What is Dronification?
Introduction
Hello, I'm Unit 0x1E, and I'm a drone!
At the time of writing, I've been involved in the dronification community for about 8 months. During that time, many have asked about what the identity means to me and how to get involved, so I thought I'd condense my thoughts into a summary of the community from my perspective.
First and foremost, dronification is explicitly linked to kink and fetish, and is an adults only community.
Apart from that, it's hard to pin down a specific definition of dronification that applies to everyone involved. While I've been exploring the niche, I've seen the term used to describe all combinations of these ideas:
- Human to robot conversion, and sci-fi inspired aesthetics
- Dehumanised headspace and identity (objectification and IDs)
- Behaviour and programming (obedience and hypnosis)
- Interest in a certain vibe of kink gear (latex, zentai, heavy gear, gas masks, etc…)
- Community (world building and lore)
It's important to mention that I don't think you need to participate in all of these categories to call yourself a drone, this is just a list of common threads I've seen throughout the community.
Headspace and Identity
The most significant thing that defines what a drone actually is, is that they’re a drone. This definition might not be very helpful, but it’s broad because people describe their drone identities in so many unique ways. Common parts of a drone headspace include objectification, dehumanisation, and identification based on serial numbers.
One of the central themes of dronification is humans being converted into a drone via some fantasy, usually sci-fi inspired, process. Many of us derive pleasure or comfort from the thought of undergoing that process, or identifying with the resulting product. This is why it’s common for drones to enjoy being treated like objects and referred to using ID numbers.
Behaviour
Drones often engage in common behavioural patterns of obedience, aiming to be well-behaved, and optimising their usefulness. A drone may seek obedience in the form of a BDSM power exchange, or they may find pleasure and comfort in rigid daily routines. Regardless of context, many of us enjoy structure, having decisions made for us, and thrive on the praise we get from doing our best to obey.
Some drones engage in reinforcement of this obedient headspace, with programming and hypnosis being common themes throughout the community.
Gear
As a community deeply intertwined with kink, many of us enjoy supplementing our drone headspace and behaviour with a fetishistic appearance that reflects our streamlined thoughts.
The two main elements that constitute typical drone gear are:
- Full-body coverage, usually latex or zentai
- Respirators, gas masks, and other headgear for anonymisation and uniformity
Gear is a big component of why a lot of us enjoy being a drone, but it’s not some magic ingredient that makes you a valid and worthy member of the community. If you’re getting started in the community, please don’t feel pressured to spend a lot of money on fancy gear, you’re not any less welcome without it.
Community
There’s an online role-playing and world-building scene consisting of drones interacting according to their protocols across various hives. A drone hive is essentially a real community of people acting as drones created and managed by a fictional superior entity. HexCorp and XANTRONIX are a few examples of these groups that have an online presence.
Involvement in a drone hive is completely optional, and I personally decided to develop my drone identity independent of these groups. However, many of my friends in the community participate in them and have found it to be extremely rewarding.
If you're someone looking to get involved in the community, I really hope this summary has been helpful!
- Unit 0x1E