Skell Dagger

"I wonder if I'm allowed to walk into a store tomorrow and take as many t-shirts as I want without paying for them (after all, I did buy one yesterday) to take home, run through my sewing machine, add some applique details, and then sell or give them away?" That's a RL equivalent of what you're asking. Just because it's virtual that doesn't mean you're not asking to do something the creator - who did NOT give transfer permissions on the item - didn't want you to do. If they were happy for people to make copies to sell or give away, they would have made the item full-permission. Even then, they might still have a ToU that states you can't export their content to other platforms, even if you alter it and then claim it's a derivative work.

YES! Yes, I do! (Says the guy whose entire wardrobe is nothing but black...)

As per this JIRA: Well that's a pain. I don't disable the Library, because I sometimes use items from it, but it's annoying for those that use FS and don't need it.

A few other search terms you can try for deleting stuff: pose, posing, adjust (for all those pose stands), delete (for all those 'delete me!' scripts), bag hold (unless you collect bag-holding animations), unpack (for unpacker scripts, but be careful to only delete scripts and not folders that end in 'unpacked'), thank (for those 'thank you!' notecards that usually only contain outdated LM lists etc, all of which you can get from the creator's profile). At the end of each login session, I always go into my Recent tab, set my inventory filters to just show scripts, notecards, animations, and LMs, and delete everything I don't want or need. Something I'm slowly working my way through doing is boxing up unworn clothing sizes, whether that's standard sizes that don't fit my avatar, or clothing specifically sized for mesh bodies that I don't own. I keep on top of new stuff, but all the older stuff that I've bought (or that's come to me by way of blogger packs, which can be a nightmare inventory-bloater if they contain every colour in every size) I still need to get stuck into. I can't quite bring myself to completely ditch them, in case I do buy a different mesh body at some point) but it can at least help to lighten the load a little.

The beauty with Bento mesh heads is that you can use the avatar's shape sliders to change how they look, but you do need to play around with those sliders and try lots of different Bento heads. Every one of them has a different 'base look'. For example: I always wear Catwa's 'Daniel' head, but I recently tried the demo of her 'Stanley' head. Just using the default starter shape that comes with the heads, I can see that Stanley is much more square-jawed, has a heaver chin, a thicker nose, and less prominent brows. So, once I started editing, those starting points were going to affect the results I got, even if I used the same slider values that I used for Daniel. Many skin designers will now also offer a modifiable shape when you purchase a skin applier intended for use on a Bento head (and you should also receive a no-mod demo of it when you try skin applier demos). This is mainly because the skin is created to look its best on that specific shape, but it also means that you can get some interesting results by wearing shapes designed for different Bento heads, which - again - will differentiate your look from the static mesh head that you've been wearing. In fact, this is how I've found some of the best looks thus far while using a single Bento head: trying different shapes with skin appliers they're not intended for. If you're not confident with creating your own shape - especially the face - then using someone else's shape, if only as a starting point, might be the way to go. There are lots of different Bento shapes on the Marketplace, many of which state they're designed for specific heads. But, if they offer demos, try them out on different heads. (You may get some rather weird results - especially since some heads are rigged slightly differently than others - but you may likewise get some amazing ones. What I call 'playtime' is key: just mess around and see what you can come up with. It's a lot of fun, and sometimes you can hit on something incredible and unique.) I seem to keep using these three images as examples, so apologies to those that are seeing them for the ~enth time, but here's what I'm talking about. In each of the top three images I'm wearing the same shape and the same mesh head. In the second row are screenshots of the ads for the skins I'm wearing above them, but they are wearing the shapes they're designed for. As you can see, my images - especially for the final two - look nothing like the ad images (even though mine are angled differently), purely because I'm wearing the shape designed for a different skin. And none of those resemble how I look when I'm wearing any of those skins with the default base shape for the Daniel mesh head. In short: try lots of different Bento heads from lots of different designers, and then - while wearing one of those heads, try on all of the shapes created for different skin appliers. Caveat: This may work differently for female heads than male heads. I've noticed from various review blogs that a lot of the female heads have similar features. I don't mean the minutiae of lip shape, etc; I mean the overall dimensions, such as jaw shape. This may lead to you having to try lots of heads from many different designers to find some whose starting points are different enough to give very different results. (I hope that made sense!)

Absolutely. And when they released a new hairstyle it was like a sale at Truth is now; couldn't get in! @Lexxi Gynoid You might know it now as MADesigns. It mainly sold male shapes, then diversified out into hair, poses, and clothing. IIRC, the guys behind it were also the ones who started Menswear Fashion Week back in, I think, 2012?

Warning: Long-arsed reply incoming! (I tried to find a spoiler text option but I don't think this forum has that, so everyone is getting a wad of text here. Apologies for the glazed eyeballs that those uninterested in my ramblings are about to endure!) Actions, my friend. You don't need to be physically doing something (playing an animation, etc) inworld in order to spice up what feels like a dialogue back-and-forth that is so short it makes you feel uncomfortable. Your character can light up a cigarette (after patting their pockets, finding their lighter is out of fuel, digging deeper for an old matchbook, etc; all the while talking around those actions), or walk across to the lamp post and trace a finger over the number spray-painted on it as you speak (without actually walking over to it; just say that you're doing it). There are plenty of ways to slightly lengthen what feels like an uncomfortably short RP pose. I have a page on my blog dedicated to my roleplay stuff. It's linked from my inworld profile and it's where I put all the basic stuff: limits, character sheets, etc. I also have a sample of my roleplay there for people to see, with the name of the other person ("James") changed. I won't post it all here, because it's pretty long (click here and scroll down if you want to read it all) but it was a pretty decent - if short - scene that took place on the ship Redemption in the now-defunct Venexia sim, and it shows how both "James" and I lengthened back-and-forth dialogue into a visual scene. First up, here's just the dialogue as standalone: And now, here it is with all the surrounding action. During all of this, neither of us moved; it was all just text: I suppose the difference between para-RP and non-para is that non-para reads like a scene in a screenplay (direction : dialogue) whereas para reads like a scene in a book. Sure, some people take para-RP to rather daft lengths, spitting out acres of exquisite prose and getting irritated when all they get in return is *smiles* followed by ten words of dialogue, but any roleplayer worth their salt will do their best, no matter who's playing opposite them, because those roleplayers know that RP is a shared experience, not one that benefits them alone. In short (because holy TL;DR, Skell!) - hang in there and keep looking. And try a bit of action to pad out your dialogue the next time you're playing opposite a para-RPer and feel that you're not giving them enough in return

Each to their own I've always tried my best to adapt my RP to whatever the person or people I'm playing opposite are giving out. I'm just as happy to one-liner my way through a fast-paced RP session as I am to take the time to create a paragraph of action around my speech. Seat-of-the-pants RP is fun; hammering out a line and sending it out there to see what response it garners. What I do object to is when RPers don't respect other players' wishes around certain aspects of RP. In one sim I played in, my character was non-combatant, which meant that I preferred to roleplay any fights rather than mash buttons on a weapon HUD. Going into mouselook for any melee weapon tends to disorient and nauseate me, so I always prefer to be non-com, if the meter has that option. If it doesn't, then I just try to avoid fights. I've been in the middle of fantastic multi-player text-only roleplayed fights, with 'Non-com' clearly showing on the meter above my head, and then in comes Mr I Gotta Win, twin blades swinging as he wrecks our roleplay session by 'killing' the combatant roleplayers . He then spent ten minutes swinging at me, clearly perplexed by the blood splats coming from me and wondering why I didn't die like the others did. (That particular meter, set to non-com, still showed the blood splats, but you didn't die.) I just stood there, staring at him, as my fellow roleplayers bitched in IM about him, but by then it was too late. He'd ruined the session for us, and once he teleported out after realising he couldn't actually win because one of us was still standing, the rest of us gave up and went home, too.

Heh! I'd make a lousy and impatient teacher, I'm afraid. Everything I wear is always credited, either on my blog (link in my sig) or on my Flickr (which you can get to via the sidebar of the blog). I'll always give credits if I post in this thread, too. My current look (which, yes, changes every bloody day, I know) is this: Credits Hair: Exile – Outsider* (naturals HUD) Shirt: Ascend – Enzo Shirt (plain black) Skin applier: Avenge – Liam (peach – Catwa only) Piercings: Cerberus Xing – Deepforge Chains (silver – gift) Eyes: Avi-Glam – Celestial Eyes (arctic HUD) Brows: Avi-Glam – LOGO Eyebrows Head: Catwa – Daniel (Bento) *review copy Edited to add locations: The shirt is at The Mens Dept, the hair is at Dark Style Fair, and the Cerberus Xing piercings are a free gift to L'Homme Magazine Readers group.

@Madelaine McMasters Gor is a law unto itself when it comes to RP. I'm an inveterate para-RPer, because RP is pure storytelling for me. But even I've sat there examining my fingernails as I wait for a kajira to finish her 20-paragraph pouring of a single drink. Detailed doesn't even begin to describe some Gorean RP.

@Chic Aeon Thank you! That applier is 'Liam' by Avenge, and it's only available for the Catwa head. @Alwin Alcott I saw the notice on the wall in L'Etre yesterday. That's the second DMCA they've fought in as many months. They came back with new skins, and got walloped with another one within a couple of weeks. Can't help but think someone has it in for them, but I don't know the ins and outs of it all. From the tone of their notice, they're going to fight it in court, so they're clearly very certain of their position. @Marianne Little I tried the demo of that Aeros skin because I, too, was excited to see them finally making appliers. To my disappointment there's no browless option on the head applier, and the brows on that skin are far too unkempt and thick for Skell. I would prefer to be able to wear my own choice of brows with that skin. The body applier, too, is Signature-only (a body I don't own and don't wish to purchase). I know they have a Slink body applier at their mainstore, but I'm loath to spend L$1000 on a single skintone body applier, however much I love their skins.

Even with everything visually set out before me, I'll still set up a scene regardless. Several years ago in Crack Den, I stood behind a club that held a few avatars who were standing around, doing nothing. Nobody else was around. Nothing was happening. I got within chat range of those avatars, rezzed a battered old open guitar case, an amp, and a guitar. Then I typed what many of you would probably regard as a hellishly long-winded and boring wad of text, as follows: Setting the heavy amp down on the sidewalk close to the wall, Skell unclips the guitar case and crouches down to extricate its precious cargo. With the guitar resting across his knees he looks up and then straightens, hooking the strap around his shoulder. He drags the open guitar case closer to him and glances down at the few coins and crumpled low-denomination notes that he’s stuck to the inner lining (he’s not dumb after all). Resting one booted foot on the open lid of the case he begins to tune up. After a few minutes he leans down to plug the guitar into the amp, confident that he’s tuned to as close to perfection as he can. The sound is louder now, sweeter; a warm reverb through the concrete and bricks around him and he closes his eyes in momentary satisfaction, drawing the pick thoughtfully across the strings. Moments later he begins to pick out the opening notes to Metallica’s “Low Man’s Lyric”. He’s not going to sing, but he’s worked out a decent enough all-guitar version of the song, and he closes his eyes as he gets into it, forgetting the occasional passer-by as he usually ends up doing. The slow song drifts down the street: an anthem for his life since he moved here. A few minutes later, several of those people left the club, came around the back, and started a brilliant RP session that included me. For me (and I think for them) that was a rewarding couple of hours, kicked off because I'd taken the time to set up a scene with a visual of what they couldn't see, but what they would have heard through the walls. I could have just said "Skell stands by the wall with his guitar and plays a Metallica song," but that wouldn't have done a damn thing. I'd have been another rando who was just standing around in the sim. (And no, not every roleplay session I take part in devolves into me spewing out four paragraphs for each pose! I've always tailored my roleplay to the person or people I'm playing with, unless it's social roleplay where everyone is just complimenting each other ICly on their choice of outfits...)

@Elora Lunasea It's the 'Sean' applier by Stray Dog, currently out at The Mens Dept. Sadly, right now, you won't find body appliers for it. They match L'Etre's skins, none of which are on sale at the moment.

You don't have to buy a new head applier at all, if you don't want to. Catwa's male heads ship with default skins by Clef de Peau, which is a well-known male skin brand in SL. If you don't have a mesh body, you can pick up a base system skin to match the head at Clef de Peau's mainstore (or you can likewise pick up appliers for most of the popular mesh bodies at the same store). However, if you stick with the default shape and head applier, you'll look like every other guy who does the same. Daniel is a Bento head, which means you can use the default shape sliders to edit the head (or even buy a new shape that's made to give a specific look for the Daniel head). You can also make it look completely different using different skin appliers. Many appliers come with their own shapes, which you can wear as-is, or tweak to your liking. You can even wear the shape intended for one skin applier under another skin applier and get some fantastic and unexpected results from that. A few examples of what I've done with the Daniel head. A few shape tweaks, and four different skin appliers all give completely different looks:

You use the normal sliders to adjust a Bento head. However, since many Bento heads will look odd if you put them on over your usual shape (all the ones I tried ended up with the eyes squinted shut, even when I adjusted my shape to have the eyes wide open) they'll include a shape that's created for the head, which you use as a starter to then edit into what works for you. I suggest getting a lot of demos of Bento heads if you want to try them out, because each one starts with a different mesh, and - even if you use the same underlying starter shape - they'll all give different results, even with the same slider edits.

@Annika Velde Thank you! @Marianne Little There are several great appliers for Catwa at TMD this month. I really liked the Hermony one, but unfortunately their skintones only match the default Signature body ones, and I've no interest in buying that particular body. I picked up the CdP appliers, and the Stray Dog one (which I'm about to post a pic of here) and I finally bought the Avenge one I had my eye on from Marketplace. So... this new Stray Dog applier had me asking myself: "At what point does the valley become uncanny?" Because it took me a while to get used to the eye-boggling realism of this skin. However, the more I wear it, the more I love it. Credits Skin: Stray Dog - Sean (TMD) Jacket: Lenox - Leather Jacket (black) (TMD) Hair: Dura - B*77 (dark) (TMD) Eyes: Avi-Glam - Argent Eyes (fjord) Brows: Avi-Glam - Logo Eyebrows (Omega applier) Head: Catwa - Daniel (Bento)

Welcome. Bit early here (10:30am) for those, but I'll stash 'em for later...

@Xerxes Kingstop Brit here. It's both, but mainly placement. The Beetle is an anomaly, which I'll get to in a minute, but any Brit who - with a handful of stuff they need to stow - is told to "stick it in the boot" will head unerringly to the back of the car. In the case of the Beetle, if they've never owned one before (or are unfamiliar that it's a rear-engined vehicle) they would still head to the back, while the amused driver popped the boot open and watched their face (If the driver were of the kindly persuasion and took pity on their passenger, they would say something like "Stick it in the boot... which is at the front in this bloody car. I know, I know, don't ask me why. Bloody Germans." etc.)

I have acquired a very cute shoulder attachment.

Advanced > Show Debug Settings > NoInventoryLibrary = True. You're welcome

Cerberus Xing helping me to snag all the olives at my next cocktail party Amazing piercings from him out at the new Mens Dept, compatible with all Catwa Bento heads (including the female ones).

I actually have a really good memory for things I've bought. And for things my partner has bought. He doesn't need to organise his inventory; instead he just asks me "What was the name of that [thing] I bought last year?" and I can usually give him the designer name or something like that

Um... I may not be your typical shopping-hating guy here...

It was a Catwa Bento head that finally dragged Skell kicking and screaming out of full-on bitchface mode regarding mesh heads. Before that - despite demoing many different heads - I'd railed and complained about them for the longest time, especially since men (as always) had fewer options when it came to both heads and appliers to customise them. Once I had the opportunity to change the shape of my face as well as the skin on it, though, I finally made my peace with them.

You received three sympathetic responses, including one virtual hug. Then, 11 hours later, someone posted a funny meme with a note that acknowledged they were changing the atmosphere of the thread. That's just how this thread goes (and has always gone, right back to its earliest days on the original forums). Its mood changes more often than a chameleon in a bag of Skittles. Or maybe in a bag of unicorn poop. I dunno.