Some people go farther. It's common for Second Lifers to have a child version of their avatar. Starax Statosky -- the famous Second Life builder -- was an ageplayer by the definition that he frequently wore a child avatar. I remember sitting with him many times watching him work. The most common avatar I saw him in was a leather-jacketed, cigar smoking, pugnacious boy with a teddy bear. It very much suited his amiable grumpiness.
I spent a lot of that time in tween-aged avatar of my own. It seemed appropriate as I sat there and watched him work his wonders. Honestly, I felt way too tall otherwise.
Around that time, two of my Second Life friends had gone the whole Second Life pregnancy route. The mother had come to term in a few weeks, and it wasn't long before there was a little one about. The little one, in this case, was a child avatar. They'd interviewed a number of people, and had selected one to role-play the child. In the physical world these would-be parents were as yet undecided on the relative merits of having a child of their own.In the real world a counselor or therapist would have set them to role-playing the situation out (age-play is often used in group-therapy situations in the physical world). With the help of a child avatar to be the growing child, they were able to do just that. It helped them make up their minds about what they were going to do -- and I'm happy that they had the means to work through the complex emotions and issues in a way that made sense.
Another common form of therapy (for abuse, addiction, grief, insecurity, stress and other issues) involves what is variously called the Inner Child, Divine Child, Child Within, Wonder Child or True Self, among others. Therapists spend a lot of time encouraging us to find and make contact with that part of ourselves internally, and to externally indulge in some healthy ageplay to bring it out and make it more a part of our daily lives.
Of course, it's not all about addressing some psychological problem or issue. Go ahead, sing your favorite Sesame Street song, or go out into the backyard and run around in circles pretending to be an airplane. It's a whole lot more fun with someone else, of course, but even alone it can be a welcome way of blowing off a little stress and remembering what it's like to just have a little silly, harmless fun. Fun, where nobody is criticized, diminished or loses. Remember what that is -- or has it been too long?
Lots of people in Second Life have child avatars (of varying ages) for just that purpose. There are parks, theme parks and rides in Second Life where child avatars gather, and adults relearn their sense of simple fun and wonder, doing all those things that hundreds of thousands of people spend millions of dollars getting therapists to help them try to figure out how to do.
That's ageplay in Second Life in a nutshell.
Wait ... what? You were expecting this to be all about sex? Honestly, some people ...
Well, truth be told, sex sometimes happens between child avatars and between child avatars and adult avatars, yes. It also happens between furries, between furries and non furries, between robot avatars, between tinies, and between adult avatars. Also probably between classes and combinations of avatars I've not even thought of. Primitars. Balls of light. Skeletons. Whatever. Sex sometimes happens between just about every kind or class of person in Second Life.
Some of the kinds of sex that go on in Second Life and in the physical world make me uncomfortable to some degree or another. Some of it is even perfectly legal. Thankfully, these things rarely wind up in my face, as it were. They take place out of the way, as many activities should.
I certainly am not of a mind to tell adults how they can or should be enjoying themselves or each-other sexually and what they should or should not be thinking about when they're doing it. It's definitely none of my business. Of course if you believe there is a minor behind the avatar, you should report this. If you are not certain they are an adult, you should not expose them to mature content or situations.
If you think it is your personal business to make those judgments for other adults, perhaps you should blow a few bucks on some sessions with a therapist or counselor. They might get you to do a little ageplay as a part of the healing process.
[Followup here]
1. My biggest issue with 'haters' of sub-culture X is they focus on the sexual aspects when the sexual aspects may well be a niche thing in sub-culture X. For those who just CAN'T stand the fact tat sub-culture X is in SL and you just CAN'T live with them being in SL.. try this https://secure-web12.secondlife.com/account/cancel.php
Posted at 4:26AM on Mar 4th 2007 by Mecha Dinosaur