heygeeksandgamers

also would like to post a screenshot of what I have so far and extend a thank-you to everyone who's replied so far, definitely been huge helps! Not sold on the hair yet (its a demo I cropped it out) but I think I'm getting the hang of this now!

not in the default viewer! I guess I should download a third party viewer

I guess I also have to ask, besides the however-much the head costs, how much might I be looking at in total in extras? IF I, say, spring for one of Catwa's bento heads (which look pretty good!) then thats 5k already, not including anything I might want on top of that like skins, eyes, clothes and so on. Can anyone suggest a reasonable budget? Not looking to become a supermodel here, just unique!

Thank you everyone, as I'm quickly finding out the selection for men is pretty dire, but I think I found one or two mesh heads that work - not so much with the bodies, do people notice much if your body is just the default one? The prices are a bit steep but maybe they're worth it. also really basic question which I'll ask here: how do I stop my avatar looking around? Was demoing some heads and whenever I'd click on the hud my head would switch to the side which was annoying since I wanted it to be facing the camera

I'm admittedly not really used to second life. Started using it mostly as a 'har har lets mess around on second life' with mates. Find a flat colour freebie top that says 'Gamer', garish shades and garish speedos and put them on the default avatar and move on. I want to move away from that (Friends got bored, I didn't) but man everything has one of two problems: A) expensive! or B) not necessarily ugly, just uncomfortably weird-looking, especially if you move away from looking at the screenshots and into everyday use, walking around and roleplaying or whatever. Often those with problem A) also have problem B). Maybe the problem is that there's no consistent style? Like you could compare the Sims series which still holds up really well, even sims 2 sims still look pretty ok. But then second life is a constant clash of styles and it looks kinda like photorealistic but in a way that also makes you really uncomfortable I was trying to find an example in other media but to kind of explain what I mean I'll just use the three skins listed under the 'Best Selling' male skins on the marketplace One: ...actually looks really good. It's one of only a few skins I've seen that's not terrifying. Two: looks alright at a glance but if you look closer it feels slightly off. The hair (which I appreciate isn't part of the skin) is also part of the issue. Three: is really what a lot of second life avatars look like to me, deep in the uncanny valley. This means no hate against the person who made this or anyone who does like this style, just personally for me (maybe it's the lighting?) it isn't really on any level of attractive of any kind. The more anime-ish avatars tend to look pretty good and don't trigger the same kind of flight or fight response from me, though I'm hesitant to adopt one of those styles because, well, they look really child-like but at the same time with those proportions... As I write this, I realise that a lot of avatars are kinda expressionless, which is off-putting too. The animations both facial and body in the sims really made them feel cartoonish, in second life less so, everyone has a hundred yard stare and look more like dolls than characters, people. This is a ramble, really. I just want to know if there's a middle ground or a way to make it so that I can get an avatar that looks good even as I move around in it, or do I just need to embrace the slightly-offputting vacant looks that all second life avatars seem to have? And again, no hate to anyone who does like that look, I'm just kinda new to this