Love 2.0: A quantitative exploration of sex and relationships in the virtual world second life

摘要

This study presents the quantitative results of a web-based survey exploring the experiences of those who seek sex and relationships in the virtual world of Second Life. Thesurveygathered dataondemographics, relationships,and sexual behaviors from 235 Second Life residents to compare with U.S.General Social Survey data on Internet users and the general population.TheSecond Life surveyalso gathereddata on interests in and experiences with a number of sexual practices in both offline andonline environments.Comparative analysisfoundthatsurveyparticipantswere significantly older,more educated, and less religious than awider group of Internet users, andincertainagegroupswerefar lesslikely tobemarriedorhave children. Motivations for engaging in cybersexwere presented. Analysis of interest and experience of different sexual practices supportedfindingsbyotherresearchersthatonlineenvironments facilitatedaccess, butalso indicatedthat interest in certainsexual practices could differ between offline and online environments.