Sex workers are using their initiative to do what they can to survive through the pandemic without their usual face to face contact; one method is the life and saviour of utilising video games.
The pandemic has been a difficult time for everybody in every respect. But especially for those in the sex industry that rely on face to face contact for survival.
This virus has stripped back the reigns of control, of being able to do the usual things we love but also predominantly the stuff we usually do to rely on to survive. With such struggle, it means a lot of sex workers had to get creative and make a substantial pivot away from the lifestyle they’re used to.
You may have noticed a significant spike on the subscription site, OnlyFans where a lot of celebrities have now marked their territory but it didn’t start with them nor is it really about them. OnlyFans has been a massive help for sex workers. But OnlyFans and other similar cam girl services meant these sex workers had to start from rock bottom again and relearning a new way of their industry that they may have been in for years.
Those services had been one of the few temporary solutions, whereas others had come up with more creative ways to utilise what has become popular, especially during the pandemic. In big bright lights, this means, of course, the ever-popular gaming industry and how new games and everyone being stuck inside to play them have helped to their demise.
There’s a lot of simulation games out there in the world. There’s probably a few that propped up in your head as soon as you read this headline. In theory, some games would work as a clear substitute for what is lacking from face to face contact.
One particular popular game amongst sex workers (and non-sex workers alike), to some surprise, is Animal Crossing: New Horizon.
Now Animal Crossing may not be the first game to come to your mind, but when switching from clients in the real world to the digital one, it translates nicely.
Think about how animal crossing has already been used: protests, activism, drug addiction recovery and been a general help with people’s mental health.
It’s both limiting and a broadening of the horizon to work with. When it comes down to sex, this game has a list of strict terms of services that give anything like ‘kink chats’ a big no-no for its money.
But with the likes of Discord or Twitter, sex workers and their respective clients can get more of the action side done from the games and everything else done on other services.
Speaking of: What about getting paid? There’s a mix of bells (the in-game currency) being exchanged and real money being charged, all depending per sex worker and their terms.
To look the part, especially as a dominitrix, in particular, the ability to download any design that created or to create your own look if desired, is pretty straightforward. They can go forth to looking as alluring and kinky as far as the little spheric digital avatar can take you.
Likewise, there are many things a dominatrix would do in real life that can be translated in-game. This includes, as mentioned prior, wearing particular clothes, using nets to whack clients when they do a ‘chore’ wrong, such as watering flowers and plucking weeds—and even creating cages for clients to stay in within their game house!
As you may imagine, the game isn’t limited to the R-rated, but there are more PG moments on the table too, such as dating.
It’s no secret that the pandemic has made dating more challenging than ever, with lockdowns and the ever-changing restrictions, it feels impossible to date again.
But whether you’re struggling with a long-distance relationship or meeting up with new Tinder dates, couples can now take the stage on Animal Crossing.
Not only a lot safer and a more chilled way of meeting up for your first date, but it feels a lot more real than just sticking to regular chats online. Here, you can actually simulate a date and do new things you wouldn’t normally do or can’t do in real life; go fishing, catch bugs, gaze at the moon together, you get the picture.
The possibilities for gaming are endless, and may just as well even be a hallmark of helping us survive through this pandemic, whether financially, socially or mentally.
Maria Tzing Fung Baker 