Ayashe Ninetails

Yeahhhh. I'm just getting around to skimming the whole post, and I'm getting strange vibes from this. Admittedly, I got more caught up in the AI integration bit than the whole Club Desire thing (the less said about the random shift into that news the better, IMO), but if all this is the plan for 2024, Imma just...not. *insert Ight Imma Head Out meme* You're very correct about platforms struggling to find a balance (and ultimately backtracking all over the place and going with the safest option) and how risky it is for any one platform to lean way in the opposite direction. That move is just weird to me. Doesn't bother me, but it's odd without some other policy changes (unless those are coming). On the other hand, the whole AI thing is a nope from me.

LMAO yes! I specifically avoided that because I hate it, too. Real talk - I learned early on that the majority of events are the absolute WORST places to shop - for men and women (but especially men, unless you're in need of your 54th tattoo or a spiked baseball bat). I have my best luck with small stores and specialty designers - some of which I find by scrolling through photos in male and fantasy/roleplay fashion groups on Flickr and then digging for styling credits and TPing over to see what else they've got. Time consuming, but way easier than relying on in-world Search and the MP, which can be prettttty bad. I do agree with you about all of this - especially fits. The more I shop, the more I've noticed that some clothing does entirely ignore the body its made for and takes on a whole independent shape of its own (which may or may not be a good thing, depending on what you're aiming for). I see it very occasionally with Maitreya, but I see it more with Legacy M. Thing is, I run my male avatars pretty slim, so it's not usually too bad when that happens, but if you've got more muscle or body mass and prefer to keep it, it's jarring for sure. Paul's example is a good one. As for Gabriel, the collection is very hit or miss for me. There are pieces I adore (the safety pin suit I tried on the other day looks so gooooooood and I love my wrap jacket), and other pieces that I'm just not into. I get the style they're going for, though, but like you mentioned - sometimes the fits are way off and if you just want no-frills casual wear, it's a bit much. I don't actually shop Cold Ash myself, though I've known people who do. I'm not a fan of Etham myself, either. Mossu I do like for things like pants, but not really tops (unless I'm trying to shove Maitreya into a Jake-fit sweater or something). I'm usually on the other end of the fashion spectrum (I like my clothing a bit nutty and over-the-top, for both male and female, and I tend to look for things to match my RL fashion interests and fav designers - I was just in Hotdog and Jeys the other day, so you see where this is going), so it's pretty rare that I'm hunting around for casual wear, but I do see it a loooot while rummaging for the other stuff and if it's nice enough, I might give it a demo.

This is somewhat true, yup. A lot of guys definitely collect a few decent mix/match pieces and call it an SL, for sure. On the other hand, I have somehow found myself surrounded by male fashion divas for most of my SL experience (even in pre-mesh days) who usually wound up dragging ME shopping all the time. Not for photos - they were just that into styling themselves. The type of men who had tons of landmarks and knew the most obscure joints on the grid to find everything from specialist clothing (latex, leather, feathered accessories, costumes and fantasy outfits, you name it, all of which could be rather difficult to find in large quantities in male sizes - though that's a bit easier now) to the finest suits. One was determined enough to build a massive latex clothing and boot wardrobe (which is how he dressed in RL) that he swapped between Gianni and Maitreya + V-Tech to pull it off. It's rare, for sure, but guys like that are FUN AF if you love to shop. If you don't, it's probably dreadful. Some men can be pretty relentless and stubborn when they're in focus mode - hitting every store in existence to find ONE specific thing, omg. I learned my best shopping secrets from some of them. My female friends were not about that life. 😄 I do think some men do get rather attached to a body and run with it forever. Under no circumstances could I ever get a guy to change his head around for funsies or try a new body or skin or a new shape unless he specifically was looking to do so (or unless he was a shapeshifter with a ton of unique looks/avatars). Once they get stuff working and the wardrobe starts flowing, they're locked IN.

*gigglesnorts* You would hate some of the pants I've got from...Enforcer, I think it is. Butterscotch, too. Give me these little stick legs, but I keep my shapes pretty slender anyway, so it works overall, and it works out well when trying to fit shirts over them. In your case, ain't nobody told you to give yourself them Popeye arms, I'm just sayin'!!!!!! Try some places that favor Gianni and perhaps also rig for Kario. I've noticed they sometimes make their fits a bit wider. I think Etham clothing is a bit wider. Erauqs. Odiren. Gaset. All of those places rig for the "big three" and a few have Kario or Davis.

If it makes you feel better, I always think of Ceka as See-ka, too. Peeve: My RL name used to get slightly changed and lengthened ALL THE TIME as a kid. The peeve part is because everyone would substitute it with the name of a rather obnoxious cartoon character. 😒 As far as SL and the forums go, you guys can shorten me to Aya. If that's too long, my oldest friends call me Mo, which was my original SL avatar's nickname. And if that's too long, just twerk or post funny TikToks when you want my attention. 🤣

Everybody's different, yo! I dunno how Paul rolls. 😄 He said traditional, I kept things pretty traditional. It's a style! A very laid-back chill style, but a style! No chance I'd make suggestions for him based on anything I'd wear. Pfft. He'd snatch my wig if I tried. 🤣

Yeah, it does feel a bit slower now than before, now that you mention it. It's not really a deal-breaker when choosing a body IMO, but it is pretty amusing sitting there waiting for my chest to finish stitching itself back together after I take my shirt off. 😄 I do quite like 1.5, though. Those chat commands save so much tiiiiiime. You must be very picky! 😜 Also, what in the world body are you using that they wouldn't fit? All of those outfits are rigged for either Gianni, Jake, or Legacy (sometimes two or all three). Quick tip - the last photo (with the jeans) is Cold Ash (jacket) layered over Legal Insanity (jeans) - so if you like that style, maybe go on a demo spree and see if you can fit more Cold Ash tops over Legal Insanity bottoms. That's usually how I find my matches - find some stores that play nicely together and milk it.

Funny enough, that can be said for most threads these days. 😄 I suppose it depends on what you mean by traditional. This is the type of look I'm referring to seeing a lot of when I browse Flickr and go shopping (shoutout to the guys in these pics - your avies are adorbs): And on the more casual side: A lot of the stuff I buy has auto alphas, but yeah, when clothing items don't, that gets a bit meh. That's another point against Legacy for me actually - the auto alphas can take forever to hide/show the body. It's so slow compared to when I'm wearing Maitreya.

This sounds like a challenge. I think we need a male fashion thread (wait...we don't actually have one of those, do we?!). No but seriously, I mix and match a lot. It's very hit or miss (like mixing most mesh, really), but I've had successes. Speaking of threads, there are quite a few male fashion groups on Flickr that have plenty of regular casual ensembles mixed in. It's definitely possible, but it does depend on what style you're going for, sure. I've seen so much great stuff in the business casual/sport coat layering arena, for example. And tons going on in athletic/leisurewear/sweats.

Peeve: Had to run my alt through some stores to grab the Lel event gifts before they disappeared and got smacked around by all of the greatest hits in the same session. 🌟TP fail🌟 🌟Everything rezzing except the vendor(s) I need (this one happened repeatedly!)🌟 🌟The "unable to leave group" bug🌟

As a woman who shops for now 3 male avatars, the highlighted is sooooooo not true lol. There's plenty. It's just not as concentrated as it is for female avatars. For instance, there's no male equivalent to a store like Addams or Blueberry, where you could wander in and lose about 4 hours just rezzing and browsing. I suppose the closest to that would be Ascend and Gabriel, but meh, I only lose an hour in each. 🤣 You basically have to do a lot of bouncing around. Tops here. Bottoms there. Coats over there. Leather jackets in hurrr. Ponchos up in tharr. Boots over yonder. Tight pants with good booty (don't judge me) down the block.

Perhaps it's just me, but I have noticed that male clothing designers tend to pick up new bodies verrrrrrrrrrry slowly, if at all. I expected first CZ Slim and then Anatomy to take off a lot faster, for example, but nope - only a few creators said OMG yaaaas and adopted them immediately (Cubura was so excited about Anatomy like ok so Imma just redo my entire collection to add this in go ahead and redeliver the entire store, thanks, lol). Some others are slowly coming around, but it's very, very slow! That's genuinely surprising as CZ Slim fit a desperately needed market (lithe/skinny/thin bodies) and Anatomy is so freakin' flexible on the sliders with probably the most accessible dev kit! Davis is a great body, too, but yeah - newer male bodies really, really struggle to break into the big three (Jake, Legacy, Gianni). I feel like Kario is doing a bit better than CZ and Anatomy, though, since it's giving former Aesthetic users something modern to play with, I suppose.

Legacy does too (including a dad bod addon, though I don't know who sells clothing for that other than maybe Malediction who made it). Some stores carry feminine clothing for both (Boys to the Bone, Varsity, TwoSided, and Malediction, just to name a few). A few extra points go to Legacy for having their own high heel foot state that doesn't require a separate purchase. Hopefully Belleza gives GenX Male foot states, because there are now a few designers like Muho, Madame Noir, etc. who are making heels and plats in male sizes these days, thanks to Legacy, CZ Slim, and Anatomy all having them natively. I've only personally seen two designers create for Maze TipToes (Raven Bell and Cinphul). If that's the direction they want to go, though, then definitely pay close attention to things like mesh nails, because not every nail creator creates for both (Legacy might win out in that market, unless you're wanting to dip into Anatomy). It's really a hard toss up between Jake and Legacy and will very much depend on which fashion styles we're talking about. But overall - Jake has the most complete wardrobe as of now. I avoided it like the plague though because I absolutely hate the shape (the calves bother me endlessly). If you do choose Legacy, demo it carefully and at high altitudes. I believe the old alpha cut glitches were fixed on the Athletic version, but not the base version that I've got, soOoooOoOoOooo...

The absolute most content, including newest releases? Jake. Legacy is around the second. Gianni is about third.

Thanks! I've seen the Pacos and I'm not a fan of Varsity's options (similar to Riot in the leg shaping). I shall continue to wait and pray my usual haunts pick up the body. If any of them do, I am soooo there. I could always ask them about it, buuuut...we'll see.

Preach, little mushroom friend.

I can't think of one in particular either. There are plenty of games where the devs understand that people love to mod and fiddle and provide the infrastructure for all that so the players can go totally wild to where they're adding in entire systems into the game that don't exist otherwise, and I don't quite know what's involved in that process as it's honestly never been my jam to learn all that, so perhaps something somewhere with that level of intricacy does exist. Not sure. Modders are a whole other breed and they do some freakin' amazing things, much like our creators here. I just have no desire to be one anymore once creation moved off-platform and into Blender, and that's kind of where SL is failing me these days. Sure, you've got people who have added entire combat systems and biomes and things into games that don't exist in the vanilla experience, but you're totally fine just logging into the vanilla base game and ignoring it entirely. OR, you could perform a very easy fiddle and add the mod into your own game to play around with it yourself and delete it if you're not feeling it. Totally optional. In SL, though, it's very possible to log in and find things a bit...off. And then it's off to troubleshoot and learn what EEP means or, in my case, why my invisiprims no longer work and why the absolute hell nobody has dishpan hands anymore but me and what steps I need to take to fix myself (lmao, actually me coming back in 2020). 😩 Photography was my last comfy creative venture, as it's something I can do entirely in-world and completely ignore off-platform programs, but if it's going to get more complicated to do it, I'll just do DreamSnaps challenges in Disney Dreamlight Valley or some ish, I dunno, LOL. Over it.

I know you aren't talking about me, but this does describe, at least a leeettle bit, how I'm feeling about SL these days. I think it's my recent-ish move away from creative photography and increased time spent chillin' in a bunch of other modern games that's perhaps made me a bit more lazy on this front (I used to spend hours messing around with windlight and EEP settings, as you know), but now, I genuinely do not care one iota about any of this shiny new (for SL) tech coming to this platform. As was already mentioned, it's not really new anyway and I'm sure I've been experiencing it in games since...hell, maybe 2013 or so, but I'm of the mind these days that I'd rather not know anything about the back-end workings of my entertainment, and have dwindling interest in game dev beyond fun stuff like voice acting, sound design/scoring, and concept art. Nothing else I play requires me to do more than make sure my GPU drivers are up-to-date and ensure I've got enough storage for regular updates, and that's an easy enough ask. Short version: I'm gettin' too lazy for this, yo.

Ooooo, while I'm here. I just saw Deadsouls has a top out for Happy Weekend. 60L. ON IT. *grabs* rigged for: jake, legacy m, legacy athletic, and anatomy

Yeah, I've scoured all of the Discord photo galleries and seen all of those. Unfortunately, they are not what I'm looking for. Cute, but not my style. I have some Riot pants for Legacy and they fit a bit too weird for me (too thick/muscular in the thighs, lol). I've got in mind something like the Mossu jeans I wear on Legacy, or the L&B Havocs. Got some cute FurtaCors that fit really nicely under tops, too. I'd also kill for somewhere like Butterscotch or Gild to pick it up, too.

Gaaaaah, I'm so tempted. Funny enough, I'm waiting for jeans and some other casual pieces before I jump onboard. JEANS! Of all things.

They have, in some of their older products. At least one of their group gifts (not sure if it's still in the store now) is for Lara 5.3, and there was a sprinkle of other outfits throughout. Glad to see they picked up Lara X. I adore their designs but really have no desire to wear female Legacy.

Nope, I don't need it. For story-driven games with full 5+ minute cinematic cutscenes, absolutely love it. Don't really see much point in having that here, though.

That's Black Desert Online. You'll have to go on a demo spree. Try Lelutka Alain, try Connor, try Paxton, try Quinn. You can also try Akeruka's Christmas Gift (150L group join, 1L for the gift) - Leonardo. Skins are going to definitely make or break getting the exact look. For the skin tones you want, try Stray Dog and Not Found. Perhaps Vendetta. Demo everything. As far as mod goes, most heads are no mod. BeSpoke heads are the only mod brand I know of, but they're primarily fantasy and creature heads - not too many human options just yet. The good news is most Lelutka male heads are pretty flexible on the sliders, so you should be able to play around with making shapes fairly easily. So, wear your demo head + demo skin + demo shape that came with the head or skin (if one does) and try messing around with the sliders before purchasing anything.

Just to quickly clarify that, the "Adults-Only Rating" language refers to the official ESRB rating. That list is basically a list of games that don't necessarily have that ESRB rating, but are still prohibited for streaming. More here, from the Community Guidelines: Peeve: SL would perform horribly on Twitch anyway, unless it was picked up by a very popular personality/content creator who would likely only clown on it anyway. It's just not that popular in the streamer demographic. The Sims 4 and similar get a LOT more eyeballs (likely due to the popularity of building streams and EA having that whole content creator network program). As far as I know, SL is not banned on Kick, and this is how it's currently performing over there: