Nicky's Second Life: Go-go Nights

Nicky works as a go-go boy at Blu, a gay dance club in Boystown. He’s been there since 2008. Blu has always been a nexus for all that is trendy and au courant in the Second Life music and fashion scene. Last week we did our annual group Christmas picture. The go-go’s of Blu dutifully wore their prescribed costumes, a sexy, naughty-elf, short and vest set that didn’t show too much and didn’t show too little. The set was simple, consisting of 2 giant letters, a “B” and a “T”, arranged against a green screen backdrop. The go-go’s gathered and were arranged on and around the giant letters. Some people were in voice (which I can almost NEVER get to work), the rest of us were in chat. There was the usual amount of horseplay and faux-flirting and a barrage of sex tinged quips and retorts. We joked with each other, caught up on what everyone was doing or needed to do for the holidays, who was seeing whom, who had broken up, where we bought our boots/shirts/pants. Then we all lined up to have pictures taken of our asses for a future contest to be held in the club. I suppose (though I’ve not yet seen one), that there was a Christmas card picture taken too.

One of the most common complaints I hear from people new to Second Life is how hard it is to feel a sense of belonging there. It’s easy to wander the grid as a rogue avatar who explores and observes but who never really feels part of something larger, or connected to someone else there. You don’t need anyone else in order to get a sense of how the place works or to explore it. But, by doing it alone, what one misses are all the subtleties and complexities that make SL such a great social medium.

The reason SL feels so immersive isn’t just that you’re manipulating an avatar through a 3D environment. That’s just part of it. The reason it feels so real is that you’re in an immersive environment INTERACTING with other people. People who enter Second Life but, who, for one reason or another, don’t connect with other people there are always disappointed. “It feel’s empty.” “There was no one around.” “There’re some amazing environments there but where are all the people?”

Which is why, nearly 3 years later, every Thursday night from 6-8pm SLT, I still slip on my go-go uniform, climb up on my dance podium and shake my money maker. I suppose I could have found more gainful employment by this time. I’ve toyed with building and played at owning stores. But nothing connects you with other people faster than being put on display in a trendy club where your only purpose is to be seen and commented on, a place where your job is to interact with whomever walks through the door and make sure they feel noticed and welcomed. Sometimes I feel objectified. (BTW, it’s GREAT to be objectified! Don’t let anyone tell you different.) More often what I feel is seen...recognized as part of something bigger than my avatar pixels. It’s easy to walk anonymously through Second Life (and through real life for that matter) but it’s not much fun in either realm.

Yes, I’m just a go-go boy at a gay club, where really all I do is turn on my dance chim and lob barbs laced with sexual innuendo at the patrons and the staff. But being a go-go boy in Second Life has given me an excuse for interacting with people in a way I never would have done on my own in either life. It has allowed me to connect and make real friendships in a place that could be just cold electrons and pretty pixels.