monday meme mesh, do ya, don’t ya—–DIGITS?

Meme Instructions: Share your avatar’s digits and/or answer the following questions about mesh bodies. If you decide to share your digits, feel free to add your image to the Digits Flickr Group.

You do not have to share your numbers if you don’t feel comfortable. You can just answer the following questions:

1. Do you currently own a mesh body? If so, do you wear it all the time or just once in a while? If not, skip to the fourth question. – Nope. I’ve tried a few demos, and admire all the possibilities that the mesh bodies offer in terms of taking art shots, but it is just way too much trouble to fuss with them. I’m happy with the SL avatar.
2. What is your preferred mesh body available on the market right now? – N/A
3. Have you changed your shape since you started wearing the body? – N/A
4. How do you feel about mesh bodies in general? – I think they are really a work of art. Folks that are not into art or fashion in SL can pretty much take a pass.  While I’m very interested in art, I’m not willing to get into a technology that isn’t supporting most of my SL day to day experience. It is also a tech that changes on a regular basis. Some mesh bodies are already dead based on the wonky and abusive DMCA system we live with. LL has to act immediately upon takedowns with minimal evidence that the complaint is legit.
5. What is one thing you would request from designers when it comes to mesh bodies? – I think the designers missed the boat when they commercialized various mesh bodies as thing you PUT ON. I like the variety and the change in emphasis in the various bodies I’ve seen. Some are plush. Some are thin. Some seem to be much more real and some are more fantastic.  However, I think for myself, that the whole question of mesh bodies should have been taken back a step to the baseline avatar. Barn door is open now, but maybe this will apply to SL2? I’ll comment more below.

From my perspective, the mesh body designers took the easy and natural path, they went around LL and did the hard work and innovation that Users had been asking LL to do for years. They re-invented the humanoid avatar.

But the SL avatar is mesh. ((Word of caution here, the whole commentary is fantasy, LL is never going to implement a new avatar in the SL we have.))

To me, the mesh body you want should be a set of selections, all with slider “fitted options” and tied back to some sort of baseline humanoid that is artistically sweet and average. That’s what LL and designers should have worked on.

Instead, SL avatars are tech from prior to 2002. Is there anything on your computer that is from 2002? I didn’t think so.

I supposed that SL2 will address this in some fashion. (Perhaps badly given LL resources spends in the past as a yardstick.)

So we have a 2002 mesh body with sliders. The body is wrongly proportioned. The sliders are ergonomically wrong.

What if instead, as with gender, we could select bodies by ‘genre’ avatar library? We could be quadropedal, androids, or aliens, or titans, or orcs, or werewolves, and the rigged bones and sliders for all of these would have some clean math acting on the base av.  What if SL2 had an open set of design parameters (as with viewers) and if your avatar design qualified and passed quality checks, you could add a new avatar to the base math of the sliders and suddenly be a sleek new being?

Sure, you might find that most avatars added to the library were good ol’ Plush, or Curvy, or Zombie, or even Child, or Fashion Waif—-but you’d be working within a system. Your sliders would have ‘fitted mesh’ influence on the ‘genre av’ you had selected.

It’s only a dream folks. The diversity and complications for fashion designers could go straight to unmanageable. However, I love the idea.  Cruise the marketplace and you’ll find some Pretty Popular AVs that are doing this, and providing all the skins, clothes, weapons, and fancies that fit Only Their Genre AV.

Double Trouble meme

Strawberry wants to double your meme threat….

Meme instructions: Share your answers to the following suggestions. Don’t forget to link your post in the comments.

Two online screen names you’ve had: Well, gosh. I’m not that old to have a bunch. Darlingmonster Ember and EyeofSerpent are names I’ve used.

Two video games you’ve played: Rifts and Star Wars: the Old Republic

Two things you love about Second Life: Taking pictures and touring the pictures of other Second Life avatars.

Two things you’ve done in Second Life: I’ve done the Poppins Challenge and won a few keen racing events.

Two things you still want to do in Second Life: I want to build an undersea house and I also want to build an unseelie fae vehicle that is steampunk creepy.

Two things you like about your Second Life avatar: I like my ears are so distinctive and I like that I can flip skins for a mood or an event statement!

Two of your Second Life Pet Peeves: Scripting is so darn complex and no tutorials for low impact mesh building.

Two things you did as a newb that you’re embarrassed of: I’m not really that embarrassed, but early on before I discovered the nice mannered folks of Caledon, I used to hang out in sandbox sims. And that’s where I found out about cages, prim penis assaults, and folks who would seek out new avatars to humiliate us. The whole “just log off” solution never occurred to me in those days. Duh. Second most embarrassing habit was gobbling up all the free outfits I could find without regard for whether they looked nice or not.

Two of your closest friends in Second Life: Solace Fairlady and Autopilot Patty

Two of the most beloved things in your inventory: The shop I built in Caledon and my quad-ears. Chicks dig the ears.

me, myself, and I… monday meme from the Berry

Here I go with another Berry meme:

Meme Instructions: Copy and paste the following statements in your post and complete them writing down the first thing that pops into your head. Don’t forget to link your post in the comments.

Here is a text file of all the statements that you can copy directly from: http://paste.plurk.com/show/2130182

I am… pixels, hear me rawr.

I want… to prosper.

I have… love.

I wish… for dark chocolate.

I hate… not delivering on a promise.

I fear… those who destroy with thoughtlessness.

I search… for fun adventures and good people to talk to.

I wonder… at the delightful virtual world.

I regret… losing friends.

I never… stop reading.

I always… try to share the wonder.

I usually… hide my temper.

I dance… wherever I can.

I sing… on any long distance travel.

I often… change skin.

I sometimes… give away builds.

I need… a better memory.

I cry… when heroes die.

I should… be smarter and worry less.

I love… Second Life.

so ya wanna get personal? …further info on the 20 questions meme

Someone asked me if I could answer the 20 for myself instead of posting that Inara had great answers!

Meme instructions: Answer the following 20 personal questions about your Second Life. Don’t forget to share a link to your post in the comments!

1. When and how did you discover Second Life? A friend was doing journalism from SL in 2007 but I didn’t try it until Jan 08 when talk of a RPG group was forming.
2. Did you know about virtual worlds before or was this your first experience with them? No, this was all new to me.
3. Has Second Life met your expectations? Not my RPG expectations. But then I have a high bar for my personal RPG play. Otherwise I had no expectations, and at various times SL impresses me all to hell and disappoints me in what the Linden Labs actually put into practice.
4. If you could teleport back to the first ten minutes of your avatar’s slife, what would you tell yourself? Hmmmm, time travel. It’s just a step to the left. I would tell myself not to be so frightened of griefers! Pixels are pretty resilient.
5. How long did it take you to master avatar flying and driving vehicles inworld? Avatar flight was easy. I was PeterPanning around in no time. Vehicles were much harder, until I found vehicles that were more beginner savvy builds. I love vehicles for the scripty craft and attention to detail.
6. Do you have a mystery alt? I have helped many friends and family try SL by walking them through building an avatar. Most of those ‘noobs’ did not stay in SL past the one day I was showing them around. So if I knew the passwords still for those ‘test flights’ I’d have 12 alts. But I don’t.
7. Is your SL avatar a reflection of you, or someone you wished you could be? I emigrated to SL to be a protagonist in adventures within the virtual world. So I’m a complete fictional character with background story and limitless future paths. I wish to be me, but I’m sure that I am a reflection of my Typist’s imagination.
8. Is there an individual you met in SL that inspired you in your RL? How? I meet people in SL all the time that inspire me. I find my own sense of empathy can flourish with no barriers within SL.
9. Do you feel it is easier to create stronger bonds/relationships with people you meet inworld as opposed to the real world? Yes and no. Yes, because I am less vulnerable to the slings and arrows of outrageous reality. I can drop my fears as much as I can gather my focus to be something better. So I can reach out to others without losing my balance. Gravity only affects me when I want it to. If I am snubbed or treated badly in SL, it hurts, but tomorrow my pixels are created anew.  Therefore I am generous with my time and love.
10. Did you ever imagine or believe people could fall in love with someone they never met before Second Life? Yes. History is full of this aspect of long distance affections.
11. How has your perspective of dating changed (or not) since you started playing second life? I have realized that SL allows me to love multiple special people at the same time. Barriers are only what my mind creates. I can even love people who frustrate me, like my family.  (grins)
12. How has your perspective of employment changed (or not) since you started playing second life? It has not changed much at all.  Virtual employment is potentially much more exploitative to the capitalist agenda. And credit and/or pay for ideas is much more vulnerable as executed in SL.
13. Name three things in both your lives that overlap each other significantly. Umm. Wow…. art, passion, and kindness.
14. If you could live your life more immersively in a virtual world, would you? (Kind of like the Matrix) Yes, of course. To live immortal with no barriers to imagination? Certainly.
15. How do you think behavior changes for people if they’re in-world vs in real world? Why do you think that is? I do think folks change for good or ill. People can be more of what they are at their core in-world. Griefers want power with no accountability. Lovers want affection without physical limits. Builders want craft without stifling manufactury. Socialites want parties without morning afters. Role players want immersive genre without crazy cease-and-desist orders….oh wait, that one doesn’t really work.  Why do we change? Well, not everyone does. Many bring the real limits with them into SL. Some few people find out things about themselves that are better than they ever knew.
16. How has second life consumerism changed your perception of spending habits, the value of money, the need to be “bleeding edge” with fashion? Ha! There is no ‘bleeding edge’ in SL and there is no fashion trend in SL. There is a niche everywhere you turn. For every Gor lady of leisure, there is a leather slut; for every kawaii princess, there is an emo vampire; for every dainty steampunk librarian, there is a grungy shop grunt banging on greasy pipes. Just look at the outcry and shock over mesh body parts!!! Some folks would rather be dead than stand next to a gal with mesh boobs, while the next body fashionista wants hands, legs, boobs, ears, and eyes in the latest scripty meshy goodness. Fashion economy in RL functions on passion versus scarcity versus body types. Thank the Lady that in SL, you can damn well make of yourself whatever you wish. Just be ready for the folks who say your taste is all in your mouth.
17. Do you think virtual worlds like SL drive and redefine human interaction or do they narrow and limit it? I think it could drive it, however, it shall always be a tiny niche until the access to virtual is a much smaller threshold. Ask again in thirty years at the rate we are going now.
18. If technology progressed tomorrow to allow you to send emotions to people the way you’d send text or voice messages, would it enrich your SL experience or infringe on it? See the last question. Before we get to emoti-send, we ought to solve enriching sound quality, touch feedback, smell feedback, and the rest. Enrich the human baseline experience before we dream of tele-empathic exchanges.
19. Name three skills you attribute to having learned or honed in second life alone. Social. Friendships. Relaxation.
20. If your grand kids googled your Second Life Avatar’s name, would they be intrigued, disgusted, proud or something else? They would be shocked to discover too much fun going on behind their backs.

See ya next time.

2013: What’s your digits, the Monday meme

From Strawberry Singh:

• 2013: What’s your digits? Take 3: Proportions Challenge – I was again worried about the length of my arms a couple of days ago (see: Proportions Post) and I changed my shape around quite a bit so I wanted to share the new numbers and also ask you guys a bunch of questions about proportions.

Meme instructions: Share your avatar’s digits (if you want to, not necessary) and then copy paste the following questions and answers into your post, remove my answers and input your own. Don’t forget to share your link in the comments of this post and if you decide to share your numbers, the Flickr group for the Digits challenge is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/digits

Average body proportions for Adult males, females and children, link here.

Proportions Challenge Questions:

1. Do you try and keep your avatar’s body proportionate and similar to the “average” proportions pictured above?   Not really, but consider this:  proportions are not the same everywhere you go in the universe. What I mean is, I do pay attention to proportions because of the very many places I have traveled. SL proportions are completely out of whack, and so this exercise of looking at the RL proportions of human figures is really interesting, but also not as much a guide as one might think…. or wish.
2. What do you dislike the most about the SL avatar mesh? Most of the avatar is poor. Imagine a group of folks sitting down as a committee (as Second Life gets built) to work out the data set and then figure out how to “slider it” a bit.  Do you suppose they ever cracked a book of figure studies? No. Sloppy work. What bothers me the most… I guess that what erks me is that even to the logic of the SL sliders, the volumes do not work as they should work. Each scale is 1 to 100 for a feature, but does 50 mean halfway, no it does not. Does 50 mean average, NO, it does not.  Very sloppy work.  And yet, however would we ask them to fix it?  How would retro compatible logic be maintained?  Sigh.
3. Does it bother you when you see other avatars that are not proportionate at all?  Nope, it doesn’t bother me at all. I find the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations a bit of a zest.
4. Even though this is a virtual world and people can be anything they want to be, do you feel when they are in human form, they should try to keep their proportions close to average? Nope! However, I’m testing out a longer arm set myself.  I’ve read for a couple of years (See Penny Patton’s blog entries) that the SL mesh faults females with tiny arms (T-Rex syndrome some call it) and I had not realized how awful it was until I checked my figure against some of the proportion items offered in this meme.  You almost have to push your slider to 100 to get normal arms. Sloppy SL, very sloppy.

Now the second part of the challenge is sharing your digits. You absolutely do not have to do that if you don’t want to or if you haven’t changed much from last year when you shared them then.

Take a look: