WE LOVE ROLE-PLAY IS OPEN!!

Woooohooo,

the doors are FINALLY open!! After weeks of preparation, we are all crossing fingers that you'll love it! :) There is SO much good stuff to be had, much of it exclusive and new, but everything discounted!!!

Your Taxi: WE LOVE ROLE-PLAY

Some last preparations are being done here... :D

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:

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. :(

Botters going Nuts - What can we do?

Hey there,

well, after the whole giant mess around Curio, we already know how damn hard it is for creators in SL to protect their own creations from less creative people who want to leech money...also known as copybotters, texture-rippers and so on. And now it looks as if things are picking up once again.

Since quite some time, there are viewers available which will allow anyone to copy any avatar, including their skin, clothes, textures, hair, eyes and probably everything else, within a few seconds. You say this cannot happen? Well, it happened RIGHT in front of my eyes. I was role-playing with a friend (well, actually we were about to) and I have a bad habit of camming around... a LOT. I was wondering why there was a noobie looking avatar not too far away, clearly they did not belong into that sim, but shrugged it off, turned around to talk to my bf, looked back at my screen, and suddenly my friend stood there, when I was pretty sure I had not moved my cam. ;) At first I was confused, but when I saw my buddy was still standing next to me, and still I had his avi on my camera, when it was about 80 yards away....well, go figure. That happened within maybe 10 seconds. Confronting the person they freely admitted that they thought it was completely okay using that viewer, not against TOS, avatars are for everyone, bla bla bla. I reported them to every simowner I knew and Mister Rulen resident is now on a lot of banlists.

Now, yesterday I looked at my Flickr and saw this:



Read the whole story here:

Sanya Bilavio's (Vive9) Flickr

It appears, that once again Marie2 Cisse and her gang of girls (likely her own alts or some other equally stupid people) managed to draw lots and lots of attention to herself and her...'store'. In this case, she copybotted Inna's complete shape, skin, custom make up and everything else, informed her about it and since then is bragging about how well it sells, of course after trying to 'bribe' her into giving her Lindens in order to prevent her from reselling a shape/make up etc. she never created herself.

A few comments from dear Marie2 Cisse  and 'friends' towards the creator of the items:

[2012/11/02 12:23] Second Life: Alexandriala has given you this body part:
Inna Bilavio shape
Do you want to keep it? "Mute" will block all future offers or messages from Alexandriala.
[2012/11/02 12:23] Alexandriala: Your shape has been copybotted.
[2012/11/02 12:23] Alexandriala: And will be sold.

----------------------

They try and bribe designers after they bot them as well ::

[2012/10/15 14:08] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): you lose your mind
[2012/10/15 14:08] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): creating skin
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): you think those skins will be on sale
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): for 1k or more
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): I can do it for 300L
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): Full fat pack
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): :)
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): Maliah skin will sell more with me than you
[14:10] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): 20k i am offering
[14:10] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): for don't distruing this skin

----------------------

[17:26] issela2: Poor gurl. Never more will be at Eila?
[17:26] issela2: HAHAHA
[17:26] issela2: Take care
[17:34] issela2: I've all your mesh stuff
[17:34] issela2: And I'm going to giving away this

Here she goes on bragging and already posting advertisements for 'her newest creations':

Marie2 Cisse's Flickr


and

Marie2 Cisse Flickr

Now, with Linden Labs forcing creators to go through lengthy and COSTLY legal processes, I wonder what we can do against such people? Not everyone can fork out the money to pay for such processes or even think about going to court, and not everyone will be able to fund money as Gala Phoenix and her team did with the ONE VOICE event. The process to actually get someone banned fro such things is absurd in Second Life, as sad as it is. Obviosu proof is not enough, you gotta file DMCAs, which can simply be countered...and so on. We all saw it happen with Gala.

So, what CAN we do? That is really the key-question. In my humble opinion, spreading the word about people like these, trying to convince people not to shop there, and that is why I am posting this.

However, quite frankly, the creators of Vive9 would likely do well with telling certain people, such as the dearest Lady Gericault, to shut the hell up, since people like her are NOT helping them by behaving like complete crazies in public. Argue with style, not like some raging rhino using capslock all over the place. O.o

Not too long ago, racist comments caused people to convince Linka Demina, founder of The Dressing Room, to not allow TIGirls to participate in the event due to obvious racist comments. View this here:
Linka Demina's Flickr

They somehow managed to worm they way out of that, though even if the comments were a joke, they were incredibly stupid. But people forgive. But personally, I am out of forgiveness. I am simply asking everyone I know, to ignore these people, to NOT buy their stolen stuff, to spread the word.

I would appreciate if people would actually do this.

The following people are involved with Marie2 Cisse or are her alts:

Marie2 Cisse, Alexandriala, Alemanha (sallygirlpaty aho), Miss Fedorova
and more than likely all the names in this picture, in which she accuses Götzsche Resident to be herself:

Other alts

Arica.

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. :(

It is me again! - The pony-riding Chipmunk!

Hellos everyone! :)

I have summer-vacations since yesterday and I loooove it. But it always gives plenty of time to 1. do things I procrastinated the entire time 2. chill and hang with friends 3. prepare our holidays and 4. blog a lot!

Ohai! It is me the chipmunk again!

Once again, a disclaimer: I bought the items in this picture, which means I LIKE them. But since I did not want to wear nothing at all and go with a newbskin, I had to pick something. If anything, this picture shows that even good, high quality items can look bad on a bad shape.



Not too long ago, I wrote a post about the rather  - in my humble opinion - fugly looking shapes that seem to dominate the blogs and feeds lately. You can find it here: Old Post. Miefi Willis, a fellow german blogger, wrote something rather similar: Momo's Blog.

I believe our opinions on these wonderful beauty ideals of SL are pretty clear: Fugly, fuglier, chipmunkfaces.

So, what constitutes these shapes in general?

As I said, to create this shape I needed ~ 2-3 minutes. The mandatory characteristics are:

1. Set your hips as widely as possible.
2. Make your lips HUGE and PUFFY and turn down the mouthcorner-sliders a LOT.
3. Both the eyesize and the eyeopening should be close to zero.
4. Set eyes so far apart that Admiral Ackbar would be jealous of your pretty features.
5. Tippy-toe-feet are mandatory.
6. The slider that affects the width of your upper nose-bridge: Set it to WIDE, very wide.
7. The rest of the nose has to be Michael Jackson-Style.
8. Bunnyteeth are mandatory. It adds to your sexappeal.
9. Do not forget to set your boobs to ~ 90 at least. They are, of course!!!, not affected by gravity.
10. Add piercings and, if you have it, slutwear. I don't really sport that in my inventory.
11. Angry or sad-panda eyebrows are welcome, too!

Summary: Just exaggerate with every slider and set them to the extremes. The outcome is what would happen if Leia decided to have kids with Ackbar.

But what did the POLL say??!

Here is a screen I gyazoed of the results.


Surprise, surprise! An overwhelming majority does NOT like the frowny ponyriders. Why am I so not surprised at all? So why on earth do we still SEE them everywhere? Yes, I noticed the trend is somewhat declining lately, but still they hurt my eyes. :( Of course, everything is a matter of taste and people can look however they want. I agree. That does however not mean that I will not voice my opinion on certain looks.

In summary, I can only hope that these ...creatures...vanish sooner or later.

But wait! The chipmunk-faces aren't the worst on the grid!

Revelation: The Psychotic Barbie!!!



Amd I not pretty? Well, I'd say while this trend luckily has faded some, there are still many, many around of these. Pretty ladies with legs so long that Linda Evangelista would faint at sight, eyes so big that Sailor Moon would die of jealousy, titties so big Lolo Ferrari pales next to them and très chic flexihair that was way cool in 2007 (yes, this is my hair, too. I liked it a lot way back.). Usually they wear flexi miniskirts and a whole lot of...bling bling bling. And ripped Redgrave skins from 2007. And looks how lovely she smiles! Jo-Jo-Jokerface!

These two do have something in common however, besides being out of porportion and generally being pretty ugly, imho: Tippytoe-feet!

In my opinion, neutral expressions win!

We do not run around the entire day smiling as if we are on drugs, nor do we look 24/7 as if our favourite teddybear has been stolen from us. I think a neutral expression is the best. SURE, you can emphasize the character of your avatar soemwhat by giving it a slight smile or a slight frown (I think I even have the latter?), but there if a fine line between looking good and looking ridiculous.

Gogo once wrote a good article about it with some examples of what I personally find to be pretty okayish. You can find it HERE: Juicybomb.

So, what do YOU guys think? What is worse? Psychotic Barbie versus Chipmunks!

[polldaddy poll=6380627]

Vote, vote, vote!

Yours, always ranting,

Arica. :P

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

Curio versus Hush...

I rarely use this blog to voice my opinion on matters, I think, so far it happened three times. In this case, I want to. I am talking about something that has recently been discussed all over several blogs, plurks, forums and what not. Oh yes, I am on plurk now...you finally made me! :O And now I am gonna jump head ahead into a pool full of sharks and I won't give a damn. This is my opinion on the matter, I do not speak for anyone else. Also, forgive the typos, it is late where I live. ;)

PLEASE NOTE: I do NOT want a link to this post linked in the Skin Addiction group ingame. They don't want to talk about it, so tone it down some and leave them be.

A tiny summary first!

A while back, Papaverfield already had pointed out how similar Hush looked to Curio on their Flickr, implying they were ripping them off. This was in MarchPretty much everyone who saw it agreed it was blatantly obvious: A smudgy, blurred version of Curio's body. Already back then, Hush claimed that in facther skins were all based on a skin -she- had created way back in 2008 and tried to prove her theory on Flickr. Unfortunately, it was soon revealed that her skins were released -after- Curio's 3rd Gen Skin (2008), I think it was a couple of months later. When others and I (even with pictures of skins from 2008) pointed this out, Hush deleted those pictures.

We didn't hear anything from them for a long time.

Curio disappears

Roughly two months later, Curio disappeared. Her skins were gone from both stores (mainstore and Truth District) and from the Marketplace, parts of her store's building was gone, too, and Gala was banned.

Harper Beresford a moderator of one of the most influential groups about skins: Skin Addiction. The very day Curio's skins were gone she states in said group that Curio was pulled off the grid by legal actions due to a DMCA filed by the creator of Hush Skins.  The log of that groupchat can be found here: SL Universe Thread (scroll down some).

Everyone was startled, baffled...and believed her. She claimed to have seen the proves of those legal actions. Even I was inclined to believe her for a moment, because Harper is a wellknown, comparably influential avatar within SL. And with her, as a representant of Skin addiction, picking sides so publically, the matter seemed clear: Curio had ripped Hush. Anyone who dared to doubt those claims were quickly pointed to a blogpost on Hush's blog, where she pointed out the legal actions against Gala Phoenix of Curio. A screenshot can be found here: Hush Blogpost. Why a screen of a screen? Well, I'll explain in a bit!

At the same time, the Skin Addiction Skin Showcase Event started. And...surprise...surprise...Hush Skins had the absolute top position RIGHT at the landing point. People were slightly irritated, especially those who still didn't believe all the rumors. Hush likely made good money during these times, while Gala was banned and her sim was closed by her CSRs.

First people began to speak up. Glam Affair pulled out of the Skin Showcase event to show her support for Curio. Tricky Boucher of Belleza skins posted a supportive post on his blog: Here. Other bloggers began to speak up for Gala as well: Sylvia Olivier,  Salome Says, The Voice and others, and it was all over Plurk and the SLU forums (see linked thread above).

Oddly enough, no one could find any hints of such a case about DMCA stuff on the internet (the court was named) and more and more people pointed out that the wording was just completely off and had even typos in it. A few days later, the post had magically vanished from Hush's Blog. And that's why I only have a screen of a screenshot, from someone who was witty enough to make one.

People begin to investigate on their own

Finally, people began to investigate a little. Gala was able to log back in into SL about a week ago and I had the pleasure to talk to one of her CSRs personally. There was NO RL legal action, so they said. They also revealed that Gala had DMCAed Hush FIRST, which was countered by Hush. So now, Gala has to counter Hush. Oddly enough, LL never reacted to Gala's DMCA, but Removals4 Linden came in to take down Gala's stuff after Hush's DMCA. So of course, there were still doubts left: Why would LL ignore Gala but run in for Hush? But at least, now we got to hear the other side of the story, too. That's something!

What a clusterfuck! Of course, all these statements were only hearsay as well, and no proves, but the doubts about Hush's version of the story began to spread, supported by more and more pictures posted in Papaverfield's stream. Meanwhile, Hush remained at the event and discussions about the matter in the  Skin Addiction group were officially unwelcome.

Gala herself never said a word. Hush Darkrose was still in the Skin Addiction group and likely enjoyed a big amount of incoming Lindens at this time. She released several new skins in the meantime and likely was highly amused. Gala however, stayed quiet. Meanwhile, some of Hush's older vendors disappear.

More pictures showed up: Curio- Hush. Now more and more people began to doubt Hush's claims and that link went all over plurk, SLU, Facebook and what not. Papaverfield continued to point out the obvious. Meanwhile, people were still politely reminded to not bring up the topic in the Skin Addiction Group.

And...finally...

Some skincreators were apparently fed up as well, not just the fangirls of Curio. Nena Janus of League noticed a few oddities about Hush's skins: They are terribly similar to hers! And she files a DMCA, encouraged by others. Then this was revealed: Excinerator. Yes, I know you cannot get to see such watermarks without ripping the skins.

Hush countered and despite being supposed to, did not take down her stuff at the Skin Showcase Event, where said skin was advertised. Instead, it is said that the owners of the event had to take it down. Hush Darkrose was FINALLY booted from the Skin addiction group that day as well.

The next day, her sim was not available anymore and she is banned. Rumors say she countered the DMCA of League with the words 'sue me'. How...tasteful, if that is true.

So right now the vast majority of evidences, imho, speaks for Curio...and not so much for Hush. But please, make up your own mind. I can certainly say this: Should it ever be revealed, that indeed Hush was the victim, I'll apologize.

Gala Phoenix by now has posted a message to her group on he rblog and in her group: You can find it HERE!

So, what have we now? Use some common sense, please?

I'll make this short: See here: SL Universe. This is why I think we should also not forget to use our common sense. Please scroll down to see the post.

How does the group Skin Addiction react?

So far, there has been no word from Harper Beresford on that matter. Instead, they claim to be neutral, when Harper was so blatantly eager to condemn Curio and support Hush in the beginning. Talking about the matter is still not allowed and people get muted when insisting to do so. I can see why they want to keep a low profile now, it is probably the best thing to do. However, they sort of caused the fuss themselves by picking sides without really caring to wait for a statement from Gala or anything else.

I think this matter - if neutrality really was their goal- could have been handled MUCH better: No picking sides from any official, influential person associated to the group, no blogging for either side..and NO participation for any of the contrahents, neither for Hush, nor for Curio, until matters are solved. Maybe next time handle it a bit better and wait for how things evolve. :)

HOWEVER: I am grateful nonetheless for the great effort Voshie and her team generally put into their work. The event, besides the thing about Hush, is pretty awesome and gives a great overview. Follow this TAXI to go there!

And here is a gallery with a vast collection of pics regarding Curio versus Hush and League versus Hush, mostly gyazoed from Papaverfield's Flickr and Excinerator's Blog.

[gallery]

PS: Please NOTE that neither Nena Janus of League nor Gala Phoenix of Curio asked me to write this. They don't know I have posted it. They have nothing to do with it. I did it because right now I had some freetime and felt like doing it after watching for so long.

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.