Randy Pole

I am snapping a picture of each place I visit - both as a memento but also as a reminder to revisit some before the event is over. Trick or Treat Hunt 2023 | Flickr

Friends in SL are not numbers. It does not make you a bigger person in terms of anything for having many "friends". The prevalence of follower / friend numbers on anti-social media has distorted what friend actually means. You need to have things in common. You need to share what is important, not overshare and also (importantly) give people their space. Just because someone is on your friend list and happen to be online does not mean that they want to be all chatty and meet up. An old associate (for I shall not overuse the word friend) said that friending someone in SL is the kiss of death to communication and interaction. In a way I think they are correct. I meet friends be seeing who hangs out at the same places I do. We chat several times. After a few days or even weeks I may suggest friending but to be honest there is no need for me to friend as I have calling cards of those I consider friends and do not need to ask them if they think the same about me.

As others have said you need to view your L$ transaction history as that will tell you the name of the resident you paid. You will need to contact that resident directly as LL will not get involved in resident to resident transactions. If you have fallen victim to a scam then I am sorry and it would be best to put it behind you and use it as a learning experience.

When I worked in a new resident help capacity I had a profile pick with details of where to get all body items and links to some of the more popular (way back then) store that existed for male avatars. At the end of it I encouraged people to be inspired by others looks but not to copy them - take the information provided by myself and others as a foundation for something new that they create for themselves. Of course it was all a lot easier to help out back then as it was all pre-mesh bodies and heads so did not require a huge initial investment by new residents.

Trampled to death by drama-llamas

Just a suggestion - set up a portfolio of your design work and link to it on your post so people can see if they like your style.

Some decent names in the current "novelty" names offerings... Batty - Wonder if anyone picked Nora Batty yet Morbid - meh Calavera - meh Shadow - good for RP rogue types and more Vampurr - meh Stoker - a good old fashioned surname Reaper - probably will go down well with heavy metal heads Shiver - meh

It's not different at all - that's my point. The OP was about someone who was wonderful in SL but not so great in RL and I was just pointing out that is the same for anyone you spend a short amount of time with in RL compared to a large amount of time to. But then I am a miserable old git who is set in his ways

SL is what I would call "relationship & truth lite" - you only interact for a few hours at most each day and are able to cover up all those annoying habits you have. RL - especially when it is a flat or room share - is "warts & all" - there is no covering up those habits you can mask otherwise. However this is the same of any "relationship". I have tons of friends in RL that I really like but I'd not want them to move in with me - EVER!

Many of the cosplay groups have one thing on their side - they do not make money or any money that they do make goes to charity. As soon as someone starts creating branded merchandise to make money (no matter how little or big that money may be) then they have a target on their back from the big corps and their lawyers. Many corps get confused with things sold in SL also and read L$ as plain old US $ so they see something being listed for L$500 and their eyes light up sensing a big fat payment of fees from the merchant being owed.

There are indeed a lot of bots at the "safe" hubs. A lot of that can be put down to region restarts and the bots being relogged to a safe hub whilst the sim restarts. Many stay there due to bad coding. These hubs used to be a great place to meet people - like about a decade ago. The only time I visit a hub is when I am forced to due to a region restart. The people you see standing around such places should not be taken as a general indication of the people you meet in SL.

Alphas can get borked no matter what body you are wearing (unless it is only system alpha layers you are using). Ideally try and use system alpha layers over the scripted attachment alphas set up via the HUD (it's also less scripts you have on your AV). Set up a "default" body outfit that is just your body and hair etc. When you logon switch to that body and use the HUD to reset alphas even if you look fine to yourself. Then dress as normal. That should result in less cases of missing legs.

Incorporating such features into the Second Life client itself would be a huge shift in how it is perceived by businesses. Educational and non-profits who use Second Life would rightly be concerned that negative coverage from a 3D dating app could impact upon their ventures. It would open a whole new can of worms in terms of privacy across various legal territories. Hard no.

Alas some people do insist upon lighting that requires their own power stations it is so bright - and don't get me started on those who continue to wear facelights out and about when not on a photoshoot.

Basically if you are looking for an experience like the desktop client you will be disappointed. The browser based app, whilst working great as a communication system has exceedingly limited 3D facilities. Speedlight has time limits on it unless you pay them a bit extra or have a SL premium plus plan.

For the sake of illustration behold the extent that Halloween has upon my little bit of Second Life....

You probably want to ask this in the land general discussion forum. https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/283-general-discussion/

No matter how long you have spent in Second Life you can still be amazed and impressed by the creative talent of the superb community.

US based is sadly the norm for a lot of English language based communities. I'd suggest a few but my experience of the Vampire communities is ten years out of date. Try having a look through the full destination guide Destination Guide (secondlife.com) under roleplaying communities.

The price is steep I agree but that is good because it forces people to think long and hard. It goes down to 15 if you stump up for Premium Plus though which is still high enough to make you think. What I would like is for LL to seriously consider though is not to charge people again when they want to switch between names they have already purchased as that is paying for something you have already paid for. It should be free to swap between previously purchased "seasonal" names but restricted on how often it can be done - like the cooldown on changing display names. Want to swap your name free - sure but only once a week otherwise you can pay if you have more money than sense and want to change it daily.

My real life is complicated enough without Second Life introducing these added complications like having to pay rates, utility bills, food, eat food, sleep. HUDs and systems to enforce such things exist (for a cost of course). I like the no limits but my imagination thing though.

I think you are going to have more problems than most due to the colour of your skin. As it is an unnatural colour it will look even more unnatural under certain lighting conditions. For example Grand Admiral Thrawn looks great in animated and still art but in live action he looks odd as humans are used to seeing human skin tones. I'd experiment on getting lighting in world as good as you can. Play around with lighted objects that project textures in order to achieve effects otherwise not possible in world. It will cut down on the amount of work you have to do in your editor of choice.

I'm going to be blunt here and so this may offend some... Bloodlines is a pyramid scheme designed to force people to pay L$ for content and prey upon others to gain power. You do not need Bloodlines or any other system to play the part of a vampire. Bloodlines and Progeny both have tainted names in the minds of land owners due to the unwelcome antics of some of their participants. If you just want to live the vampire lifestyle without being forced to spend a heap of L$ for nothing but a score on a website then your best bet is to use the search facility and look for some gothic / vampire themed places. If they are any good they will not insist that you need to use one of the aforementioned systems to take part in their activities.

You are not permitted to share or give (sell) your account to another party whilst you are alive without the consent of Linden Lab. So in extreme and warranted cases it is possible for someone to take over your account whilst you are alive as long as Linden Lab agree to it beforehand. For example if my mother who has dementia and I have Lasting Power of Attorney for her had a SL account I could apply to take control of said account - it is up to Linden Lab to decide if I can in the end though. You can bequeath the account to another party for them to access it once you are dead. Linden Lab Official:Death and other worries outside Second Life - Second Life Wiki

No such thing exists - you cannot ever hide yourself from the map or nearby avatar list unless you are a Linden Lab avatar. Set parcel privacy and people will still see your dot on the map and name but they will not be able to actually see your avatar (on any other avatar on the parcel) unless they are on the parcel as well.