ERP - Does it mean more than any other RP?

[Adoveea Rau]

Is ERP more intimate even without the OOC connection?

Yes it is and it can not be.
All erotic thoughts/inclinations, even in real life, starts with your visual and then your mind. In real life, your daydreams about sex are erotic solo roleplay fantasy.
In roleplay it's a imaginary visual of a physical or even mental act with another *person/thing/etc.*-you are interacting it with them.
A huge majority of people are not *detached* from erotic roleplay, their minds and emotions go into the scene that is texted or visual in front of them.
Notice I'm not talking about what their real life physical bodies are doing? I'm talking about *emotions and minds*.
It doesn't have to be count the legs and divide by two, it can be erotic roleplay in the act of domination, ie, a collared slave's feeling of being owned. That too, is part of erotic roleplay.
The excitement of erotic mental images is what drives the sl market, sexual merchandise is the leading selling merchandise in the marketplace-from sexy dresses down to pose balls to create a visual sexual scene.

Could treating ERP differently than other scenes explain why there isn't much open sex/sexuality in gorean RP?

See the reasons above. If erotic roleplay was only the act of avatars screwing/texting sexual acts to each other, then you wouldn't have the scenes of domination, the collared slaves, the visual sexy outfits, the care of appearance of skin/hair/body of your avatar, the flirting, the edge of possiblities of what could happen to that avatar etc.etc.

Why are so many OOC judgments heaped on characters who engage in frequent ERP (slutty FW, needy slaves, warriors that only want to fuck and fight)?

Rock bottom analysis?
Judgmental people are not getting what they want and see others ignoring their wants/needs or the others are getting their needs/wants and the judgmental person is ignored.
If judgmental people get what they want and need, they don't bother to judge others, they're too busy enjoying themselves.

What is the right balance of ERP in the gorean genre?

What people want fulfilled in their roleplay in gor.

My counter question is: is the visual having sex on a pose ball or sexual screw of text writing the only concept you have of ERP?

[Kaitlin]

My counter question is: is the visual having sex on a pose ball or sexual screw of text writing the only concept you have of ERP?

Hmmm what are you getting at Dove? I'll try to answer but I'm not sure I fully understand your question.

I find pose balls can be distracting IF we are talking about your garden variety gorean RP. I blame too many years in a text only environment. I find people paint more imaginative pictures with words than is possible with pose balls.

I also believe there seems to be a lost art in creating intimacy and sexual tension in RP when every story seems rushed. Most people couldn't imagine having an intimate storyline for six months without ever having "sex" but it can be highly entertaining. The same goes for waiting months before being collared while being strung along by a Master who shows no signs of interest only to become the highest bidder.

The visual of having sex ranks pretty low with me but I also don't discount the enjoyment some find in it...particularly men.

[Adoveea Rau]

Well when folks talk about something meaning more in erotic roleplay I ask what is *erotic* to them.
I post definitions of words because it helps to understand what intent or why a word is used. So I looked up the word *erotic*

erot·ic
: of, devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire
2: strongly marked or affected by sexual desire

First impulse about erotic roleplay is to say it's the actual sexual acts-texted or visual for erotic roleplay.
But looking at the definition of erotic, erotic falls into that roleplay you described in that tension of months.
Other examples could also be the roleplaying of a slave's desire and needs, the denial of free woman's sexuality, the warrior staring in passion at belted and collared slave he doesn't own and can't touch without risking his life.
All of those could follow under erotic roleplay and are so very common in gorean roleplay.

[Kaitlin]

Ahh gotcha!

If you look at strictly the gaming definition it would be just the act of exchanging text sex. The term ERP seems to have been developed to distinguish sexual RP from cybersex although I'm sure for some it does cross the line at times. What separates the two for me is being "in character" and also if the sex and/or sexual tension & intimacy is in some way affecting character development.

[Thyri]

There is a difference (to me) between ERP and cybersex.

Cybersex I think has no place in the gorean arena. I think that cybersex is fun yes.... but its not a part of the RP genre. Usually cybersex is accompanied with "I'm touching myself now, I'm so hard/wet right now, are you touching yourself? Wanna skype so I can hear you?" That's cybersex (to me)

ERP however is RP that just happens to have sex in it. ERP is a natural part of the gorean genre. Sex happens. ERP is probably a part of every RP genre. Babies are made, people have sex for fun and profit. Sex happens.

Does it need to be kept to IMs? Only if it moves beyond ERP and into the cybersex realm. When its raunchy just for the sake of being raunchy yah... take that to IMs. When the sex is outside of the genre and becomes more the two individuals personal kinkset. Yah, take it to IMs then. But ERP kept to IMs? Naw, not necessary to me.

The right balance of ERP is whatever people are comfortable with. I'd prefer that Gor not be so sexually focused in SL. We have 500 different pieces of prim furniture with sex poses in them, but only 5 pieces of furniture that are sit capable. Its a incongruity and I think that the prevalence of sex props in an environment lead that environment to having an overwhelming sexual theme.

To me, ERP is the gravy. If you dont have meat and potatoes, you're going to have a pretty boring meal. Sure gravy is tasty, but let me have some substance too.

[Syndel]

It's natural part of it like intrigue, politics and fighting is. Doesn't mean anything special 999 times out of 1000 but, unfortunately, some people always try to make it out to be... every time. It's hot and what not but it's part of the theme, part of the game. Comes with it, it's expected. Sometimes it's even just the expected behavior of characters and logical pattern of a scene and not even a wish/need of the typists - of course nobody is forced to play what they aren't greatly up to but, sometimes, people do, for the sakes of preserving character's integrity.

I replied a lot more about that on the "cheating" thread.

I'm not sure why people make a big deal out of personal roleplay encounters. They are just that. Hot (sometimes steamy)... but stories.

As far as the questions goes:

Yes, sometimes it can be more intimate but MOST times it isn't because it doesn't mean anything.

I particularly prefer to have it when it's relevant to -my- storyline but it could be with a total stranger. I don't really care how it affects their storyline - that's for them to decide.

There is a lot of open sex/sexuality in Gorean roleplay and I'll continue to advocate it. It depends on each and everyone to do the same and not be coy. Gor isn't a shy world. Don't be shy roleplaying it

People are judgmental of those who are often very sexual because of the "fur bunny" slaves who only come online for that and are incapable of developing any other storylines with other people. They sit there waiting for their owners to login and fuck them (or any other man for the matter) and don't interact in any other form. And also because of the people who immediately jump with flirting in your IMs after seeing your avatar with sexual proposals. It's not a roleplay judgement. It's OOC and it's based on OOC behavior and bad roleplay etiquette that can be corrected with education and big slaps on the face like "I'm here to roleplay, please seek a free sex sim if you aren't, thank you".

There's no right balance. Gor is sexually charged. It's mixed all over it. Hell, Tarl would fuck women on top of bloodied sleen. It's clearly just that out of control. No need for balance as long as it's part of good storylines and roleplay isn't forgotten, living roleplay life, existing outside of coming around to fuck... you know? These things... lol

Great thread.

[Tantus]

Is ERP more intimate even without the OOC connection?

At both extremes the roleplay can be just as intimate with a complete stranger or a close OOC partner. But I don't "ERP" with those in between, i.e. friends.

The benefit of roleplaying with strangers is you can freely experiment with new elements in your roleplay and when it goes wrong, you can end it and never need to see them again. Sometimes the scene flows perfectly, from the moment you first met this woman and began the roleplay, to having your character do their thing. Sexual roleplay isn't necessary in this case, just a good ol'fashioned domination is enough to +E your RP. For myself, I have limited time to roleplay and that always cuts the scene short and when you're working on a limit of about 4 hours, it's not enough for getting your sex-huds on.

Could treating ERP differently than other scenes explain why there isn't much open sex/sexuality in gorean RP?

People are more accepting of plain vanilla sex in public, than anything harder. I have a friend who would rape free women/slaves publicly, on the street or wherever and it never went down well with the locals, either in BTB or GE. People just don't want that type of scene played out on their doorstep.

And who wants to do vanilla sex in SL Gor anyway? Now most will retire to private places.

Why are so many OOC judgments heaped on characters who engage in frequent ERP (slutty FW, needy slaves, warriors that only want to fuck and fight)?

Women just like to bitch and their OOC thralls are obliged to echo her.

What is the right balance of ERP in the gorean genre?

I'm surprised at people who go to Gorean sims and want to roleplay without the tits. It's like going to a strip club and turning away from the boobies, to admonish those of your friends who are looking at the strippers. And her friends would say; bitch, what the fuck are you doing here if you're offended by the tits?

There shouldn't be a balance. Sex in Gor is as natural as drink and food and battle.