I find as I type this, that I am seeing this in a way I had not previously looked at it from before. I am sitting here truly saying to myself "Don't screw this up, its important".
------------------------------

Hi moptop,
Thanks for joining in. I don't want to quote everything you mentioned about this so I will just quote this part:

Why do people feel the need to adopt a specific lifestyle, to state rules of behaviour and habit by which they regulate themselves daily, and especially to take rules that they have not discovered for themselves? I have never understood this need.
This is a very good point and one that may shine some light on this whole gorean subject. Wolfscout alluded to this also.

There are the slaves who seem pretty haphazard in how things are done .... Then there are those who do best under the more stringent and rule based form of slave.
As I read and re-read those comments I started thinking about my own "lifestyle" and that of others around me. My thoughts had me thinking back to younger days and how my dad had been a "lifer" in the military and while I enjoyed my time in the military and had no problems working within the system I ended up looking for something different.

Why did my dad excel in living a lifestyle of strict rules and protocols?

It would seem to me that many people do thrive when given a strict framework to live in while others might feel oppressed by it to some degree or another and seek a different path.

I think it is no different for Masters and slaves in the BDSM world. Maybe people chose the gorean style because they in fact enjoy it and thrive in that strict environment. While others may want nothing to do with it feeling they perform best as a BDSM freestyler. Myself, I think I am most comfortable living a "lifestyle" somewhere in the middle.

So, when I seek a BDSM partner, do I select a "brat" with no self control, no I let her go freestyle with someone else. I seek a partner who will be comfortable living within the same "lifestyle" I do.

Somewhere between Gor and Earth.

I hope I said all this correctly, I know what I was trying to say but can never be sure I wrote it so others can understand it the same way I meant it.