ValKalAstra

In the spirit of offering a different perspective: I'm a relatively new player here and in the year I've been here, I think I've transferred about two hundred us dollars into various purchases. My purchases happen in world and on the marketplace in equal measure. On top of that my wardrobe isn't saturated yet and my various photo projects are in need of special purpose props too. There is a lot I want to buy. My purchases however have more or less stopped in the last two months or so. There are about 4.000 L$ just sitting around on my avatar and I'm wondering if I should transfer them out at a loss. There are two prime issues for me. The first is an extreme homogenisation in what's offered. What drew me to SL were the extravagant offerings, the unusual outfits that sparked creativity, places filled with otherworldly wonders where you could just as well find a dancing robot with breasts as you could find a cat with a jetpack. When I head out to shop, what I'm seeing instead is... Well. Not that. It's normal clothes, which I love too, don't get me wrong. Yet when I enter three or four shops in a row, everything begins to blend together. Miniskirt. Pleated. Length doesn't even cover the bum. Miniskirt. Pleated. Belt buckle. Length has never even heard of this bum thing. Miniskirt. Pleated. Has got a cat picture. Panties mandatory, bum in plain view. Personally I'd call this a belt but who am I to argue. It's all so very samey and more than that, often it literally is the same but with a different texture and more still - frequently, it's not even different textures. So my shopping trips fizzle out because I'm overwhelmed by this sensation of basically having seen the same items, just arranged differently and while my wardrobe isn't saturated, it sure is not lacking for yet more variants. My other issue is one of searching and finding items. I can understand the idea behind giving items creative names but if your turtleneck sweater is just called Erika-chan, chances are I'm never going to find it. In general, marketplace search is barely functional as is. Even if I filter out demos and gachas, I'm still flooded with them. If I sort by newer items, there will be twenty pages of the same item, just in a different colour. It's gotten to a point that it's more feasible to use external search providers to look for ancient forum threads recommending stores, then filtering out which of these are still around and then looking and browsing there, which quickly brings me back to the homogenisation of content making me give up after a few stores. So here I am. Money in hand. Wanting to buy something and not being able to get there.

Realistically? Whenever there's a new toy like this, it will come on wings of heavenly promises. Some people will get rich quick, a whole lot of people will get poor quicker and once it has done enough harm, regulations kick in. Until then it's a wild west paradise for the modern day snake oil merchant: the techbro. The underlying tech will have got a use case once these guys are out. It'll be nowhere near where the promises paint it - but it will fuel some things in a neat way.

I'm one of those pesky creative types. Author. Published. Middling success in my niche. Only a fraction of my creative works are ever seen by anyone but me. My shelves are filled with unpublished and unsent manuscripts, my digital folders runneth over with pictures and artworks that never got uploaded. Cynically, to me there are two points to creating. One is food. It pays the bills. The other is the joy and need of creating. When I create, I'm in my own head. Scary place, mind you. The act of making things is who I am as a person. I can't just sit still and not make something. If I try, I get impatient, difficult and snide. Sometimes after the act, I get the urge to share what I've made. Quite often however I don't and whatever it was that I've made vanished into some private corner. So yeh. There's a point to it. It just doesn't involve others or their validation.

A quick portrait while I'm still coming to terms with the new head. It's still in this phase where I can't tell whether it's looking odd to me because of the proportions or because I've been so used to the old head. Either way, work in progress!

The forums are a good place to get help with these things. But for others to be able to help you, some more information is needed. Foremost, which body and head did you get? They're all slightly different and the respective help would switch based on that information.

One of those days where one kicks back, looks out the window and can't help but feel a bit lost. So what better than to wallow in a bit of nostalgia by the means of a song that takes one back to so many worlds.

Love the picture and the details! Out of curiosity, which mesh-head is that?

Some songs just get stuck in your ear. For me it's been this highly cynical song. *mentally sings along* Keep on living but you never leave alive.

Sorry, should have been more precise with my words. I was referring to the uncanny valley effect. We humans instinctively recognise subtle clues, shapes and motions in our interactions with living beings. If these things are off, they can cause an averse reaction. For example, Mark Zuckerberg blinks at a notably different cadence, which gives him an eerie stare and the impression of being a human robot. Among... other things. Now when it comes to replicas, such as robots or game avatars, there's a bit of an issue. As long as we can clearly see they're not human, all is good. We expect little quirks and can emotionally relate with just some beeping and little icons. See Wall-E, R2D2. However the closer they get to humanoid, an odd phenomenon sets in. We instinctively flinch, pull back. This effect is called the uncanny valley. They are recognised as human but lack the cues, shape and details we look for. In games or 3D movies, you'll see studios intentionally aim for either less human or more. Whatever it takes to get out of the valley. Badly summarised. Wiki can do better than me. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley What it means for your three variants is that to me, the leftmost variant manages to go a bit past the deep trenches of the uncanny valley. The other two, for me, don't.

It's always difficult to give feedback on how to make something better, because better is an incredibly subjective concept. So with the kindest intent, I'll write what I personally would do differently. Separation of fore and background would be my first foray. You've got a very busy background that also shares colours with your avatar, almost leading to a sort of camouflage effect. A background like that can be incredibly difficult as it will seek to completely dominate your picture. To help with that I would begin to set accents with lighting. Use spotlight over ambient light, utilise shadow casting and edge lights to more clearly separate back and fore while also adding more visual depth to your picture. Maybe some slight depth of field but I'm unsure on that one. Definitely some changes to the ambient occlusion. Talking about light, I'm not sure what the light direction in your picture is. Where is the light coming from? Why is it pointing that way? I always enjoy a picture more when the light is almost a little story in itself. Eagerly telling me where it came from, where it is headed. Then, personally I would do some small edits due to second life oddities. Third picture, hair is looking odd left of the mouth. Fourth picture, hair is clipping through the bosom. Second picture, the pose breaks the mesh geometry at the elbow. Keep it up though, feel free to ignore any of this. It's just rambling towards my understanding of a better picture. It need not be yours and I'm sure others would change other things too.

To my eye the comparison is somewhat uneven because of the image composition. We've got one choice with an interested and slightly surprised expression, warm colours, visible highlights and lighting - and two deadpan variants in cold colours. That aside, both the middle and right evoke a feeling of uncanniness in me. Because of that I'm more prone to note things that are off than things that work. The left variant doesn't suffer from that for me. It also seems the most interesting one to me with less exaggerated features but that is personal taste.

Are we talking Shibari or glue? - It's not a topic I'm versed in but it's one I wouldn't mind listening to for a few hours.

It ain't easy making friends, is it? When we were wee lads and lasses, all it took was a spark of shared imagination. We offered a hand to strangers, reached out with curiosity, shared something of our own and then had a good time. It's only when we got older that we forgot how to do these things. Yet I feel like the recipe to make a friend is the same now as it was in someone's childhood. Reach out to someone, be interested and curious, be willing to share of your own and maybe you'll have a good time. Easier said than done and... truth be told, Second Life often can feel very standoffish. It has got it's own social norms and expectations that can be a bit hard to navigate. More than ever, using a shared interest feels like a real-life cheat code there. I've met lovely people just by seeing an amazing outfit and inquiring about it. I've found intriguing folks by finding random flickr links in profiles and connections were made when I saw someone mention something I could absolutely nerd out over (don't start me on writing or books, just don't or at least bring hours of time :P). Now the distinguishing quality of a good friend is in essence everyone that has stuck around through crisis. We all have got moments in life where things don't go well. Good friends are those that can tell you to stuff it, if your head is on wrong. Good friends can see your inner demons and instead of running, sit down, grab a tea and then tell it to get stuffed. Good friends are those that will fight you on an issue if needed and then ask if you want to watch that movie later. In short, they're not just there for the sunny days but the rainy days too - and the important part is that you are there for them as well. That you too can tell their demons off, that you can stay when they suffer, that you can tell them they're boneheaded about an issue. That's good friends to me. I'm a bit of a social butterfly, I've made hundreds of friends but in all my life, I've made about four good friends and one of which I have lost through my own mistakes years ago.

Ohh! Interesting topic as I always love to see how others work - and to learn about ideas and techniques I haven't tried before. While I'm nowhere on the level of impressive skills of others, I do think I can add something of value too. My photo setup tends to fluctuate between using a sandbox or backdrop. While I don't have my own sandbox at the moment (and the public one I used got overrun by griefers) - I used to just create basic prims in a sort of hollowed out cube. Instead of stark white as seems to be tradition in Second Life - I use the traditional blue or green colours when chroma keying. If I want the sky and sun, I go on a derendering spree - but usually I used my self made spotlights in a three light setup. Main, Fill, Edge. A simple script allows me to let them autofocus on my avatar on a click. That said, I do prefer to take shots out in the wild. Here my method changes a lot depending on where I am. If I'm in a photosim? Attach lights, go wild. If it's in a social sim, bringing out the heavy spotlight spam would be impolite. Either way, I tend to use Black Dragon to pick and adjust a pose. Pretty standard procedure. So here is where I think I can add something of value: I use Gshade, which is in itself a modified fork of reshade. In essence it forces some modern technology into 3D programs, allowing the user to add a variety of shaders and tools on top of whatever else that is on offer. It's pretty popular in gaming circles to customize the look of a game (usually seen in something like Skyrim or GTA). The Gshade fork works on Second Life (around 85% maybe? It's not perfect). To break it down in simple terms: It allows one to edit a picture while still inside a game. I just find that the ability to adjust settings on the fly, instead of in post quite valuable. Let me give you an example. The first picture is my avatar in a photo backdrop sim. The image is taken raw, no editing, just sat down, activated a pose and then made the shot. The second shot is with Gshade active. I've used a preset, turned on a colour histogram, adjusted min and max black and white levels, switched on the composition lines and then decided that was enough for a quick demonstration of Gshade. So there you have it, I hope it was of value to some.

... listening to the fun side of weird. I love that band.

On some level, I can appreciate people wanting to share something that gave them a good time. Nothing wrong with that. To go from that to casual xenophobia in a single exchange is quite some whiplash. For the record, as a Swiss (so politically and culturally not European *runs*) - this didn't make me laugh either. That said, we could use this to share what makes each of us laugh so we can come to the surprising conclusion that humour is highly subjective. Let me go first!

From seeing this thread, it's interesting how certain solutions manifest in multiple places over time. Like many others I'm sorting by type but I've also started to use a ramshackle tagging system. Sort of like this: Clothes -> Shoes -> (Flat/Ankle/Texture) Sneakers - Flame -> Item The folders are self explanatory. Everything within ( ) is consistent to that subfolder, so all shoes will be tagged by the same system indicating certain qualities. Flat or heel, how high up they go, colour or texture, etc. The rest is fitted to give a general idea and if I really like an item, I mark it with special characters I can search for. One of my biggest peeves is being unable to rename items themselves because of no mod. Can't even remove the "wonderful" store artistry of mangling their name with weird characters.

Seems more like the ancient art of the quiet part. She was happy to meet people to make miserable and look down upon. She was looking for friends to hate. Nah, joking aside - don't know her and it was extrapolated from interactions like that. Too often, someone will try to appear unapproachable and standoffish in the desperate hope that someone persists past their walls. So to me it's less misleading and more a cry for help to push past the abrasiveness. *adjusts glasses* At least that's what my armchair degree says about the matter. Going through the thread, it seems that profiles are a sure-fire way to scare people away. Whether there's something in them or not, someone is going to be annoyed by it. To me they're a form of self expression, a bit of cheeky humour and an excuse to peddle my craptastic screenshots as pick pics. Likewise I am always happy to find people's creations in there, from their Flickr to their marketplace, or just genuinely well written profiles - I do enjoy creative sorts.

Aye, it's a bit the crux when taste in music also becomes part of the identity. To me this was best exemplified a few years back when Hip Hop and Metal were considered arch enemies - and then some bands spooled up NuMetal. Oh boy. There was a lot of bellyaching over that. Ultimately, the gatekeeping is their loss, isn't it? I'll happily rock out to some Britney Spears Cover band at Wacken. While NuMetal isn't to my tastes - I do so very much adore the crossovers and international reach of metal nowadays. Give me a bit of The HU from Mongolia, some Bloodywood from India, toss in a bit of Band-maid or Ningen Isu from Japan and mix in some folk for Wagakkiband before soaring over to Switzerland for some Eluveitie with their traditional instruments. To me, this extreme identity aspect was always a bit of a red flag. If someone gives a person grief because a song wasn't pure enough, there's a good chance we wouldn't be friends anyway. And yeh, okay in some ways I can understand why people are apprehensive about external influences. The aforementioned goth culture had a bit of an uncomfortable brush with emo and when a beloved band switches genres, that can feel a bit like a betrayal. Still, more than enough people out there to appreciate and plenty more songs to enjoy. To loop back to Jodel Metal - thanks for the link - here, have one back. Sea Shanty Metal.

Apparently it's a bit of a metal sacrilege to like this band - but eh, whatever. I like it. Also the visuals in the video are just ❤️

You'll be safe as long as there isn't some manic pixie boy with a screeching pen inside. If there is, run, things never end well for his companions. ---- https://www.flickr.com/photos/191119559@N02/51604908647/in/dateposted-public/ Halloween? Halloween! For fun, I tossed together an outfit from various gifts or deep sales I had gathered over the last years and the result was an outfit I really quite liked and had to turn into a picture.

Aside from a general gut feeling and the overall vibe of a profile, there are some crimson red flags that see me politely walk away. 1. "I don't like Drama!" - Maybe prejudice but every person I have met so far, that felt the need to point out they hated Drama was usually the source or center of it. 2. They insult or put others or something down in their first few lines. Some do bond over their shared disdain - hey more luck to them. For me, I feel like that energy doesn't really blend well with me. 3. Dirty Laundry in their picks. Literally and metaphorically. Like seriously someone had a picture of dirty laundry in there. Others have got an entire blogpost about their ex or whomever in there. I run in both cases.

If you're over 27, the answer should in theory already have manifested. Any sufficiently large building with a singular inhabitant will cause what is known as the catlady/lord transformation. With it come superpowers and lots of cats. Lots and lots and lots of them. Only half joking. Buy it and fill it with dozens of cats.

The answer is, simply and complicated enough, perceived consensus on a corporate level. Any deliberation about harm and influence is moot when what decides a platform's action is lost value for shareholders/owners. Cynical? Maybe. But if you want smoking to be banned too, all you need to do is stir up the pot to the level that media attention snaps onto it and the $$$ value is in danger. Look at something like Reddit. It's got a thousand or more communities all focused on various things. Amongst those things are some truly and utterly vile things. Every couple of months the site gets into the headlines because of these communities. Then it's a dozen articles or so lambasting media's harmful influence and then the communities get banned. Case in point: It didn't matter one bit that thousands of people reported a community about ogling underage girls in swimsuits before media got wind of it - and then it went down quick. And the important part here is the perceived consensus, not necessarily the actual consensus. Social Media allows people to be extremely loud to the point that a single person can shift the entire narrative if they reach critical mass. Case in point, the damage Requires Hate has done to the writing community at large persists to this day. So: The difference is the bottom line of those that make money on it.

Maitreya's HUD with the Alpha Switches. Stone cold. In real life it would be the diffuser (probably wrong term) in faucets.