Raevyn Addams

I'm one of those people who lean to look around corners while playing my PS4... I don't have adequate health coverage to venture far into VR. I tried it once. Bought a cheap headset that I could slip my phone into and 'rode' a rollercoaster. Spent the next hour or so walking like I was drunk and swearing to never do that again. Gave the headset away and don't regret it. I like the premise but maybe I'm not young enough to just seamlessly adapt. Technology is creeping up at an alarming pace. I've no doubt one day VR will be common-use but as to whether I'll be around or even capable of adapting enough to enjoy it remains to be seen. When that day comes I predict I will be what my grandparents are like with cell phones or the internet right now... good intentions, bad practice.

Well it's 3:41 am and I'm still on the forums, so there's every chance what I'll be doing for the rest of the day is sleeping! 😴

^ Second on this. Today is the first I've tried it. I didn't even know it existed until this thread. I suspect to some it's an app we don't need, and possibly even creepy. From personal experience I've seen a lot worse. And as others have already mentioned there are limitations to the current AO's out there, even for MoCaps. I wear a Lelutka head which I find has a lot more fluidity and smoothness to the animations over other heads I've worn in the past, but even it is sorely lacking in the basic smiles department. That's disappointing and means my avatar looks broody and pouting or at best impassive even with poses where she should be joyous. So this little cheat will or should hopefully come in handy to fill the void, at least for now. Personally, I will say I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. After I showed my pic to a friend they asked who that person was. That was gratifying insofar as there was no initial cringe before the inevitable challenge of; 'what's that supposed to be?' as I expected. Another bonus is that there's enough functionality in the basics you get for free in order to see results straight away (I haven't purchased anything inside the app yet, still weighing up my options). I think to someone who does spend a lot of time taking photographs in SL, FaceApp might be a useful tool to have under your belt just in case. One man's trash equals another's treasure, so to speak. 😁 Before and after;

I LOVE the look of Insilico. It's just a shame that, like most things in SL, the more detailed it is, the more it appears to be ignored en masse. I admit that's a gross over-generalized statement but from what I have seen over the years, and for some reason I cannot get my head around, people seem to flock to the ugliest, generic, most dated builds - and then keep branching off to repeat the same patterns. Yes interest in genres wane, and popular culture (or the latest big thing to take over our collective screens) always dictates for the majority, it's just terribly disheartening to see. That, and the fact for many established sims such as this that you need to read 15 pages of lore to even qualify applying for residency etc... But yes, I adore the look, the atmosphere, and the potential. Just a shame it appears to be on the decline

I do like the idea of those signs! And I'm not totally sure myself. I have yet to see official markers on land in Bellisseria, but then I haven't seen all of it yet either. I think you're very right in that, at least for now, the issue may be that the rez zones MAY be subject to future change. If I remember correctly @Abnor Mole mentioned initially I think they were strategically placed (and in something of a hurry due to public demand, but still consciously done) with consideration to using a portion of the region's prim allowance that wasn't being utilized at that time. Now the continent is expanding it's possible some rez zones may also change location as they make way for buildings and landscaping. Whether or not they are, hopefully we do get some sort of official marker to define the space. I don't want to sound horrible, but bear in mind also a lot of people can't or won't read much less "look" for a sign. If they are more familiar with the same design as is what is currently on display at water rez zones then they may be so used to looking for that they won't recognise anything else. But LL can't cater for everyone, and nor should they. Fingers crossed we get something either way

I'm 43 in RL, Australian, fellow shopaholic (gacha-addict), occasional builder, script-breaker, and semi-introvert. I too live in Bellisseria, in the Shanty region, though am rarely there lately. I've been trying to learn how to take non-noob-looking photographs (and of course, shopping). And I'm a mum to an Animesh Zooby baby that is just the most adorable fake baby you've ever seen! (Yes, I'm clearly biased/probably a little delusional too 😛 ). When it comes to conversation I'm not a great starter. I wish I was one of those people who could start a conversation about nothing and sustain it for hours. Sadly the only time I'm ever able to ramble on is on the forums here where over-editing and the back-space key are my trusty companions, but I'm not so rude as to ignore conversations thrown my way. The time zone issue can be troublesome too, but if you get bored enough...

Inspired by @Saravendi

Izzie's might have some I think? Try there if you haven't already.

^ Adds my vote to this. Makes for a more communal setting than an air strip does.

I'm actually worried about that. Because I am one of those rare few that didn't want an air strip but it was added anyway. I know we keep coming back to 'can't please everyone all the time' thing, but I really hope we as a community don't get too much of a say in it. For starters, the more opinions there are, the more potential shades of grey we're likely to end up with, and the quicker we're likely to start that slide to Mainland 2.0. Black and white is easier to understand. It's also not likely to garner complaints of favouritism if the same voices are driving/deciding for the majority (as with the air strip). The covenant is clearly defined, but as far as I'm concerned there needs to be repercussions if you don't abide. And bear in mind *I* have already admitted to breaking the covenant myself, so I'm not even picking on anyone else. Imagine you get pulled over by the police for speeding and tell the officer "I know the sign said 25 but this car really drives better at 50, and everyone else loves it!" Doesn't really detract from the fact we're still breaking the rules.

Regarding the OP initial statements, I've seen at least one of the houses that's been mentioned that looks like an actual carnival theme park, if not a haunted house perhaps for Halloween purposes. I remember thinking along the same lines too when I first saw it; Doesn't this go against the Covenant? It does stand out (or did, I haven't actually been back that way since). If I lived beside or across the road I probably wouldn't be terribly impressed myself. But this is where we start treading on shaky ground. Just because I don't like it is irrelevant. It looks like a carnival, yes, BUT there are people in real life that do live in real life display homes, haunted houses, tourist spots, and so on. At least people aren't being charged for admission, and it isn't set up as an actual business or even, from memory, implied. I mean, there is a fine line to tread between what makes a home a home and what makes it... something else. We can argue taste, or even a particular checklist of items that one might expect in a residence to be there such as bed, sink, etc. It's really up to LL to make the final decision, and I think they're erring on the side of caution unless something is glaringly obvious. And by that I mean gets enough overwhelming complaints and backlash that it can't be overlooked. I don't think a carnival house really warrants that kind of attention, yet. But I do think LL is trying hard to trust home owners to behave without wanting to step on creative toes and come down like tyrannical land lords. I get why, and I also understand that giving freedom always come with the risk someone is always guaranteed to test set boundaries. There are a LOT of people doing the latter and no one's mentioned it yet on any of the threads that I've seen. For example, the covenant also states no structure can be higher than 4 meters. I've seen radio towers and trees and sheds/garages and sauna/pool decks and flag poles etc at well over that height, and some even double that. No one says a thing. They actually praise it, or at least the creativity at work. I myself am also guilty. The covenant says we cannot build outside of our parcels but I've done just that by adding rails to the steps that lead to my house. So where exactly is the line drawn? (Definitely no full bright, obviously, but that goes without saying 😛 ) EDIT: I'm going to add here, that I think perhaps proportion of buildings/height (while good for no camera clipping) makes avatars of average height appear short, and so structures appear tiny by comparison - especially where additional structures are added directly onto the house. One such example is a pergola attached to the rear of a building that cannot be placed at 4m as it will be in line with/partially obscure window and door frames, I had that problem a few times as I set up.

I second that. Even if I don't want it. Just because I can. 🤑

Nope. That's a hands-down from me. I have to confess that I've never actually used any of the Premium Gifts. Initially it was like I had to have it because it was somehow special and "free", but now I generally don't bother. The LI is usually too high, and they usually don't apply or appeal to me. You can't please everyone all the time, right? After watching the forums these past few weeks over the changes being made I think if LL pulled the gifts, people would backlash over that too. And gifts isn't the right word. More like perks. Even that's not right. We've already paid for admission, so to speak. But its all semantics really. It's got to be hard enough coming up with something that looks decent, has good LI and LOD, and enough general appeal that the majority of folks want it (even just because it's free)? There's too many people to accommodate for. Too many varied tastes. Too much potential to offend or upset, even if they tried to appeal to the masses. If they had us pick from a poll, there's always going to be losers that will boycott what they didn't get to choose. People will always complain. It doesn't matter how much we get we feel entitled to more. Or better. Or different. Or cheaper. Or something, dagnammit! Personally, I'd prefer to do away with gifts and raise the stipend, perhaps. Though there's enough threads on that to explain why, from a business perspective, that's unlikely to happen. I honestly don't know what could be offered when the two main factors that really influence players in SL is prims (allowance) and Lindens. The rest is a bit superfluous isn't it?

I bought a baby.

It's interesting watching this develop almost directly across the road from me. I've terrible envy in that I want one of those waterfront homes (that's not a houseboat) but I also know the second I give up my current land I'm likely going to end up further inland than where I currently sit. It's frustrating but still in a way exciting if just to watch this artwork come to life. As for the red circle, I'll throw my opinion out there and guess it will be something community oriented. I could be wrong. It's a common occurrence.

Oh I'm sure they'll reply. It's early in the States right now, so a lot of people are waking up. Their opinions will follow shortly I've no doubt. I'll just answer and get it out of the way since I'm still awake and here (obviously) that my decision was a conscious one. My former main was in role play. I role played as a man though didn't tell anyone I was a female until things started getting strained in OOC conversation. There was a lot of bad blood, people were upset with me for lying by omission, and he retired from RP. I created Rae while he was still active and found with no real need for him, I could focus on being more myself and carried less risk of causing issues as a female playing a female. So he was retired and she's been active for the most part ever since.

Probably when the alt gets more screen time than the main, I'm guessing. That's my case anyway. That is if that wasn't just a rhetorical question that didn't actually need an answer, did it? 🤔

I AM the alt. No seriously! My former main (a male avatar) who's around eight years old and has been retired for a while now, over a year I think. I used to log him in to role play but he's long since stepped out of circulation. I brought him back after a couple of years to test scripts and permissions for me (Rae) when I was heavily into the construction phase. Now he's pretty much just fading into oblivion all over again. Then there's this account; Rae. This is the closest version of the RL me but idealised an awful lot. She has since become my main. She builds, scripts, and gets to live out my dream of being a parent as I care for a scripted Animesh baby every day. Then there's another female that I use when I'm feeling promiscuous. Physically she's the exact opposite of Rae, and basically does all the things I wouldn't want publicly known. Yep, she's a complete hussy. Or is, on the rare occasion the mood takes me. She came in handy too for testing all the adult animations and wearing basically anything that Rae as a chubby suburban type avatar couldn't get away with. She hasn't seen the light of day in a long while now. Says a lot about my present state of mind. I have a 'bot' who doesn't serve any purpose anymore. He's pretty much a shared account. All the former staff of that particular RP sim I helped manage had access to him at the time. He's another one that's been forgotten. There's also a child avatar/account that I haven't used since I created her. It was one of those flights of fancy really to see if I could do it. So I did and never logged her back in again. I also have a male who was given to me by a friend. He has such a stupid legacy name it's almost embarrassing. Originally the plan was to use him for role play but then I left the scene before he could make his debut. I had also planned on giving him a makeover which I still might if I get bored enough. I just have no reason to bother right now so he's another one gathering dust on the shelf. Back when I was heavily involved in RP I used to have a few of my alts in groups to bolster numbers, but since it's no longer required they were ejected and the groups disbanded. On the rare occasion I've sent money/Lindens to an alt in order to save up in a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' type deal. That worked for a while, then I just started logging the alt back in and drained the savings dry. It was good in theory, while it lasted. If I know for a fact that one alt has something FP or with Trans scripts that I need I may log them in and transfer that over. But much of the time I can't be bothered searching, and the LMs are generally out-of-date. Now they're more like little time capsules; irrelevant and full of useless crap that I've long since forgotten about. Really the only one that gets any screen time now is Rae which suits me fine. Means less passwords I have to remember and fewer inventories to keep organised I guess.

I understand this to a degree. As I've said before on other threads Rae isn't my main account, initially she was my alt (that eventually became my main). I started SL with a male avatar after bringing a fictional character over from the Invisionfree Forums 8 or so years ago. Yes, I am a woman in real life. There is, in my experience, a distinct difference in communication between the sexes in SL (possibly even RL but that's for another conversation). Back when he was my main account there was very little conversation unless he initiated it. A lot of conversation, even if it started innocuously enough, was usually taken as a sexual advance or would start heading in that direction - though not always. Then there were the instant messages from other men warning me to stay away from their women or pets. It didn't happen too much but it isn't something I have ever had to experience as a female avatar. That was a shock to say the least. The flipside of this is that, on a few occasions, female friends wanted my male avatar to serve as some kind of physical deterrent against would-be harassers just by standing with them. So being a male avatar had it's advantages regarding offering some perception of safety, as odd as that entire concept sounds. As a female avatar I certainly do get a lot more general and random conversation. My friends list is bigger. My groups list is bigger. Depending on which side of the fence you sit, studies suggest women use a lot more words than men even in everyday RL conversation (average 20,000 vs 7,000), while others contradict this, and none of that really takes into consideration any RL cultural differences or bias so it just depends on what you believe is true. Speaking from my own personal observation of the men in my everyday real life I know they aren't great verbal communicators. That may just be "them" and not indicative of anything gender-related, who knows. Maybe the fact societally we believe the general assumption that women are more "talkative" and prone to gossip means we feel able to communicate better with women and know we're likely to provoke a conversation, I don't know. But it's food for thought. Though I touched on it above, I think it's relevant to look at the physical aspect of avatars too. When you look at the average male avatar body compared to females there is a propensity to see male avatars as imposing, and women, though tall, are almost always petite and slender in comparison. Look at the popular Niramyth model for males compared to the popular Maitreya model for females for examples. While this could be explained as representing our ideal male and female shapes, it also conveys a message of ultra-masculinity and -femininity for the other. Again, these are generalised statements, and not every male avatar is a muscle-bound hulk or every woman a 7-foot supermodel, but it's common. So taking on a female shape will, generally, appear less physically intimidating too, which paves the way for more open channels of communication, etc. Regarding style; yes, many years ago there were more choices in styles for women avatars and still are, though thankfully there are a LOT more options to fashion a male avatar now than there were back then. Again, these are my observations. No doubt things are different for everyone. As for why there appear to be more female avatars than male, you could always jokingly refer to #30 on Rules of the Internet. I don't know what the actual statistics are. A lot of numbers have been suggested over the years. Honestly I don't know, and I can't say that I care either. I do know however that this seems especially true in role play circles where there does (or did) appear to be far more female avatars than men, though maybe that's also genre-significant. I don't doubt there are more men playing in combat sims and Gor but I really don't know. Maybe that's just my own gender bias showing through. 🤔

I think the tagline for Second Life speaks for itself; Your World, Your Imagination. It doesn't really matter the WHY. We already have a world where we're ourselves called Real Life. So long as you're not hurting anyone else, the rest doesn't matter. People will tell you to be honest and to a degree yes you should be. No one deserves to be hurt. But there's also a fine line to tread. If you publicly declare you are a RL male then your immersion will be lost and you will be treated as a man behind the avatar, so you won't get to experience what it is to live like a woman if that's the experience you're after. Most people should know that these avatars aren't real life representations of our RL selves, though undoubtedly some are or strive to be. My avatar for example is an idealised version of me when I was much younger and skinnier but it isn't me. It's not supposed to be. If people believe this is exactly what I look like behind the keyboard then they are a little deluded. You can expect other people to have a degree of commonsense, but you can't be held responsible for those who believe everything that they see is as it really is either. If you do find others feelings are starting to develop for you, or you do start developing them for others, then at that point you should probably say something. The last thing you want to be accused of is catfishing. Some people I know that currently run a popular urban sim actually met this way, professing they were opposing genders than their avatars behind the keyboards (he is really a woman, she is really a man). They were even a partnered couple for a time and had a lot of children together. Playing as the opposite sex isn't frowned upon by everyone, but there are still those that frown on it for one reason or another. TL;DR: If you want to spend your days here as a woman there's absolutely nothing at all wrong with that and no one at all has the right to judge you, just don't try and hurt people if you can possibly help it. Have fun! It's what we're all supposed to here for, isn't it?