LilNosferatu

Oooooh this makes sense. I didn't even know you could do that with scripts, so it's good to know sitting on something will prevent it from happening again! 😅

Well, luckily one of the landlords was online and got things fixed? For now at least? I should probably figure out how to use the security system on this thing. I honestly have no idea lmao. I just got a new bento head and skin applier so I was naked and headless in my room, it gave me a good laugh until I was shot into the sky like a ragdoll, then I was just... confused. 🤣

Alright, just found it and filled it out! Thanks, I wasn't sure if that was actually reportable or not. ^_^;; But I'm pretty sure that could constitute as harassment.

I have no idea how they did it? They came in saying "we rented this dude its ours now lololol" so I was just like, haha very funny ^_^;; but then they went to the rental box and suddenly my avatar is like thrown across the world? But yeah I just sent a notecard to the rental office staff. And... how do you submit ARs? @_@

Idk, they just popped in out of nowhere with obnoxious gestures and said they were taking over. I thought they were just trolling and found the landmark somewhere, but then they went to the rental box and forced me out? Never had that happen before, didn't even know they could do that. So what should I do? Try and contact the rental people? Can they actually do anything about it or can I just wait for them to leave eventually?

The FabFree link should still be valid, I'm pretty sure everything is still either up on the marketplace or in-world where it's linked in the blog post. I totally feel you though, my account is newer so I was trying to learn SecondLife in general, as well as figure out all the mesh body/head stuff so it was... a struggle, to say the least lmao. So I definitely think you're taking the smart route and looking for freebies to practice with! I'm not sure how available free clothes are for the free mesh bodies, but you can always search the marketplace and look for demos of clothing! Demos are free, and it might come with some wacky giant price tag or a big sign over your head saying "DEMO" but the process of adding it to your avatar is the same so it should still help you get comfortable with adding/detaching and being able to look for clothes that fit a certain mesh body Also, if you really want to explore some of the full priced mesh avatars, they usually have demos for those as well! Maitreya was the first mesh body I bought, and before I bought it I got the demo so I could figure out how to use it. So that's also an option if you don't like any of the freebies!

I feel like you're making this hypothetical situation a much bigger deal than it really is. ^_^;; It really doesn't matter if you're new or old. If you create demos of your products for customers to receive and inspect before paying for the complete item, that's really all you need lol. If someone turns around and claims it's fraud and wants their money back, just... tell them no? I'm sure there are people like that in SL but not to the extent where you should be afraid of starting. Have a Terms of Service for your commissions (even digital artists have one!) and in it, state payments are non-refundable once they've seen/received and approved of the demo or however you want to do it. That's literally all you need, and if anyone makes a fuss just quote your own TOS. Absolutely! If they're going to charge RL currency, this is the best way to do it.

Unfortunately I haven't had much luck in finding any active chatty groups in-world, I've had more conversations in store groups of smaller creators than groups centered around a hobby or interest. Like the others said, it would probably be easier to find people to chat with by visiting places that interest you and maybe stumbling into a community somewhere. ^^ I've noticed clubs are usually pretty chatty, they really aren't my thing but sometimes it's nice to just vibe to music and chat with everyone there, even if it's not within an actual SL "group". But also, it's true about Discord since most seem to use servers nowadays so it may take a bit of extra digging and poking around to find what you're looking for. 👀 Do you happen to have any recommendations for these scripting groups? I need an excuse to break out my lawn chair and popcorn.

Ayooo, these are awesome videos!! That's super cool, I can't imagine how much work was put into filming and editing those together, the choreography is on point!

Oof, well that guy sucks and deserved to get booted. How rude. I wouldn't assume that's always the case though if someone hides their online status. I didn't even know you could do that, tbh, but there are plenty of days when I just don't wanna socialize. I'm sure most of the time people don't do it maliciously.

I feel like Meli Imako might have an outfit or two similar to this? Just did a quick search on their marketplace and found these on the first few pages (I searched "outfit" in their store) so there might be more similar items https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/50OFF-WINTERSALE-SAVE-4in1-Futuristic-Combat-Outfit-Set-Boots-Pants-Gun-Top-For-Maitreya-Slink-Belleza-Tonic-Ocacin/20315762 https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/50OFFWINTERSALE-3in1-Full-Perm-Black-Cargo-Outfit-Boots-Pants-Top-Outfit-For-Legacy-Maitreya-Slink-Belleza-Tonic-Ocacin/21346826 https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/50OFF-WINTERSALE-4in1-Female-Casual-Military-Combat-Outfit-Top-Pants-Boots-Gun-For-Legacy-Maitreya-Slink-Belleza-Tonic/21579006 Might be able to mix and match some of the individual pieces to create the look you're trying for! I don't really know any other stores/designers that might have something like that off the top of my head, but I'm sure it's out there! ^^

Really the only non-buff male bodies I've seen are furry avatars, such as the JOMO fox, but they usually include the head so while retexturing the body to skin might be easy (or there might already be mods for that) I'm not sure how easy it would be to change out heads and hands/paws. They also tend to be completely original mesh bodies so you'd still be pretty limited in clothing choice. I do know the Kemono body already comes with options for human skin tones and human feet, and while the default is female you can by a flat-chest mod or a modded torso to make it male. These come with the mesh head separated so you could use any other head with it! Again, you'd still be fairly limited in clothing choices but there's a store called Krankhaus that makes a lot of clothing specifically for male-modded Kemono bodies! With these, you can usually achieve a shape ranging from twink / femboy to average slim/lean build. Krankhaus also has their own original mesh body called Kuroo, which is human by default and along the same lines as this, but without all the extra steps to de-furry the avatar, so to speak! It's also only 700 $L and almost all the clothes they make have a version for it. They also have quite a bit of free clothing options that come with it as well, so it'd certainly be easier on your wallet if you're vibing with it! https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/krankhaus-Kuroo-Bento-Body/10885650 There is also apparently a torso mod for Maitreya bodies called V-Tech, Krankhaus has quite a few clothing items exclusive to it but I'm not sure where to get the actual mod itself. I've actually never seen it before but from these ads it looks really nice! These are about all the options I know of at the moment, hopefully one of these were more along the lines of what you'd be interested in!

As someone else suggested, you could always take half the payment upfront, then the other half after they receive the item! This is a pretty common practice for art commissions. You could also create a demo version of the item (slap a giant tag on the back, or make big floating text over the avatar saying "DEMO") and give that to them before accepting the final payment. That way they can see if they like the item or not, but they can't really run off with it unless they wanna look stupid. Then when they send their payment, you send the real product, and boom! There we go. Non-refundable. They can't scam you, you can't scam them, it protects you both! In the event that you give someone a demo version of their item and they decide not to pay for it? That's okay too! You can put the item up for sale on the marketplace for anyone to buy, or hang onto it in case another client comes along wanting something similar, or just have it around for your portfolio as an example of something you can make.

Man, that chicken gets around! Cute video!

Like Rowan mentioned, you can buy items off the marketplace with full permissions. You can search "full perm" or search for a specific item (like "hoodie") and on the lower left side be sure to check the boxes for copy, mod, and transfer. Then all results will be full perm, and there's tons of freebies and $1 items! 😃 This video actually goes through that whole process, where she buys full perm smartphones on the MP and then makes custom textures/designs for them! ^^

While there are people on the internet who seem to cry "cultural appropriation" at everything (and thus turning it into a comical SJW thing that gets mocked), I think there is genuine merit to the concept itself. I believe at the root of the issue, it's about respect -- and respect should be given when using/borrowing from other cultures. Thanks to the internet, we all have more access and exposure to different cultures than ever before, and I think it's awesome to break down barriers and learn to appreciate each other, even incorporate each other's things into our own lives. But I believe its when people take aspects, symbols, language, etc from a culture with ignorance and disrespect that it can end up hurting that culture. I for one had never heard of tā moko so it was really interesting to read OP's explanation! I think we just need to learn more about the people we borrow ideas and designs from. Maybe include a notecard with the item that has a fun little blurb about Maori tā moko, and maybe a link to learn more, or a link to a charity/donation for them. I think if we can all agree to respect each other and everyone's cultural traditions, then "appropriating" wouldn't be an issue anymore : ) That said, it sounds like there could be a potential business in SL for custom/unique Maori tattoo designs! I'm sure there are people who would be willing to pay a higher price for a totally custom design unique to their character's story! That would be cool as hell.

Yeah I've definitely noticed, it's pretty much up to each person to figure out what their purpose is in-world. x) I think it's cool! Just a tad overwhelming at first lol. But no I definitely play late at night, I'm usually up until 5-6am EST, and I adore furries! My avatar currently is a furry, actually. x'D The Kemono body was just way too cute, and a lot cheaper than human mesh bodies so I'm a demon kitty for now. x) But I'd definitely love to find some active furry spaces! That's a really good idea! I looked up a few groups for hobbies of mine like writing and art, there were a few active ones with events scheduled out so I'm gonna try and go to a couple and see how that goes! Thank you for the input! ❤️ I feel that so hard, I just rented an apartment so that I can stay inside and make textures in peace... x'D And I understand that, too! I wasn't planning on being a furry in SL when I started, but I think the furry and anime-style avatars are cuter than the realistic human ones. x) I've also seen a couple people retexture human mesh bodies with fur, too! But hell yeah, I'd love to get into the furry community. I've been to a few places but at off-hours so they were pretty empty at the time. @w@ and I like exploring some of the classic areas, too! You can definitely tell the difference in pre-mesh areas, lmao. aND YES that's been my issue with looking up RP sims/groups. They're either inactive or super active with like pAGES of lore and storyline and rules and I just feel like it's way above my head right now. x_x Thank you! I remember seeing it, but my IM conversations always disappear when I log out. @_@ Is there a way to keep them up, or bring them back up? Thank you! :3 Thank you!

Hey hey! I'm Kiara, and I'm new to SL, I've only been around for about a week now - and I'm still struggling to really find people to socialize with, so I'd love to try and make some more friends! I've been wandering about, but I've noticed a lot of areas just seem empty or deserted, and I've lurked around here for a couple days to see that people seem to stick to big events or private lands? I also see night clubs seem to get high traffic but idk if I could deal with the lag or social anxiety, aHahAHah-- anyways! I figured I might as well try making a post here to see if I can find people to chat with. I'm just looking for cool peeps to chit-chat, fellow newbies to learn this crazy world with, or more knowledgeable residents who could help give me pointers and advice on things. @_@ I've mainly been watching whatever YouTube tutorials I can find lmao. So far I've gotten my own mesh body/head and an outfit, and I've made custom textures for a couple full perm free items I've gotten from the MP-- oh, and I just rented my own cheap apartment for like L$30/week. x'D I've visited stores like Maitreya and Slink, and went to a couple event areas, but mostly I just kind of wander around or search up places to explore, just trying to find somewhere to hang out and see what the big deal is about SL. The creative aspect of SL definitely appeals to me the most, but I've mostly just had experience with creating designs/textures, not the actual mesh shapes. But I also love to write, so I hear there's plenty of opportunity for roleplay as well! That seems fun to get into but I don't really know how to go about dipping into that... ^_^;; SO YEAH. I'd love to chat with some people, learn more about SL, and just... idk, experience the magic. x'D There's gotta be something to this, if it's been around for almost 20 years now, right?