How can I change my avatar

[BilliJo Aldrin]

Yes a non mesh guy, probably with a freenis to boot, is a definite put off.

He didn't mention if they all moved away after he said "who wants to eat my man meat"

[Talligurl]

2 hours ago, Kristof Maven said:

I also notice it is much more easy to be a woman than a man.

Yes it is in SL, but only because here we don't have periods

[MoiraKathleen]

20 minutes ago, Talligurl said:

Yes it is in SL, but only because here we don't have periods

It's a good thing I wasn't in the midst of drinking my coffee when I read that!  

(no hot flashes either, for us, umm, slightly older ladies)

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

Yes a non mesh guy, probably with a freenis to boot, is a definite put off.

A well put together non-mesh guy isn't necessarily a put off - at least not to all.  Key words though are "well put together".

[Kristof Maven]

13 hours I can make first synthesis

- Thank you all for your answers. I didn't expect such reactions. I thouhg that this forum was dead and maybe in one month I will get someone who reply.

- This post was in Avatar section. Maybe I will write the same kind but in friends section. So the topic was how to improve my avatar not how to make friends or something like that. I explain all just for the context and it is easier to understand. Concerning the Bio yes it did it on purpose just to test it.

- My conclusion : I have to go do the market place that could be easier to find things. I loose my time in sl shops and that is so discoraging. I cannot find what I am looking for.

- I understand that there is normal avatar and mesh avatar. I am normal --> that means for sl not normal lol. They also call it standard. I should be mesh or at least have one mesh. I don't know if I understood exactly what mesh is but maybe this is where you have alpha layer.

 

- I will make a break now and when I have enough energy or motivation, It will be kind of challenge. I will try to find out something. and I will test how people react.

- It is hard to have feedback. That is my mean problem. I should wait untill people leave me or don't talk to me and then I understand that my avatar miss something.  That is why I am here is this specific topic of avatar and I would like to have feedback.

 

 

[Skell Dagger]

2 hours ago, Kristof Maven said:

 I understand that there is normal avatar and mesh avatar. I am normal --> that means for sl not normal lol. They also call it standard. I should be mesh or at least have one mesh. I don't know if I understood exactly what mesh is but maybe this is where you have alpha layer.

I have bolded what I'm replying to, and I'm going to bold my reply.

There is no 'should' about having mesh body parts. You can have a fantastic-looking male avatar without buying a mesh body or a mesh head. Anyone who tells you that you must have a mesh body and/or head or they don't want to associate with you is both shallow and not worth knowing anyway.

What you need to look for when you're searching Marketplace is:

1. A system skin. Look for one that states it's for the 'classic' avatar. It may have a small picture like the one below on it:

ALWAYS try demos of skins. Don't just spend what little money you do have on a skin, only to find that it doesn't work for you. If a skin doesn't have a demo, then look for a different skin.

2. You also need some hair. Exile currently have a free fatpack male and female hairstyle in their inworld store. Use the inworld search tool to look up Kavar Cleanslate, the designer, and in his picks you'll find the landmark to Exile. When you land, move forward until you're in the middle of the store and you'll find the hairstyle here:

The hairstyle looks like this:

Note that you have lots of HUDs in that folder, so you can change the hair to whatever colour you want. Just wear the hair and the relevant colour HUD, wait a few seconds, then click a colour on the HUD that you like.

3. Some mesh clothing. You don't need to have a mesh body in order to wear mesh clothing, but many designers now are creating their mesh clothing so that it only fits mesh bodies. This means the clothing may not contain an alpha layer (which is what you must wear to make parts of your system avatar disappear so that it doesn't show through the mesh clothing). What you need to look for when searching for mesh clothing is either fitmesh or standard sizes. Those will fit system avatars and should come with the alpha layers that you need.

4. Some decent footwear. This can be harder for men to find when they're on a limited budget, but a good place to start is the group gifts at the Gabriel store. Some of these are mesh and some are sculpted, but they're a good place to begin. Search for Takuya Jinn, the Gabriel designer, and go into his picks to find the landmark to Gabriel. When you land there, move forward until you're in front of the white stand arrowed here:

Click it, then look in your chat window. It will have pasted a link to a group, so click that link and then click the 'join' button in the new window that pops up. (The group is free to join, so it won't cost you anything.) Click OK to the next, and you'll see the title for the group appear above your avatar's head. (Right now, I think it's 'GB Member', or something like that.)

Now, move to that wall that says 'Gabriel Group Gift' above it, and click the boxes to receive the gifts. As you can see, there's some nice footwear for men there. (Note: The hat and gloves in the stand cost L$1 to buy.)

Hopefully that will get you started.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Skell Dagger

[Lillith Hapmouche]

3 hours ago, Kristof Maven said:

I should be mesh or at least have one mesh.

At least four people writing "You don't need to go full mesh, a well composed classic avatar will do" and the quoted bit is the conclusion. 

A very broad assumption, but perhaps the OP might rather prefer to indulge in self-pity and focus on nothing but problems.

[Skell Dagger]

A further demonstration that you don't need a mesh head or mesh body to have a well put-together male avatar in Second Life. In all four of these images I'm not wearing a mesh body or head; it's just system skin and mesh clothing. In the third image, I am wearing a pair of mesh hands, but - again - those are not absolutely necessary to have a male avatar that looks non-newb-ish. In fact, in the first image (with the tall boots) I'm even wearing system clothing layer jeans.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Skell Dagger

[Morgan Rosenstar]

4 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

A further demonstration that you don't need a mesh head or mesh body to have a well put-together male avatar in Second Life. In all four of these images I'm not wearing a mesh body or head; it's just system skin and mesh clothing. In the third image, I am wearing a pair of mesh hands, but - again - those are not absolutely necessary to have a male avatar that looks non-newb-ish. In fact, in the first image (with the tall boots) I'm even wearing system clothing layer jeans.

I want to meet the 4th one !

[Jeny Howlett]

7 minutes ago, Morgan Rosenstar said:

I want to meet the 4th one !

I want to meet the 3rd one 

[Talligurl]

16 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

A well put together non-mesh guy isn't necessarily a put off - at least not to all.  Key words though are "well put together".

My ex SL husband was non-mesh, and that had nothing to do with him being my ex, RL only caused that, and if our RL schedules ever allow it I will be back with him in a heartbeat.

[Talligurl]

8 minutes ago, Jeny Howlett said:

I want to meet the 3rd one 

I want to meet them all.

[Claireschen Hesten]

21 hours ago, Kristof Maven said:

I understand something. If you are mesh you are something if you are no mesh you are nothing. I am nothing

Don't be such a downer on yourself i'm a fellow no mesh that doesn't stop people acknowledging me or chatting to me or giving likes on here, all you really need to do is make your profile bio more positive treat yourself to some new clobber a few mesh pieces will really lift your look and can be mixed with your favourite non mesh clothes and a more up to date hair cut 

[Kristof Maven]

I changed my bio maybe that will help my avatar to be improved.

[Skell Dagger]

4 hours ago, Morgan Rosenstar said:

I want to meet the 4th one !

LOL! That's Skell's rockstar persona. He gets a makeover every couple of years. This one's from March 2016, not long before I bought my Slink mesh body. This is the full look, with studio lighting. The only mesh is the clothing and the hands:

I've just fully-meshed 'rockstar' up this year, and he now looks like this. (Linking only, since I don't want to put mesh avatar pics in this thread and cause confusion!)

I'll admit that it's actually a lot easier to put together a good non-mesh-body-n-head male avatar look. Working with mesh bodies and heads - while giving fantastic end results - takes a lot more actual work than the old system body needed.

4 hours ago, Jeny Howlett said:

I want to meet the 3rd one 

Heh! Same skin as the rockstar, actually. It's from Birth, and I've nicknamed it my "Holy Cheekbones, Batman!" skin. Pity there's no head applier for that one, since I love it.

This thread has made me want to revisit my old idea about a Style 101 for newb guys. I keep talking about it and never getting around to it. Trouble is, it would have to be a complete series - beginning with the absolute basics - because I'd want to explain those simply enough for absolute newbs to understand, but then I'd need to get into the whole mesh body and head thing. And that would need to be both noob-simple and yet helpful to guys who've been inworld for years and are now looking to upgrade. I'm beginning to wonder if I should open up a second blog for it, since Virtual Bloke is more a style and personal blog, and the image sizes won't be right for explanatory tutorial stuff.

[Skell Dagger]

35 minutes ago, Kristof Maven said:

I changed my bio maybe that will help my avatar to be improved.

I've just looked at it, and... no. That's not going to "help your avatar to be improved". You've taken out the negative stuff, which is good, but you've just replaced it with your age, your gender, and the continent that you live on.

*sigh*

What are your interests? Do you like a particular sport? Music? Going out with friends? What would you like to do in Second Life? That's the kind of thing that should be going in the main 'about' section of your profile. Most people look there first - they don't always check out the 'first life' bit, which is where you've put your only info so far. Your 'about' section is completely blank, which tells us nothing about you at all. Even if you're not in SL to find a partner, think of your profile as something like the profile on a dating site: you're not going to attract anyone - as either a partner or a friend - with a blank profile.

What is going to improve your avatar is you pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, forgetting the people who said those unkind things to you, making a cup of tea/coffee, and settling down for a few hours of searching through SL Marketplace for some bargain-hunting to begin sprucing up your avatar. As Lillith said in her post on the previous page of this thread, SL is a visual medium. Just like in real life, if you know you look good, it helps you to feel good. Put on a classy, well-fitted suit and some nice shoes in real life, and you feel a bit taller, right? Same thing in SL: spruce up your avatar and the self-confidence will come afterwards.

For now, brass it out and go shopping

Edited August 19, 2017 by Skell Dagger

[Cindy Evanier]

23 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

This thread has made me want to revisit my old idea about a Style 101 for newb guys.

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I hope you do it

[Skell Dagger]

10 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I hope you do it

I really would love to, but I'm such a perfectionist that I'd need to plan the whole thing out in advance so that it was split up into manageable chunks. Case in point: I have a draft post (which is staying in drafts!) on the blog explaining the basics of choosing a mesh head and body, and it's 4,000 words. Nobody but the most dedicated guy is going to sit through that much in one go, so I need to break it up a bit.

[Cindy Evanier]

5 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

I really would love to, but I'm such a perfectionist that I'd need to plan the whole thing out in advance so that it was split up into manageable chunks. Case in point: I have a draft post (which is staying in drafts!) on the blog explaining the basics of choosing a mesh head and body, and it's 4,000 words. Nobody but the most dedicated guy is going to sit through that much in one go, so I need to break it up a bit.

Understandable. it sounds like a huge job.  Not just collating the information but presenting it in a way newbs would understand.

[Talligurl]

Oh course a style for new guys class is way less important than a manners for new  guys class.

[Cindy Evanier]

Well once they have a style maybe they will attract the girls who take them to the next stage with a manners class?

Edited August 19, 2017 by Cindy Evanier

[Skell Dagger]

31 minutes ago, Talligurl said:

Oh course a style for new guys class is way less important than a manners for new  guys class.

A post series like that is not something I'm prepared to waste hours of my time on. If a man is a boor, then it will require someone with far more patience and tolerance than I possess to try and shape him into a gentleman.

[LittleMe Jewell]

10 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

A post series like that is not something I'm prepared to waste hours of my time on. If a man is a boor, then it will require someone with far more patience and tolerance than I possess to try and shape him into a gentleman.

Likely can't be done anyway.  If a guy isn't at least a semi-gentleman by the time he hits early adulthood, I don't have much hope for him getting any better.

[Skell Dagger]

6 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Likely can't be done anyway.  If a guy isn't at least a semi-gentleman by the time he hits early adulthood, I don't have much hope for him getting any better.

Exactly. Which is why it would be a waste of my time. I don't mind spending hours to put together tutorials on how to look good in SL, but I'd only want to slap someone for ungentlemanly conduct

[Kristof Maven]

On 19/08/2017 at 10:20 PM, Skell Dagger said:

I've just looked at it, and... no. That's not going to "help your avatar to be improved". You've taken out the negative stuff, which is good, but you've just replaced it with your age, your gender, and the continent that you live on.

*sigh*

What are your interests? Do you like a particular sport? Music? Going out with friends? What would you like to do in Second Life? That's the kind of thing that should be going in the main 'about' section of your profile. Most people look there first - they don't always check out the 'first life' bit, which is where you've put your only info so far. Your 'about' section is completely blank, which tells us nothing about you at all. Even if you're not in SL to find a partner, think of your profile as something like the profile on a dating site: you're not going to attract anyone - as either a partner or a friend - with a blank profile.

What is going to improve your avatar is you pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, forgetting the people who said those unkind things to you, making a cup of tea/coffee, and settling down for a few hours of searching through SL Marketplace for some bargain-hunting to begin sprucing up your avatar. As Lillith said in her post on the previous page of this thread, SL is a visual medium. Just like in real life, if you know you look good, it helps you to feel good. Put on a classy, well-fitted suit and some nice shoes in real life, and you feel a bit taller, right? Same thing in SL: spruce up your avatar and the self-confidence will come afterwards.

For now, brass it out and go shopping

He he Do someone have humour !!!  If I change my profile of course that will not change my avatar. I reply to the person who give me that advice. An apply it to prove it that this advice is useless for avatar. Yes maybe for genaral it is better to have a good description. BTW I am not good ad writing a good bio at all but that is an other story and out of topic.

I think I know what I will do. I wrill create a new avi if I want to continue 'playing'. That play is not fun anymore. Many post tell me that a bad avatar is not good. OK That will help me to know. Otherwise I would not write such question here. I received many advice to keep normal body and mesh thinks. OK it is a good general things.

Now I need more precise things. Where to go ? Do you have group special for old noob like me. ?  I think My avatar is completly ill and I ask where is the hospital and people say you are sick go to the hospital (shop) !! I don't konw where is the hospital. You have to pay the hospital and I have no money. And Finaly I am dead. Hooo my english this morning is not good. After you have misunderstanding.