A Gorean Feminist’s Guide to Second Life Gor
by Jessica Holyoke on 07/09/09 at 6:21 am
Gor-crafters, Lifestylers, Roleplayers
by Jessica Holyoke
Goreans are a controversial part of the Second Life community. Based on a 27 book series collectivelycalled the Chronicles of Gor written by John Norman, residents of Second Lifetake part in activities that they call Gorean. Due to the usage of alts, it is hard to pin point how many peopleactually take part. According to thewebsite for the Gorean Meter, one of the combat meters for SL Gor, there are14,223 regions taking part in Gor with 6,338 listed male avatars and 10,124listed female avatars.
Goreans arecontroversial due to two aspects of the novels and the Gorean culture as a whole, chattel slavery and the role of men and women. The Chronicles of Gor started with thepublication of Tarnsman of Gor in 1967. AnEnglish professor from
Gor alsohas chattel slavery with mostly women being taken from Earth and being madeslaves along with women who were slaves from birth or enslaved during variousbattles or situations on Gor and men who are enslaved for other reasons, suchas forced labor.
The generalGorean philosophy has been persuasive to members of both genders, some seeingthe household setup as desirable and others appreciating and embracing thebondage aspect. When a platform wasformed where you could be anything you wanted to be, Goreans came from otherparts of the internet to inhabit Second Life and build a Gorean world. But the outside Goreans were joined by other residentsof SL who saw not the philosophy but the care and effort placed into forming arealistic, immersive community and formed new communities and groups.
Combat: World of Gor-craft
SL Gor issplit into three aspects, combat, lifestyle, and role play. These aspects can also overlap depending onwhere you live in the community. Combat is the least controversial to outsidersbut sometimes the most controversial to Goreans, depending on what combatantsdo. Some residents simply go around and fight otherresidents. Called Gor-crafters, afterthe World of Warcraft, they look at Gor as a First Person Shooter, going aroundand shooting at anyone, then retreating from the region. Other groups, such as pirates, panthers,outlaws or mercenaries, generally revolve around raiding for role play items orslaves or honor due to previous combat or role play.
Wearing acombat meter, such as the Gorean Meter, allows you to use a specially scriptedweapon to attack others. The type of weapondepends on your role on Gor. Free Menmight have bows, axes or swords. Freewomen might have smaller bows, whips or daggers. Slave boys might have sling shots. Slave girls might have fruit or a broom.
To otherGoreans, combat is not the purpose of Gor and simply perverts the ability tolive according to the books. Panthers,the women who left proper society to live on their own, did not raid cities,like some do. Outlaw groups sometimes have female members,which would never happen in the books, and have been lead by women, which justupsets the lifestylers.
But combatis still part of most of the other locations across Gor. Every city is looking for warriors to defendthe keep. There are combat exhibitionsin the various arenas. Its that combatis not the focus of those regions.
Lifestylers
LifestyleGoreans are split into two groups; those that live the philosophy and thosethat are not interested in general role play or the combat. There are cities and villages that revolvearound people who want to apply the teachings of the books as best they can totheir real lives and to try to find people who want to join them in their reallives as masters or slaves. Others liveas lifestylers but have no interest in taking it to their real life. They follow the etiquette and the ceremonies butthey do not take part in advanced story lines. Typically the lifestylers are close inphilosophy with by the book role players.
BTB and Disney Gor roleplay
Roleplayers are split into two groups, by the book and not by the book. BTB role players establish a story line forthemselves but only using elements that are precisely in the Chronicles ofGor. Other sims take great libertieswith what is found in the books to establish their story lines. There are female dominated sims. There are gay male sims with no women atall.
Within thismix, lies what Goreans call Disney Gor. Essentially a Gorean is referred to as Disney if they place too manylimits on what can be done to them in role play. If someone is captured in combat, typicallythe person who loses is at the mercy of the captor. Other times, in the course of role playcertain events happen that might lead to where limits might matter. Typically, people will object to rape,permanent enslavement or collaring or other similar acts. Sometimes, people will place a time limit forwhen they are captured but nothing happens, twenty to thirty minutes arecommon.
If youfind yourself on Gor, you could find a civilized city with caste members thatcover a variety of professions; an area that contains outlaws from society, includingthe famous panthers of Gor; or you might find one of the culturally differentareas of Gor such as those based on Nordic traditions or first nations.
The people behind the keyboard can be anyonefrom a devout follower of the Gorean philosophy to someone who enjoys thehighly structured period role play. This is why I'm able to identify with both. I enjoy the role play but not the gender politics. For a very long time, I was associated with an outlaw group run by a woman, which to other Goreans is blasphemous. For many, Gor is simply the bondage aspects tied to gender politics. For others, it is a richly realized role play with many adherents acting according to the story line.
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