overpopulation problem in the future if this fad continues.
These babies are automated, like Non-Player Characters. They are not enacted by real people. In effect, they are bots; it just so happens that their shapes are "Baby". They could just as easily be "dog", "ferret" or "automatic hoover". Depending upon the package you choose (and this is starting to sound an awful lot like Total Recall), you can take the kid away immediately, like you would in a transaction for a dress or a bit of bling, or you can go through the whole birthing process - preceded if you wish by a "nine month" period of manually expanding your avatar's belly in the "edit" screen.
Childbirth looks as painful as the real thing. It occurs with stirrups, gynos, the whole thing, and an expectant mum's movements (the screams, the pushes etc) are animated by an in-world "pose ball", or bit of code which takes the over the avatar's movements. Unfortunately to date it doesn't look like there are yet any alternative options; no water-births, at-home births, seated births, etc.
Now, while it's all well and good to talk about the mechanics, I'm interested in a meta-issue. I won't explore the reasons people do this sort of thing (the MMOrgy article does that well), or even how they go about going at it in the first place, but I do wonder how the in-world dynamics would change if the rampant virtual coitus resulted in a lots of unanticipated little bundles of joy, or a virtual virus. Would the virtual world be over-run with ankle-biters, and would avatars die of virtual AIDS? Or would the populations who enjoy flexing their attachments move elsewhere in order to engage in no-strings fornication?
In the real world, it's rather difficult to conceive. Lots of things have to be in place for the egg and the sperm to manifest into a little darling. It's not exactly random, but let's just say that it's not always the outcome of a roll in the hay. According to the MMOrgy article, avs in the game Sociolotron have cycles, complete with the monthly visit. Again, it's not always a given that virtual intercourse equals pregnancy, but it's certainly more of a possibility than in Second Life.
As far as I know, there are no virtual STDs resulting from unsafe sex in the digital landscape. There are certainly viruses which take over worlds - notably WoW and SL have both been hit by such epidemics - so surely, something like this could be implemented. Again, what effect would this have? Would there still be as much experimentation, but just a new roaring trade in prophylactics?
Virtual worlds are often places for safe experimentation. Would implementing such consequences have an effect on the enjoyment of the game?
And now, for an even more out-there idea, read up on Teledildonic Conception, also from MMOrgy.
