The sort of virtual world your mother always warned you about?
You know how sometimes TV shows focus on the "sleazier" side of Second Life (life how it "helped break some couples up") ? Well I just happened to come across a metaverse that's specifically designed for adult fun and games. It's called Utherverse RLC (which might stand for Red Light Centre).
The splash page pretty much tells you everything you need to know about it - this is a virtual dating site for sure! A youtube search brings up a few videos that clarify this even further. The gender menu on the sign-up page brings options of: male; female; trans female; female couple (lesbian?); trans male; couple male (gay?); and no answer. I haven't seen those options anywhere else. From what I can see on the FAQ page there are all the usual sets of controls (though I didn't spot flying or teleporting) and everything from clothes, appearance and gender can be changed. The internal currency is called Rays, and you can build them by "performing actions on the site, such as rating and posting pictures, blogs, bulletins of your own, or another member", which you can then use to buy stuff from stores, give to others, or "exchange Rays for Working Girls / Working Guys, or other services in the world or on the social center".
Membership is free but you can also get a VIP membership which allows you to initiate private messaging, have a Zaby (private virtual house), lock uploaded pictures, and finally, make your avatar nude.
According to a blog by Rick Mathieson (dated early 2008), "Utherverse, which has its roots as a kind of 3D virtual Adult Friend Finder, is hoping to go mainstream - and attract mainstream users, advertisers and marketers. So much so that CEO and founder Brian Shuster says Utherverse is going to 'dominate' Second Life by year's end [2008]". Somehow I don't think so! And that's a pity, because while this isn't my style of things (I'm much more interested in what people make rather than who they have intercourse with), there probably is a place for such a virtual world.
And it looks like Utherverse has some innovations I haven't seen elsewhere. You can change your dimension settings so that you can "switch to different orientations (Standard, Anything Goes, Furry, BDSM, etc) for preference, as it will place you among a set of users that share your interests. Also offered is different language dimensions, such as Spanish, French, Dutch, etc, so that you can interact in a way that makes you feel most comfortable". This explains an otherwise baffling tutorial on youtube (though top points for trying). I also notice that there is a more formalised and they have guides, leaders, protectors moderators and supervisors.
So the next time someone in RL tells you that SL is all about sex, just tell them they've got the wrong program, tell 'em to look here!