What is RLV?
First and
most important: RLV is supposed to be fun. It is meant to enhance the
experience of BDSM by controlling your avatar in a more realistic way. That
means, if your avatar is tied up it IS tied up. There are of course other uses
for RLV but this is what it was meant to be.
RLV is
software that can control your avatar to restrict its movement or set up
restrictions preventing you from teleport, messaging or using your inventory
just to name a few. It’s open source and developed by a community of smart
people who obviously enjoy BDSM.
A brief history of RLV
In the
beginning RLV was known as Restrained Life Viewer. Nowadays it’s called
Restrained Love Viewer. The original was published in 2007 by Marine Kelley,
who also owns the RealRestraint brand. When Linden Labs opened the source to
their viewer, Marine thought it would be nice to have something to improve BDSM
roleplay. Marine herself is an BDSM enthusiast and so are most RLV users.
Marine’s
original RLViewer is hosted at eRestraint.com, known for some elaborate and
very kinky bondage footage. First RLV was sort of a patch that was installed at
the original Linden viewer. Now there are many third party viewers and very
much of them support RLV. Apart from Marine’s viewer most popular are Phoenix
Firestorm, Imprudence and Catznip.
The RLV relay
One of the
most important things you need to use RLV is the RLV relay. It communicates
between your viewer and devices. Basically that means if you are meant to be
tied up on, let’s say a pillory, the Relay is what makes this possible. The
Relay is in fact the thing that really ties you up, the pillory merely does the
animation, or lack thereof^^
Different Relays
There is a
whole bunch of different Relays in SL all with its advantages or disadvantages
from Marine’s original Relay to others like, Dahlia, Satomi, tkPBA, Susan’s
Relay Ring and others. There is no “best” relay whatsoever, it’s mainly a
matter of choice which one you prefer. The features differ from type to type
but all in one they are similar in handling and basic features. After trying
the most popular ones I decided to use Dahlia and have found it to suit me
well.
Never wear
two relays at once. They would only interfere with each other and spoil the
fun.
Dahlia Relay
As the name
suggests this Relay is developed by someone called Dahlia. Dahlia Orfan to be
precise.
This Relay
is compatible to most devices I’ve encountered and comes with a variety of
settings that allow you to set it up to your likings. Like most other relays it
can be set up with different levels of control and different safeword modes.
This way you can have your avatar save and sound or vulnerable to any attempt
to force you on a bondage device. Same goes for safeword options. Either be
freed instantly or make it much more realistic by asking someone to help you.
In case you
want it to be safer, you might also like the sensor which reports the device
and the captor trying to capture you.
Another
useful feature is the outfit locker, used to lock outfit, body parts and attachments
so they won’t be accidentally stripped off.
Setting up Dahlia Relay
As
mentioned above, Dahlia can be set up in different ways. I will focus on the safest
way and how to set up if you are more of the adventurous type.
Safe:
Set your
relay to Ask mode. You will be asked for any request to capture you. Safeword
should be set to Safeword 0 or 1. For having it really save make sure Evil mode
is turned off.
Adventurous:
Set mode to
Auto. On Auto you will not get asked and simply be captured. You can add a
little toughness by activating Evil Mode which prevents you from safewording if
another avatar is within ten meters. To make it even tougher set your safeword
to 3 or 4 or turn it completely off.
Considered
the normal usage these are the two extremes. There are of course certain
nuances between them and the best way to find them is to experiment with
settings. The most extreme setting is the hardcore mode which locks you out of
your relay settings forever. Be careful with this mode. Once set the only way
to get rid of the relay is to log in without RLV and delete the relay.
Collars
A collar
has many uses and meanings. It is used for control and restricting slaves and
submissive people but most of all it has a representative nature. Wearing a
collar shows others you are submissive or even owned by someone. But the collar
also has an amazing impact on the slave and their Dominant. It forms a bond
between the slave and their Mistress/Master that is very strong. Having your
Dominant locking her collar around your neck is a very special moment, perhaps
even holy. When my Mistress locked her collar around my neck it was the
happiest day in my life.
Again there
are various brands and types of collars in SL so this can be no complete list.
Some collars come with a set of cuffs, others are available separately.
OC collars
Open Collar
is probably the most popular and most widely spread brand of collars.
Fortunately they are open source and available for free. There is a large
variety of styles but all of them contain the same scripts and are therefore
similar in setting them up. OC scripts are also used in other brands like
AItech collars.
Setting up Open Collar
This
tutorial is written under the assumption that you are an owned slave. Therefore
the first step it to set your Dominant owner of your collar. You can do that by
either setting them up in the owner menu or with the chat command “xxowner
name” without quotes. “xx” stands for your initials and name stands for your
owner. In the following example the slave girl Jane Doe sets her Mistress Alice
Resident as owner:
"jdowner
Alice Resident"
Please note
that the prefix “xx” concerns your username and not your display name. If you
are in the old Second Life name scheme your initials are made of your firstname
and surname. In the new scheme all the surnames are “Resident”. So if your name
is Jane Resident but you have set the display name to Jane Doe, your prefix is
“jr” and not “jd”. (btw, it’s not intended that these are in fact famous TV
characters but it’s certainly a nice coincidence)
But you can
simply change your prefix with the command:
“xxprefix
xy”
Having set
your owner, no doubt your owner will now lock the collar thus making it
un-detachable by you. How much control you have over your collar is now in your
owners hands. Your Dominant can lock you completely out of your collar or can
grant you access to it. If you are granted access you can access the menu and
even alter some options. Once you are locked out you have access to the kneel
poses but that’s about all.
Like any
good slave you will of course kneel before your Dominant. This is also a nice
feature in OC collars. By a simple chat command you can adjust your pose:
“xxnadu”
This can
also be done when you are locked out of your collar. There is also a menu to
access the poses but in my opinion it’s more comfortable from chat.
This kind
of collar is also equipped with its own built in RLV relay. If you already use
another relay make sure the collar relay is turned off. If you decide to use the collar relay it
works like any other relay but you should be aware this would also grant whomever
has access to your relay also to change your relay settings.
Footnote:
if you are in crowded areas please use channel 1 for chat commands. Otherwise
you may end up spamming local chat with your commands.
Talk on
channel 1 by using /1 before your command:
“/1 xxmenu”
Cuffs
Now pay
attention bondage enthusiasts.
Collars and
cuffs have much in common: both are used to restrict slaves and show them their
place in the world. Cuffs however have a visible impact on your avatar. Not
only do they restrict things like a collar does but they also restrict your
avatars limbs and means of movement.
OC Cuffs
Also
available for free are Open Collar cuffs. Their menu is pretty much the same as
OC collar and its also accessible from the collar menu. It features many nice
bondage poses and is the first choice if you are new to BDSM on SL.
RR Cuffs
Not for
free but well worth the expense are RealRestraint cuffs. The RealRestraint
brand is owned by Marine Kelley who, as mentioned above, initiated RLV in the
first place.
RR cuffs
are sold in sets like the Vixen Leather set which contains a collar and wrist
and ankle cuffs. All three items have their own menu and are separately
controllable. The first menu page is rather simple but I have encountered many
people losing their way once they enter deeper menu levels like the plugins
menu. This is no surprise since RR menus have a very different layout than most
other restraints on SL. It may take some time and even be confusing at first
but once you get to know the menu it makes sense and is very efficient.
The one
thing that confused me most was how to inflict RLV restrictions. The menu to
restrict touch in the wrist cuffs for instance shows a very odd looking table.
This table shows which restrictions are active for what lock. Lock means in
fact pose. With this table you can apply different restrictions for each arm
position. Like restricting all touch when tied up in U-Binder but allowing to
touch world when arms are tied in front.
I would
love to offer advice how to master them quickly but the best advice I can give
is to practice. Don’t worry, it’s really not that hard to understand.
The RealKey
RealRestraint
tries, as the name suggest, to keep things real. Therefore they do not implement
an owner function just because you don’t have an owner function in a real
collar. Whoever holds the key owns you. This is what the RealKey is for.
Originally it attaches to the right hand but I recommend using it as hud simply
because it can be hard to click that small key in your hand and even harder
when your avatar is constantly moving due an AO.
The setup
of the key is simply. Make sure the RealKey plugin is active. Next you get a
key from the same menu. Make sure both the RealKey and your cuffs and collar
have the same password. I also recommend to rename the Realkey so it includes
your name like “RealKey of Jane Doe”.
If you give
this key to your owner, they can take control over your restraints. Just like
in real world.
The SC owner plugin
Some people
rather have an owner set than to handle the RealKey. If you are one of them I
suggest you get the SC owner plugin. It adds owner support to RR cuffs and also
enables chat commands which are not originally included in RR cuffs.
RF multi Cuffs
Quite a
different approach is Restrained Freedom multi cuffs. No matter which part of
the cuffs or collar you click it always opens the same menu. From this menu you
can access all settings and bondage poses.
One very
interesting feature of RF multi cuffs is the PA (Paine Asylum) plugin. It
allows some devices to control your restraints if activated. So far the only
place I know of that uses PA plugin is the Paine Asylum which is, no surprise,
located at Restrained Freedom island.
RF multi
cuffs are also the most complete set I have encountered so far. They come with
a collar, arm and leg cuffs, a straightjacket, a blindfold, a gag and even
earmuffs, all controllable from one single menu.
Dari Box
Apart from
OC restraints, the most widely spread bondage stuff in SL comes in “The big box
of Dari House” which is available for free on many BDSM sims. Just look out for
it in the welcome areas or in stores. It contains various restraints like
armbinders, gags, collars, scripts and so on. It is sort of a basic inventory
for anyone who enjoys BDSM.
Gags and other restraints
Provided
you have gags and armbinders from the Dari box you will find the menus
self-explanatory. One thing you should pay attention to is to activate RL
support when you first put them on. In this case RL does not stand for real
life but for Restrained Live.
Gags from
other brands like RR work pretty much the same as their pendant cuffs.
Also
mentioned should be stationary restraints like pillories, crosses, racks and
all sort of other stuff you may have already seen standing around on certain
sims. Most of these devices contain a force-sit option (also known as trap,
grabiod, capture, catch). This function allows others to capture avatars
wearing an active RLV relay. Most of them are simple in use and do not differ
very much from cuffs and collars regarding their menus.
Closing words
It would go
too far to list and explain all the options in all the stuff mentioned above.
This tutorial is meant to give you a rough overview of, what I think, are the
most important features. For further assistance please contact the support
groups and read the help notecards.
Please also
note that sometimes an active AO may interfere with bondage poses. You may need
to turn your AO off when tied up.
I hope this
was informative to you. Please do not hesitate to contact me for questions you
may have.
Play safe
and above all: HAVE FUN!!!
