Persephone Emerald

I think what society defines as "weird" & "kooky" is a sign of someone who is willing to think differently & act differently than the norm. Sometimes this willingness comes from someone who doesn't understand that they're odd themselves. Other times it comes from someone who has evaluated societal norms & decided they're not worth adhering to so strictly. Being able to think "outside the box" is a sign of higher intelligence. Seeing possibilities that others don't see, evaluating multiple options for behavior, & choosing a unique alternative requires a higher than normal intelligence. Sometimes geniuses just don't think like other people do either. Albert Einstein liked a particular style of comfortable sweater, so he had a bunch of the same style in his closet. This way he didn't have to waste time thinking about what to wear each day. That was an odd thing to do, but it was a reasonable choice from his perspective. http://205.188.238.109/time/time100/poc/magazine/albert_einstein5a.html Of course, SL is a fairly difficult tool to learn how to use effectively, so it tends to weed out people who can't learn new tasks easily. Thank goodness, IMO. If I wanted to associate with the common masses, I'd go to a wrestling match or soap opera fan forum. Recently the CEO of Zappos explained on "The Colbert Report" that his company actually prefers hiring employees who are a little weird..."a little weird, not psycho snake weird.” http://www.geekwire.com/2011/stephen-colbert-tony-hsieh-cult-leader

I don't care what viewer someone else uses, but I don't mind seeing the name over their head either. It's no different to me than seeing what kind of car someone drives in RL. If they drive the same one as I do, I get a kick out of it, but that doesn't mean I go around laughing at people who drive a different car than I do either.

"These pix do not look gay to me. The second pic looks glam. There was a very popular glam club in L.A. around the turn of this century. Straight men, straight women, and the men made out like bandits in a treasury. Not all women are into lumberjack shirts. (Nothing wrong with those either.)" This just seemed so appropriate to this thread that I couldn't resist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpxQp3Hy5nk

It looks like someone could build right on top of the water in front of you. I wish LL would take control of more of the water, so people actually use it for boating & swimming instead of having to look at ugly buildings sitting on platforms on top of it. (Edited to correct typos)

I wasn't implying that your sexuality didn't matter to the post. I just don't think people should be expected to fit into stereotypes in SL. You can wear a business suit one minute, fishnet the next, & be a dragon the next. Anyone who really likes you & cares about you, shouldn't care about your outward SL appearance. My boyfriend usually goes for a dark, gothic look in SL because he can't dress like that in RL, but he also likes being a dragon or shadowling sometimes, & occasionally runs through a string of silly or superhero avatars when he's in a weird mood.

I'm quite confident that once Firestorm is mesh enabled & out of beta, it will become the #1 SL viewer. The reason is simple: the Phoenix/ Firestorm team listens to its users better than LL does. Firestorm is more intuitive than either Viewer 1 or Viewer 2 & its UI is modifiable to suit the user. If you love the Phoenix UI, you can make it resemble Phoenix to some degree. If you love the Viewer 2 UI, you make it resemble Viewer 2 to a great degree. And because its a TPV, it will do things that the official viewers don't do or don't do easily. Everything that users really like about V2 will be there, but there will also be some options that aren't in V2. Btw, I tried the Curious Kitties dress on my alt without a Mesh enabled viewer. Wearing mesh doesn't affect your skin at all. It's pretty much just a special kind of sculpty that might be harder to stretch than a regular sculpty, though it has more flexibility in other ways. Since most creators don't make their own scultpies, the majority will likely not make their own mesh either. I predict the good money will be in making & selling mesh items that can re-used as parts of finished builds. Also, regular textures may fit more neatly on a meshy than on a sculpty.

Several people on this thread have made comments like "you dress gay," or "you're both gay, so what's the problem?" I seriously doubt you'd say to a hetero couple, " You dress heterosexual," or "You're both heterosexual, so what's the problem?" I think the people posting such statements show a failure of being able to think outside of serriously limited boxes. Your idea of the "Openly Gay" box" doesn't fit every gay man, not even close. It's a stereotype that some gay men put themselves into at some times, probably so they'll "fit in" with the perceived expectation of a group of people they want to fit in with. I expect it's like trying to fit into the "Good Christian" box or the "Responsible Professional" box. Evey single one of us is unique, with varried interests & tastes. If you want to be acepted by other people, you make some effort to "fit in" with those people, but you should never give up your individual spirit to do so.

^ Agrees with Peewee. Find a nice little 1024 m or slightly larger spot, create a group together, & maximize your resources. If you find a 1024 m with the right sized micro parcel in the same region, that can work almost as well as a 1120 m parcel.

You should post this question to the Answers section. You'll probably more informed answers there.

"I'm the type of person that can fit (but only to an certain extent) into different types of communities... where it usually goes haywire is when I try to get closer (even just being friends) with someone. Automatically, I think that I won't be excepted for the different aspects of who I am (which are very diverse and ultimately conflicting). " I'm much the same. I can fit in superficially with most groups of people, but never feel like I'm totally accepted. I can be charming, attentive, understanding, thought-provoking, amusing or seductive. But I also feel like I'm on the outside looking in most of the time. I understand that some folks just don't "get" me, because I defy their expectations & don't fit into the normal boxes they have for people. But many of my friends have been open-minded, smart & individualistic, & yet I still have a hard time fitting in with them. Maybe it's because I'm always studying & analyzing them? Maybe it's because I sometimes feel like I don't really need any of them, or because I don't want them to think I need them when I really do? From what I've seen of you on these forums, Dres, I think you're smart, funny, fun-loving & individualistic. You don't seem to be emo, clingy or just plain crazy. I don't see anything from your posts that you need to change. Maybe it's just that most other people are too shallow for you? If a guy is going to judge you based on how your avatar looks, I think that says much more about him than it does about you. I don't want to sound like a cliche, but I think you may just be too fabulous for most of the small-minded people out there. Go ahead and keep being yourself, whatever that feels like at the time. No matter how much work it is finding someone who accepts you for who you are, it's much harder to try to be someone you aren't.

"Unfortunately, most things require, at bare minimum, money." In the beginning you don't need to spend any money on SL. If you want to know where to get good free clothes, hair & skin. IM me in world or pick up my freebie box in one of my shops (Briar Rose). When you have free stuff that is Copiable & Modifiable, you can take it appart (in Edit) to see how it's made & how it works. If you want to put a texture on a prim, there are some good free textures in the Library of your Inventory. There are also many free things, including textures & scripts, on SL Marketplace. You can search for pretty much anything you want & find a free (or very inexpensive) version on SL Marketplace. Look up Happy Hippo or the Builder's Brewery for classes & self-paced tutorials for building. If you belong to a building help group, you can also ask in the group chat for scripts & such that people might just give you. Just never ask for money. That's a no no. After you've explored a bit & you really want to spend a little money on stuff (or tip teachers, dancers, hostesses, etc.), you can get by nicely on just $10/month. As a monthly Premium account member, you'd get a free house and $L 300/ week for spending money. When you have a place to live & know where to get free clothes, $L 300/ week is plenty. You can get the same beneits by paying for a quarterly or annual Premium membership, but at lower rates. Eventually most of us end up spending more money, but that's a choice, not a requirement for enjoying SL.

Once you get through the first month in SL, looking around, talking to people, asking questions & experimenting, you won't feel totally lost, but there will still be much more to learn. I think I was in SL for about 6 months before I didn't feel like a total noob, but I was still noobish. Heck, I've been in SL for 2 and a half years now & I still bump into doorways. I can put togehter a nice-looking low-prim chair, but I don't know how to script it with different animations. There is always more to learn in SL, just like in RL. Think about it. In a typical video game there are clear goals to meet, so people go through more or less the same routes to meet those goals. Once you've learned how to reach each level, there isn't much left to learn. But in SL there are no fixed goals & new matterial is being added by the "player-creators" all the time. You meet new people all the time in SL & they all have different interests, so each one can introduce you to different kinds of things you could do in SL. When you get tired of shopping or exploring, you might get into hunting, role-play, competive games, building or something else. You might learn how to build things with simple prims. Then you might learn how to script. You could learn how to make your own sculpties. Then you might learn how to make items with mesh. As soon as you get proficient with one skill set, new technology comes along that requires a whole new skill set - just like in real life. You choose what activities you want to explore, & the only real limit is your own imagination.

Yup. If you can be content living in a Linden home, then going Annual Premium & living in a Linden home is the way to go. If you want more land & prims, however, you're going to pay for it. Either you rent, lease, or "own" land that you pay for in monthly tier payments.

Actually, furries & other non-human avatars can be very knowlegable & helpful. What's important is how long they're been in SL, not whether they chose to wear a human avatar or not. If one wants help to look more realistically human, then they should ask helpn from someone who has the look they want. But if you want help building or fighting in SL, some of the smartest & most helpful mentors may be furry.

When I was renting out houses, I sometimes used a security orb - for my home & for a tenant. I always set it in the middle of the house with the range just to the edge of the house. Then I would set the secutity orb to allow group access & the partner & friends of the tenant. The people who wandered into houses uninvited were never group members, so I saw no reason to risk having another tenant be annoyed by a security orb warning. There are several security orbs on the market, & they don't have to be set to a parcel- wide range. I like to have mininal security generally, so the people can walk over my land & enjoy my landscaping. But having strangers pop into your house & bedroom gets annoying fast. Once there was a couple riding my pet wolf-dog around, & that really pissed me off. I know she's not real, but I still find that insulting to the memory of my real wolf-dog to whom she's a tribute. I don't know if it really keeps people out or not, but because my home is open to others walking into it, I've put up a "Private Residence" sign outside of our bedroom. This is because my boyfriend & I often dress here or sit & chat with each other.

I assume from your post that English is not your first language and maybe you are using a translator. I wish I could understand what you are trying to say. I think you may be trying to say something intelligent. Unfortunatley, I can't be sure from this post.

"So SL is not a game. It is a toy?" I think that's a pretty fair description.

Yeah. Linden owned land can also mean roads, water, & even parks.

"I've got 5 premium accounts so I'm saving LOTS of money :smileyvery-happy:" LOL I've got 2 myself.

I've bought more than a few abandoned lots by opening case tickets for them. Lately the wait time is around 2 weeks. I've never had a request turned down, though one has to be mindful of the workload the Lindens who deal with this sort of thing must have. File a reasonable request in a sucinct, clearly worded case ticket. After 1 week, keep checking the lot to see if it's been set for sale to you. Wait a couple weeks before complaining that you haven't heard anything back on your ticket. If a case gets closed accidentally, re-open it. If circumstances change & you want more land or a different parcel, add a comment to the case that's still open. With a little patience, this is the easiest way to acquire land you want at the low price of $L 1/ meter.

I also by in $10 increments when I buy lindens. If you want to save money, get an annual premium account (with a $L 300/ week stipend), collect good freebies wherever possible, & either get a job in world or sell some Transferable, No Copy items. It's possible to generate some income in-world & be careful of what you spend. Then you probably won't feel too guilty about spending a relatively small amount of money on a "game".

Really? I didn't know you could wear multiple versions of the same clothing layer. I guess I have that to look forward to when I move from Phoenix to Firestorm.

I think around $L 2/ prim/ week is reasonable for an unfurnished rental house, but I've rented nice little apartments for as little as $L 1/ prim/ week. You should take into account what other amenities are being provided along with the prims. Is there a functional prim counter the tenant can use? Is there a door lock that can have multiple avatars added. Is there a security system beyond just locking the door? Can the renter set their own music or video stream? Is there a nice view and/or road access? Is the parcel separate from other rental units with enough space and/ or restictions on voice & sounds that they'll have some privacy? Are there public spaces shared by tenants, such as a cafe, gardens or sandbox? Also, avoid alpha textures in your units that could interfer with a tenant's hair or furniture. My advice is to start no higher than $L 3/ prim/ week & no lower than $L 2/ prim / week. If you don't get any bites, step up your advertising. If you still don't get enough tenants, then you can start dropping the price, but never go below $L1/ prim/ week. One good incentive is to offer one free week, after the renter pays for 2 weeks. Once they get settled in, they're more likely to stay, assuming your environment is pleasant. As a landlord, you have to be really helpful & available at the beginning. Help them work out any problems they have with the property straight off. Once they're settled, they'll usually leave you alone more or less, & then you can do the same. I've been both a renter & a landlady, & I'll tell you it's work if you want to keep your units rented & break even, let alone make a profit. Especially with the free Linden Houses available to Premium members, you have to offer something special to make potential tenants choose your place over all the others available in SL.

I can imagine wearing an underwear layer with a tattoo on it & then wearing a bikini or panties on the pants layer over that. Having tattoos on the tattoo layer is much nicer than having to rely on clothing layers for tattoos, but you might still have some favorite tatoos on clothing layers. If so, you'll be glad you have multiple clothing layers to choose from when wearing them.

Thanks. I just went to the Hair Fair & loved it. That's why I was asking. The new tattoo layers are cool. I'd like to see more of them in one place. I had a few freebies from Gugu Dada, which were really nice. Just now I was looking on SL Marketplace & found some good-looking, inexpensive makeup from Glamorize too.