I’ve done something I probably shouldn’t have. I joined Second Life.

I’d resisted it for months, so why did I cave now? I’m putting together a small news piece for Wired on an in-world pornographic magazine called Slustler, and I was convinced (forcibly) that before I could write about it I had to shut up and try it.

So I went. I worked hard at making my avatar not hideous (Trust me, there were so many options if I had wanted to go that route!). I’m still fighting to get her dressed like a descent human being. I did recently figure out how to give her long, white gloves, so that’s helping.

The lag time is annoying, but I admit I had an absolutely hilarious time last night exploring the sex clubs and testing pose balls. My fiance and I were playing together (as one girl), and we just couldn’t believe how quickly all the stereotypes came true. Maybe it was the fact that we were hanging out watching strippers dance, but we made a helpful male friend almost immediately, got free stuff (I have a naked skin, plus I can fly higher and faster!) and ended up signing off at God knows what time in the morning.

Anyways, if you feel like saying hi in-world, I’m Velouria Collingwood. I warn you though, you might get me just hanging out, or you might get my fiance trying to sweet-talk some lonely soul into more free goodies…