Esoteric Renaissance

...experiments in thought and art

Second Chance at a Second Life

Screenshot from Second Life depicting a woman wearing glasses, dressed in a black sweater and jeans, sitting on a bed. Her knee is bent up with one arm resting upon it. Her olive green hair flows over both shoulders as she bites her lip, uncertain.

We go about our daily lives, through work and family; we are receptionists and store clerks and programmers. We fill a role that’s become the way the world sees us, the face we think the world expects us to see. But when we come to Second Life® and other virtual worlds like it, we’re given an opportunity to set that face aside and be the person we want to be, whether that’s someone totally different from who we are to the 'real’ world, or merely a more defined, more complete version of that same self. And perhaps it doesn’t matter which, as long as we open ourselves to the experience.

The quote above is from an essay I wrote for the SL Bloggers Mix ‘N’ Match a number of years ago. Unfortunately, due to life/tech/etc. I was unable to log into Second Life for the last few years. But, I've found my way back these last couple of weeks and discovered I missed it.

So, I think I'm going to be finding my way back more regularly. Maybe I'll even dust off my old SL blogging chops and write about it here.

For right now, I've been setting up my house. I've kept up a Premium account, even though I haven't been in-world much. But, the house I had years ago wasn't really working for me, now. Linden Labs has launched a new region, Ridgewood, that's very California/Hollywood Hills reminiscent and I've moved into a residence there. It's got a large open floorplan and fun architectural details that will be fun to decorate with all the small details the higher prim count allows. And, there's a fun little rooftop patio area that will make a great ritual space once I get everything set up.

Even before that, however, I put my avatar through a rigorous makeover. I've always had an urban elven (or steampunk elven, when exploring Caledon) aesthetic going on for SL. No matter what outfit I was wearing, my avatar included two things: pink hair and elf ears. I still love my elf ears and will keep an elven avatar look. But, I want to do something that looks a little closer to what I look like in real life, as well. I've never kept a strict boundary between first and second life, as some residents do. So, it seems fitting that I craft an avatar that refelcts that.

The first thing to do was to find a skin and base shape that were close to my natural body type. I went through entire skin tone ranges for about a dozen skin makers before settling on this one. I also made note of which skin tones from other makers was close to the one I chose so that, should I decide on a different face skin at any time, I could match it to the body skin fairly easily. The body was not as easy. It's apparently impossible to find a decent "on the plumper side" body shape amid the sea of super skinny shapes and super-sized butt/boob shapes. I mean, the body shape I have from nature includes a 42DD bust, but a flat-ish butt that my college ex used to complain wasn't bubbly enough and a thick-ish midsection. So many of the "lush" shapes were basically Barbie's tiny waist on steroids HUGE boobs/butt with a tiny waist.

But, eventually I found one to use as a base and then set about modifying it to suit. It's still a bit on the thinner side. But, I found that I got some weird body morphing affects when I moved sliders further. Don't know if it's the shape or the mesh body. I'll need to play around with it some more later to see if I can get it closer to realistic.

Next, I did the same testing with mesh heads that I did with skin demos. Mesh heads were only starting to be a thing when I last was in world regularly. So, I had little experience using them. I found one that had a base head/face shape that worked and then spent a LOT of hours sitting in front of the computer with a mirror making tweaks and comparing them to my actual face. I think I got pretty close. Finding a skin that didn't look like a teenager was a bit of a task. But, I managed it and then discovered some add-ons that allow for further aging. It still isn't quite old enough, given that I'm well into my 40s and I think this looks closer to what I looked like in my 30s. But, it's not too far off and there are other options I can try at a later date.

The hair and eyes were the easiest. A basic style and playing with the tints hit on the exact color I'm sporting right now. This will most likely change most frequently as I tend to change up my hair whenever I get bored and I've already had this color for 8 months. The eyes were similarly easy. I had a texture already that matched pretty close to reality.

So, now I have an avatar that looks like me. I can update my elf avatar later, given her 2017 look is SO outdated. I'll set about decorating my house for the season and then head off to explore. I've already checked back in at Caledon a couple times. But, I really want to get out and explore the world as it is now.

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