Strange, Taboo and Unusual Things in Second Life, Part 1- Lilly Lacewing Reporting

I took on this assignment because I love a good challenge, even more so when said challenge is also entertaining! Picking up the virtual rocks to see the virtual bugs that scatter from underneath, I took a few looks into some of the darker and stranger corners of Second Life, and what it has to offer. Before I get started, though, I want to say nothing here is meant to offend anyone, merely to express awe at things unusual that I found lurking through the grid. If I offend anyone, I apologize, it is not my intent.

First up?

Maternity and Abortion Clinics!

Firstly, let me say, I understand the Maternity aspect of this very well. Lots of women cannot have children in RL, and through HUDs like Mama Alpa, and others, a woman can kind of get to experience having and raising a child. While, obviously, it’s not the same, I see the draw there. What I cannot understand are the clinics in SL which also perform abortions. Wait, abortions??

 I thought SL would be a perfect place to engage in the mom game, but do ‘accidents’ really happen in SL like they do in RL? Why would someone need to have an abortion in SL? If you buy the HUDs to breed, wouldn’t it then make sense that you WANT the child more than anything, as evidenced by how much a person is willing to pay for the HUDs (which, mind you, have a realistic odds system for getting pregnant build right into it,)? I’m not claiming to know all here, I genuinely don’t understand. Please, if you have a story about an accidental pregnancy in SL, feel free to share your story in the comments and help me understand!

Next up?

Church, in Second Life!

 This one is only strange to yours truly because of how scarily similar to RL churches, SL churches can be. I got to listen in on a service, and it gave me goose bumps and flashbacks to being a too curious for my own good creature, slowly suffocating in her nylons (it’s a sensory processing issue, can’t stand their texture, makes my skin scrawl.) While SL churches provide an AMAZING service to those who cannot get out of their homes for their RL Sunday worship (or Saturday, or Friday, religion depending,) to those who are mobile enough, but just need their dose of God even in SL. Hooray for community! However, Second Life churches, to those who do NOT have a need of their services, are undeniably creepy places. Avatars dressed either as angels, or in virginal white, sing hymns, while preachers tell you Bible Stories and pass around the virtual collection plates (some things never change, from RL to SL. Sigh. Since when does God need money?) Anyways, back on point. SL churches, while greatly helpful to some, give nightmarish flashbacks to others. Catholics, I know you’ve got my back on this! For an even stranger twist, some of these churches worship the Gods of Sex, if you catch my drift. So whether your needs are simple, non-denom Christian, or any other standard religion, you can find a church for you in Second Life. And if you worship Sex Gods? Well, there are plenty of churches for you, too, that are infinitely more fun, I’d wager.

Next up in our sideshow circus?

Rape Sims and Gangbang Shows

 Now, this is the ultimate winner in the tableau of weird, strange, and bizarre things that SL has to offer. There are places, where if you have the right HUD, you can engage in what I like to call the Rape Games. You go there, turn on your HUD (maybe more steps, I’m not sure, I don’t have a RAPE HUD,) and then let the games begin. Being a diligent little Avatar, I went to go check out one of the places where folks hang out for the Rape Games. Almost immediately, an Avi started following me. I moved, he followed. I moved, he followed. You get it. I immediately told a safe white lie that I knew would end the conversation I knew was coming. “Dude, I have a massive (BLEEP), you want that? Keep following.” Naturally, it worked, and I was free to snoop again, however by that point, I’d felt I’d seen enough to know that it’s a creepy, bizarre scene. Not judging those who engage in the play themselves, but there are a lot of rape victims in the world. I doubt they had fun with it. To me, making a game out of something others experience as an unwanted, violating, horror in their life, others role play it because it tickles their proverbial toes. But still, I found worse… The Gangbang shows.

 Yeah, you read that right. There are places in SL where you can go watch a Gangbang show. And that’s exactly what it is, a show, where a bunch of usually dudes, gang up on one usually chick, and go to town on her, while being verbally degrading to her as well. The only other Avatar I felt safe while there was my tiny fly. Not that you can’t see me, or find my nametag, but thankfully as a fly I was safe from approach. This wasn’t a bestiality sim, after all (though I saw one of those too and I now know, not that I wanted to, where to go if you want your Avi to get it on with a horse.) I can’t really go into any more detail without this suddenly becoming an X-rated column, but for those of you out there who just NEED some weird, feel free to seek out your bizarre sex churches (and traditional ones as well,) your Rape Games or your Maternity clinics, where you can birth prim babies and also satisfy a milk maid fetish at the same time.

Ahh, SL, it’s always been your intrinsic weirdness that’s stolen my heart. Go on, Avies, fly your freak flag hard, explore and tell us about the strange things you’ve encountered in Second Life.