‘Virtual pleasure made real’: Domestication of online sex games and sex toys

Abstract

This article discusses the domestication of remote-controlled sex toys within the online multiplayer sex game 3DXChat (SexGame Devil 2012) after their partnership with Lovense (Hytto) in May 2021. Under the title ‘Virtual pleasure made real’, both companies re-branded longstanding promises for the ‘future of sex’ for their consumers by converging different kinds of technologies and influencing sex-playing practices. In order to understand players’ perspectives, I primarily analyzed publications posted on 3DXChat official forum related to the partnership, which were complemented by other materials and participant observations of a two-year-long online ethnography within the sex game. The findings suggest that players were surprised and sceptical about the success of domestication. There was limited data supporting a modification of sex-playing practices, though they speculated who would benefit the most. In sum, it seems that the consumption and domestication of sexual objects in a technological setting were not as impactful as was expected, particularly in a sociocultural context of a global pandemic, which encouraged the interrelation of play and sex.