In-app where Queer Gooners is free to play

One night no Long ago, Jackson Roman sat naked in front of his laptop wearing only a hood while masturbating with deliberate enthusiasm to attract the attention of eight other men watching on the screen.

It was a typical weekday for the 33-year-old software analyst in Arlington, Virginia. “When the brothers praise me and say they are having fun [me]“I get to that edge point very quickly,” Roman says. His favorite is “When They All Get to What I’m Doing.” Sometimes, when he’s feeling particularly kinky, Roman, who is bisexual, likes to ask permission before climaxing. When he allowed it, he released it and his body shook for 10 seconds, he says. He calls it “pure bliss.”

At least a few times a month on Batemites, a social app for guys who like to masturbate with other men, Roman will spend an hour online with his bros. Masturbation – or “spanking” as it’s known online – has always helped him relieve stress and find his center.

He’s not the only one. Positioned as “an all-in-one platform designed to embrace swiping as a way of life together,” Batemites is the latest haven for kinky fun. “It’s a community of like-minded people who are just trying to be porn for others, virtually, while watching others enjoy themselves,” Roman says. “Team play with hotties around the world. What’s not to like?”

Although Batements technically launched in October 2024, it didn’t really start emerging as a viable and secure alternative to other online Batements platforms until last year.

Almost all of the strikers WIRED spoke to said they were introduced to the lifestyle in 2020, during the Covid crisis, because, as one put it, “there was nothing else to do.” Gone are the days of secret sauna circuit jerks. Instead, the men flocked to private video channels on Skype and Zoom for digital jam sessions where they competed en masse with other men from around the world through the portal of their laptop screens. During this period, virtual sessions became so popular that they sometimes reached more than 100 people in a single room.

Everything changed in the last year. Skype shut down in May. Zoom sessions are starting to be reported more often. (“Sensitive content,” including pornography, nudity, and “other content intended to cause sexual arousal” is prohibited under the company’s Acceptable Use Guidelines; Zoom did not respond to a request for comment.) Some gay people have since moved to Teams, Microsoft’s chat and video conferencing app; Others rely on chat forums like BateWorld, a Reddit-style platform for all things male masturbation that is arguably the most popular destination for scalpers, as well as Discord, Telegram, and Reddit to find bros to connect with.

Patimets has emerged as an exciting alternative. “All the company’s tools were just blocking us,” says Johan Goams, founder of Batemites. “As members of the LGBTQ+ community, we didn’t have space. I was really upset by the hypocrisy of the situation, especially when this is something everyone does.”

Batemites want to put an end to corporate sanctity regarding adult content. It’s an ethos that the company has woven into its brand. A recent ad on X states: “Your friends. Your boss. Your coach. Your teammate. Everyone hates.”

Microsoft declined to comment, but according to its digital safety policy and terms of use, “any images, video, audio, text, or links that depict or imply nudity, sexual acts, eroticism, or sexual violence” are prohibited on Teams.

Although Goams, a 31-year-old from Paris, has also been a regular at many Zoom sessions during the pandemic, he often left them wanting more. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m masturbating on Zoom, but I don’t know who these people are. There’s no control. I can’t stay in touch with them. Sometimes you find crazy people. It’s been a complicated experience.’