Hmm…sometimes stories just walk right up to you. I had promised my very lovely editor that I would try and write an article for the Redlight section. And so I found myself standing like a goof in the middle of one of SL’s public orgy rooms, waiting for inspiration to strike. Several ideas flitted through my mind. The interest some men have wielding penises like light-sabres, for one, and how the orgy rooms seem to be a popular first port of call after Orientation Island, for another. But then he walked past. I’ll let the story unfold through our IM conversation, shall I?EC: Hi Ancien?
Ancien Beauchamp: Hi
EC: You have just walked past me and I am interested in your avatar
Ancien Beauchamp: Thx (he returns)…also your avatar is interesting... :-)
EC: I have to be frank, it's refreshing to see an avatar that isn't 25 and buff…
Ancien Beauchamp: Well... I have no tattoos
Ancien Beauchamp: and I am some kilos overweight
Ancien Beauchamp: I need glasses
Ancien Beauchamp: and my hair has gone
EC: The sunhat is a touch of genius
Ancien Beauchamp: It’s because of my…er…hair... you know.
We adjourn to a nearby sim with park benches out of the way of the light-sabres and a tattooed avi who is over-interested in the Cortes curves. I find myself worrying about Ancien’s knees…I don’t want to force him to sit on one of the orgy room’s low slung cushions…
EC: I should come clean. I am a journalist for the SL-Newspaper and I was going to write about one of the orgy rooms but it was leaving me kind of uninspired. Recently I wrote about project called the Avatar Identity Research Centre and I got interested in how different avatars are perceived in SL. I have met VERY few age-orientated avatars. I am really interested in why you choose to present yourself in the way you do and what reactions it provokes.
Ancien Beauchamp: Well…I have to admit... this is not the only avi I have. First of all... I have to say that with this one... well... more girls are contacting me than with the others
EC: Are the others male too? More conventional?
Ancien Beauchamp: Yes. One is a very normal male, not so muscular, etc. If you like, I can show you.
EC: Sure!
Ancien Beauchamp: So you can have an idea…
And so he shows me. Gone is the little dumpy man who reminds me of a mix between my grandfather and Truman Capote and there is a, well, handsome male avatar. And even then I can see that there’s something bland in this Ancien compared to the “old” Ancien.
Ancien Beauchamp: Something like that.
EC: Ok. So, what do you think makes “old” Ancien more appealing to women?
Ancien Beauchamp: No, not more appealing… I think they (you) think it is strange that a man chooses an ugly av.
Ancien Beauchamp changes back into dumpy old bald Ancien and asks for my advice on his camisole …one sporting a lovely feminine 1970s floral pattern, in mauve.
Ancien Beauchamp: and the sun hat... :-)
EC: They are excellent choices
Ancien Beauchamp: When this avi is on, I go around and look. It is very interesting to see reactions. But, well... if you want to know... with this avi I haven’t had sex. However, some escorts try to offer me a rebate…( he mimics) “50% off…300L$ normally, but for you 150L$”
EC: I can see that if I print that, more men may be trying on an old avi. Do you notice a difference in the way people speak to you?
Ancien Beauchamp: A couple of girls surprised me; they started talking to me and they said that wasn't so much important how I looked. But other girls, when I said "Hi!” said "Hi-bye"…
EC: Nice...
Ancien Beauchamp: Yes
EC: What prompted you to create Ancien?
Ancien Beauchamp: I wanted to experiment. I started with a "normal" one with size and skin similar to me in RL, very conventional, then I tried to change something, to have a more muscular one and then this one, old and deformed. I always went to the same places but with different looks and I experimented with different reactions.
EC: So, what have you got out of the experience?
Ancien Beauchamp: Before I tried this “old” avi, I thought that only good looking female avatars were interesting people but then I started to be interested also in other ones.
Ancien Beauchamp: but they must have something in their profiles
EC: for example?
Ancien Beauchamp: I don’t know…a phrase or a picture, or something else…
And, do you know, I found myself hoping that there was something in my profile that Ancien liked. The person behind the keyboard had a sexier mind than one could hope for in a room full of porn Jedi. Of course, these are the edited highlights of a conversation that ranged over music and SL orgy rooms, and that started to build a friendship. I find myself feeling sorry for the “hi-bye” girls. They have missed out. Big time.
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