Ayashe Ninetails

I haven't been to The Arcade in a long time, but assuming it's set up the same way, were you wearing the shopping HUD?

I don't think that description fits Marilyn Monroe too accurately. Her chest looked fairly average compared to the rest of her. I suspect there was a lot of shapewear shenanigans going on to emphasize different areas here and there, but she never seemed overly busty to me at all. I got a whole other vibe from that Legacy body. That chest was massive. Yay, an excuse to link some gifs/pics from my favorite Monroe films:

This is actually really, really challenging to pull off, even without getting into NPCs. So many games have tried to make living, breathing worlds with dynamic changes and it's just not quite there yet. There are always limitations (easier in solo games, but still...). Some games hit the illusion of change well enough to where they use phasing and other tricks to handle multiple people seeing the world differently, but it's not that convincing. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen developers wanted to use a perception system to tie into something like that, where you could level your awareness independently and that would unlock changes in the world only you could see, but I'm not sure if they've been able to put many resources into that just yet. They're struggling in whole other areas of development at the moment. On the LLM side (and more related to SL), it can take up to several years of training to get a chatbot up to speed - even in a limited scope (like a game or virtual world would be, or something else like customer service for a single business). There are models that have millions (billions, prob) of dollars and numerous years of trainer hours invested into them that are still returning horrible outputs full of hallucinations and dangerous, unsafe content despite the very high training standards and ethics practices in use. That's not even touching the issues with cultural bias that AI suffers from in general. It is so hard to train that out (especially when many trainers are completely unaware that they're accidentally training it IN). And in SL's case, what about things like multiple languages and slang? We're an international audience, so it wouldn't feel right just to have chatbots communicate in only proper English. Sure, translation and whatnot, but that doesn't mean the bot will be able to handle subtle language and cultural references and nuance, casual slang and reclaimed speech (they suck at this), etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Lots of problems with very expensive solutions. I fail to see how it's worth it.

Well, there actually is. The majority of worlds/games/platforms/etc. I spend time in aren't adopting AI like this, thankfully. It's like the NFT craze - games tried it (they still try it, in fact) but players rejected it pretty vocally, and devs eventually gave it up. That seems to be happening with this new fad, somewhat. Games utilizing AI art/assets/bots/etc. haven't been too popular on the whole.

This all feels like it's missing the mark in a very big way. Between the influx of AI in SL's fashion advertising in the shopping realm, AI "paintings" and "art" infiltrating my favorite home decor shops, and now this, I'm starting to feel like I'm living in a cruel meme. 😂 I'm remote self-employed and my current gig involves...training LLMs/AI (!!!). The absolute last thing I want to do is spend my off-time around it. Working at home is isolating - I want to converse with PEOPLE on the innerwebz (yes, I could drag my butt outside, but that means going to NYC to be where the fun's at, and that's expensive yo - I'm in the process of saving monies). I favor massively multiplayer games and platforms for a reason - cuz people. I want peoples. GIMME PEOPLES. I know other freelancers and remote employees and they're generally similar in that games and social platforms are their preferred method of socialization while everything else is so expensive. There's definitely a trend whenever something new releases - the very first question asked of the developers is "Is it multiplayer/co-op?" People generally love stuff like that, so the thought of logging in to a place like SL for the very first time and being surrounded by bots...welll...I'd log right out, personally, and assume the game is suffering from a lack of users/players. Bots aren't generally seen as a good thing, and NPCs aren't exactly something I'd associate with a thriving social virtual world. They're there as filler characters in RPGs to give players an excuse to team up and raid some random village somewhere. 😂 I have other concerns relating to the training, but that's a whole separate can of worms I'm not touching. Not my models, not my problem.

The skin is applier? Yeah, I wouldn't use that at all. BOM all the way. Tons easier to work with. Stray Dog still sells SLUV skins for OG Catwa and Lel Evo - or they did, last I checked. Vendetta might, also.

Apparently, they can teleport you to places like clubs, introduce you to the club host, and hang around and dance. Problem is, I had no idea whether or not the other people in the club were real or NPCs, which really creeped me out to be honest. Wait, just rewatched - all the other people he's dancing with are NPCs, too. Same names as seen in the Welcome Hub earlier in the video. 😳

I just took a look at the SL section of that video, btw. I didn't see any actual indicator that they were bots, except for the one named "Greeter Bot." The others he spawned in had random-looking names like "fineartdruid" and "thisisnitehawk," so I guess you could go by that? 👀 They weren't all lower-case, though. One had proper capitalization.

Yep, much better. As for the neck line, uhhhhhhh...it depends. I don't remember if the old pre-HDPro heads use the universal neck or not. Could be the skin or materials on the body, too.

I don't see a single thing. You're right - it's very subtle! I don't use much facial hair at all, but if I do, it's on the skin itself or I'd just use BOM. I would imagine applier stuff might cause alpha clashes with hair, but I have no clue to be honest, since I've never tried it (my applier makeup and eyebrows do clash, though, hence why I always favor BOM whenever possible). As to whether you should get more or not, I have no idea, since it's so difficult to see it to begin with. I'd say no and opt for something more visible, but that's just me!

I'm not chatting with AI for free. Also...who??? "Convai has joined forces with industry giants such as Frost Giant Studios, Linden Lab, and Carbonated to integrate AI NPCs into their games." I had to Google. Former Blizzard and EA devs and RTS guys and mobile devs. Interesting. Hope that works out.

Most short stubble would be BOM or include a BOM layer in addition to any mesh. Most BOM on the market now would require Evo X. You can check for older stock at places like Okara, Fuoey, Stray Dog, Hype, Volkstone, Mister Razzor, or Not Found to see if they've still got any pre-Evo X BOM layers for sale. They may on the MP, or perhaps in-world.

Ask them where they're coming from. If they happen to be coming to SL from other games, their confusion would likely stem from character customization being so different in almost all of them. SL's basic inventory management is one thing (anyone on Windows should be familiar with that and how it works), but you very rarely ever see that kind of system in connection to creating an avatar/character, or building a house, or whatever else. Random examples - many inventories are visual, clothing and body parts are not stored there, some games have entire wardrobe systems (like Guild Wars 2) that make swapping clothes and armor effortless, there's no rezzing and unpacking required in almost any other system I've seen, HUDs don't work quite the same way at all, color pickers and basic style presets are frequently used, sliders behave much differently, clothing just fits no matter what shape you are, you can change your entire look from head to toe with a randomizer if you really don't feel like being bothered with it, etc.

I do this from time to time using a combination of built-in face AOs (for that, you'll need a rather expressive head with a good range of facial animations), a separate face mood/expression HUD (I use the Happy Dispatch Bento Facial Expression HUD) to pose the eyes and mouth separately, and for fine tuning of features, I use the built-in pose tools in Black Dragon. I don't edit anything outside of SL. For tears, I just work with my head's materials to increase wet and shine. I also use smudged makeup on occasion. Eye choice also makes a huge difference. I pick a set with a lot of shine and reflection, and with some (most?) heads, you can tweak your eye materials to add more/less gloss and tinker with other options as well. Catwa's heads are pretty good at the whole teary-eyed thing. I've also gotten good results with Akeruka when I'm working with a more plastic doll-like avatar as I think AK's eyes can often hit that "faraway stare" I sometimes go for (last two photos below) with the right amount of fiddling. Lastly - I play with the setting, lighting, shadows, poses, props, mood, etc. This helps especially if my face isn't fully visible for whatever reason. Edit: I'll also add that there are some eye effect layers you could buy - puffy eyes, dark circles, tears, etc. I don't typically go that far, though. Here's a tear set by Izzie's, for example - https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Izzies-Tears-Evo-X/25755214 . That could be combined with their other BOM effects like "flu face" or "hangover face" and things like that, if you really wanted to get into it. Other stores sell other options, too. Jack Spoon might, for example. Some results of putting all that together:

Peeve: I just saw "viva la gyatt!" posted into my timeline, and this might be the start of my villain origin story.

You're noticing a lot more than I did. I didn't even see that, lol. I demoed the included shapes, took a quick look at the skin, and took a quick peek at the face. Considered playing with the sliders and current skins I own, said nah, and put my original avatar back on. It'd take a really, really natural-looking body (in any shape - I'll take anything at this point) to make me switch to something new. I'm not loving the trend of exaggerated shapes that keep showing up all over the place.

Yeah, that's the way to go. From what I saw, there's no matching head skin, so you get the stark contrast between the smooth face and heavily textured body, especially around the neck fade, if you try them with the skins included with the head. Demo it and you'll see what I mean. More noticeable with the darker tones, from what I saw. I didn't look too hard, though. It was just not for me overall.

Just FYI, unless my memory is wrong (which is 100% possible, mind you!), the skins will look very different to the ones we tried that one time. The older ones are way better IMO. Also, the issue we had with the confusing naming - still present.

I couldn't get past the texture and details to even notice the knees, unfortunately.

Re: this collab set - there are problems. I won't go deep into that, though. I was curious, since the fantasy avatar in my forum pic is loosely inspired by Marilyn, so of COURSE I had to demo. Unfortunately, everything put together just feels really off. The thing is, I usually like all of these brands separately and wear some of them regularly. Together, though - it's not working for me. Also, the separate hands and feet feel really odd, since my male Legacy has everything together (with the new high/ballet/etc. feet available in the pack as addons).

Fantastic point! This does remind me that I still do see plenty of remote offers for teachers and tutors and coaches for online learning (and yes, COVID had a big impact on that) - everything from full-on K-12 grade school/high school courses to specific career and language training (40-something pages on FlexJobs alone). That's very different from brick-and-mortar schools and universities of course, and they certainly have challenges in this here 2024, but it's still good to see a demand. I guessssssssss we'll be okay. I guesssssssssssss. I'll defer to the teachers on this, but Sid makes a great point, too. Much of my learning occurred long after class was over. I used to stay behind to chat with my teachers a lot and sometimes we'd have some of the most insightful conversations - just about life in general. One had me shook for days because of something she brought up that hit me like a ton of bricks. She taught modern art, but her own field outside of the classroom was far different (she studied the cirrrrrrrcle of liiiiiiiife, basically, lol) and the discussion went in a whoooole other direction. Damn near brought me to tears, I was so moved. Educators do so, so much that AI cannot replicate. Peeve: We don't hug our teachers enough. *hugs all the teachers*

I don't know of any places where female avatars go to socialize. What I can offer is what used to work for me in the past - I met my longest SL female friend in an adult sim wayyyyy back in the day (in 2005/6). We both happened to be hanging out there "fail watching" - which basically means watching brand new day old residents with no clothes on trying to pick up fully-dressed women and failing horribly. Our weirdo sense of humor is how we wound up meeting there (laughing out loud about something in local and then taking our shenanigans to IMs) and we've been friends since - kept together by that same dumb sense of humor. We ventured to a lot of places like that together and wound up meeting some men who entertained themselves in the same way. Eventually befriended them, too. We soon became a group of 4 or 5 who traveled to adult sims just to watch hilarious pick-up fails. Not the most mature thing for a group of adults to do, but hey...it was amusing at the time - especially once flexi parts became a thing. 😂 I met another good friend doing that same activity a few years later, but she's no longer in SL. My friend met one of her boyfriends by accidentally kicking him across a furniture store during a big sale (she had some attachment that can yeet someone up into the air and I guess she forgot she had it on and bumped into him or something). He found it hilarious and eventually asked her out. I met someone else in a different store. I didn't kick him or anything, but supposedly my body was half-rezzed and my head was floating around outside and he thought it was hysterical, so he sent an IM. I met another long-time friend in an adult sim because I happened to be carrying a cabbage (as one does) and he found it endearing. I met someone else in another adult sim because I had headphones on and my avatar was jamming and dancing while everyone else stood around in normal AO poses. I once met and had a great conversation about photography and windlight with someone while doing a photoshoot at Cuba with my androgynous male avatar dressed like Madonna. He thought I was a woman from behind due to the long hair and apologized profusely for hitting on me. I told him I actually am behind the screen, buuuuut...what had happened wuuuz... Explaining that was...amusing. Cool dude. Fun convo. Short version - clubs suck for me and I generally meet people as a result of SL being SL. Lag that blows my avatar apart, people doing odd things they can only get away with in SL, dumb malfunctions, standing out in a crowd in the dumbest way possible, etc. I totally get not wanting to be around certain avatars, but I really don't know of anywhere good to hang out where that's a thing. Every place I mentioned was open to all. I'm mostly non-human these days, so I couldn't even begin to tell you where the humans are chilling out in 2024. If you prefer a more community feel rather than just chance meetings in random places, maybe look for current roleplay or fantasy communities. I know those are a thing, but I can't really direct you to any in particular. My largest community is based on fantasy shopping/avatar creation, and it's primarily based in a store's Discord channel. We see each other in-world on occasion during Fantasy Faire and other sale events like that. Speaking of which, Fantasy Faire might be a good place to find some people. Last year's masquerade ball was PACKED and certainly not very club-like (everyone wore the most beautiful, creative costumes and avatars), though there was dancing. I would also normally recommend beaches, as I find some of those can be fairly social and they give people a lot of things to do besides dancing/standing around, but my favorite beach closed a long time ago, so I have no particular suggestions there either. Lastly, you could try events - I know art galleries and things are generally pretty empty normally (at least the ones I've gone to), but some do events and those can be pretty active.

That's horrid. I'm less shocked about the AI use now. It feels super weird to me to let AI run amok in the medical writing field as I only work with models that are straight up forbidden from engaging in that topic (or any topic requiring professional advice, really), which is why I'm okay with some forms of AI use. It's easy for me to forget that AI is in all kinds of fields now - including STEM. Terrifying! Come to think of it - Wasn't there an attorney who got caught using AI to write his motions or something? I have my own peeves about legal writing (I found out from my time doing transcription for a law firm that much of it gets dictated on long bus/train rides by exhausted attorneys, which would explain a LOT), but I can't see how AI makes that any better. Peeve: I am not hopeful we're going to get over this fad any time soon, and I am really not fond of it.

No way. Do they not edit those articles, orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Peeve: Man, this is worse than I thought.

Cost and time-saving makes me straight up guffaw knowing how much money and labor goes into some of this stuff and how long it can take to see any real results (only for the AI to fall right back into its terrible behavior patterns shortly after making progress). Humanities you said? It's going to take so much work to get an AI up to speed on those topics. I saw one yesterday spit out the most horribly offensive slop in response to a simple request to help set up a harmless dad joke, LOL.