Why does no one smile in SL?

[JordonBanks]

I am quite new to SL, and I LOVE IT.

But one thing i am starting to notice more and more, is that no one seems to smile, and almost all of the beautiful, creative and fantastic avatars, have very sullen/serious expressions.  Is there a reason for that?  

I did try to experiment with my own head HUD (Lelutka) and did notice that if I did put a permanent smile on my face, it looked more creepy than happy.  So turned it off.  Wonder if this is the same for everyone else, and that it's just hard to capture that normal smiling face in the current virtual technologies used for this sort of thing?

It used to be eyes didn't it with video games  (YES, i know SL is not a game, but you know what i mean) and they could never get the eyes right.  (or am I getting that confused with The Stepford Wives?)

Anyway - would love to be able to have, and see more smiling avatars - how about you ? 😀

Edited April 19, 2021 by JordonBanks
typo

[Rowan Amore]

2 minutes ago, JordonBanks said:

I am quite new to SL, and I LOVE IT.

But one thing i am starting to notice more and more, is that no on seems to smile, and almost all of the beautiful, creative and fantastic avatars, have very sullen/serious expressions.  Is there a reason for that?  

I did try to experiment with my own head HUD (Lelutka) and did notice that if I did put a permanent smile on my face, it looked more creepy than happy.  So turned it off.  Wonder if this is the same for everyone else, and that it's just hard to capture that normal smiling face in the current virtual technologies used for this sort of thing?

It used to be eyes didn't it with video games  (YES, i know SL is not a game, but you know what i mean) and they could never get the eyes right.  (or am I getting that confused with The Stepford Wives?)

Anyway - would love to be able to have, and see more smiling avatars - how about you ? 😀

I've always found smiling avatars creepy and have had that in my profile for ages.  If I were to see a person standing around in RL randomly smiling, I'd cross the street to get away.  Now, for a picture with friends or something, it might look ok.  People have been using that smile app which again, looks creepy.

 

[Phil Deakins]

There are AOs that cause the avatar to smile every few seconds, and they look incredibly stupid - almost annoying. Give me straight-faced avatars all the time please.

[Qie Niangao]

I have an alt who's supposed to be kind of a dope, and his LeLutka "moods" are "curious", "happy", and "sup" which makes him cycle through some semi-smiling expressions every minute or so. It probably helps that he uses "part 1" as "lips/mouth (priority 2 - mood enhancers)" which help him look pretty gullible most of the time, as intended.

If he were supposed to be smarter, it would look strange that he's occasionally smiling to himself for no apparent reason, but for him it's pretty in-character.

[Coffee Pancake]

SL facial animations are cartoonishly cringe and do not fit with the popular aesthetic. 

[Theresa Tennyson]

35 minutes ago, JordonBanks said:

I am quite new to SL, and I LOVE IT.

But one thing i am starting to notice more and more, is that no one seems to smile, and almost all of the beautiful, creative and fantastic avatars, have very sullen/serious expressions.  Is there a reason for that?  

 

Most female heads have their lips molded to a default "fashion model/seductress/Daisy has had it up to HERE with Donald" pout.

[Psyche Starling]

The few times I've accidentally made my avatar smile, I'm pretty sure it would have scared small children, if any had been around. Resting ***** face wouldn't be my first preference, but it looks a lot better than Pennywise grin.

[Maitimo]

Smiles in SL tend to look very un-natural and are somewhere in the spectrum of "weird - creepy - ridiculous". So far the new Lelutka heads seem to look the best.

Also most animations including face expressions tend to be on a constant cycle. Playing one "on the fly" as and when required is more complicated than it's worth and most people don't seem to think it's worth the bother or the cost.

[Adamburp Adamczyk]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

There are AOs that cause the avatar to smile every few seconds, and they look incredibly stupid - almost annoying. Give me straight-faced avatars all the time please.

Now one of those might work my "light my own farts" gesture and animation.

 

*runs off to try it*

[Rowan Amore]

28 minutes ago, BookishMelinoe said:

The few times I've accidentally made my avatar smile, I'm pretty sure it would have scared small children, if any had been around. Resting ***** face wouldn't be my first preference, but it looks a lot better than Pennywise grin.

I prefer my RBF.  It seems to filter out the easily intimidated. 😑

[Rowan Amore]

Just now, Adamburp Adamczyk said:

Now one of those might work my "light my own farts" gesture and animation.

 

*runs off to try it*

Is that like..that baby isn't smiling at you, it's just gas?

[Adrian Rowley]

Welcome to second life

[Conifer Dada]

I still use a classic system body so I can use the default facial animations. Most of them are cartoony but I have an attachment that plays the smile and one other animation occasionally, which is OK. It is a bit cheesy but no more so than the bento 'speaking in tongues after eating a piece of soap' mouth animation that seems popular these days.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Conifer Dada

[Aiyumei]

I noticed that too, lot's of people using mesh heads nowadays but very few use the facial expression animations in them. While there are some animations that indeed make us look creepy, some of the other actually put liveness in our looks.

The same can be observed in quite a lot SL photos that people post, no emotion in their avi's faces sadly  I do my best to show facial expressions whenever I hop inworld and take photos, in fact there have been times where I stared at my mirror making faces so I can better adjust the lines when posing for a photo 

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Mesh heads in Second Life are usually pre-treated with a botox wash prior to sale.

[Arielle Popstar]

2 hours ago, JordonBanks said:

I did try to experiment with my own head HUD (Lelutka) and did notice that if I did put a permanent smile on my face, it looked more creepy than happy.  So turned it off.  Wonder if this is the same for everyone else, and that it's just hard to capture that normal smiling face in the current virtual technologies used for this sort of thing?

I usually turn mouth corners up very slightly in the Appearance hud to 55-60 or so depending on the head. At the same time I tend to keep lip width a bit under 50 so I get just the hint of a smile without risking going into a grimace with some head ao's. I find it best for inworld so I don't get mistaken for  a domme

[Doris Johnsky]

I know with some mesh bodies you can't edit the body/shape  to have a normalish smile. The best mine can do is a sort of Mona Lisa "wonder what she's thinking" uptick of the corners.

[Doris Johnsky]

Thanks Jordan.   The semi grimace in my profile pic is a hud. Hence the grimace rather than a smile.  

[JordonBanks]

2 minutes ago, Doris Johnsky said:

Thanks Jordan.   The semi grimace in my profile pic is a hud. Hence the grimace rather than a smile.  

I notice it most of all when watching youtube videos (such as group round the table discussions in SL) when there is a lot of witty banter going on amongst the AVI's , but just no expression in faces.   But it will be something I get used to I guess.

[Anna Nova]

You mean that facial distortion where you bare your teeth?

I don't do it in RL either.  It scares the cat.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Anna Nova

[Doris Johnsky]

2 minutes ago, JordonBanks said:

I notice it most of all when watching youtube videos (such as group round the table discussions in SL) when there is a lot of witty banter going on amongst the AVI's , but just no expression in faces.   But it will be something I get used to I guess.

It's just the nature of SL.   Been that way since I've been in. That's 11+ years.   I figure at some point a developer will figure out a good way.  Surprised no one's done it yet.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Doris Johnsky

[Orwar]

   I like the idea of animated faces, but even the natural and subtle ones tend to look off and cartoonish.

   Many eyes have that shading bit too, which looks really weird when you look around. 

[Maitimo]

1 hour ago, Aiyumei said:

The same can be observed in quite a lot SL photos that people post, no emotion in their avi's faces sadly  I do my best to show facial expressions whenever I hop inworld and take photos, in fact there have been times where I stared at my mirror making faces so I can better adjust the lines when posing for a photo 

How's this?

[FairreLilette]

39 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

I usually turn mouth corners up very slightly in the Appearance hud to 55-60 or so depending on the head. 

I'm a corners up slightly girl too.  << This avatar photo here is a sad Angel actually.   I do think the Catwa animations are the cutest for my preference, excluding the "no, no" thing and the crying, but I wouldn't mind if she'd sell some of her older heads without the animations because honestly I don't have a real need for them nor use them as I make a lot of shapes so I need them off to make shapes.  If animations are on and one clicks the 'edit shape' thingy, then the shape editor will show that animation such as mouth open or eschewed and then I cannot make a shape.  So, I'd prefer some cheaper heads that do modify but have no animations.  If ever that would happen.  haha

Edited April 19, 2021 by FairreLilette

[animats]

If SL had face tracking via webcam, so your avatar followed your facial expressions, would you use that?