Avatar appearance reflect or define mood or neither?

[Seicher Rae]

For the first couple of years in SL once I had my avatar appearance set, I could not change it except for hair style. I had one skin. One shape. I was a green-eyed brunette. When I say I "could not" change it, I mean that I really identified with that avatar's look and to be anything else felt so foreign that I was not comfortable. I created an alt to be a mermaid. Seicher wasn't a mermaid! I created another alt to role play other things. Each avatar had its own purpose.

Fast forward. I got over that. ... and have the inventory to prove it. I could be a tiny plaid bunny with Seicher. I was able to be a mermaid. I could change skins, although for the first ten years Seicher was usually the pale, green-eyed brunette with the same shape, even when I switched to mesh. Usually.

When I got into a mood I'd change things up a bit. Red hair! Blonde! Truthfully, blonde always felt a bit "off".  Plaid bunny was up for silly adventures. I generally keep my mesh shape and change things up with skins and hair.

Just like in RL the clothes reflected the mood.

And... sometimes the avatar appearance drove the frame of mind.

Years eight and nine had Seicher going paler and paler. Like I was trying to melt into the scenery?  After 10 years I switched, with a lot of work, to a totally different look. Kind of a salute to the next ten years! Onward!

It's been about half a year in the new avatar look. I love looking at her. I think she's gorgeous (if I do say so myself). This Seicher is me but she has her own personality too. (Even in a SL forum, that sounds a little cray cray, oh well.) But I'm just not feeling her, if you get my meaning. I've invested a lot of time and $L into this look and created what I set out to create.

So the questions are: How much do you relate to your avatar's appearance? Is it always the same, regardless of your RL frame of mind or what you are up to in SL? Does your avatar change with your RL moods? Have you ever experienced an avatar appearance that just felt uncomfortable or off? Does your avatar's appearance ever change your mood and what you get up to in SL (as opposed to your mood changing the appearance)?

Or... :::looking a bit paranoid::: is it just me?

 

 

 

[Rolig Loon]

Except for a brief fling in 2008, I spent my first decade in SL as a brown-eyed redhead.  I would change hair styles and clothing -- and occasionally my skin -- to reflect my different moods or adapt to new surroundings, but stayed basically the same redhead.

Something inexplicable happened within the last year or so.  I've started feeling like a blonde and have occasionally grown a mermaid tail, neither of which was something I ever considered before. Neither of those is a full-time persona -- I'm still a redhead at heart -- but it surprises me that these new directions feel comfortable. 

I would blame it all on @Madelaine McMasters, but I don't think she has seen me in world in either form. Besides, I wouldn't do what she tells me to anyway.

 

[Seicher Rae]

7 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Something inexplicable happened within the last year or so.  I've started feeling like a blonde and have occasionally grown a mermaid tail, neither of which was something I ever considered before. Neither of those is a full-time persona -- I'm still a redhead at heart -- but it surprises me that these new directions feel comfortable. 

 

Do you feel like your blonde self "feels" differently from the redheaded avatar? Different mood or attitude? You mention it being a part-time persona...  Also we have the same mermaid tail.

[Rolig Loon]

1 minute ago, Seicher Rae said:

Do you feel like your blonde self "feels" differently from the redheaded avatar? Different mood or attitude? You mention it being a part-time persona...  Also we have the same mermaid tail.

Well, my blonde self has started posting travelogue adventures in Bellisseria, which is a more outgoing, exploratory experience than usual.  But that's only since summer, and I've done some of those as a redhead too. The blonde me started showing up over a year ago. I think she's my invisible friend -- on vacation since grade school.

That is a fine tail. It even moves gracefully. We have good taste. 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

55 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

So the questions are: How much do you relate to your avatar's appearance? Is it always the same, regardless of your RL frame of mind or what you are up to in SL? Does your avatar change with your RL moods? Have you ever experienced an avatar appearance that just felt uncomfortable or off? Does your avatar's appearance ever change your mood and what you get up to in SL (as opposed to your mood changing the appearance)?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I know that there are many people here who treat pretty much every aspect of their avatar's appearance as a change of clothing: they can happily change heads, skins, bodies and shapes, as well as the usual things (hair, makeup, tattoos, and clothing) to reflect their mood -- or just because they're playing around.

I somewhat envy people like this: I have a barely-buried intuition that this is somehow a very "healthy" attitude to have towards one's digital representation here, because it never loses sight of the important, if always problematic and complicated, boundaries separating RL and SL.

For me, there is always a tension between my personal sense that an awful lot of my identity, my "self-making," is bound up in my avatar, and my desire to use my avatar expressively, to articulate moods or ideas or (sometimes) RL contexts that may not be evident from their impact upon my digital appearance. Mostly, I change appearance in SL as I do in RL: I change hair (more than I can in RL, for obvious reasons), makeup, and clothing, but I don't mess with the foundational "look" such as head, skin, and body. Even my hair is usually some variant of blonde or black and white ombre, because this became associated early on in my mind with who my digital self "is."

So, as I say, there's a tension between what I can change to express moods, and what I don't feel I want to mess with. And I'm actually mostly good with that tension, because I think it encourages a more creative engagement with mood: constraints can actually make us more creative. (I'm reminded of a remark by Robert Frost that I often come back to regarding the lack of constraint in "free verse": it's like playing tennis without a net, he said. Carl Sandburg begged to differ, and I get his point too.)

So, I certainly do use my avatar to express moods and ideas, and so forth, but in ways that respect the constraints of my own level of comfort about my avatar's identity with RL self. An important way in which I do this now is through photography: a great many of my pics are articulations of a mood that I happen to be labouring under at that moment. Interestingly, taking a picture to express that mood sometimes has a cathartic effect, at least when those moods are negative: by the time I'm done, I'm no longer feeling so angry, or angsty, or depressed, or whatever sponsored the pic.

Oh, another way I do this that won't be evident to anyone else is playing music on my computer or phone while in SL: in effect, I give my avatar a private soundtrack that is also expressive of my mood, and can influence how I interact in SL.

Your question about my digital appearance changing my mood is harder to answer. I'm not sure that it does, except in the case of the catharsis I mentioned above. But I'll think about this more: it's possible I'm missing something subtle. At the most basic level, I suppose, logging in to whatever my current residence is -- Edwardian house, graffiti-strewn warehouse studio, or whatever -- gives me a kind of pleasure that maybe does have a nuanced effect on my mood?

[Seicher Rae]

 

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I know that there are many people here who treat pretty much every aspect of their avatar's appearance as a change of clothing: they can happily change heads, skins, bodies and shapes, as well as the usual things (hair, makeup, tattoos, and clothing) to reflect their mood -- or just because they're playing around.

I somewhat envy people like this: I have a barely-buried intuition that this is somehow a very "healthy" attitude to have towards one's digital representation here, because it never loses sight of the important, if always problematic and complicated, boundaries separating RL and SL.

For me, there is always a tension between my personal sense that an awful lot of my identity, my "self-making," is bound up in my avatar, and my desire to use my avatar expressively, to articulate moods or ideas or (sometimes) RL contexts that may not be evident from their impact upon my digital appearance. Mostly, I change appearance in SL as I do in RL: I change hair (more than I can in RL, for obvious reasons), makeup, and clothing, but I don't mess with the foundational "look" such as head, skin, and body. Even my hair is usually some variant of blonde or black and white ombre, because this became associated early on in my mind with who my digital self "is."

So, as I say, there's a tension between what I can change to express moods, and what I don't feel I want to mess with. And I'm actually mostly good with that tension, because I think it encourages a more creative engagement with mood: constraints can actually make us more creative. (I'm reminded of a remark by Robert Frost that I often come back to regarding the lack of constraint in "free verse": it's like playing tennis without a net, he said. Carl Sandburg begged to differ, and I get his point too.)

So, I certainly do use my avatar to express moods and ideas, and so forth, but in ways that respect the constraints of my own level of comfort about my avatar's identity with RL self. An important way in which I do this now is through photography: a great many of my pics are articulations of a mood that I happen to be labouring under at that moment. Interestingly, taking a picture to express that mood sometimes has a cathartic effect, at least when those moods are negative: by the time I'm done, I'm no longer feeling so angry, or angsty, or depressed, or whatever sponsored the pic.

Oh, another way I do this that won't be evident to anyone else is playing music on my computer or phone while in SL: in effect, I give my avatar a private soundtrack that is also expressive of my mood, and can influence how I interact in SL.

Your question about my digital appearance changing my mood is harder to answer. I'm not sure that it does, except in the case of the catharsis I mentioned above. But I'll think about this more: it's possible I'm missing something subtle. At the most basic level, I suppose, logging in to whatever my current residence is -- Edwardian house, graffiti-strewn warehouse studio, or whatever -- gives me a kind of pleasure that maybe does have a nuanced effect on my mood?

Interesting. I totally understand about working within the restraints or parameters you've given yourself. I hadn't thought of it that way. I agree, and also envy those who are super fluid with their appearances. On the continuum of "I can't change a thing about my appearance" (about where I started) to "anything goes" I think I'm still closer to the "can't change" end, which is surprising me a bit.

The problematic boundaries between RL and SL that you mention are tied into this, too, I think. For me RL and SL have always been very close to identical. I don't mean boundaries about sharing RL details of age/sex/location/phone number... but who I am in SL. Unless I am specifically role playing, I'm me. Even as a bunny or mermaid. So, while we have more options in SL, there are those parameters/constraints you mention. I wish in RL I could change my exterior to match my interior if I want to, but other than clothes, makeup and hair (and the money to do that), but we can't.

I think part of the disconnect I'm having with Seicher 2.0 is that when I created her I was subconsciously hoping that her appearance would drive my mood. I mean, the girl always looks calm, contained, competent and assured no matter what photo I take of her! I noticed this after about twenty selfies. She is a totally new avatar, with her own shape and head, not just a new skin over Seicher 1.0. Seicher 1.0 tends to look vulnerable (imo, and also this wasn't intentional). Let's just say in RL I feel more vulnerable than I do assured, and walking around SL in a "positive" avatar kinda feels like role playing. Darn it.

I also use SL photography to capture mood moments, and I hadn't thought of it as you put it, but yes, I also play my own soundtrack!

It's kind of a tangent to the OP, but for me I can state categorically that the environments my avatar spends time in affect my RL states of mind. Not like an on/off switch, not that dramatic.

Photos: Assured and not so much... :p

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Seicher Rae
to add the photos the !#$@ program would let me initially

[lucagrabacr]

One's avatar appearance always reflect the owner's inner self-construct or a side of it to some degree, and embodying that embodiment also affect the inner construct or one's perception of themselves. It's a feedback loop

[Seicher Rae]

9 minutes ago, lucagrabacr said:

One's avatar appearance always reflect the owner's inner self-construct or a side of it to some degree, and embodying that embodiment also affect the inner construct or one's perception of themselves. It's a feedback loop

I think one needs to be very careful using the word "always" when speaking about other people, even with the qualifier "to some degree" (unless you want to push that to a silly point, which I'm not going to). For example, my RL bff and my ex SL partner, really did not care about what he looked like in SL (often to my annoyance). If he were still operating inworld these days, he'd be fine with wearing the original 2007 or whatever starter avatar, or a 2010 prim thing that makes him look like a Minecraft creeper (which actually is an adorable avatar). He cares about what he looks like in RL. It would be like talking to him in a foreign language if I asked him to make his avatar a reflection of his current mood or to make a "statement" avatar... total deer in headlights.

[Rolig Loon]

This thread opens a new dimension to the classic debate that we have about immersion in SL.  Usually, we're discussing how much we feel that we have slid into SL and have become our avatars, living in a virtual world instead of just viewing cartoons from a distance. What you're asking here, Seicher, is the flip side: "How much have our avatars crossed into RL and started to. influence who are?"  Or, more to the point, can changing our avatars influence the way we think about ourselves? That's a fascinating question.  

There are certainly many SL residents who deal with illness, infirmity, and other limitations in RL. I've read countless notes here in the forums that report how the in world experience liberates them vicariously and lets them have a more social life.  Less often, I hear comments about how avatars evolve and live vicariously in RL, making their owners more self-confident, outgoing, etc.  As I think on it now, I cannot say that Rolig's evolution has made me any more adventurous or helped me feel more attractive/smart/worldly-wise, but I do have a growing sense that she is as much in me as I am in her.  Her experiences in SL are in some way telling me things about who I am and what I am capable of.  As I watch her test life as a blonde mermaid, there's a part of me that wonders what I may have been missing in RL, and what I can learn from this woman in my head.  I'm sure that a psychologist would have a field day explaining it all.

[lucagrabacr]

11 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

I think one needs to be very careful using the word "always" when speaking about other people, even with the qualifier "to some degree" (unless you want to push that to a silly point, which I'm not going to). For example, my RL bff and my ex SL partner, really did not care about what he looked like in SL (often to my annoyance). If he were still operating inworld these days, he'd be fine with wearing the original 2007 or whatever starter avatar, or a 2010 prim thing that makes him look like a Minecraft creeper (which actually is an adorable avatar). He cares about what he looks like in RL. It would be like talking to him in a foreign language if I asked him to make his avatar a reflection of his current mood or to make a "statement" avatar... total deer in headlights.

Well to me that would reflect a side of their personality and that in itself is a form of projection of one's inner-self.

Edit: Was going to write this in my previous post but I thought it won't be necessary; even the "troll" kind of avatar reflects a side of personality of whoever's behind it

Edited November 3, 2019 by lucagrabacr
adding stuff

[Seicher Rae]

2 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

This thread opens a new dimension to the classic debate that we have about immersion in SL.  Usually, we're discussing how much we feel that we have slid into SL and have become our avatars, living in a virtual world instead of just viewing cartoons from a distance. What you're asking here, Seicher, is the flip side: "How much have our avatars crossed into RL and started to. influence who are?"  Or, more to the point, can changing our avatars influence the way we think about ourselves? That's a fascinating question.  

There are certainly many SL residents who deal with illness, infirmity, and other limitations in RL. I've read countless notes here in the forums that report how the in world experience liberates them vicariously and lets them have a more social life.  Less often, I hear comments about how avatars evolve and live vicariously in RL, making their owners more self-confident, outgoing, etc.  As I think on it now, I cannot say that Rolig's evolution has made me any more adventurous or helped me feel more attractive/smart/worldly-wise, but I do have a growing sense that she is as much in me as I am in her.  Her experiences in SL are in some way telling me things about who I am and what I am capable of.  As I watch her test life as a blonde mermaid, there's a part of me that wonders what I may have been missing in RL, and what I can learn from this woman in my head.  I'm sure that a psychologist would have a field day explaining it all.

I love what you said here, especially since it makes my OP deeper than its writer.   I do know that Seicher 1.0 (first 10 years) and her exploits affected me in RL to various extents, and that is just the inworld stuff. The lasting effects (first 10 years) of the adjuncts to SL (Forums, etc.) have had on my RL were much greater, for the most part. 

You're also right, a psychologist would have a field day...

[Seicher Rae]

5 minutes ago, lucagrabacr said:

Well to me that would reflect a side of their personality and that in itself is a form of projection of one's inner-self.

Edit: Was going to write this in my previous post but I thought it won't be necessary; even the "troll" kind of avatar reflects a side of personality of whoever's behind it

Yeah, that's what I meant by pushing it, because you can argue that even the selection of the starter avatar is a projection of self. I know bff/ex had a limited assortment of starters to choose from, he wanted a male avatar, one that looked like the most "normal" non-douchebag (his words) avatar. So, yeah, a projection, sure, but not to the extent I was really talking about. After that he forgot all about what his avatar looked like until I had various little hissy fits about "for the love of gawd, I have to look at you!"

[Tari Landar]

From (late) 2008 until about 2012 I had the same shape, skin, occasionally changed my hair but mostly kept it the same, etc..In 2012 I got a new skin, lol, but everything else stayed the same. In, 2017 I bought my mesh body, head, and head skin (body skin is a default GA skin). I still have the same shape. I've got a few hairs, but I mostly wear two.I change my clothes maybe once every year, or every couple years. Yes, I'm dead serious, lmao. I have always had the same shape, because I like it and it took me forever to tweak it the way I wanted, I don't intend to change it ever again, well, not when I am in human form. I also have a BB hamster av that I like, it's adorable. I wear that sometimes just because.

I don't think my av's appearance has much to do with my mood, or really anything. I change to my hamster sometimes just because, but I can't really say whether or not there is any rhyme or reason to it, there probably isn't, there rarely is with much of what I do, to be honest. I mean, I like the way my av looks, but I don't put as much importance into my looks as a lot of people probably do, as evidenced by my lack of wardrobe, fashion sense...well, everything really, lmao. I'm not knocking others when I say that either, I think people should care as much or as little as they desire (unless they use their "care" for "appearances" as judgments against others..then sometimes I take issue..but I digress, I don't want this to be negative  ). I'm just not that kind of person. I'm not in rl either, which is probably why it translates into sl so well for me, or easily, however you want to put that. 

I think not being able to see things properly, or at least the way most others see things, plays a much larger role in why I don't care how I look. I do identify with my av in that, it is me, at all times, I'm me no matter where I am (rl, online, whatever...) in that regard I do identify with Tari. But as far as how my av looks, eh...it's an av, the appearance isn't an extension of me..the behaviors, actions, opinions, those are all me. I'm not the sum of what I look like, in any world (not a judgment, I promise) because...what I look like to me, and what I look like to you are probably vastly different things. 

Though, really, I'm pretty adorable in all worlds.....

Oh, yeah, av evolution

early 2008

2008 (later) to 2013

2011 (told you people I love my breedables :p)

2017-I changed to mesh

And...umm, last week, or week before, whatever day that was

Edited November 3, 2019 by Tari Landar

[LyricalBookworm]

I do dress to suit my mood in way of time period clothing. That is where things end though. I've had the same shape I tweaked to match my rl petite one back in 2009. It has been upgraded to mesh and bento, but I've always stayed as close as I could to my rl facial features, hair, eyes, skin tone and even freckles. I wouldn't feel comfortable if changed the color of my hair, skin or eyes. I do change my hairstyles though. I'm never seen without my elf ears and sometimes I have wings. Even when I shrink to petite size, I'm just an even smaller version of my regular avatar.

I just like feeling like me and this is how I feel like me. It is comfortable. It would feel strange to change it.

Just to add: All the photos shared here are so lovely. It is fun to see what others come up with.

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by LyricalBookworm

[BelindaN]

I'm on an evolutionary journey even though it wasn't planned. The RL me who started out will always be the SL me. I won't change my shape, head or skin now because I'm wholly immersed in my avi. However, I'm blonde, and when I take my Agent Smith persona, with short dark hair, this really does affect the way I feel.

My third alt, Daisy, I created as a self assured confident brunette who could become WonderWoman at a stroke. When I'm Daisy,  I feel absolutely empowered, it's most peculiar, but her look affects the way I feel and behave. 

My other two alts are a variation on this, and I wont go on about it, other than to say that Salty, my first alt and youngest sister is sweet and innocent, and being her does affect the way I feel and behave. 

So creating a concept with a life, and an appearance certainly bounces back into how I feel in RL. Quantifying this is hard, but creating a relaxing feeling in RL is a noticeable effect. Its complex for sure.

[Madelaine McMasters]

This is a complex subject that I don't think any of us fully comprehends. I'm already seeing that in the responses here.

I long ago discovered that hair was (for me) the most distinguishing characteristic of SL avatars and that those who were consistent in their selection of hair color and style were the most easily recognizable at a distance. I like that. Because I like recognizing friends (and myself) in a crowd and presume they do too, I don't change hair color or style much.

There are anchor points in my look. While my hair is the most identifiable of them, it's also the least considered. Had I bought long hair back in April of 2008 (when I had long hair in RL), I might still be wearing long hair now. There are two things that I make sure are in every one of my avatars (with the exception of my Spontaneous Moral Decay particle avatar):

First is my pocket watch. I've often told the story of how my RL pocket watch was passed to me by my father, who received it from his grandfather (who raised him). When it stopped working in 1952, my great grandfather more or less said "screw clocks" and refused to fix it. Dad inherited that ethos which, with the broken watch, was passed on to me. When RL circumstances demand I dress nicely, the watch comes along as decoration, hopefully to provoke an inquiry that allows me to tell its story. There's a whole 'nother story connected to the significance of 4AM, which prompted me to move the hands of my RL watch. 4AM is now an integral part of the watch's story. Were it "mod", I'd change the SL watch to match.

Second is my Anne Francis mole. I first encountered Anne in the movie "Forbidden Planet", which I watched on a beautiful summer evening in my youth, in my barn, in my pajamas. I'd catch Anne in other reruns over the years (Route 66, Honey West) and developed a crush on her. When I arrived in SL, I decided to add her trademark mole to my face (and her pic as my RL profile), but with my own "spin" on it. My mole is a miniature rotating globe of night-time Earth, within reach of my tongue. I can "lick the world" any time I please.

The skin of my human avatar also contains moles arranged to mimic three astronomical constellations, Orion, The Big Dipper, and The Seven Sisters. I am freckly in RL and was teased over that when young. One evening, while sitting on his lap on our beach, Dad explained that moles and freckles were special things. They are holes some people have that allow their inner light to escape, making the beautiful stars in the night sky. When I learned I could make tattoos here, I immediately fashioned constellations. I eventually baked them into my own custom skin texture, to make them as much a part of me as possible. I have vitiligo in RL, but haven't yet had the time or inclination to paint my SL skin to reflect it. Maybe someday.

We are the stories we tell, and I enjoy being able to wear some of my stories here.

Getting back to whether my appearance affects me, I think it's more the other way round as I just described. I am more affected by ideas and the people who share them with me. Ideas are powerful things and exchanging them with others over the years has certainly affected me. To the extent that my appearance affects those around me, I can't avoid being affected by my reflection in them. It's an indirect thing and beyond my ability to understand well.

My Li'l Devil avatar was a gift from @Parhelion Palou, who thought it was a good fit for me. Here's a case where the persona I project was reflected back to me in a form that's completely in keeping with my self perception.

Though you may never see them, I have reason to believe that the stories I just told of my pocket watch, my mole, and my star shine freckles might have an effect on some of you, which may color your interactions with me in the future. It's a wonderful thing to contemplate... but I have other things to do.

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters

[Tari Landar]

1 hour ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

My Li'l Devil avatar was a gift from @Parhelion Palou, who thought it was a good fit for me. Here's a case where the persona I project was reflected back to me in a form that's completely in keeping with my self perception.

 

Your devil av is one of my favorite avs, mostly because of stories you've shared here on the forums, and the fact that I relate that lil devil to the mischievous nature of your stories, and, of course, you. And, you're as mischievous as I've always been, in sl and in rl, or so I suspect anyway, and I'm pretty sure we both still are. I've always related a lot to stories you tell and things you share, and that's always brought me an immense, albeit perhaps odd to others, amount of comfort in ways I don't think words would express very well (or at least, my brain is failing to at the moment). I'm not sure I've ever actually said that to you, but now I have

Plus, your devil  reminds me of my devil av (spermy there is another av worn by an old friend of mine, also from the same store, lol). I'm pretty sure I bought it at weird s**t (I pre-censored that, lmao) back in its heyday, 2008. I have so much stuff from that store, one of my favorite stores to have ever graced the grid.  

 

[FairreLilette]

I don't know if my avatar reflects my mood.  I don't think so.  For instance, if I've been really down or ill...I never felt I needed to reflect it in my avatar.

I tend to choose what I think I would like best as there are a lot of routes to explore with avatars.

I loved your little story in the opening post though and how you said "I love her".  

That's the best part.  

I'm prefer the light skins, freckles and either white, vanilla or blonde hair and most of my avi's have that.  Plus, I love Boho clothes...I'd say that is reflected in most of my avi's.

I like to be Albino for some reason of which I do not really know.  I even had the white eyelashes at one time and put those white eyelashes on my human avatar one by one.  

Now I am an Albino cat...though she has some pigment in her eyes of which I altered.  

I love animations and I think the animation in the photo below reflects "mood" for me.  

[Madelaine McMasters]

46 minutes ago, Tari Landar said:

Your devil av is one of my favorite avs, mostly because of stories you've shared here on the forums, and the fact that I relate that lil devil to the mischievous nature of your stories, and, of course, you.

Thanks, Tari. Our senses of humor are similar to be sure.

50 minutes ago, Tari Landar said:

(spermy there is another av worn by an old friend of mine, also from the same store, lol)

If you still see that old friend, show him this...

[Maryanne Solo]

Well when I was slittle.....🙂
Then I grewed up.....
and now I.....😄

Relate? 1000,3million&7500% ❤️ 😊

 

[Mollymews]

before I could give my thoughts on the question I would have to put it in a context for my thoughts to hopefully make any sense

for me, I don't have any real attachment to an account. Real meaning in the sense that I can and have deleted accounts over the years and not thought about it all afterwards

what friends I do have (some I have made thru SL) I have RL connections with. What little contact I might have in SL with RL friends is pretty much of the "How do I do this" variety. Like we don't hang out in SL on any kind of regular basis

basically what binds me in friendship has little to do with SL in and of itself

in this context tho, when I am in SL I really love it and get quite immersed in the whole thing. Until I am not. Then I exit the world til the next time. The next time is usually something major that Linden have announced. In this recent case, Molly, it was the annoucement of the Belli Linden Homes project which peaked my interest in returning

whenever I do start over I think (pretend really) to myself that this time is going to be different. New name, whole new other appearance, new place to live, etc etc. Then I end up as a SL neko again, because this is what defines me in SL and to some extent in RL as well, at least attitudinal wise. Cheeky, and if I am honest with myself a bit of a know-it-all. Til somebody else says" hannng! on, you wrong about that. Then I go: Oh! you are right, and get all humbled. Then I take what they said, add it to my knowledge and become even more of a know-it-all. Annnd then get even more cheeky 😸

when it comes to hair, it probably has less impact on me as a defining factor than it may do on other people in SL. Like I might change my avatar hair and tail color, but I how I think about myself and my avatar is the same as it ever was. Like for example, changing my SL hair color for me is no different to dying my hair in RL, which I do as well. Same with the hair style. Some days in SL I will cut (wear) a fringe, other days my fringe will be grown out. Advantage in SL is that it grows out a whole lot faster than in RL

[Rhonda Huntress]

10 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

Have you ever experienced an avatar appearance that just felt uncomfortable or off?

Yeah.  Like you, blonds are just not me. 

For the most part, my avatar's look is a reflection of my mood.  My body is me and is what changes the least.  Not too thin, no massively large parts, just a normal body body.  I teak my face often and do full make overs every few months where I look at other heads and bodies just to keep myself current. 

In pre-mesh days, I was much more stable to the point of wearing the same hair for years. Now I change often.  On bad days I'll me in scars and bruises.  When I'm feeling mean I'll be in tan skins and dark hair.  Then again, sometimes I'll be in dark tones just because I want it to contrast with bright color clothes so it's not always mood driven.

Since we are sharing old pics ...

Then and now.

   

And when I'm in a down phase ...

[BelindaN]

I also have my Grandfathers pocket watch. He died suddenly when I was seven so I never really knew him. I have his eyes and hair colour. @Madelaine McMasters

[BelindaN]

That first face Rhonda is so darned cute! @Rhonda Huntress

[Seicher Rae]

18 hours ago, BelindaN said:

I'm on an evolutionary journey even though it wasn't planned. The RL me who started out will always be the SL me. I won't change my shape, head or skin now because I'm wholly immersed in my avi. However, I'm blonde, and when I take my Agent Smith persona, with short dark hair, this really does affect the way I feel.

My third alt, Daisy, I created as a self assured confident brunette who could become WonderWoman at a stroke. When I'm Daisy,  I feel absolutely empowered, it's most peculiar, but her look affects the way I feel and behave. 

My other two alts are a variation on this, and I wont go on about it, other than to say that Salty, my first alt and youngest sister is sweet and innocent, and being her does affect the way I feel and behave. 

So creating a concept with a life, and an appearance certainly bounces back into how I feel in RL. Quantifying this is hard, but creating a relaxing feeling in RL is a noticeable effect. Its complex for sure.

This is so me, from the evolutionary journey (planned or not) to having different avis affect the way you feel. This makes sense to me in that we all have various components to our personalities, and so one look just emphasizes a certain part of ourselves. It is complex because I am assuming that when you log in as Daisy (or whomever) you already are in that mood to be more Daisy, but I wonder if you are in a different mood than "Daisy" but want to feel more like "Daisy" does logging in as Daisy give you enough to change your mood?

Edited November 4, 2019 by Seicher Rae