The elusive digital shemale
Check this out. Lately I’ve been trying to create a Second Life avatar with a hermaphroditic appearance — not an easy task by any means. It’s more of an experiment than anything else at this point. But still, I haven’t had much success. In fact, I keep the experimental av discreetly tucked away in my Second Life inventory because it currently still resembles a Frankenstein’s monster more than anything else.
In the meantime, I recently purchased a virtual penis for Cheri Horton (my current SL av) to see how much it would evoke the image of what’s colloquially referred to as a shemale. The penis attachment is cool, to a degree. But take a look at this canned text that appears on-screen while Cheri masturbates. Note the use of pronouns. It’s entertaining stuff:
[12:36] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri begins to stroke himself.
[12:36] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is lightly aroused.
[12:37] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is breathing a little heavily.
[12:37] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Beads of perspiration are starting to appear on Cheri’s body.
[12:37] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is most definitely aroused.
[12:38] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is having real trouble concentrating.
[12:38] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri’s body looks flushed and he’s practically writhing.
[12:38] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is breathing heavily and his muscles are bunching.
[12:39] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri’s body is taut, and his eyes are begging you for release!
[12:39] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri is on the verge of an earth shattering orgasm!
[12:39] Xcite! X2 Cock whispers: Cheri cries out in the grip of a powerful orgasm!
Eh — I never liked pre-fabricated text anyway inside MMOs, especially when it comes to dirty talk. The good news is you can mute the X2.
On a related note, at the Sex in Video Games Conference back in June, there was some discussion about a lack of diversity in MMOGs and online worlds in terms of content and story lines. A main question raised was, Why the lack of titles geared more toward women?
I’d like to add transgendered users to the list. (Great definition of transgendered here.) OK, so maybe it’s not a substantial enough niche to build entire MMOGs and online worlds around. Or is it? Dunno. It’s definitely worth some consideration, if anything. I myself often ponder why I have so much trouble creating an authentic-looking shemale avatar — and I’m not just talking about tacking a penis onto a female.
Is it just a question of a lack of commitment and expertise on my part? You certainly don’t have to be a pro and devote endless hours to create a male or a female avatar — at least not in RedLightCenter and Second Life. Yeah, you may take pangs perfecting them, but other than that, you just basically pick one of the two normative sexes from a menu and wham: you’ve got a male, or you’ve got a female. Now go accessorize and tweak.
I know, I’m probably oversimplifying a bit, but I’m trying to make a point.
It would be cool if a third sex was added to the very limited mix. Maybe something that’s a lot more user-friendly in terms of capacity to appear gender variant. But maybe that’s too unrealistic or abstract to ask for. Or maybe I’m just too damn picky.
5 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hmmm. If you need a more interesting place to put that thing than in your hand IM me in game
Most Xcite toys allow you to set the gender so that the pronouns all identify you as you choose. You can also edit them to get a better color match with your normal skin color. I have to agree that the canned emotes “if used alone” can be kind of tacky. Some devices allow you to change them and if you have several copies of the device you can tailor each set of emotes to different specific needs. One thing I “do” like about those canned emotes is that, if triggered by your partner, they provide you with feedback about who is controlling the action. A skilled top familiar with the device you are wearing can keep you “on the verge of an earth shattering orgasm!” for quite some time without going all the way. This can give you a real feeling that “They” are in control. They can make you beg for that last click that will send you over the top.
Tess
Hmmm. If you need a more interesting place to put that thing than in your hand IM me in game.
Heh, get in line. And make sure you have enough bucks in your Linden account.
Yep, I know about the colors and all. Still working to get the tone just right. And I can’t see myself using the canned text for any reason at all. It’s quite lame. But that’s just me.
I try not to plug my own designs on people’s blogs but I think Noche and I have a shared interest…
If you check out RO features, it might be a bit surprising that we have M/F and F/M transgender *body* options in the character editor. You choose your desired gender label from a text drop down rather than getting assigned a label based on the physical body you choose, but our character editor was designed to support any physical sex that doesn’t muck up our animation system. Unfortunately, intersex/ambiguous genitalia/hermaphroditic character bodies is the only human body type we can’t accomodate well.
Our insistence on this feature was actually a factor in losing one of our opportunities to get funding. Early on in development I interviewed transgender people (including the lovely Venus of All the Pretty Horses) and researched what physical features were important to someone portraying a transgender character. It might be a niche interest in the community of players but the inclusion and normalization of a minority group that is so frequently ignored matters more to me than how many trans customers we might reach. I’ve no idea how big or small the market is.
The main idea is to support fantasy play though and you’ll never know how many people want to experiment with alt genders or non-traditional body types until there is a good, safe, easy access to playing with those options. We might find out it’s not very popular at all, but part of the fun of being a developer is that sometimes you get to put the things you like into a game even if your interests are less than mainstream.
So, let’s see. I would be able to create a shemale in RO, but it just wouldn’t look as polished as the male and female avatars?
Also, you could plug here any time, Kelly.
Actually, I don’t think the M/F and F/M bodies look any less polished than the male and females. They’re all kinda equally unpolished though which is why we’re working with an outsource art company just for the character art.
We have 4 types of avatar bodies, and then an editor to customize each of those types. The M/F and F/M bodies are created as their own unique type rather than just a mashup of other body parts. A bio male doesn’t always end up looking like a bio female even with hormones and possible surgical means… the facial and body type is different and the parallel is true for a bio female transgender body. Also, the editor is structured in a way that more or less enables adrogeny and the combining of various features in attractive ways. It will be easier with our system to create femme men and butch women regardless of genitalia. (if that makes sense, lol)
The genital differences are of course important for creating an avatar, but the allure and personality involved with transgender avatars is just like real life… something you can see when the av has their clothing on. But then just like in RL, there will be avs that “pass” or are very… ambiguous until the clothes come off.