How Far Into Realism Do WE Truly Want To GO?

[Bagnu]

50 minutes ago, Polenth Yue said:

Some places already ban non-human avatars. That's peanuts compared to having people throw stones at me whilst shouting racial slurs. I don't actual want people treating me here like they do in first life. It's nice to have a break from that sort of realism.

You're welcome in our home no matter what colour your skin is, or what AV you're wearing. 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

1 hour ago, Polenth Yue said:

Some places already ban non-human avatars. That's peanuts compared to having people throw stones at me whilst shouting racial slurs. I don't actual want people treating me here like they do in first life. It's nice to have a break from that sort of realism.

Preach, little mushroom friend. 

[Persephone Emerald]

8 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

I just tried a couple of photorealistic skins that were on the weekend sale and I'd have to say no.  I'm sure there are people who love that more realistic look for skins but yikes.  I don't want to see all that in SL.  

I like the look of that skin, but I respect those who want a flawless skin too. What I personally dislike is random dark spots on face skins.

[Istelathis]

I've been having fun thinking about this, and wondering what it would be like.  I imagine for most of my SL experience, it would be similar to RL but with looking at the back of myself from a drone about ten feet elevated above me and another ten feet behind me.  Walking through a store, controlling myself.  I think it would be an amazing accomplishment, but I like to escape the confines of the mundane world, the limitations we have here, I also like to see people express themselves with their own style.

I think it is that way with so many of the things we do in real life too though, such as wearing makeup, styling our hair a certain way, color coordinating our outfits, the choice of fashion we make and so on.  I like to take it a bit further, if anything, I would prefer to change my own looks in real life, if it were not so strange and out there, I would prefer to perhaps have a more cartoonish look in real life 🤣I've always been fascinated with people who get involved with body modification, although it tends to get a bit more drastic when looking it up.  I don't like permanent changes so I wouldn't do anything permanent, but if in the future we have the ability to make temporary tats, to change our skin tone, etc, I would be going wild with it.

I also have a fascination with augmented reality, having a layer of fantasy in the real world.  I think it would be really neat to have a filter to render the world in a cartoonish haze, lots of bright colors, plenty of neon, roads lit up at night and so on.

 

Anyway, back to SL:

I think realism with some physics would be nice, like having hair that moves around as well as outfits, same with objects in the world such as waves in the ocean, tree branches and leaves impacted by the wind, even walking around in a field of grass and having the grass being pushed out of the way.  I like PBR so far, I think it could be better but it is nice having reflective surfaces that are more realistic in as far as what you would expect from shiny objects, same with shadows, I would like better animations. 

As far as having a more realistic visual environment though, I just like having a filter of fantasy over it, I like seeing the way people express themselves and their style and having more control over my own appearance in a style that I enjoy, which is not at all realistic 🙃

[gwynchisholm]

I don’t like it to be realistic, for those who do that’s cool, not my thing personally though. Especially with a furry avatar, nic showed me DSD avatars ages ago, and they’re right around an age in terms of general styling where they’re refined mesh, but still come with optional default sl avatar variants. If that makes any sense?

Not a super realistic design, not a cartoony design. I’m not into the avatars that lean heavily into realistic human proportions and features, like putting a furry skin on a maitreya body and going all out with avatar components and such. That’s cool, they look neat, I like keeping it simple and distinctly in fantasy.

SL shouldn’t be real for me, I have RL for that. RL is where I work, riding bikes makes my legs hurt, music only plays when I press a button, and I’m burdened with the physical qualities of a digestive system.

SL is for an entirely different purpose, digestive system optional.

[AmeliaJ08]

I think SL is probably capable of both at once, it's a user generated grid and would continue to be, some people want hyper-realistic content, some want something more fantasy.

I say probably capable because at present it isn't, it's just given enough time... if people want that though there needs to be more thought given to everything, not just the visuals. Realism requires realistic environments for one, a real modern animation engine and a physics update for example.

Not to say any of this is easy and who knows how you incorporate such changes into a grid that needs to cope with twenty years of legacy content as well but smarter people than me are probably capable. Users will likely drive the visual stuff forward though, so long as there's no limits imposed by LL (and currently there doesn't seem to be) then we can expect ever more complex and detailed avatar models for example.

SL can *look* realistic but not feel realistic, a photo can be full of as much detail as you want but in-world it won't feel realistic due to current jank-physics, floaty movement etc.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by AmeliaJ08

[JeromFranzic]

12 hours ago, Orwar said:

   The scent, flavour, and texture. 

So... we need a head set that incorporates smell-o-vision, some sort of tongue depressor AND a IoT enabled Hazardous Chemicals bucket! Noted! 🙃🤓

[Orwar]

4 hours ago, JeromFranzic said:

So... we need a head set that incorporates smell-o-vision, some sort of tongue depressor AND a IoT enabled Hazardous Chemicals bucket! Noted! 🙃🤓

   Oh that wouldn't at all lead to any virtual stink bomb griefing or anything .. 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Orwar said:

   Oh that wouldn't at all lead to any virtual stink bomb griefing or anything .. 

I bet Tinies smell like bacon, or barbecue!

 

[Persephone Emerald]

22 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I bet Tinies smell like bacon, or barbecue!

I bet they'd taste like chicken.

[Ajay McDowwll]

On 12/16/2023 at 6:25 PM, Bagnu said:

As it stands, we have a cartoony look in SL. Would we ACTUALLY be comfortable if our SL were fully RL realistic, as if we were watching a movie? I don't know if I would be. Or would we like it more? Any comments on this?

Ehhh... like a few others, I'd be cool with more realism in the environment (although I draw the line at dust on my furniture, because limits).  And moving hair/ clothing would be nice.  But I don't need more realism in my skin texture, I don't think.  There was a skin I really liked otherwise that I ended up putting in my Nope pile due to the same issue as the skin Rowan was showing upthread.

I fought that texture through my teens.  Why would I voluntarily invoke it inworld?  I passed the age of frequent clogged pores and I don't need it back, even though my avatar looks 20 on a bad day

I also like that Ajay's just a shade more cartoony than looking totally realistic.  SL can be really immersive, and it's good to have a visual reminder that SL and RL are two very different environments.  YMMV, of course

[Paul Hexem]

Ideally we want to stop short of the uncanny valley. 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Paul Hexem said:

Ideally we want to stop short of the uncanny valley. 

Maybe once you come back up the other side of the valley, things start to seem less creepy. Or creepy in a more familiar way.

[Luna Bliss]

I love the uncanny valley. It's like an episode of The Twilight Zone.....

[Bagnu]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I bet they'd taste like chicken.

But do they smell like fish?

[Bagnu]

13 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Maybe once you come back up the other side of the valley, things start to seem less creepy. Or creepy in a more familiar way.

Yes, it has to go beyond that. 

[Sid Nagy]

Look at the average avatar at the moment in SL. Too small heads, to thick behinds and upper legs, too small waist, to small hands, too long legs. Unwalkable shoes and boots, too tiny hands (even for a former president), clothing you don't want to be found in when in RL .....
I don't think that most people want more realism in SL.

[Harper Held]

Naw, there's too much emphasis on looking how you do irl in sl as well and I think it's *****ed up as well as being a waste of opportunity.

Realism can be more immersive, obviously, but it's not something that I think is good to emphasize without also encouraging people to turn into whatever furry/non-human thing they want to turn into.

 

[Jennifer Boyle]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:25 PM, Bagnu said:

As it stands, we have a cartoony look in SL. Would we ACTUALLY be comfortable if our SL were fully RL realistic, as if we were watching a movie? I don't know if I would be. Or would we like it more? Any comments on this?

I would love it. I hope our avatars keep getting better. As others have said, they have improved very much from what they years ago. I hope and expect that improvement will continue.

[Nalates Urriah]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:31 PM, Bagnu said:

You're welcome in our home no matter what colour your skin is, or what AV you're wearing. 

OH!  And NOW you are going to insist we have SKIN!?! THAT just totally encourages racism! How dare you!?!?!

😛

((You do know that no matter what you say it's the wrong thing... But while I can't say it is a gracious offer... it is   ))

[Bagnu]

12 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

OH!  And NOW you are going to insist we have SKIN!?! THAT just totally encourages racism! How dare you!?!?!

😛

((You do know that no matter what you say it's the wrong thing... But while I can't say it is a gracious offer... it is   ))

Lol, it would be a bit difficult to survive without skin. Both RL AND SL.

[Bagnu]

On 12/19/2023 at 4:54 PM, Harper Held said:

Naw, there's too much emphasis on looking how you do irl in sl as well and I think it's *****ed up as well as being a waste of opportunity.

Realism can be more immersive, obviously, but it's not something that I think is good to emphasize without also encouraging people to turn into whatever furry/non-human thing they want to turn into.

 

What's wrong with turning into a realistic looking furry or non human? This IS SL!!! Chewbacca is a furry.

[Coffee Pancake]

Cartoon avatars do not age.

Realistic avatars age like milk.

 

Doesn't matter how good a realistic avatar gets. Next season, it will look like this. 

and thats for us, used to looking at them everyday.

 

Newbies, this is all they see..

[Teagan Tobias]

I’ve been on SL for over 16 years and one thing you can’t deny is the avatars keep getting better and better.

RL quality is just an obvious progression and will come, I like the idea and look forward to it.

But in looks only, if I fall I don’t want to see blood and guts but the same as now, get up, brush myself off and keep going.

Having a realistic looking avatar... I like that.

[Ceka Cianci]

Sometimes, I'd like to be able to slap some people through the internet, sometimes.. I think I would have a good height advantage of them missing me since I'm so small.. So if we could get that, that would be really great..

hehehe