SL's Adult-Rated Sims Grow in Number -- and Popularity, Too

Last week I noted that the number of Adult-rated sims in Second Life enjoyed a significant increase last year, while Moderate and General-rated sims declined -- but does that mean popularity in terms of user activity has become more Adult, too? On an initial review of top Second Life sims by user visits, that seems to be the case: In recent months, there are somewhat more Adult-rated sims in Second Life's Top 50 most popular sims by traffic.

Take a look at the chart below, courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, listed according to their average visitor count, their unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month. First, the top 25:

The rest of the 50 after the break. 19 of this top 50, i.e. 38%, are Adult-rated. That's somewhat more than the count typically has been in 2010 and 2011, before Adult sims saw an increase. For instance:

• Noevember 2010: 17 Adult-rated sims.
• September 2011: 15 Adult-rated sims.
• February 2012: 17 Adult-rated sims.

For August 2012, however, there were 20 Adult-rated sims. And in December 2012, 19 Adult-rated sims. To be sure, a difference of 2-5 more sims isn't necessarily a large increase, but it is an increase. Here's the rest of the 50, which include (of course), the indelible, unforgettable Bukkake Bliss:

Once again, Bukkake Bliss notwithstanding (if you can stand it), note that Adult-rated is not the same as porn, because often sims bear the A rating but are not necessarily porn per se. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this Adult trend continues into 2013.

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Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

Which of them that are A are -not- porn?

[ZZ Bottom]

How many of this sims are in mainland?
Bay city i have no doubt, but about the rest?

[Arcadia Codesmith]

While "adult" doesn't necessarily equal "porn", neither does "general" and "moderate" necessarily equal "not porn". There are certain non-adult sims which could most accurately be labeled "Hookup Zone" or "Foreplay".

That's forgoing the distinction between "porn" and "erotica", which lies somewhere between literary pretension and political hair-splitting.

[Ajax Manatiso]

Newbies are suckers so they flock to these "adult sims" only to find out its just a crowd of other newbies standing around waiting for the "adult" to happen.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Ajax: Somewhat true. Though as I live on zindra I explore around a bit and about 2/3rds of the names have last names... which usually precludes them being newbies.

G and M should not equal XXX - when they do, I get out the ol' AR button.

I still ask my first question, because every adult parcel I saw on the list, that I recognized, was a XXX sim. Though there were a few I didn't recognize. Its one thing to say 'not all of these are XXX', but if so; which. Back it.

#s 11, 17, 18, 22, 39, 48, 50 - these of the A sims I don't recognize. Not sure what's found on them yet. What's on them? Are they XXX?

#s 6, 7, 13, 16, 27, 29, 34, 37, 40, 42, 43, 47 - all XXX venues.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Windward Islands - RLV & XXX sim
Coquine - "f*** Island + forced ra**"
Floris - "The Chamber, a secret XXX society"
Orburs - the keyhole club (for public XXX)
Stratten - "interacial cuckolding" (a racist blaxploitation XXX sim)
Ungren - A zindra infohub. Lots of people in XXX anims stuck AFK
Morken - the horror ra** Asylum

SO....

EVERY SINGLE A SIM ON THE LIST IS PORN.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Well... Ungren isn't technically. It does have the usual infohub signs... and its all people who've crashed.

But you can't really hold that one up as an example of an A sim that isn't porn. Its only not porn because its full of people who crashed out of porn sims, who are still half-D/C'd...

If they were fully connected, they'd either not be there, or be poseballing it.

[Iggy]

Headline Hamlet Should Have Run:

Bukkake Bliss Now #42, Beaten by Chains, Skinny Dippers, Yiffy Furs, and Kinky Cockneys.

[Cat Boccaccio]

Is all adult sexual activity ’porn’? IIRC Lost Eden, for example, looked like a fairly harmless place on the ground, with a dance floor, gardens and so on, and also had themed private skyboxes available for members.

Porn to me is not nudity or sex balls, it’s violent, degrading and/or criminal and it pains me that this kind of RP is so popular in SL. But those places are hard to stumble into (you wouldn’t visit ’Bukkake Bliss’ for a strawberry milkshake).

I wonder if the increased interest in adult sims is because residents are becoming more comfortable in general there, or whether hardcore RP is SL’s growing market.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

"Porn" is the default popular description of any sexual content, usually delivered with a big helping of scorn. I prefer my porn with scones, but it doesn't rhyme.

"Erotica" is "porn" of which the speaker approves and wishes to distinguish from the sleazy variety. When Anne Rice writes hardcore BDSM porn, her fans insist it's erotica. Or put another way, when she writes erotica, her detractors label it porn.

I think it's all very silly and subjective, and attempting to determine whether a given work has "redeeming social value" sounds like a fine excuse for upstanding pillars of the community to consume more porn/erotica/art.

[Pussycat Catnap]

@Cat: 99% of the adult sex-videos one could find starring professional sex actors would -NOT- qualify as porn under your definition.

I suspect that famous actors like say, Ron Jeremy, by your definition, have never once in their careers been in a porn flick.

Your definition is not what I suspect is the normal definition.

As Arcadia notes, maybe, the difference between porn and erotica is often whether or not the speaker liked it. But if you just approach it from a neutral point of view; they're basically two words for nearly the same thing. I've always just assumed that you can see/hear porn, but you have to read erotica. So to my mind, the difference is that between a movie and a book: format.

Some of it is good, some of it is bad.

[Soultrain0217 Res-e-Dent!]

The only sim on the list that I've visited is Brothel, and while I like the proprietress, the sim itself is pretty lame. Cathouse/dance club with a dom/sub undertheme and way too many people in newbie avatars, attempting to grief the patrons and/or dancers.

I'm glad the sims I visit are NOT on the list - adult or otherwise - because lists like this just result in more 'tourists' flocking in to see what the fuss is about.

[Iggy]

@Pussycat, a film of Lady Chatterley's Lover, done artfully and true to the book, would be erotica, not porn.

Many European films heavy with sexual content would qualify as such (says the international-film fan).

Unfortunately in the uptight USA, you can rip off heads and it's mainstream. Show a naughty bit and the censors go wild.

[val kendal]

so then of the 50,000 AVs online as I write this, roughly 1,000 are at one of these 19 sims, and so while these sims do a good job of keeping themselves full 24 hours a day, the average SL user is not at one of these 'most popular' Adult sims, is he/she?

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Rumor has it that the field at Sundance this year is a little more blue than usual, Iggy. Maybe our auteurs are catching up :)

[Adeon Writer]

I find 'A' sims deathly uninteresting. :(

[Pussycat Catnap]

@Pussycat, a film of Lady Chatterley's Lover, done artfully and true to the book, would be erotica, not porn.

Only if you define porn as that which you find distasteful.

Then again I've never read the book, so I don't know. If it has a sex scene in detail - erotica in written form, porn if filmed.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"I find 'A' sims deathly uninteresting. :("

I've found dull and boring sims in all ratings, and masterfully done amazing sims in all ratings, and quite a few tacky and garish sims in all ratings.

But I might agree that I find most XXX venues uninteresting. A few exceptions when one of them has for some reason put a XXX venue in the middle of an art build - but that's rare. For some reason most of them try to look like the sort of seedy dives from my home neighborhood where I grew up in RL...