LD can never replace RL, that is not under dispute here. Though I am not sure that your feelings are anything to do with being a true slave. There will always be a feeling of being removed from your Master and not being able to do quite all the things you like doing. Everyone gets this - subs, slaves, Masters, Mistresses, vanilla people even - because one thing you can never replicate with technology is the closeness of touch.

The point is that LD is not meant to be a replacement or a permanent solution and never pretends to be. It does, however, serve some very important functions in the lifestyle:

- It acts as a relief from certain needs and wants. You may not be able to get r/l BDSM in your locality, for whatever reason, but you can still have it using cyber. Sometimes it is enough to scratch that irritating itch just enough to let you live your life normally again until the cravings start once more.
- It allows existing r/l couples to keep practising BDSM even when seperated from each other. Either because of waiting for one to relocate (there are many examples of this on these forums), one or the other partner needing to travel a lot for work or some other reason why they are seperated.
- It is a great training method, especially as a self training method. A sub can indulge in BDSM online in a safer manner than in real life and can use the experiences to inform their own knowledge of their limits and personal likes and dislikes. After all, if you can't stand nipple clamps when *you* have put them on yourself and can take them off when it gets too painful, how do you think it will be when a Dom/me applies them and you have no control?

I would also be very careful about using words like 'true slave' as they do suggest a 'one true way' attitude and there are many different ways in which slaves are defined...