Thoughts on LL's recent "How to Update Your Avatar's Body" series showcasing brand name mesh bodies.

[Lucia Nightfire]

So LL indirectly endorsed the top two popular mesh bodies with their "How to Update Your Avatar's Body" series the other day by showcasing Maitreya - Lara and Signature - Gianni.

My questions now are, "Are popular mesh head brands like Genus and LeLutka going to be showcased next?"

"Are they going to do this for other mesh heads/bodies not as fortunate to be the top brands?".

"What about furry heads/bodies?"

Thoughts?

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Lucia Nightfire

[Lucia Nightfire]

Also, shoutout to the detach bug LL has yet to fix after years of complaints captured in the Maitreya - Lara tutorial at 1:46.

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Lucia Nightfire

[Lucia Nightfire]

Also, when he says in both videos, "Right click your avatar and choose 'Shape...'.", there's a good chance new users are going to struggle there depending on the mesh body they bought.

Sometimes it is impossible to right-click certain mesh bodies.

I would have said, "Right-click your name tag and choose 'Shape...'." instead.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Lucia Nightfire

[Henri Beauchamp]

16 minutes ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

Thoughts?

Lame... Such is my only thought when watching this video (thank you for pointing it out, since I won't have watched it otherwise) !

Why the Hell is LL advertising for a specific body mesh brand ?  Especially one that is so heavy on (actual) rendering cost... I mean there are many other (less known/popular) mesh bodies around that look just as good and are not so heavily taxing on performances.

I wonder how much LL got paid for this (or perhaps they just considered the indirect revenues they got from that brand deserved ”free” advertisement).

[Carolyn Zapedzki]

I personally don't agree with them promoting a specific brand,  they should promote all or none.

[Istelathis]

It takes too much effort for me to be upset by it 😜  I can understand why other mesh body creators might be though, it is going to possibly divert people away from their products.  Personally, I think the video was well done, but not of use for me because I do not plan on investing that much money on a mesh body despite how incredible they look.

[shireena1]

Cool! I had considered a mesh body as a lot of the newer mesh clothing fit it (obviously). Note to complete noobs 2750 L equals about 11 U.S dollars.

Now, can we have a tutorial about what heads fit, and where to get them?  That is not included in the body package.

[Da5id Weatherwax]

Personally, I agree with Henri's definition of LAME.

If LL are to effectively promote a creators work in this way it should be well optimised and as close as possible to "no more restricted than LL-provided assets" - that's not to say it can't be expensive but it should be mod-perm and if a body/head/avatarComponent should have a FREELY AVAILABLE complete devkit.

If those criteria are enforced, then its an incentive on creators to optimise, isn't it? You wont be featured in LL videos if it aint...  and of course I put my own personal hobby horse in there of refusing to buy a body if I cant get (or reverse engineer, without infringing the creator's IP) a devkit for it

[Istelathis]

1 hour ago, shireena1 said:

Note to complete noobs 2750 L equals about 11 U.S dollars.

Yeah, but then I would want to buy a head, and after having invested $20 on the mesh avatar and head, I would then want to find decent skins, then I would want to purchase a plethora of outfits because if I am going to invest money in a gorgeous avatar I want to get gorgeous things for it. After spending more than $50 on my avatar and accessories, I would mostly just explore SL alone, go clubbing at Lindo spots, and fish for linden trying to recoup some of the expenses 🙃

Plus, I only get 300L a week to play around with.  It would take nearly 10 weeks to save up that sort of linden just for the body.  I'm cheap like that 😝 
 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Istelathis

[Pixie Kobichenko]

Wooooooooow.  I clicked to see it really was Linden Lab & not a fan page.  I would be livid if I were a creator & SL was actively pushing particular brands like this.  Not sure there is any practical recourse or alternative for other creators but I have to believe those videos serve as endorsements that will sway 1st time mesh buyers.  Potentially costing other shops those sales that buyers might have been unsure on.

Really poor choice of action LL.  

[Rowan Amore]

They should have waited until THEIR mesh body was deployed and make a video describing how that one works.   

[Qie Niangao]

Strange. Can't help but wonder what money passed between which hands to make this happen. Surely the Lab wouldn't need to be paying for any of this, but I also can't imagine it would be interested in the chump change it could get from those creators. And yet the video is so unnecessarily product-specific throughout that somebody must have been paid to include all those specifics.

While I was thinking about that, though, it occurs to me that another thing the Lab's NUX bodies could do to reduce friction for new users is to introduce a universal interface (UI and API) for controlling mesh-body-specific stuff such as materials settings that aren't currently in the system appearance sliders. Among other benefits, this would render obsolete the garbage UIs (some even dependent on external web services—you know who you are!) where the creators seem intent on differentiating themselves by outdoing each other with the worst UIs.

[Cinos Field]

2 hours ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

Lame... Such is my only thought when watching this video (thank you for pointing it out, since I won't have watched it otherwise) !

Why the Hell is LL advertising for a specific body mesh brand ?  Especially one that is so heavy on (actual) rendering cost... I mean there are many other (less known/popular) mesh bodies around that look just as good and are not so heavily taxing on performances.

I wonder how much LL got paid for this (or perhaps they just considered the indirect revenues they got from that brand deserved ”free” advertisement).

Which other ones have mass appeal, have a lot of clothes, and are relatively light to render? Maitreya is by far the best balance. I mean, you couldn't show off something like Kupra because it's very niche, or Legacy because it's absolute FPS murder, or Slink because then newbies would struggle to find clothes.

I feel like they just picked the body with the widest appeal, rather than any payola... but of course, making any pick at all is still misguided.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Cinos Field

[Leelo Blackheart]

6 minutes ago, Cinos Field said:

Which other ones have mass appeal, have a lot of clothes, and are relatively light to render? Maitreya is by far the best balance. I mean, you couldn't show off something like Kupra because it's very niche, or Legacy because it's absolute FPS murder, or Slink because then newbies would struggle to find clothes.

Agreed 100%. There's sooo many different mesh bodies out there, can't expect them make tutorial for each one of them. They went with the most popular choice. Maitreya is great for noobs because there's also a LOT of free/cheap clothes out there. 

[Coffee Pancake]

Going from "lady dog bag" to an actual socially acceptable avatar is complicated and a major stumbling block for new (and importantly) non-invested users.

I don't like to see LL promote specific brands, although this is likely just one last "win more" for Maitreya before the NUX. I think it unlikely this is going to do much to boost sales, we all know what we like, and even with this tutorial there is still the significant pay to play barrier for new users.

I recently overhauled my RL partners avatar after a long absence (pre mesh). We burnt L$15K with most of that going on the basic Lara-Lel combo specifically for the wide spread 3rd party support.

[Jenna Huntsman]

To me, it seemed very out-of-character for LL to endorse (even indirectly) these brand-name bodies, as they've been very hesitant to do so previously.

Even features which would benefit the userbase as a whole were rejected in-case they "were seen as promoting bodies from x brand(s)". (E.g. adding the ability to filter by compatible body type to MP search).

Either they start adding in these usability features, OR they should rethink the SL University program. They can't have it both ways.

[Lindal Kidd]

2 hours ago, shireena1 said:

Now, can we have a tutorial about what heads fit, and where to get them? 

Most of the popular heads fit most of the popular bodies. And all of them have demos so that you can check before you buy.

Right now, the best deal I know of is the free "Strong" head from Genus Project. Genus has a couple of quirks and bugs, but it IS a full-featured head, and it's free.

However, people need to realize that just because you have a mesh body, doesn't mean that you must run out and buy a mesh head. With careful use of the appearance sliders, it's not that hard to create a very pretty classic head. This not only saves you a ton of money, but it's simply a lot easier to use...there's no need to learn another (or in some cases multiple) new HUDs, and many less attachments to wear. (There's not only the head itself, but eyes, ears, tongue, teeth...)

I avoided mesh heads for years, because of the complexity and expense, but also because I'd have to completely re-work my shape and was quite fond of the appearance I'd created.

[Chic Aeon]

There is no question in my mind that the "best" body for new folks would be an all in one body that was very customizable -- the head especially as many heads just won't change that much.  The Lab has failed in the avatar body area several times with two of the most recent being in Sansar.  While the environment in Sansar could be stunning the avatars were pretty awful -- something many of us had to look past in order to enjoy the platform.    

 

If and when LL comes out with a "newbie body"  they obviously have a problem. It will either cut down on body and head sales (I am assuming the head will be part of the body as it has been in other platforms).  If it isn't "good enough" the new folks will move along exiting the program.  It is a tricky teeter-totter ride.  

 

I just helped a couple of guy friends update their bodies with a group all in one altamura sale body called DARREN. It ONLY uses alpha layers to hide body areas, no cuts. Honestly this is really the easiest for new folks. Put on the dress and wear the alpha layer.   I am wondering if we will have a movement  BACK to the layering.  

 

This is as good as it got in Sansar :D.  

[Scylla Rhiadra]

In general, I prefer to think of most SL creators as artisans or craftspeople, rather than as "companies" or "industries." And it seems to me that that works for the vast majority of those who do create here: they are individuals, labouring out of love as much as a desire for profit, to produce things that are available at, it must be granted, pretty low prices. I don't think I'd necessarily mind LL highlighting the work of such a person.

But there are other businesses in SL that are just that -- businesses. They may well still rely primarily upon the skills of one or two people to produce what they sell, but the focus is upon profit, and the competition is fierce. Most of the mesh body and head makers fall into this category, as do a handful of clothing creators, as well as, of course, land barons.

I do think that this is likely to have a beneficial impact for Maitreya and Signature: noobs who want to get started fast are not going to be well-informed about the choices available to them, and they are going to assume that these videos represent some kind of official endorsement of these two bodies.

And it's so unnecessary. I don't understand the thinking here.

And I totally agree with those who've suggested that they should have waited for the NUX bodies to be available, and used these. I presume that they will, at some point, produce such a video -- and maybe ones for other bodies? But the damage has been done.

[Love Zhaoying]

Not sure I trust LL blogs, since Strawberry explained she was just posting other people's content.

In this case: Someone with their own motives could have directed the "Mesh Avatar" content in question. Theory: LL is passively "helping" since the information is "helpful". 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Love Zhaoying

[Love Zhaoying]

20 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

This is as good as it got in Sansar :D.  

I see her and think, "Y U MAD?"

[AzureWaves]

1 hour ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

To me, it seemed very out-of-character for LL to endorse (even indirectly) these brand-name bodies, as they've been very hesitant to do so previously.

Even features which would benefit the userbase as a whole were rejected in-case they "were seen as promoting bodies from x brand(s)". (E.g. adding the ability to filter by compatible body type to MP search).

Either they start adding in these usability features, OR they should rethink the SL University program. They can't have it both ways.

Is it out of character, though? LL has been advertising brands more and more with some public Lindens posting to their social media exactly what they're wearing and endorsing brands.

[Sprout Evergarden]

to be fair these are probably the most common bodies in SL so the information is the most relvent to the largest number of users. 

[Robin Kiyori]

People have been wanting more tutorials from the lab and both are iirc the most supported bodies. So I am not that surpised. Should they have waited for their own? Maybe.

Who knows maybe they will show case more bodies. But as is. It's  a good start.espeically if they bring it in sl its self.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

17 minutes ago, Vanessa Amethyst said:

to be fair these are probably the most common bodies in SL so the information is the most relvent to the largest number of users. 

In fairness, I would imagine that that is why this choice was made. I'd prefer not to think that this involved an exchange of money.

But it will also have the effect of helping ensure that they remain the most common bodies.