After five years of ethnographic research in the persistent virtual world of Second Life, Michel Nachez paints a picture of 'virtual' love through digital avatars. Punctuated by numerous testimonies and life stories, the book questions the implications of love exchanges in a dematerialised context and shows the fascination of users of this virtual world for avatars. What does this very special kind of love mean? How does it differ from the love of flesh and blood? Is it possible to fall in love at first sight?

In the second part, he explores the more specific world of virtual BDSM. Through interviews with regular practitioners, he explores the issues of submission and domination, obedience, slavery and extreme violence, and invites us to reflect on the unexpected similarities between BDSM and courtly love.

Far removed from the self-righteous rhetoric about the depravity of Second Life that is often repeated in the media, Michel Nachez shows that these practices are an integral part of a quest for pleasure, but also for love, and beyond that, a profound desire to explore oneself and one's limits.

Michel Nachez has a doctorate in Ethnology and specialises in non-ordinary states of consciousness and virtual communities in cyberspace. He taught for 20 years at the Institute of Ethnology in Strasbourg. His ethnographic research in Second Life was carried out over a period of five years. He also worked in the virtual world of the University of Strasbourg, the EVER Grid, for three years, where he was involved in virtual ethnomuseography and distance learning projects using avatars. He has also taught in Education Sciences and at the École Supérieure d'Informatique pour l'Industrie et l'Entreprise.