When I first came to Second Life in 2010, I, like many people, first encountered sex furniture in public places. I didn't know what I was doing, what to buy, how to rent Skyboxes, etc., and relied on public venues to explore, ahem, the more scandalous parts of my personality.
I quickly discovered a problem: I didn't know the menu. I jokingly described how in IM chat, I would say something akin to Our avatars turn right, only to click on a menu option and watch our avatars turn left. Horrors of horrors! I remember chatting with one poor woman who agreed to a dance but when we both sat on our respective blue and pink balls, and I clicked on what I thought was waltz, I looked up at my computer screen in horror as our two avatars started going at it like a pair of rabid dogs in heat. I think I actually let out an audible scream as I frantically clicked around trying to get something (Anything!) a tad more sedate and dance-like.
I decided to correct this issue by doing the following:
- Buy my own furniture and study it.
- Rent my own Skybox.
- Always invite potential partners to the Skybox and use my own furniture, never use public spaces.
My Alts
Studying the furniture required an extra step: make an alt. I couldn't really study couples animations with one avatar, so I made an alt for the express purpose of having a second person for my sex furniture. Somewhere in all this is a joke about somebody angry with me and telling me to go f*ck myself. Well... Ha, ha!
True story: My first alt was a male avatar. One day, I'm going through the menu of a sex bed when I clicked on a 69 sex position. As I watched my two male avatars go at it, it suddenly occurred to me that the old adage was not true: I could suck and blow at the same time! :-)
Sometime later, I made a female avatar which made me think my testing was then a little more realistic considering my heterosexual bent. This is where I repeat Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Notecards
My testing involved creating a notecard in which I wrote out points about the piece of furniture in question. I would list off all menu items and I would create scenarios, covering various sexual topics: fellatio, cunnilingus, missionary, doggystyle, post-sex cuddling, etc. Anytime I invited anybody over, I would open the notecard and refer to it as I went through the sex furniture menu. I'm sure somebody may think this took away from the supposed spontaneity, but I assure you, I think it added to the overall experience. In my article on Ballroom Dancing, I point out how I practiced different dance steps, waltz, cha-cha, tango, etc. and when called upon, I could do those dances. Likewise, here with my sex furniture, I wanted to have a good experience and not rely on random chance when clicking an unknown menu item. This did not stop me from improvising as the situation demanded as I could pick and choose from various scenarios I had jotted down in my notecard.
Let me further explain the necessity of studying animation menus. Last year, a friend invited me to their property, and we sat on a bench with romance animations. I called up the menu and discovered two top menus Friends and Cuddles. I opened the Cuddles menu and found Cuddle1, Cuddle2, Cuddle3, etc. What the heck was Cuddle1? This is a perfect example of needing to know in advance what the menu options do or you are truly taking a risk by choosing anything. In the end, the two of us did just that, kept choosing various cuddles until we found something appropriate. However, I thought the multiple selections were distracting from the intimacy of the moment. But that's just me.
I realize in writing the above, the same could be said for any menu which has properly named options. Considering how short the name of an option is in a pop-up dialog box, it's impossible to truly understand what you're getting. I find it frustrating to go through a list of choices and discover I'm sitting on the left of my partner, then on the right, and once again back to the left. Sure, I realize we use IM chat to smooth over any discrepancies and fill in any blanks, but I sometimes find it frustrating to have to make up for many discrepancies and many blanks. Call me anal retentive, but I hate being caught unaware and am forced to randomly click various menu options, searching for something appropriate. I get the impression the builder of the piece of furniture had a bunch of animations on hand and just threw them in haphazardly. I'd like to have a good experience with my partner, and some furniture makes it difficult. I suppose one could argue I'm a perfectionist. Ha!
Modern Furniture
Today's furniture have certainly improved from the days of poseballs. First off, no poseballs! Secondly, integration with various secondary systems such as male and female genitalia and INM (It's Not Mine!). It's quite the technological achievement. Hats off to the programmers who are upping their game.
Nevertheless, the menu problem still exists. Life is like a box of chocolates, and with Second Life and its sex furniture menu options, you never know what you're going to get. I like a little pre-planning. If we decide to do the tango, I like to know the steps.
Sidebar: The Question of Alts
In RL, we can get a new outfit; we can get our hair done; we can sort of change out look. But in SL, you can go all out by creating a completely different avatar, an alt. Ah, if RL was as easy!
I have several alts but as you can see from the above, I use them strictly for testing purposes. However, some people create an alt to start over, to do something completely different, to take a break from their regular life. Those are the good reasons to have an alt. And now for the bad reasons: cheating on your partner.
True story: Last year, I got chatting with a woman. I forget her name so let's call her GirlA. So, GirlA has a boyfriend BF and a girlfriend GirlB. Apparently, BF has expressed interest in going out with GirlB. Out of the blue, GirlB, starts going out with Mystery Guy, but at some point, BF and Mystery Guy say the same thing. Suspicious, GirlA and GirlB together confront BF and Mystery Guy and discover BF and Mystery Guy are the same person. BF had apparently made an alt, Mystery Guy, in order to go out with GirlB.
The result was that GirlA and GirlB got mad at BF. GirlA dumped BF; GirlB dumped Mystery Guy; and now, both GirlA and GirlB refuse to have anything to do with BF. I asked why all the subterfuge? Why wasn't BF upfront in the first place and just try to work out something with both of them, GirlA and GirlB to date BF at the same time with everybody in the know, such as in a polyamorous arrangement? Nope, BF had to hide everything and trick GirlA and GirlB.
I keep saying that not everyone knows how to dance. I'm sure BF has no experience whatsoever with polyamory. Consequently, he went back to the traditional method of lying and cheating to get what he wanted and ended up losing everything. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. Old saying: Always tell the truth. There's less to remember.
Final Word
Years ago, I jokingly said I should have gone into the making of sex furniture, but I don't mean for creating the furniture; I mean for overseeing the organization of the animations to better provide the potential for smooth and comprehensive scenarios. I don't like having incomplete things: instead of steps 1 through 6, I have steps 1, 2, 4, part of 5, and 6 is missing. I don't like illogical things: Sometimes I'm sitting on the left and sometimes on the right. I don't like missing things: When we stand up to leave, why can't we have a kiss goodbye?
In SL, we are writing an interactive story. My partner and I are both contributing dialogue (and actions, thoughts, and emotions) to a scenario playing out before us. I repeat, the real substance is in the communication. But I also repeat that a well-timed animation can further enhance the scene. I learn the tango; I practice my steps; and when the moment arrives to dance the tango, I try to execute the steps to the best of my ability so I can give not only my partner, but myself the best dance experience possible.
2022-05-28
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment