Preview II : WE <3 ROLE-PLAY Shopping event for Role-Players

Heya peeps!

It's me..again. Phew. The past couple of days have been kinda rough, but slowly, things are getting settled. The designers are setting up and sending out items, and damnit! There is so much awesome stuff to be had. :) I am really amazed at the quality they came up with :) So here I will show some items that SOON will be available at the event. Stay tuned for the SLUrl! :)

The event starts on May 4th, at ~ 3pm SLT. :D

The following images show a little house made by Absent Designs (Nash Sauber) that I set up to offer a preview of some of the furniture you guys can get at our event:



TIA

Every item in these pictures, besides TIA's bear rug, will be available at the event. The fireplace, the bucket to scrub the floor and the desk with the chair are all made by TIA and are offered at a 25% discount! That's one damned good deal for the super quality TIA generally offers. :) I personally love these items...and having them now mean sI have to redo the interior of my houses..again. Arrrrrgh! But I love it. :) Lowprim, awesome textures and high quality, detailed mesh, what else would I want?

AISLING

The deer-head, the crystal lamp and the crazy awesome Herbalist's desk are offered by AISLING. Aisling is a new store and...hold your breath...that crazy detailed desk comes with a bunch of texturing options, you can display or not display the little shelf on top AND...it has 7 prims. That detail with 7 prims? Yes, that's obviously possible. That crystal lamp is awesome for fantasy sims or anything wizardry really. The deer-head, too, shows amazing details. AISLING'S stuff is 40% off! It is a new release, too!

ENVISAGE

Do you see that awesome table there? Okay, so, Aliandra Miami of Envisage is the builder of Incantre, and if you have ever seen her work ingame, you know how impeccable it is. BVesides mesh stairs and some sculpty-meshy trees, she offers this table for FREE! Even her older work still lets a lot of current work pale next to it, but yes, she is coming with new mesh items and these things are new releases. Stay tuned! :)



Now for the clothes. I am not usually one to wear dresses on this character, but as I already said for the Fantasy Faire: If they are WORTH it, I'll blog them. So here we go:

Worn in pictures:

Ears: Illusions (Siyu Suen, Mesh!!)
Eyes: Dead Apples (Soleil Reid, Mesh!!)
Hands: Slink (Siddean Munro, Mesh!! in pictures 2 and 3)



In this picture, the skirt, armwarmerm, moccasins and long necklace are part of ARWEN'S CREATION'S outfit by Arwen Serpente. The collar, headband and armbands are part of GSPOT's outfit for the event and made by Jalilah Jewell. Tha hair is made by Krystal Silverweb. You might know her store LIGHTSTAR as the one with the awesome boots for role-play. And now she makes awesome hair! It is really pretty imho. Even comes with a style for  the guys (not displayed). The little white top is actually a small dress contributed by Special Guest C'EST LA VIE by Larcoco Mathy. It is supercute and easily can be used as a tunic.



The hair is contributed by EEP and damnit, it looks awesome! And..it comes at a nice discount, too! :D The horns are made by Ruina Kessel. Ruina, creator of RUE, offers three different variants of horns (see following picture for another version!) which she has set at a generous 50% discount! The dress is made by THE LIBRARY (Dream Resistance and Sabina Takakura) and they offer it for  a 33% discount, which is really awesome. :D Belt and long necklace are once again part of the outfit contributed by ARWEN'S CREATIONS. The armwarmers are part of the outfit which THE PLASTIK by Aikea Rieko has offered up, which is a completely new release. Armbands and collar are part of GSPOTS outfit.



This lovely dress is offered up by Levia Larsson, owner of KNICKKNACK. It is not mesh, but the quality is still very good. She offers it at a nice discount of  30%. Levia's textures are really lovely imho! Necklace, belt and armwarmes are part of ARWEN'S CREATION'S outfit again. The hair is the one offered by LIGHTSTAR.  The horns are contributed by RUE and the headband is part of GSPOT'S outfit. :)



Last but not least, in this picture I wear the dress Aikea Rieko of THE PLASTIK has made for the event. I does come with a hood, which is not displayed. I especially LOVE the corset and skirt. I combined it with parts from ARWEN'S outfit and some jewelry from GSPOT'S outfit. :)

As you can see, the creators really came up with some awesome stuff, and this was certainly not all! So stay tuned and come check out the event on May 4th! :D

<3 Arica

Dwarfins coming home! - Fantasy Faire Part IV

Heya!

So, I have a strange fascination for breedables in SL. I used to be totally into KittyCats. I don't even know why I dropped it, well, duh, I do know! Because I lacked the time to keep track of them all the time. I think in my case it is mainly the theorycrafting that gets me. :D

So, a while ago I stumbled upon something that freaked me out at first: Dwarfins. Breedables dwarves. Breedable humanoids. At first I thought it was creepy, but you know...it is freaking cute. THe little dwarfins are really cute, wellmade. They have certain traits that can be common or rare and depending on how you breed them, those traits get passed on from generation to generation. They got different haircolours and -styles, weapons, clothes, eyecolours etc.

The pricing is very reasonable imho, both for the dwarfins starterpacks as well as the food. They also can interact through interactive items such as a barrel for ale (hahaha :D), or fireplaces and many more. The furniture is REALLY cute. Also, they do not only come as breedables, but as wearable avatars (see second and third pictures!), too. I am the female avi in those pics. Am I not hot? :D

Horny dwarfins!

However, watch out! Them dwarfins are horny! If you do not turn off the breeding option through the menu (via clicking on the dwarfins) and you happen to be offline for a couple of weeks, you will come home to a GIANT family of dwarfins. :P Happened to me, though luckily the baby dwarfins stay in their stone-'eggs' until you birth them.

Dwarfins at the Fantasy Faire 2013

Darfins has a big store at the Fantasy Faire 2013, located in the Lumenaria sim. The dwarfins you see displayed here have been made especially for the faire and come in cute little wizards outfits. Even the food, mushrooms in a bowl, is special. :D Dwarfins also offer them as avatars, alongside with an interactive Magic Book and an interactive Andronicus Stone. As a bonus, the newly released Rinn and Rorek Rockbeard dwarfins are available as avatars for those who could not win the breedable versions at the auction. All of these items are really wellmade. :)



In the picture ALL furniture besides the bear rugs, the barrel to the right and the little bowl on the table are made by Anke Hatchuk and her team (Kalia Firelyte and Codereth1200 Nemeth) for Dysfunctional Designs who have a stall at the Fantasy Faire at The DragonSpire Sim. I really love her furniture and deco-items, my entire parcel is stuffed with it! It is handdrawn, original mesh and comes at very reasonable prices, so definitely worth to check it out. They had 14 (!!!) new releases for the faire, which I think speaks of a LOT of effort they put into it.

The bear rugs are made by Tia Biscuit for TIA, another store that I am incredibly fond of. Her textures and meshwork is plain awesome. :) The small bowl and the barrel are items for the dwarfins. :) The shack itself is a meshbuilding made by Nash Sauber for Absent Designs and a new release.



In this picture you see more of Dysfunctional's new releases at the faire: The dresser and towel-shelf to the right. The bed is made by TIA and the pictureframe comes from a store that is -about- to open: AISLING by Druunah Esharham and her team. Stay tuned for that one! I am amazed by the quality they offer and already had a chance to take a peek at some upcoming items.  On the left you can see more items by Anke's team and the pillow on the ground is actually a freebie made by them. :)

So, Dysfunctional Designs, TIA and Aisling are definitely three of my favourite creators for rustic furniture in SecondLife. Envisage Limitless would be the fourth, but I#ll wait for her newest release before I blog them! :)

Here a look at Absent Designs' shack in my parcel, with me as a sexy dwarfin with Elikatira's hair in front of it:

Update about Flecha Warwillow

Hello peeps,

After a long talk with Flecha Warillow, I will state this:

I have absolutely NO worries about 'losing' face by a possible error. Instead of using the word 'ripped' I should have marked them as "almost exact, sculpted copies" from the PC game called Skyrim. I hereby apology for that and the error in the post has been corrected.

I will post the pictures of the weapons and let people decide if I lied knowingly, which more than certainly was not my intention, or merely let my eyes judge.

Here is a picture of his current sculpted weapon (a freebie called "The Lies of the Blogging Elf" hehe), no credits given, however the original modder from Nexusmods allows the unlimited use of these:



This is the original:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3871

Here Flecha shows how he does it:

Flecha's Video about making the sword.

This is one of the weapons from the pack that made me post this, maybe too quickly:

Daedric Battleaxe

Original:

Daedric Battleaxe, Skyrim


I will let you guys decide if my post was purposefully meant to be malicious or just me being too superficial in my investigations.

Here a statement from Flecha Warwillow himself (note that sharing IMs outside of Secondlife is absolutely allowed as per TOS, also note that Flecha is not a native speaker and likely slightly raging, so don't mind his mistakes):

[04:43] Flecha Warwillow: i dont altering textures
[04:43] Flecha Warwillow: I MAKE MY OWN TEXTURES
[04:44] Flecha Warwillow: i see te original so i need to build as close as original

<3 Arica

PS: I really hate when people state that I do not approve comment son my blog. I approve them all. I just happen to have a rl, too.

WE <3 ROLE-PLAY - Not just another Shopping Event

Hello peeps,

as announced in my previous post, a couple of likeminded people are currently organising a shopping project for role-players mostly, and I'd like to release a bit of a teaser with some preview-information on it.

Here is our logo, made by Hottest Resident:



Here a few questions we'd like to answer:

What is your GOAL with this event?

We want to promote creators who offer high quality content in general or high quality original content. We have nothing against templates if used WELL and if used to create a unique look. We want to spotlight  and bring appreciation to stores that do not dish out mediocre work five times per week, that do not sell blatantly ripped stuff, that do not undercut everyone's reasonable prices. We have a feeling that a lot people are not aware of all the GOOD stuff that is out there that isn't blatantly stolen.

Who will participate?

We've handpicked a nice list of stores who will either appear as regulars or as guests. So far, we have gotten positive feedback from these stores:

Regulars:
1- EZ Weaponry /The Forge (Weapons/Accessories) - Deccan Arida
2- Centipede (Weapons/Accessories)  - Kendra Zaurak
3 - Trident (Furniture) - Laufey Markstein
4 - Trident Jewelry (Jewelry) - Rossana Llewellyn
5 - Gspot (Clothing) - Jalilah Jewell
6 - The Library (Clothing) - Dream Resistance/Sabina Takakura
7 - Essences (Skins) - Inka Mexicola
8 - Dysfunctional Dolly Designs (Furniture, Landscaping) - Anke Hatchuk
9 - Roawenwood (Furniture) - Searlait Nitschke
10 - Tia (furniture) - Tia Biscuit
11 - Soedara (Clothing) - Marbella Pronovost
12 - Rainbow Co. (Furniture, Houses) - Huntress Blackrain
13 - Xanimations (Animations, Accessories) - Xanxan Jervil
14 - The Fallen (Clothing) - Triad Fallen
15 - Lightsstar Designs (Clothing, Shoes!) - Krystal Silverweb
16 - Rue (Accessories, Bodyparts) - Ruina Kessel
17 - Alchemy (Skins)- Nina Helix
18 - Panda Express (Accessories, Bodyparts) - Kioko Kumaki (from May on)
19 - Bilo (Clothing) - Mayaa Thistle
20 - The Muses (Clothing) - Dolce Blackflag
21 - Evie's Closet (Clothing) - Evangeline Miles
22 - Innocuous (Clothing) - Circuitous Resident
23 - Kouse's Sanctum (Clothing) - Kouse Singh
24 - Knickknack (Clothing) - Levia Larsson
25 - Silkworms (Clothing) - Trippy Fall
26 - The Plastik (Clothing, Skins) - Aikea Rieko
27 - Aeva/Heartsick (Skins) - Amesha Jewell
28 - The White Armory (Dresses, Weapons) - Colton Drechsler/Bee Dumpling

Guests:
1 - Handverk (Accessories) - Daphne Klossovsky (Guest)
2 - Arwen's Creations (Clothing) - Arwen Serpente (Guest)
3 - Rochambeau (Clothing/Buildings) - Leviathan Flux (Guest)
4 - Tokidoki (Clothing) - Maya Levane (Special Guest)
5 - Deviance (Clothing) - Surreal LeShelle (Guest)
6 - Es-kimo (Hair, Skins) - Ziekling Bunnyhug (Guest)
7 - Aeros Avatars (Skins) - Pi Rain (Guest)
8 - Fallen Gods (Skins) - Alia Baroque/Elizabeth Tinsley (from June on, Guest?)
9 - Zaara (Clothing, Jewelry) - Zaara Kohime
10 - C'est la Vie (Clothing) - Larcoco Mathy

Please be aware that due to rl circumstances or any other reason this list might change. This is what we have NOW.

When and where will the event start?

The event will likely start on May 4th. I'd like to keep the location a secret for now, since I am still working on it. We do not want the usual boring box-look most shopping events have.  However, if you open your eyes, you might stumble on it anyways. :)

What kind of items will be offered? Will there be a discount?

All items that fit into the medieval/medieval fantasy, gorean, ancient Rome/Greece/Persia/Egypt theme are allowed. Furniture, clothing, hair, skins... whatever fits. :) A minimum discount of 25% is planned, a maximum discount of 50%. Anything in between will be decided by each creator. The items do not have to be a new release, but have to be looking 2013. No old stuff. Both genders will be considered. :P We'd like to offer a good deal to customers while at the same time not devalueing the hard work of our creators.

How will the promotion happen?

We will promote through various blogs, forums, we'd like to start a blog for the event, through the logo in stores and on role-play sims. We'd be glad for any simowner who'll be willing to let us display the logo there. There will also be an updategroup or a subscribo (not yet decided) for customers. Plurk, Flickr, Facebook...so many possibilities. :)

I'd like to be an official blogger!?


That's great! We are both looking for role-play bloggers as well as casual fashion bloggers. If we haven't contacted you by April ~ 10th, feel free to contact us (see below!). There are but a few expectations:

1. Your blog must be older than 3 months.
2. Your blog must contain quality pictures.
3. If you knowingly support stores that sell blatantly ripped content and are aware of it, you will not be considered. We ask you to understand this (see 'goals').
4. Please do not ask the creators for review copies! They will contact you instead if they want.
5. You should have a unique, tasteful style.
6. You should be syndicated in at least three of the major feeds such as Iheartsl.
7. Please announce the event every month on your blog and add a link to the blog to your blogroll: <a href="http://weloveroleplay.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">weloveroleplay.wordpress.com/</a>. If you would put up the banner as well, that would be fabulous. :)

I have a store and would like to join in!?

Please contact any of the four persons listed below. We will have a look at your store and will get back at you. :)

Who do I need to contact if I'd like to blog, have any questions, suggestions, concerns or ideas?

Feel free to contact either of us: Ost Clawtooth, Arica Storaro, Tera Varriale, Kaitlin Eiren.

I am really looking forward to this whole adventure. I am sort of putting my heart into it (and so are the other three!) and it has been an idea I have long been mulling over. I really hope it works out, it will bea firsttime for us as well. :) Keep fingers crossed and stay tuned! :)

<3 Arica

Essences - Clover Skin

Hello!

The latest release from Essences by Inka Mexicola is available at the current Skinfair 2013. It is a really pretty skin with a soft and unique look to it. So far most of her skins didn't really seem to fit my shape well, but Clover seems indeed pretty cute. :)

So, here a couple of infos:

The price is 1500 Lindens per skintone/make up. That sounds like a LOT of money at first, especially since even The Body Co now lovered their prices, however, once you look into the package, you see that you get quite some stuff:

4 eyebrow options
Cleavage layers on tatto-, shirt- and undershirt-layers
6 types of blushes
no-lashes-alpha
eyebrow-shaper

I do believe that everything besides the blush-layers are pretty much standard options nowadays, but the six different blush/contour options are really nice. Lola-appliers have to be bought separately, but that is just normal as well.



Skintones

The skin comes in eight different tones: Pale Dust, Midday, Light Rose, Beach, Sunkissed, Sunset, Sunheat, Moonlight. Some of these only vary in their colourscheme, not so much in the actual darkness/lightness of the skin, so it can be a really tough pick because you can barely spot a difference at first sight (see the skins above!).

What I noticed was that with neutral lightsettings (Analu Studio 5) the darker skins have a tendency to look very reddish, while the lighter ones have a yellowish touch to them. However, I know that a LOT of skins have this 'problem', so I am not going to nitpick here. :) The skintones sort of remind me of The Body Co! If the yellowish undertone bothers you, you can always buy one of the many skindetoners available and should be very happy afterwards. :)



Textures

In my opinion, the textures on these skins are very well done. I especially like the whole stomach/belly area and the shading around the spine. I think those areas look very, very realistic.

Maybe on this particular skin the shading around the nose is a little too dark for my taste, but I believe that this has to do with the particular look Inka was going for (some sort of summery look with a tiny hint of a sunburn?). The cheeks look fresh but not too young. The lips are gorgeous! I really do adore these lips and wish they would come as tattoolayers as well, so these could be added to other skins as well. Yummy!!

I am not a HUGE friend of the eyebrows. I think the blonde and ginger ones are pretty, but both the brunette and brown ones seem very, very strong. But, I do know that a lot of people like the thick brows lately, so that is really just a matter of taste.  What I DO like about the brows is the general shape. They are easy to adjust, unlike the brows of my current skin.

I think Inka managed to give each of her skins the typical 'essences'-feeling: You can spot one of her skins right away. Clover is no exception. It has a pretty, young face with those typical juicy lips and a cute button-nose.



Make Ups

The skin comes with four colourful make ups and one nude version of the skin. I personally prefer the nude version because that seems a lot more versatile. However, the make ups are really fresh and funky!  Make Up Number 5 (the dark green one) is my personal fav because I am not such a  big fan of the colour pink. :) I really do wish it would come with different lipsticks, too! :D

A tip: Inka participates pretty regularly in events such as Zodiac and The Dressing Room. If you don't like these make ups, try to grab a copy of the versions of her skins there for a lot less Lindens, too! :)



So, thank you for reading this and bearing with my not so perfect Photoshop skills. :) I hope it was informative. If you want to try out Clover yourself, check it out at The Skin Fair 2013 - Essences.

<3 Arica

PS: I am SOOOO disappointed that I cannot use the other layout I had for my blog. This one is fine as well, but not AS pretty as the other. Unfortunately the pictures on that one were too big for the Fashionfeeds. :(

Ripped content....makes me angry.

This time no fancy picture, just this:



So, recently I have seen more and more and more people promoting and wearing armors and follower pets created by Manticore/Erebos. I admit, a bit ago I fell for the ruse myself and bought a cute little dog there, being rather unaware of the fact that the pets displayed are all ripped from games such as Final Fantasy as well...since I never played those.

And this is just ONE example out of all their stuff. I fear not a single item in that store is NOT stolen.

I myself became suspicious the moment the store began to release a ton of excellent mesharmors...that all seemed oddly familiar to me. :( I could bite my ass for wasting 450 Lindens on the small dog.

I made the experience that ever since mesh was introduced to SL, any random store that pops up with a TON of excellent stuff at once should be regarded with suspicion.

I for once am a huge supporters of original creators and I personally-hate- blowing money of peoples' ass when they sell stolen stuff. I am really sad to see just how few people seem to care about this and don't even feel a bit bad about buying stolen stuff. I guess a lot of people who aren't regular gamers aren't even aware of it, just like me when I bought the dog. FF is one of the few games I never touched.

I do not really think one can expect people to recognize every little piece of stolen stuff from other games, but I do think that a bit of common sense sometimes helps: Large amounts of excellent seeming stuff for low prices from a largely unknown store? = Likely ripped. Not always, but there's a good chance for it.

I personally do not even -mind- if people get stuff for themselves, but as soon as you profit from it, imho you are not only ripping off the creator, but also those who buy from you, letting them believe you buy legal stuff until one day they look into their inventory to find out it's been replaced with an ID from LindenLabs and an odd message in their IMs.

Food for thought.

Arica. :)

PS: I find some reactions, even from bigger bloggers, rather disappointing. Basically they go: It is LindenLabs responsibility to take them down.

Oh sure, it is. But do you really think that takes away -your- responsibility to not support thieves by throwing money at them or displaying their stuff knowling on blogs? I hardly will blame anyone who doesn't know it, but I will blame anyone who is being made aware and still says "Oh, that is LL's responsibility, not mine." Especially since the TOS clearly state that you, as the user of content, have a share of responsibility as well.

Finally, finally, finally...hurray for Laqroki!

Hello fashiongals!
Lately, I felt a little uninspired, likely due to the fact that some of my favourite stores and sims closed. Even outfits I actually liked suddenly did not interest me anymore, so the only thing that made me log in every day was the search for something awesome and...new. And here it is:

Laqroki finally released their new skinline: ESSENTIAL. I decided to buy the skin named Saga, and it the FIRST time that I truly felt comfortable with dropping my usual skin, Orchid by the Body Co. I dropped it before for League, but soo enough went back, but in this case I think I actually might stay with Laqroki.
Mallory Cowen, the creator of Laqroki, reworked the whole look of her skins. I am not sure if she will ever rework her older skins as well, but I cannot blame her if she doesn't, given how MANY she released so far. I üersonally am REALLY in love with the look of the face, even though it is, typically for Laqroki, decidedly flawless. But hey, I play an elf, we are supposed to look oh so flawless, so I cannot complain. :)

A skin costs 1990 Lindens and comes with a GIANT package of addons: Lipgloss, different eyebrows, different eyelids, lips on layer, nose on layer (!!!), birthmarks on layer, hairbases in blonde, brown, black and red on layers, eyeliner and smokey eyes on layer, Saga prim eyes, cleavage layer both on tattoolayer and on the undershirt layer. Honestly I think that 1990L is a VERY fair price for this package. Also, there are tons of make ups available, 100L each.

Now you might wonder why nose, mouth and such come on layers? Well, you can combine them with her other skin, Elle, or that's what I ahve been told. Basically, you can add the Elle-Nose to the Saga-Skin or teh other way round and so on. This way, you get to mix all kinds of very unique looks, and I think it is a badass idea!!!

But lets see how these skins look now:



On the left I wear the Laqroki skin in Tone 1.0 (the palest tone), on the right I wear the same skin, just added Arriah Fiertze's Skin detoner. I personally am delighted to see that Mallory managed to significantly reduce that awful yellow/orange ting that most of her older skintones had. In my opinion, it is STILL a bit visible, but that might just be my graphic-settings as well. I personally like it even more with the skindetoner. The make up I wear is from Kosh, the skin tiself is completely bare. The look is very soft and beautiful, I really do love it on my shape. The lips have a nice colour (this is the base colour), a nice sturcture and the spines seem very natural and not as overdone as they often look on other skins. The brows are fantastic imho, not too thick yet visible enough. :) The nose is pretty much perfect, I really do not like the overly thin or bulbous looks that seem so popular lately.The slight rosy blush on the cheeks adds a touch of innocence which I really like for my particular character. ;)

Maybe people who like flaws and possibly a more mature look will not be as happy with this skin as I am.

Note that ALL the following pics have not been reworked in any way besides cropping them and adding a border.

Lets have a look at the body:



I am amazed about how Mallory reworked the body. On her old skins, the belly always had sort of a chubby look and imho, look rather unrealistic. It was one of my biggest petpeeves about her skin. Now? I think the shading is magnificant and very detailed. I like the sporty look the stomach area has to it now, yet it doesn't seem exaggerrated and still very feminine. I especially like the hint of hipbones and muscles. I do believe that the boobs look a bit too plastic for my tastes, maybe the highlighting on them is just too much. However, they are a great improvement compared to the older ones.



I am not sure about the legs and butt. I think the shading on both knees and butt could have been a bit more detailed, but it certainly is no major thing for me. I really do like the shoulderblades as well as the shading around the lower back area. (Please ignore the not so fitting meshfeet....*cough*).

Overall I must say I am personally superhappy with this skin. I think this new line is a GIANT improvement if you compare it to her older skins and they can keep up with pretty much ever yother designer out there once again, if not even outshine them. :)

New hairs, too!

I was never a huuuuge fan of Magika. I bought a hair from them here and there, btu a lot of their hairs just seemed to unnatural or absurd for me. But then, last week, I went there and I couldn't believe my eyes: AWESOME hairs all over the place. :O So, I went in, bought all of them and am ever since a superhappy gal! Elikatira released a new hair, too, though I wish she would add different REDS to her Essential Colour Pack. You ahve the choice between either an orangey version or a very deepred version, both not really looking too natural. I am in love with the styles and the textures on the Magika hair, especially with the red tones as well.

Here they are!

Magika



Elikatira:



I really love these! And I hope you liked the review. ;)

And now, as a last question, what do you think about this skin on my avatar and about the new haircolour? I am pondering to have my elf become a redhead. :)

Arica

PS: New outfit following soon! Had to redo them because I was not happy anymore. :(

New computer incoming!

Heya!

For all those who wondered why I seldomly posted: My good old compy is slowly, slowly giving up. I have below average FPS on mid-setting, shadows are a complete no-go and on Ultra I have 1-2 FPS, which makes taking pictures a real pain in the... . :(

Here's the good news: My new computer will arrive this week (probably wednesday) and from then on I will hopefully not have to spend 2 hours or more just to snap a picture ingame and it should all go way, way smoother again. :) I already have three cute outfits prepared, so stay tuned! :)

 

Arica. :)

Hair Fair 2012 - A summary

Hellooo!

As we all know, the Hair Fair 2012, organized by Sasy Scarborough and her team, has opened to the public today. And oh wonder oh wonder - I made it in! Surprisingly quickly even, only cost me like 20 attempts per sim. :P So, here is a summary of my first impression and my favourite styles that I got. :)

Participants

There are many, many stores participating. I was especially happy to see some new stores on the horizon, such as LaViere, which is a bran of Azure Electricteeth from Tee*fy, known for her good taste and high quality designs. Then there is Götzsche. I have no clue who they are, but I do know that their style reminds me a lot of LeLutka, with a bit of Elikatira in it. I like it and that name makes me laugh, german girl that I am! ISON by Harry Hyx also has some nice hair, whcih unfortunately didn't really fit to my avi but is nice regardless. Illusory looked pretyt neat, too, though it simply doesn't fit my style. Anya OHMAI also released some really cute hairs. Prolly gonna buy them when I get back into the sim. :P

Of course there are also a TON of old dogs participating, in no particular order: LeLutka, Exile, Clawtooth, Lamb., Wasabi Pills, Analog Dog, D!va, Damselfly, Kik, Waka & Yuki and so many more.

However, I found it a bit sad that a couple of the largest stores (or at least ver ypopular stores) such as Truth, Maitreya and Burley don't seem to participate.  Whatever their reasons, I would have loved to see them there as well!

Layout, setting and lag

The setting is pragmatic and plain, yet not unpretty. I liked the one from 2011 better though, it was more...eyecandy so to say. But then again, I go there to waste my money on pixelhair, not to admire the pretty setting. :D

The whole layout is really easy to navigate and despite the sims being full at all times, I experienced only a bit of lag. Instructions how to avoid lag can be found on the Hair Fair Blog.I highly recommend to read those. In short: No script, reduced draw distance, layer clothing or mesh clothing, no unecessary prims, no particles, reduce the number of avatars shown to you...and you shall be relatively fine.

Vendors

Overall most vendors worked just fine. It would have just been so much better if truly every designer had sent out the Demos in the respective group. Either SL isn't loading them, or there is a bunch missing. Because it is really anoying having to buy and try demos AT the fair. Please? :D

Also, if you really HAVE to pack your demos/hairs into a prim, make sure it delivers upon attaching it. Clicking it hardly ever worked for me, and people are impatient. :P

Quality of items

I must say, I am a tiny little bit disappointed. I have the feeling (MY opinion!!) that a lot of creators did not really release something new, but simply offered a hairstyle that was very similar to something they already have in their store. That's not necessarily bad, but not overly creative either.

Speaking of creativity: There are only so many over-the-shoulder-styles that I want to buy. I sometimes wished creators would look out what others make and try to be different instead of offering the 1000th version of the same updo or long hair. BUT: Admittedly, there are also only so many styles you can do. I am not sure, maybe my expectations are just too high.

Overall I think there were a lot of good items to be had, but a lot of poorly made ones as well. Trying the demos is absolutely a must!! There is a LOT of mesh-hair out there right now, so trying the demos really is important.


Now for the hairs!!



Left: Lamb! /Middle: D!va / Right: Götzsche


Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.

Lamb's hair is really cute imho. It looks soft and realistic, which I love. One thing that always bothers me are hairs that I would love to remake in rl, but everyone knows not even with ten bottles of hairspray that would ever work. One thing that I noticed is a 'break' in the texture on the strand on the right, the semi transparent one. Not sure why it does that, but it doesn't bother me enough to not like this hair a lot. :)

D!va has realsed some very, very cute styles for the Hair Fair. They are soft and sweet. However, and that is something that will forever bother me about D!Va: Making hair no mod is an absolute NO GO imho. Making your stuff no mod won't protect you from copybotters, so ...just let it be, please? I happen to know that D!va always fits to my head, but as you can see, their black isn't really black and more like...gray? I'd love to be able to tint this hair. But given how cute it is, I fear I will have to deal. :(

As I said before, I think Götzsche is like a mixture of Elikatira and LeLutka. Their textures are good and the mesh seems to work just fine with my shape in most animations. However, what I noticed after buying, is this strange stray strand on the very left. I am not sure why it is partially invisible from the front. From the very side, it looks normal. Does anyone know why that is the case?! I love it regardless.



Left: Elikatira / Middle: Exile /Right: LeLutka

Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.

Elikatira's releases for the Hair Fair is found a bit disappointing...besides this one!! I am in love with it. It looks really soft and as always, the quality of both texture and primwork is awesome. Yes, primhair!! Not mesh. Usual sculpts. And it looks so cute! I also like that Elikatira offers a so called 'Essentials'-Pack with all basic colours in it for just 30L more than the regular price. :)

Exiles hair comes with or without feathers. I personally really like them. Without the feathers I thought the style looked pretty bland. I really like the texture as usually and the hair works well with my AO as well. I however wasn't too impressed with the other styles by Exile, but that is a matter of taste I guess. :)

LeLutka's hair has awesome textures and it fits SO well. The hair can be worn with or without attachment, which is a mesh-item. I personally love the very classy style of this hair and prefer it without the attachment. It does remind me of an old, old style from Lamb and finally it fits to my head, too! The other styles offered by LeLutka were pretty awesome as well, though didn't fit my personal style.



Left: Fasionably Dead /Middle: Fashionably Dead /Right: La Viere

Click on the pic first to view it in its larger version.

I never really liked FD's hair..until Toast Bard, the creator, sent me a review copy today...in brunette!!! ARGH! That was evil, because I bet she knew I'd instantly love it and run to buy it in black. ;) J/k. I really like this new hair. It is mesh and I think both styles look really cute. I prefer the left one I guess. The only think that bothers me a bit is the shinyness/glitter on the texture. You can see it on top of the head. It didn't seem as bad on the brunette copies. I am not sure, but that does not seem to match the quality of the overall work on the hair. But..I still like it! :D

LaViere's demos did not contain the dark grayscales, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw this. While on the blondes and especially on those with neon tips or strands the textures seemed really, really nice, the textures on the darker hair seems a bit...blurry? I am not sure. It seems a lot less detailed. Might be due to the colour, but other creators pull off a good black, too! However, these are her first hairs and given the quality of her item swith Tee*fy, I am sure she'll improve. The style of the hair is REALLY cute tho! :)

So, that's it so far. Hope it helped you a bit and good luck getting into the sims. :)

The SLURLS are as following:

Hair Fair 1

Hair Fair 2

Hair Fair 3

Hair Fair 4

Have fun there!!

Arica. :D

PS: A correction on my part: LeLutka's vendors were set correctly, I was simply mislead to believe the scripts in it were to use the vendors as usual LeLutka vendors. My apologies! I got it all mixed up while shopping on two accounts. :(

REVIEW: INNOCUOUS

Today I am reviewing the released items of a new store: INNOCUOUS. It is my first real review-post so be patient. :) The pants have been released now, too!

Below you can see my avatar in their items, in several variations of colours. The creator of these items wants them to be versatile and combineable. First and foremost, they are geared towards role-players, but honestly I do not think that people who only wear casual clothes should shun these. The pants I would totally wear in rl as well, same with the bolero. They are super cute.



Colours and textures

These are only a few colours of those offered. Corset, cowl and bolero come in five different colours, the pants come in eight colours. I really like them, very classy and even fitting for role-play without looking boring. The textures are highly detailed and unique. I love the shading on both the pants and the bolero.

I am especially happy that the fabrics of these items are fitting for roleplay. Linen, leather, cloth... it is perfect. If you have a closer look, you will see that the buttons, lacings and pockets on the bolero, corset and pants are not drawn onto the texture, but rather little mesh-items themselves which gives them a real 3D look. I think the wrinkles on the pants look especially realistic. Overall, I am really happy with the attention to details the creator has shown.

Shape and fitting

All items (besides the daggers) come in the usual five standard sizes: XXS, XS, S, M and L. In my case, my avi almost always fits in either size S or M. On the pictures I wear the pants in size S and the corset and bolero in size M. If you want to layer meshitems, you obviously will have to choose bigger sizes for the items you wear OVER other items.

In this case, the pants, as you can see on the photo, stick a bit through the corset on my avi's right hip. While moving, that happened a lot. However, this has more to do with me than with the creator: I refused to wear XXS pants to prevent the corset/pants from sticking trhough, or I could have worn the corset in one size larger, but I refused to make my boobs bigger to adjust to that. So, I went with a bit of clashing mesh which, in my case, will be hidden under a belt anyway. I just think outfits with no belt usually look boring. :)

Overall I must say the items fit really well. Only some minor things that I noticed:  For the cowl I needed to wear an alphalayer from one of my LeLutka hairs, otherwise it would have shown on top. But I told the creator about that little problem and she said she'll add alphas to the cowl-vendors, too.

The corset will at times stick through your boobs or not work well with crazy animation, but that's how it goes with pretty much every underbust-corset that I own. I think it is more of a general rigging-problem than a problem this specific item has.

There is also a little gap showing between my legs. Not invisible-ponyrider-worthy, but it is there. Honestly, I have that with pretty much every single meshpants out there and if I want to have it less, I just wear the pants in size M and it looks better already, but then I have to hide that part under the belt, because pants size M and corset size M don't go well together on my shape. I do think that my shape is partially at fault as well, because my elf has a big bum, so well, I'll deal with a small gap. And those pants look really hot from behind, too! ;)



I am especially happy about the length of the pants: perfect for boots. Finally I have mesh-pants than I can wear with boots, woohoo.

So, what's the result?

I think as a summary I can say that despite some minor things that more than liekly will eb ironed out soon, these items REALLY impress me and I hoped this review was helpful for you. If you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to tell me. :) I am always open for helpful advices.

Arica. :D

One Voice Fundraiser for Gala Phoenix

Hey peeps,

so, after Gala's official statement, things have been moving forward rapidly.

“Standing together to support the rights of legitimate content creators.”  is the group charter for One Voice, a group organized by Vivienne Graves and Sophia Harlow who are hosting a fundraising event to help support Gala Phoenix.

Following the call by Vivienne Graves and Sophia Harlow, the designers of Truth District have agreed upon helping with the fundraiser for Gala to help covering her legal fees to battle Hush Darkrose's false claims. Gala Phoenix is indeed involved in a legal battle over all this now, which is pretty damn upsetting imho.  After so many designers have agreed to participate, the event will NOT be held at Truth District, but rather at a new location: One Voice Fundraiser



The event will be going from 9th of July to 16th of July and the following creators of Secondlife are definitely participating:

League, GoS, Belleza, Glam Affair, Adam and Eve, SLink, One Bad Pixel, Exile, HoD, Laqroki, Aura, Bare Rose and many others will be there and offering items at either 50% of 100% donation.

So watch out for when it opens and make sure to visit and spend your Lindens there. It really is for a good cause in my opinion, because what happened to Gala, could as well happen to any other designer out there.

Arica. <3

PS. I am working on new outfits, too, so don't worry! I won't be just raging on Curio vs. Hush. :P

Hey peeps,

there has been an update on the status of the problem regarding the Curio vs. Hush case, so read this and consider helping to raise funds:

Curio Statement by Gala Phoenix

To my loyal customers, friends, and supporters,

I wrote to you last month to thank you so much for all of your support during this very frustrating time. It means so much to me, and has sustained me more than I can say. However, as time has gone on with little explanation from me, you’ve had more questions, and that is understandable. I’d like to tell you what I’ve been going through, and ask you again for your support.

In March, I realized that Hush Darkrose was selling skins that looked very similar to mine. I often have to deal with skins that look a little too similar to mine; it’s part of protecting my copyright. I filed a DMCA takedown notice, but when Hush filed a counter-­notice, I didn’t do anything.

In April, Hush registered copyright of her skins in Canada. In May, she filed a copyright infringement complaint in a Canadian court against me, and then filed a DMCA takedown notice with Linden Labs. She also sent LL the notice of court action (the complaint).

Most of us only know a little bit about the DMCA. We know how the takedown and counter-­notice procedures work. What I didn’t know was that if the person who filed a takedown notice sends Linden Labs a notice of court action, you can’t continue to sell your content, even if you send a counter-­notice. This is why I got temporarily banned at the beginning of June: I left my skins up for sale after the counter-­notice, not realizing there was a problem.

In May, right after she sent the takedown notice, Hush put up a blog post. In it, she accused me of copyright infringement and claimed that a court had “reviewed the evidence” and determined her claim was valid. She even included some language she took from the complaint, rewrote it, and made it sound like the court had granted her an injunction.

There is no injunction. No court has reviewed any evidence. Her blog post was complete fiction.

I’ll say that again, because I want to be clear: there is no injunction against me. No court has reviewed any evidence. There has been no court decision against me. I am not guilty of copyright infringement. Hush’s blog post was not true. My skins are only offline because of the way the DMCA works.

Because there is already a case in court, I will probably have to go to court to clear my name and get my business back. Copyright litigation is very expensive, though. Just a small copyright case like this costs around $20,000 to see through, and most of that is court fees, which can’t be waived even if I found an attorney in Canada who’d take the case pro bono (I have an attorney here in America).

Curio is my primary source of income, and without it, I’m barely able to get by, much less afford $20,000 for a court case in another country. However, Curio is also a labor of love, and I will not just sit back and let a competitor’s lies and malice rob me of it.

From July 9 – July 16, 2012, a number of extremely generous content creators will be holding a fundraiser in-­world at Truth District on my behalf. I cannot express the depth of my gratitude for them, and for any SLers who come out and donate to my fight. I will also be putting up an IndieGoGo campaign to raise some money.

I know I’m asking a lot. $20,000 is a massive amount of money. But even a little bit helps, and maybe we can stand up against someone who is abusing a system that is supposed to protect us all.

Gala

SL Beauty Ideals? What the hell...

A Disclaimer first:

The following lines and pictures are in NO way related to the items displayed. Each single item I wear is an item I LIKE and a couple of them have been blogged on this blog. Take it as it is: With a ridiculous shape, anything can look bad, even the most high quality stuff you can imagine.

So, let me start my little rant.

Where the HELL do all these frowny fashionclones come from?

Yes, I know, beauty is a matter of perspective and all that good stuff. But seriously, WHAT exactly is attractive/sexy/beautiful about THIS, my eyes hurt just looking at it:



Is it the missing chin? The ridiculously oversized, downturned lips that make my avatar (yes, I made this shape within ~ 2 minutes) look like a chubby sad chipmunk? Is the buckteeth? Is it the TINY eyes set so wide apart that the word 'human' just doesn't fit anymore? Is it the HUGE nose-width which totally does not fit to the rest of the face?

Or are the other reasons? Wait, maybe those hips...set so wide apart that the legendary invisible pony would fit through them without her having to move? Or is it the generally oversized head, the tiny shoulders, the itty bitty tiptoe feet,  used to apparently make up for the midget size? (My normal avatar is tiny compared to most...most of these sexy avis though barely reach her shoulder). Or wait, maybe the too short legs that usually are a sign of  Disproportionate dwarfism, a rather disturbing medical condition that MOST certainly no one would ever want to suffer in rl.

Or wait, lets take a look from the side!



Now, if those aren't some fat, pouty lips. But where's the chin? Oh dear lord, now that's gonna be some ugly doublechin soon! And looks at that cute little nose, so broad from the front...yet the size-slider is set to 0! Now, that's a truly human face we see there.

Seriously, what's up with this? It creeps me out, wherever I go, I see avatars looking like this. I know, I know, mean, mean, mean! I never jump on them or anything, I just...wonder. Where does such a skewed perspective on sexyness come from? No, I do NOT believe that all these people just like a giant conglomeration of flaws on their avis. I believe they think they are truly sexy looking.  And the worst thing??? Guys are starting to look like this as well! Waaaaah!

Hellooooohooo! Manliness?

Where, please? This is neither feminine nor masculine it just ....is.....creepy. No more, no less. It isn't even UNIQUE. Every second avatar on the fashionfeeds looks like this. Do you guys REALLY find this sexy? If so, why? Would you want to look like a chubby, bowlegged, sad chipmunk in rl?

Be a fashionista...in 2 minutes!

Or is it...because these shapes are -really- easily made? Like I said...2 minutes. Just set all the important sliders to the extremes, and you have your perfect, unique (haha) fashionista-look. So hot. No, I do not think 'realism' is a necessity in SL. But this trend teh past year has been quite...disturbing.

Where does the gap between the legs come from?

Is it something from RL that influenced SL by now and just took on absurd forms? Ever tried to google 'leg' and 'gap'? Look at the results, it is quite sad.

I really, really hope these sights will sooner or later fade from the grid, just as the psychotically smiling barbie that was so en vogue around 2007 started to disappear.

What do you think?

[polldaddy poll=6317437]

Phew, now I am back in my usual shape...and feeling sooo good. ;)

Now for something positive!

Now, I am gonna list some (there are of course much more!) avis I personally find to be very unique - in no particular order. Not necessarily my style or my perspective on beauty, but creative and..unique. Some of them you might know, others not.

Elle Couerblanc
Ebediyet Matthews
Mohini Denja
Ellantha
Aikea Rieko
Mochi Milena
Ainslee Resident
Ost Clawtooth
Torrid Streeter
Babette Sivocci
Persephone Penucca
May Barnett
Del May
Ponyo Kozlov
Ginevra Rodex
Gyrogyna Larnia
Tera Varriale
Screw Destiny
Ellie Lilington
Lori Stanton
Constance Daehlie
Sigifaust


And so many more. They all have on thing in common: I'd recognize them anywhere...even with no nametags showing. ;) If your name isn't on this list....I simply was too lazy to list every cool avi I know...and thinking about it, there are still surprisingly many ones. :))

So, now I am gonna duck until the bitchslapping towards my face stops. :P

Boo-Boo-what?? BOOSHIES!

Hey there!

So, I was assigned to some designers at the Fantasy Faire and here comes my post. It is -not- necessarily role-play related, but some fun stuff is there regardless.

First of all, there is Booshies. "What on earth are Booshies?" was the first thing I asked myself. Well, they are breedables. NEW Breedables, making their debut at teh Fantasy Faire.

And I am addicted to Kitty Cats already, thanks to Miss Elle Couerblanc who got me terribly hooked. Damn you! :P BUT! Booshies are not ONLY breedables. In fact, they are a bit like a crazily creative mixture of your typical SL breedables and...pokemons. Yes, you read that right. Pokemons. They look unbearably cute and funky. They can fight, they have stats, items and you can experience adventures with them. Basically, I imagine them like a tiny MMO within SL. According to the creators, there will be an advances social aspect and a whole new Booshies Economy.

So, what can I do with my Booshies?

So, with Booshies you can:

1. Explore Booshtopia and find adventures.
2. Battle monsters with your Booshies.
3. Experiences an advanced social aspect.
4. Experience a more indepth economy.
5. Trade your Booshies or sell them.
6. Sell or trade your weapons/items/crafts.
7. Breed for stats, species, skins etc.
8. Buy items/fodo from characters you find during the game.
9. and much more!

The creators make most of their money from the starter kits as later on you will have the choice to either farm your food...or buy it. Seems pretty fair to me, if a little time consuming, hence why it reminds me of certain MMOs a lot. But I do believe that this is an awesome concept.

Below, you can find three pictures of my favourite Booshies so far. :)

Equylon:


Girecko:


Urpy:


So go check them out! :) Here is your Taxi!

Thoughts on templates and prefabs and a POLL!

Lately, there have been going on many, many controversial discussions (and arguements) about templates/prefabs and how they (supposedly?) flood the market and leave creators of 100% original content with the options to either close their stores due to the unwanted competition or to lower their prices.

I have been thinking about this for a while now. I always wondered why some people can rant and rant and rant about it, why they get all their feathers ruffled once a template shows somewhere. Isn't it none of their business really what others buy? I still think exactly that. While I don't have to support and like it, it is none of my business what people buy. If they like it, they like it.

I hardly buy items made from templates or prefabs unless I think they are exceptionally wellmade and have been altered significantly. For example, the boots by Severed Garden that I frequently blogged can be found in the stores of several other creators, too. Same with the corset (layer) by DCNS. However, I like these items and I think that should be reason enough to buy something.

Advantages of templates and prefabs

I think the advantages of templates and prefabs are fairly obvious:

First of all, many designers who start out as new creators don't have the experience yet. Maybe they lack the skill to make their own sculpts, or maybe they simply aren't that advanced when it comes to using PS. Saying "Well, then they shouldn't design." is, imho, a damn dumb argument. Everyone started out as a 'newb' at one point, even Anouk Spot and other, relatively famous, designers. Templates/prefabs help those new designers to get started, to learn.

Secondly, templates etc. allow designers to reduce the prices of their items, in effect making them more affordable for a wider range of users. Obviously, if you 'only' apply the texture, an item will be cheaper than an item which has custom sculpts, custom sculptmaps and custom textures etc. pp. So, more people can buy your stuff without spending a significant amount of money in SL. Because yes, 1000 Lindens currently have the value of 3,29 Euros, which means in rl I could get significantly MORE for that money than is SL, especially given the fact that nothing you buy in SL actually belongs to you. The TOS enable Linden Labs to take down SL whenever they want without having to pay any compensation for the items (aka real money) lost.

Thirdly, they enable designers to come up quickly with new designs and help to fill out timespans when their creativity might stagnate for some time. Everyone has that. I don't know a single person who has never been in a situationw here they simply lacked ideas. Now, given how many stores there are in SL by now, if you don't put out new stuff for some time, people will quickly move on and forget you, unless of course you are a brand that's been established since ages.

Also: Sales. There has been an increasing amount of sales events, weekly sales, discount events during the past year. I blog for Seraphim, believe me, I know it. The customers expect their favourite stores to spit out at least one item per week that is reduced to a price of about 10% of its worth. If you don't participate in any sales event, you are quickly being pointed at and called greedy. If you want to keep up with that AND at the same time release new stuff for your actual store, you gotta be quick, unless you have way too much time on your hands. (Wether or not these sales events are good or bad is a wholly different topic which will be discussed another time. :) )

Fifthly (does that word even exist??), the sale of templates and prefabs offers a wide range of options for actual freebies. I did that myself for a sim: I bought a backpack-prefab, weapon-prefabs, textured them and set them up as freebies. That way, I made some people happy even though I cannot make my own sculpts to save my life.

I am sure there are other arguments, but these five are the first ones that came to my mind and should suffice for now.

The disadvantages of templates

Just as there are many advantages, there are many disadvantages:

First of all, I think the massive use of templates has lead to a certain saturation of the market that often causes customers to disregard works of truly original creators: Cheap stuff can be had everywhere, you can get the same bikini in ~ 27 versions in a pricerange between 50L and 150L two weeks after the template has been released. These items get thrown at you, you can barely dodge them anymore. Everything gets cheaper and cheaper.

Secondly, this leads to fewer and fewer stores that sell truly unique items. Don't get me wrong, a template doesn't mean it cannot be made unique. However, in the vast majority of the cases, people seem to slap a texture onto it and that's about as far as it goes (some prominent exceptions given). It is hard to stick out or create a unique look when you figure the top you just bought is being sold at 5 other stores too, with only slightly different textures on it.

Thirdly, creators who create their own stuff from scratch on (everything custom) or use only a few templated to enhance their own creatons, will have a hard time to keep up. Obviously, that whole process takes longer than only doing half of it. The fact that everything gets cheaper and cheaper (since everyone releases the same stuff, they gotta compete somehow) doesn't help them either: Their creations are worth far more, yet the customers are so very spoiled that they are reluctant to pay 600L for a pair of boots when they can have prefab-boots for 150L.

Then, it is sometimes truly hard to tell wether or not an item is actual original content or a prefab or a template. Nothing is more disappointing to pay a LOT for something only to find out the next store has the same thing for 300 L less. An example: Riding Boots 1, Riding Boots 2 and Riding Boots 3. Exactly the same template/prefab, three completely different prices. This is the actual template: Riding Boots by Perfect Wirefly. And here we have them as cheapies: Riding Boots 4. Interesting, huh? Of course no one mentions the source of their sculpties either and I doubt that any customer who doesn't read fashionblogs knows what they are buying in such cases.

Now, which price would you support? Personally, I rather buy boots for 500L for which the creator uses their own creations.  It really gives me a bad feeling when I see stuff that I feel is simply overpriced for the lack of effort/talent they put into it.

Earlier I mentioned that many designers have to leanr and therefore can use prefabs for that process. However, many, many stores out there have been around for years, and apparently the learning process has stagnated after they understood how to apply a texture to a template. In such cases, my support fades quickly.

I could likely find more counter-arguments just as I could find more pro-arguments. It is time for...

The Conclusion:

Now, to which conclusion have I come? I can only speak for myself here and I ask you to consider that when reading this. tastes are different. People are entitled to buy whatever they like. The market dictates the sales and the market consist of demand vs. offer (not sure if these are the financially correct terms, but you get the drift). As long as there are people who love to buy templates and prefabs, those will be around, no matter how many 'fashionistas' point fingers and want to put them into the pit below the Nine Hells. It is none of our business to dictate other people's taste. You cannot argue about taste. Everyone can make a choice with their feet.

And I do.

I only buy these kind of items when I find them to be suitably altered, wellmade and overall used to enhance an outfit...and when the pricing is appropriate.  This doesn't happen all too often, but sometimes, it does, and I'll proudly wear my template corset in that case. ;) In most cases though, I love supporting wellknown and not so wellknown creators who make their own stuff from scratch on. Especially when it comes to skins. No matter how cute Al Vulo's skins might be, I simply do not want to pay almost as much for a skin, that comes with a  body (or lips...) that looks exactly the same as the bodies on skins done by completely different creators, as I have to pay for a skin by a creator who actually did their own work and who's bodies you will not find on xy other skins. More effort + more creativity= more work = bigger value. At least for me.

WHAT DO YOU THINK??? VOTE!!!


[polldaddy poll=5859835]

PS: As usually, forgive my mistakes. I was in a  hurry! :)

Oh, and a tiny wee bit 'fashion': I got a new skin! Yay, and I am in love with it. :)

Incoming SL Name Change?!

Gorgeous 'Gogo' Yongho brought up an interesting topic on her blog Juicybomb: The (not yet existing) ability to change your avatar's entire name.

She found a JIRA which was started by an avatar called Sexing Oh (how surprising, hehe) a while ago in 2008 where the person voices their desire to be able to change their complete name. Not just display names, but the actual name. Now Gogo supports the JIRA on her blog and basically supports the JIRA with quite a nice bit of people who read her blog every day.

Do I really want this?

At first, I was about to follow her call and do so, but then it got me thinking. Do I really want people to be able to change their names? With all its consequences?

My answer is no. I personally like my name, I chose it carefully enough when I started. I don't have a reason to change it. I have very, very few people in SL whom I'd truly avoid at all costs, so I have no real enemies either. I don't have a problem that would make me want to change names.

Harassment is a big let down

But then again, I have witnessed more often than not the harm that can be done with alts already. Ever since LindenLabs officially announced that each person can have as many alts as they wish to (before that, alts were sort of...not so legal), there has been an increasing amount of alts, which especially can be a problem in role-play sims, where I tend to hang out.

I personally do not care about alts, about the gender of the player etc....unless....people use them to harm someone else's SL experience. And sadly, that does seem to be the case more and more frequently. Harassment can be a huge let down for many people who used to enjoy role-playing in SL.

Now, if we add the complete change of names to the current situation? I think it might even turn into a bigger playfield for those who have nothing better to do but to annoy others or try to get into contact with people who try to avoid them.

People with a bad reputation...

One of the many reasons amongst others to create an alt is the fresh start. I am already no big fan of that. I am Arica Storaro, I do have alts which I use for modeling, random NPCs etc. I only role-play on Arica, she has forever been my main and will stay my main. All the things I have done (or haven't done) stick to her, I have built up a certain reputation with her. I don't hide it.

While I think there are many justified reasons to enjoy a fresh start, I am no fan at all to help people with a shitty reputation to get a fresh start. You reap what you sow. Imho, in 90% of the cases those shitty reputations are well deserved. I am sure there are exceptions, but generally...yes. I think if you are known to be an asshole, you are likely an asshole.

Now, with the name change, all these fresh starts to avoid the consequences of your own shitty behaviour might even be easier.

But my name is ridiculous!

This is another argument that I hear very often. Your name, your choice. If your name is so ridiculous, why did you stay with it in the first place? Why didn't you make an alt before your inventory got so huge that you had invested too much to consider making a new main? If you call yourself "IamAnIdiotic GossipGirl" I really don't think you deserve much pity. I am sorry, but you really don't. "SlaveSlut Oh" isn't a good idea either, and anyone with more than two braincells should realize that. :/ Our name does, to a certain degree, define what we are, even in real life (or especially there?). If you choose a ridiculous one...well. Not a good idea.

I think, if there is ever gonna be a name change, it should be relatively expensive and not be allowed more than once/year maybe. Also, a reason must be provided.

How could it be done?

On the JIRA, some people cam eup with some decent ideas to avoid the abuse of sucha  feature. Banned avatars should remain banned, property-related issues would have to be renamed and many other things. I personally fear, that if you truly wanted to implement this, with all its consequences to building, item-owners, property-issues, land- and group-owners etc...you better not ask LindenLabs, who do have a history of implementing half-assed features that cause more trouble than anything else. :P Also I think, one should be able to look up a person's history of name changes.

 

What do you guys think? :)

[polldaddy poll=5792222]

PS: Forgive typos! Not wearing my contacts today. :P

It is not what you say, but how you say it - Bloggers and Item-Review

Ever since I started blogging, I have been frequently asked why I never add any personal comments or similar things to my blog. Here is the answer:

Since quite some time it has become very 'cool' and 'fashionable' to  post your opinion on items and the louder and harsher the wording is, the more views your blog gets, preferably when it comes to 'critique' on other peoples' creations. People love to read 'the truth' and 'honest opinions', they love to add to the drama, to comment on it etc. pp. I am guilty of that, too. I sometimes read such blogs for the mere amusement and head-shaking it causes.

And I agree with some of it. If an item is not worth its money, you have the right to point it out and support your statements with facts. I find that incredibly helpful at times. I often browse some blogs just to see the close ups on skins/clothing and other things that otherwise I might have failed to notice.

Yet, more often than not I lately get the feeling that people go way, way overboard. There is a very thin yet visible line between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. The first one aims at pointing out flaws and encourage the creator to become better or put more effort into their work. The latter however in 99% of the cases causes nothing but drama, hard feelings and usually a very defensive attitude on the side of the creator. The first is something I always support, the latter is something that I consider nothing but intentionally causing drama.

Or is anyone really suprised that a creator gets defensive when a blogger states: "Wow, this shit makes me wanna puke and punch them in the face?" Statements like these, sometimes less harsh, sometimes worse, seem to be really 'en vogue' lately. In Germany, we have a saying: "Der Ton macht die Musik." - which can loosely be translated as: "It is not what you say, but how you say it." You reap what you sow. If I behave like an ass, I don't expect maturity and kindness in return.

So, my personal approach so far is: I only blog things that I truly like. I do not see the point in spending money or wasting time by blogging something that I do not support or like anyway. The things on my blog are things I love and that I pay or always would pay the necessary Lindens for.  I do not blog to have as many people as possible post their opinion or comments, I simply blog to show what sort of outfit I currently love in SL and to possibly inspire other role-players.

I am not saying that I will never start reviewing items as well (never is such a strong word...), but as of now, I don't see the need for it and simply try the positive-only-approach by only blogging items that I can honestly support. Same goes for links, other blogs in my blogroll etc.

My two cents, I hope that answers that question. :)

PS: English is not my native tongue, so please forgive the possible typos, grammar-fails etc.