If previous observation is any indicator, Sony’s 3D social network, Home, was bound to attract a specimen of user whose weakness for video games seems to parallel a considerable thirst for virtual sex. In its heyday, Second Life was plagued by a very open sex culture, where users would participate in virtual sex acts, build giant sex costumes for use in-game, and so forth.
(Editor’s note: I told you so.)
So it certainly makes sense that Home, a free online virtual world geared around selling other PS3 titles, would rapidly become filled with greasy, horny kids. And since it’s not a Wii title, Home’s remote control citizens are demographically lopsided in favor of males. What do you get when you combine a legion of aggressive, pimply guys with a small number of curious gals?
Well, it certainly is offputting to women, no question. Not to mention–neither my son, nor my daughter, 11 and 13, will be allowed to use Home.
So is the answer turning Home into a police state, a la Brittania in 1984, where sex was essentially illegal? Perhaps we should redefine online sex as what it really is: laughably poor behavior. Problem is, Big Brother can’t monitor everybody. Even in 1984, he couldn’t. Winston, the main character, and his woman still found a way to do the deed–and Winston, with everything to lose by breaking the law, was a brainwashed comrade.
So self-obsessed teenagers with nothing to lose aren’t likely to cooperate should Sony drop the hammer.
