cyber-sexdaq

In an effort to keep TN’s front page family friendly, the whole of this post is over the fold.

NSFW!

A short time ago I thought it would be fun to have a look at the actual dollar value of the face value of Monopoly money. The difficulty with comparing things across worlds is that there is no common unit of utility that an in-game currency represents. The only thing that it seems sensible to compare against is the currency unit / hour rate that can be achieved under normal conditions of virtual world use.

Then it struck me that there might be at lest one comparator that could be common across worlds which might cast a slightly different light on in-world currency values, and that’s sex. More specifically paid for in-world sex, and potentially the ultimate unit of measure may be the ’15 min quickie blowjob’, giving us the QBJ index.

Why that? Well, certainly in Second Life it seems to be a standard offer, which has the advantage of being fairly well defined in terms of duration and activity. The issue with other practices is that they become blurry fairly quickly 30 min of straight sex may or may not include some fetish that it seen as a norm in a given environment, and I imagine fetishes are more highly subject to local market conditions.

From my limited sample set I worked out that the Average SL-QBJ rate is about L$360.

Which if I have my sums right is about $1.5. Given that this might include Skype and / or web cam (though those are higher rates), at about 1 [correction 28/10/06] 10 cent a min that’s some darn cheap virtual sex, especially considering that phone sex in the US can be way upward of $1 per min.

I’ve been digging around over the last day or so but I just can’t find any other sources of rates for cyber-sex in other virtual worlds. There must be, what do we call it, well, virtual prostitution services in all virtual worlds of sufficient size, I’d be staggered if there is not though it may not be quite as commercialized as in SL.

So - does the TN hivemind happen to know rates for WoW, Habbo, There etc etc? Is the WOW-QBJ rate higher or lower than the SWG-QBJ rate? Feel free to post anonymously. 

Why?

Well - one thing that I’m wondering is what factors might impact price. Would these be general strength of virtual economy factors or more local ones based on the community? One might think that supply of such services were harder to come by in There or Habbo, than SL. OK pretty much anywhere is likely to have a lower, or at least less evident, supply side than SL.

An interesting difference between this element of the MMO economy and ‘gold farming’ is that it would appear to be difficult to buy in comparative cheap labour from less well off physical world economies. The reason being that cyber sex requires a facility in language. I’m sure for many, bad grammar may ruin a fantasy (unless the idea of the other as foreign is part of it). Thus unless cyber sex is being fully automated it requires a skill base that is fluent in the dominant language and more specifically the use of sexual terminology and cultural practices. Interestingly this seems another area where SL offers opportunities to the skill rich not just time rich.

As an end note (warning this get's more explicit):
Data-gathering for this piece was an interesting exercise. For a long time in SL sex and sexual subcultures have been evident through clubs who’s walls are lined with porn, to the pose ball trade, sky-boxes and heavily sexualised avatars.

But, on the surface the cyber-sex industry, or cyber-prostitution had (at least it seemed to me, to have been a little under the covers) relying a thin code of ‘dancers’ and ‘escorts’ and ‘adult clubs’. These days there are just ads on walls and at least on web site devoted to the sex-trade: SL Escorts. Not only is this a great resource for prices but Cybering ads (a truly fascinating art to rival the little cards we get in phone boxes here in the UK) which display a truly bewildering array of ‘standard’ offers. Here is a sample: Complete oral envelopment and exsemination, Submissive Slut/Slave/Fucktoy
- Rough Sex/Forced Sex/Rape
- Interracial; Sex/Gangbangs
- Cheating Girlfriend/Wife; ageplay, roasting, death, gang rape, ponygirl.

There are also interesting exclusions for example: “Please, note that I am NOT Gorean”. Age play below 18 seems to be a big dividing line too, many, possibly most will not engage in it. My fave exclusion is “Will not remove her tail or ears for You”.

Disappointingly I find little that is SL specific e.g. zero gravity. I wonder if other virtual-worlds have a higher presence of world specific fantasies, c'mon Elves and Ewoks there must be some highly specific deviance in those cultures.

Comments

[Scott Jennings]

1.

Amazingly, many MMO players (in fact, I'd hazard most) log in for reasons other than virtual oral sex. Thus I'm not sure that's a really good benchmark.

[Kupyi]

2.

Your math is wrong... $1.50 over 15 minutes is $0.10/minute.

[Michael Chui]

3.

I don't think Ren is treating it as a benchmark, but an interesting indicator, possibly of the importance of player skill and knowledge in what is inarguably the one thing more universal than hack-n-slash kill-everything: sex.

Despite that, wouldn't the fact that Anshe Chung declares herself to be worth more than 1 million USD be more newsworthy?

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196513336
http://www.anshechung.com/include/press/press_release251106.html

[Michael Chui]

4.

w00t. That's what I get for visiting Terra Nova based on Location bar history. I completely missed the Anshe Chung post yesterday. =P *runs away*

[Neils Clark]

5.

In 2 years of playing World of Warcraft, I can safely say that I have never, ever, ever witnessed any in-game conversation that in any way alluded to the 15 minute WoW-QBJ.

That said, you might enjoy hearing how the money factor worked for two characters named "Hawtgrrlirl," One human female, the other an undead male.

-At level 19-35, the female human "Hawtgrrl" was stalked incessantly by a level 30 Paladin. While he never requested any type of sexual activity, offers of gold and assistance were frequent.

-At level 35, the male undead Hawt was offered 20 gold for nothing. When I identified Hawt as an alt, my would-be benefactor seemed shocked and dismayed.

-I was asked on two memorable occasions, "got pics," and on many others "asl." Much to the detriment of science, I would always use such introductions as a springboard to cheeky antics.

I talked with one well-regarded (and hot IRL) level 60 female WoW player. She said that while Cyber happens a lot, she's would be reticent to engage in it. Besides the usual qualms, there could be "screenshots, defamation, embarassment."

As a Mon Calimarian multi-millionaire I did once invite a clever Twilek cantina dancer out on an intergalactic shopping spree. Again, however, the SWG-QBJ was never an element to the day's activities.

[Richard Bartle]

6.

Ren>there might be at lest one comparator that could be common across worlds which might cast a slightly different light on in-world currency values, and that’s sex.

This assumes that the supply and demand is constant across all virtual worlds. The design of the world and the culture of the world would either encourage or discourage the practice, and the player demographics would be important too (a game populated mainly by straight men with few straight women is going to have a different pricing structure to one populated mainly by straight women with few straight men).

Whatever, it can't be all that much of a money-spinner or we'd have teams of virtual prostitutes plying their wares across game worlds instead of farming gold.

Richard

[Neils Clark]

7.

If you haven't already read Aaron's article on the SL sex industry, then now's the time.

[Cael]

8.

From Aaron's article:

>"They know that I run a successful club in Second Life," she says with a grin. "But not that type of club."

Permit me a textual raised eyebrow here. Virtually every gamer i know would have difficulty in believing that there was any other type of club of SL.

[Ren Reynolds]

9.

Scott Jennings > Amazingly, many MMO players (in fact, I'd hazard most) log in for reasons other than virtual oral sex. Thus I'm not sure that's a really good benchmark.

Of course they do other things. They kill Orks, Dragons, Imperial Guards, Fish, shop for virtual shoes, Trade, Explore etc etc. That’s exactly my point. My question is, what in-world activity is common across worlds?

The only way we seem to have to measure relative value is the USD. But the USD is just another currency and one that moves itself (right now one can get almost 2 USD for the British Pound).

One way economists get round this is with artefact indexes such as the Mars Bar ™ or the Big Mac ™. One of the ideas I was playing with that idea with the Monopoly post was baseline against another fantasy currency, on that people might perceive to have zero value.

So, what better benchmark that something experiential that is widely valued, is relatively well defined and can and is delivered in-world for in world currencies across multiple worlds. If there is something else that meets these criteria, let’s look at that too.

What’s more, the economics of the in-world sex industry is not one that I’ve seen studied that much. We know that sex is a major factor that drives the development of many technologies and is one of the basis of the success of the internet, moreover SL would not be the economy it is now without sexual sub-communities and the in-word sex trade.

[Ren Reynolds]

10.

Richard > This assumes that the supply and demand is constant across all virtual worlds.

Yes, as I said in the middle of the piece it might be that local conditions impact this sort of trade, though I was thinking about the impact as being high in terms of fetish, but the impact might be much more prevalent. I'd be interested in being proved wrong about the size of the demand. I'd be interested in any proof of market size for online sex within virtual worlds.

Richard > Whatever, it can't be all that much of a money-spinner or we'd have teams of virtual prostitutes plying their wares across game worlds instead of farming gold.

As I noted, there is a different skill base, so we might not see this.

Maybe SL is unique.

[Peter Clay]

11.

What in-world activity is common across worlds

Must there be such an activity? Isn't it rather reductionist to say that ultimately all the worlds must have some single common element?

[Ren Reynolds]

12.

Peter Clay > Must there be such an activity? Isn't it rather reductionist to say that ultimately all the worlds must have some single common element?

I'm not being normative about this in any strong sense about what we do in virtual worlds. There my be no common activity. But if we do make comparisons, and such things are done, then from a descriptive point of view it seems good to have comparators so that we compare apples with apples. The USD maybe the best we have.

[SH]

13.

Ah, now I understand why people want to play that poorly animated game of nothing to do. Sex sells, no?

[Cael]

14.

Perhaps a more widespread activity is generation of wealth. If some wealth/time general formula could be found encompassing each of the various activities (including the QBJ) that might help.

Or perhaps, as you say, the value of each floated via IGE and Ebay is the best measure. Amount available on ebay versus price should give us a fair idea of demand which in turn reflects on the userbase and how easy the game is to grind.

If companies were actually more open in reporting user numbers, that might even be the way to formulate a single "grind unit" for comparison.

[Detritus]

15.

Ren> Why that? Well, certainly in Second Life it seems to be a standard offer, which has the advantage of being fairly well defined in terms of duration and activity. The issue with other practices is that they become blurry fairly quickly 30 min of straight sex may or may not include some fetish that it seen as a norm in a given environment, and I imagine fetishes are more highly subject to local market conditions.

I have been reading TN daily for about 3 years, and have to say this is my favorite post. My hats off to you Ren, your combination of whimsy and academia here are perfect.

I can answer your question for Guild Wars, as Random Arena American District 1 seems to always have someone offering a private 15 minute “Dance” for about 100gold. 100k gold is $6.59 USD at oforu.com (my favorite RMT) so the GW-OBJ is $0.007.

On a personal note: no one can type fast enough one-handed. I admit I tried cybering when the offer was presented to me in a Diablo 1 lobby, that remains the only time I ever even attempted the practice.

[ian]

16.

In running through my daily list of websites, one of which includes SomethingAwful, I came across their latest rundown of all things unfortunate about Warcraft. this time it focuses on RPers. On the second page, third image down, you might find this moderately interesting: http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4276&p=2

Apparently many RPers use a program in warcraft called FlagRSP. Haven't used it and I'm not sure if there's a way to search through people's profiles, but perhaps its a start for you.

[Ren Reynolds]

17.

Detritus > this is my favorite post. My hats off to you Ren, your combination of whimsy and academia here are perfect.

Blimey. Thanks. Opinion seems to be divided on this one.

[ron meiners]

18.

Detritus> was presented to me in a Diablo 1 lobby

Diablo 1 lobby? At Mplayer or Battlenet?

The original multiplayer Diablo was hosted by Mplayer.

Which certainly also had its share of sexual activity, but it was all free (so far as I know).

[Daniel Speed]

19.

I'm with Detritus on this one, it's a funny and thought provoking post. Not every post has to require a dictionary to decipher, or take itself so seriously that it looks like it suffers a mineral deficiency... it tends to scare some of us off.

[Detritus]

20.

Ron> Diablo 1 lobby? At Mplayer or Battlenet?

Battlenet; it should be noted that I was initially confronted with the practice very early on in my play, either the first or second night I played online. You never forget your first time... especially when it is also your last.

[jane]

21.

What about using a virtual space as a way to connect up for phone sex? Say, over TeamSpeak or some other such application?

[Andy Havens]

22.

The number of puns I'm holding back... must... not... pun...

OK. One that's safe for the kids. Does making money doing a repetitive sensual activity in a VW count as "The Bump and Grind?"

Question for the crew... would it be better to use an activity that isn't (one assumes, perhaps erroneously in some cases) "male" oriented/required? From a comparison standpoint, you'll be leaving a certain percentage of transactions out of the picture if you select an activity that is, well... phallocentric.

[Michael Chui]

23.

Does making money doing a repetitive sensual activity in a VW count as "The Bump and Grind?"

Heh. This explains everything about MMORPGs and VWs in general. I hereby declare Andy to be Chief Designer of the Metaverse, a position that, unsurprisingly, doubles as Court Jester.

[Lyman Brown]

24.

I lead a pretty sheltered existence (never having logged onto Second Life or paid for sex), so I may not understand how this works, but isn't the 'blowjob' just a particular variety of interactive pornography? And if this is the case, isn't its value highly dependent on the interface through which the pornography is presented? The original article mentioned phone-sex (via skype) and web-cam services, and these would likely be substantial additions, and would certainly command increased prices. Similarly, the average blowjob purchaser would be more likely to pay more money for a more realistic depiction.

Another factor might be the nature of the user base and the effect it could have on supply and demand for this service. World of Warcraft, for example, may well attract a disproportionately male and adolescent user base. Such a base would presumably be more likely (both intrinsically and because of the scarcity of compatible providers) to pay a higher price for a sexual service, even one that was poorly rendered in the game interface. In fact, I think that the World of Warcraft base is so large that such an effect would not be significant, but it's something to bear in mind.

[hikaru]

25.

/yawn.

There is no going rate for cyber in MMOGs, because unlike SL, MMOGs are far more on the gamey end of the gamey-worldy spectrum, and because everything in SL revolves around cold limp cash.

Frankly speaking, the fact that it's common enough in SL to have a going rate is further reinforcement of my lack of any interest in SL.

And have they told you? SL graphics suck harder than SL virtual providers.

[Samantha Poindexter]

26.

Cael > Permit me a textual raised eyebrow here. Virtually every gamer i know would have difficulty in believing that there was any other type of club of SL.

Actually, there are many clubs in SL that don't offer cybersex, and even among those that do, it's not generally the main focus. Others focus on dancing, socializing, roleplaying, or playing in-world games.

(I happen to work at the house referred to in the linked article, though, for which "club" would be a euphemism. We're an upscale brothel. With a weekly trivia game. Because in my fantasy life I'm an escort with a weekly trivia game, that's why.)