Sex toys are doing a booming business on the internet—but the latest wrinkle in the story is that some companies are selling sex toys that don't exist anywhere except onscreen. Love Honey offers a Facebook application that allows users to customize their own Love Bunny toy (and even "adopt" the bunny by purchasing a real, buzzing version of their creation), and other companies are jumping into the online community Second Life.
Second Life gives users the ability to engage in realistic relationships-but since SL's "avatars" (3D images of users) don't come with genitals, a business opportunity was born. Now, SL retailers like Strokerz Toyz do a booming business hawking virtual genitalia, beds, piercings, fetish gear, and sex toys.
Xcite! is another brand offering sexy stuff to Second Life denizens. ANB spoke to Xcite!'s spokesperson, Nyteshade Vesperia, to learn more about selling sex organs in cyberspace.
ANB: First, please tell us about the Xcite! concept—how does it work?
Vesperia: Xcite! is a system originally designed to provide a more realistic sexual experience than what the Second Life default avatar and the existing sexual products at the time could handle, and it was the first of its kind to accomplish this. Every Xcite! item works interactively with the entire system. If you lick a nipple, your genitals become aroused. If you find having your hair brushed to be erotic or if you enjoy being spanked, or wearing a collar, the Xcite! system reflects this.
You are also able, and encouraged, to modify your Xcite! items to tailor them to your particular preferences or fantasies. This includes changing the actual appearance of the item, the actions and reactions that the items allow, or even the level of discomfort or pleasure that each kind of interaction involves.
ANB: How did the idea for the selling sex toys in Second Life come about?
Vesperia: The idea to build sex toys, probably just like many ideas out there, came about because what was available at the time was just not up to the task. [Xcite!'s] Javier received a cock from a friend when he first joined SL and quickly discovered that it was very basic and not very useful. He set about to build a cock just for his own use, which then led to a set of interactive nipples just for his own use. Friends of ours saw what he had created and wanted their own copies, so after the demand got a little more than just local, we decided to sell them. From there it spread to include other body parts and some toys, and voilà!
ANB: What do you sell?
Vesperia: Xcite! sells interactive networked body parts, BDSM devices, and sex toys. This includes a variety of customizable body parts (genitals, nipples, ears, feet, bellies) and a wide variety of sex toys, including those geared toward the GLBT, BDSM, furry, good old-fashioned vanilla, and other adult markets.
ANB: What are hot sellers, and what are not?
Vesperia: Our best sellers continue to be our starter packs (male, female, hermaphrodite), which include genitals, nipples, an ass, and the HUD Control Panel in a single convenient bundle. Starting with this package people can get a good sense of what the Xcite! system makes possible, and from there either customize their items (with piercings, textures, tattoos, leashes, clamps) or add on new body parts, and then add toys that will interact directly with those parts.
Generally speaking, what doesn't sell is anything that is just a little too niche or items that are not meant to be taken seriously. For example, we sell Laser Scopes that you can add to your Xcite! genitals as a fun thing that really isn't meant to be taken seriously. They do sell, ironically enough, but certainly not as well as our other offerings. The same thing with the ToKon Cow Collar which we just released-we have about 40 collar designs available, most of them very stylish, chic, or cute-and then there's the Cow Collar. We do not expect it to be one of our top sellers. Sometimes you just have to have a little fun.
ANB: What have you been able to deduce about the sexual preferences of your clients?
Vesperia: We have been able to deduce that we shouldn't even try to deduce anything specific about the sexual preferences of our customers. The things that our customers consider erotic and enjoyable can and will range as far as imagination stretches—and then a little further. Second Life enables exploration, and our customers certainly do more than their fair share of exploring, both in terms of what is realistic or practical in the real world and what is strictly fantasy. If you can think it, if you have ever read about it, or if you ever saw it in a movie, someone in SL is experimenting with it right now. As such, trying to draw solid conclusions is very tricky, as one would have to hit a constantly moving target.
ANB: Are people more open about their sexuality when they have anonymity?
Vesperia: Absolutely. As an American, I can only speak to the American cultural treatment of sex, but many people in SL feel much freer to express themselves sexually than they would in any real world environment, and I am sure that is in large part due to the anonymous aspect of SL. That is true in any anonymous environment [like] chat rooms, message boards, or the telephone, not just SL, of course. Consider that there are many professional situations in the real world where even the slightest hint of private deviance would spell an end to a career and possibly even legal proceedings. SL is a great way for people to explore and express what they should have the right to in real life but often don't.
If you want to see how differently people feel about expressing and exploring in SL, simply spend some time in the Xcite! store observing. You'll find furries, people in master/slave relationships shopping in chains and gags, people walking around nude or very skimpily dressed, people openly discussing any kink you can think of, people trying on gender-bending, people experimenting with non-traditional relationships. There aren't many public spaces in real life where you are going to find that.
ANB: Do people buy products to alter their appearance/sexual performance to any great degree?
Vesperia: We are not in the business of providing much that would alter one's appearance outside of, perhaps, providing the nipple and genital piercings that might make one's avatar distinctive. Improving sexual performance however is something that we can influence from the perspective of control and variety. You decide what gets you hot and what doesn't. You decide how hot things can get and when things need to cool off a little.
ANB: What have you learned about adult marketing from running Xcite!, and where do you see potential for more growth?
Vesperia: The lessons to be learned about adult marketing in Second Life are, unfortunately, not terribly applicable to real world adult marketing except in the most basic sense. Keep in mind that Second Life is [restricted to users age 18 and up], so advertising does not have to be hidden or targeted as in the Real World, and there are no local zoning boards that have to be battled. (There are PG spaces, but they are easily avoided). You can legally advertise your adult-oriented shop alongside malls, clothing shops, hair salons, car dealers-pretty much anywhere so long as the advertisement is not explicit.
Adult marketing, in many ways, is much freer than in the real world and thus doesn't require a whole lot of special talent. It's in the plain ordinary basics of marketing where the greatest lessons can be learned-brand recognition, market research, business focus, saturation, evolution. All the things you learned about in Marketing 101 apply in Second Life and, oddly enough, present the greatest challenges for the majority of SL business owners. Get the basics right, and you will go a long way toward becoming a success.
As for potential growth, there are still some segments of the adult industry in Second Life that are either not well served or which do not have clear leaders. Niche markets are always a good place to get started since new ones are constantly being created. People are always dreaming up new kinks, and they need to get their toys someplace. Other markets, for example the BDSM furniture market, have a lot of players but no clear winner yet. This is more of a challenge, but it means there is room for dedicated innovators to make a splash. The nice thing about the adult industry is that, in a very real way, it is driven by customers' imagination-and I certainly don't see that drying up any time soon.
