Author: aemeth

I started a draft for this entry a week ago and stopped. I wasn’t ready. Instead, I spent the next few days crying, feeling numb, feeling like life was cruel and unfair. Melanie was gone. It took me a long time to process. And still, the fact she has passed away has not fully set in my mind.

She was just here, I had just heard her voice, we were just chatting on the beaches of Juicy one day last summer. Melanie was just talking to me about how her neighbors were driving her nuts by holding choir rehearsal at the church next door in the early hours of the morning, she was just telling me about her new job and how she was happy to leave her old one. She had just introduced me to Gogo. I had just joined the CheLLe design team with her. We were just on the Kuu Ipo sim, a shopping area that sat next to Juicybomb, where she terraformed the parcels to resemble the islands of Hawaii somewhat. When you wanted to travel from one store to another, you were forced to move over the water and appreciate its beauty.

I had just met her. She can’t be gone. We hadn’t even played golf together in SL yet.

Losing a virtual friend is hard, and people who don’t play online games can’t always fathom how difficult it can be to know the person you care about won’t be logging on anymore. Melanie may have lived in Hawaii in real life, but when she was online, the Juicy family were her sisters and our sim was her home. We lived next door to her, we were her good neighbors, we were the ones who appreciated and loved her when something in her other life was missing. And when she wandered off from the game, we checked in with her on Plurk. We kept up with her and welcomed her back with open arms when she decided she missed our virtual shores again.

If I close my eyes and remember, Gogo tells me, she’s in my heart. That’s where she lives now. There is a quiet beach, dotted with rocks and seagulls, and some beautiful island in the distance slightly obscured by clouds and fog. There is a single house and a small kitchen, and a canoe to paddle around in. There is an island connected to this beach, and sometimes, there’s a volcano. Melanie lives there, in my heart, giving me her frank advice, getting excited over the latest k-drama, talking about how she loves Katamari, applying her frank call-them-like-she-sees-it wisdom to everything she comes across, because damn if anyone was going to keep her spirit down and her mouth shut–she would let the world know exactly what she thought. She will wander this beach in peace forever in my heart. And when I die, I will wander on someone else’s.

It doesn’t seem there’s ever enough of a way to memorialize someone you love and miss. The only way to do it in an infinite manner, is to remember who that person was, and keep their personality alive in your mind. Remember what they taught you. Remember how you felt when they told you something, remember the advice they gave you and how they managed to change your life–even if it was a little bit. In this way, they will never die.

What would Melanie say to us now? She’d definitely want all of us to be happy. Enjoy life as you can, while you can. Remember some of her last words: everybody be happy, okay? She actually said that on Plurk when she found out she had cancer. So, let’s follow her advice and never forget her. It’s the best way to show your love for her.

Please note: this guest post is by Aemeth, not Gogo. It is in response to this entry on NWN.

When I first announced quitting SL last year, I said the grid would die in 2017. But before that, I said, it would experience a shrinkage. The next grid LL would experiment on would fail. They wouldn’t produce another one, and would try too late to save this one. The community would see another mass exodus. Then, copyright would become a bigger problem with less creators putting out fresh items, and even less staff to enforce violations. And finally, the cost of keeping the game running would no longer justify what users were putting back into the system in terms of land rentals and subscriptions. There might be a fundraiser to put a stoppage on the drain, but it ultimately wouldn’t prevent water from funneling down the pipe.

I now think the grid might die in 2019. All things come to an end, and I believe the heat death of SL is inevitable. The grid is shrinking and we have to face it: all users need to have an exit plan in place. If you make money on the grid, you need to start thinking about where you can go from here.

This isn’t to make anyone panic, and the shrinking of our community isn’t to say there aren’t benefits. I feel I appreciate my fellow creatives more. I feel like exploring what’s left on the grid while I can. I look for dive bars, I visit old, primmy carnival sims, and I wander through forgotten stores on Mainland. I run around Wastelands and have fun trying to kill buzzards and attempting not to starve to death from their game HUD. I go to all the beaches I can, judging them by composition and talking to Gogo about which ones we prefer the most. I go to The Chamber, put a drink in my hand, dance on a stripper pole in an old lady outfit, and laugh at how all of the props I’m wearing makes me look like a washed-up entertainer that feels she’s too good for her audience.

I have fun because this won’t be forever. It can’t be forever. Eventually we will all have to say goodbye to this place, and whether or not it’s sooner or later we could argue, sure–but that day is coming closer and closer and I believe we are all feeling the pinch.

***

Bukkake Bliss used to be a joke to visit with friends. We put on tshirts, straw hats, adjusted our heights, and put a polaroid or camcorder prop around our necks to pretend we were newbie tourists. Then we got on group voice chat, walked around, and observed everything. Later on, I showed the same area to my then-boyfriend, who was new to the grid and wanted to learn what I was doing in SL. I showed him around the grid to get him to understand both the best and the worst of everything.

“First,” I said, “I’m going to show you Tableau,” and I did. He loved the dinosaurs and theatre area. It was colorful and whimsical all at once. Then I showed him some other places I loved: Juicybomb, my shop, Mad Pea, and The Pixel Bean.

Then I showed him the sex sim. He said it was awful. It looked like a ratty 3d adult website with ads and pictures strewn everywhere. If some Tumblr kid into aesthetics saw it, they would take pictures of it for an art project. Under any other view, Bukkake Bliss had little value other than the furniture that was set up in a rudimentary manner.

“This is the worst place,” I said, “because a lot of people just log on for sex, come here, and don’t see anything else. They won’t go enjoy other kinds of sims, sex is all they want.”

Some avs were humping a short distance away as we were talking. Their movements were jerky and outdated. My ex became uncomfortable and asked if we could go.

But later on we went to Elysion, and he didn’t think that was so bad, even though we both knew the sim had sex there too. But it was tasteful to us; we thought it was more humanized. It was decorated well and felt like the people who ran the sim cared about more than just poseballs. We cuddled on a couch in the living room and giggled as we tried the cages in the library. We liked it because we felt there was effort put into the place instead of HERE POSEBALL HAVE SEX SIT HERE.

When I tell someone I play SL, the first thing they tend to ask is if I’m having sex on the grid. That’s why I don’t tell people often; it annoys me. I’m here to have fun and make things. They wouldn’t get why I sit around 1951 or dance at Old Lar’s. I do appreciate some adult places, and I even bring friends along who pick up others and take them “home”. But I think there are far too many sims that look absolutely awful and get too much media attention. When somewhere you visit regularly is stereotyped for its virtual ghetto, you’d be annoyed too.

***

We need to think about what to do to extend the life of our grid.

Journalists are going to think what they want when they visit. I live in a city where despite all the good stuff we try to spotlight, reporters still take pictures of our dilapidated buildings. There’s so much ruin porn taken of our city, that it’s what we’re known for. It’s annoying and along the same kind of thing Second Life is dealing with.

The only way it’s going to get better is to write about the positive things. Journalists don’t have to pretend adult sims don’t exist, but cutting down on the virtual ruin porn would probably help. Doing an article about a grid attempting to support a community and escape a stereotype would be a good idea, too. And don’t forget, sex workers on the grid are still people. They do things in their spare time. Many people have sex worker alts because they don’t want the stigma of being known as a dancer or an escort on their main. We should show them more respect.

Second Life wasn’t perfect when we came here. We know LL will only do so much for the game at this point, and we know there are a lot of things about the grid we find unfair and frustrating. Yet, we choose to stay (or come back) anyway, because something about this place is what we need. Maybe it’s a sim or an item. Maybe it’s each other.

I believe this is a good time for everyone to reflect on what keeps them here. When you find that thing, talk about that thing. What keeps you here? Maybe we need more of that thing. Then others can find it and stay with us too.

 

I’m back to show you a recent release by Utilizator that’s made my day–the Venus Anime Mesh Head! Although I loved the anime head I was wearing previously, it made my av look a bit young… this one makes me look like a young woman. Plus, it’s incredibly customizable just like the last one.

I like this avatar so much that I think I’m going to ditch the default SL one, except in the case of creating makeup and nails for it. But before you do that to yours, check out my caveat about what mesh body you pick to match this awesome head.

The Head

The Venus mesh head is 500L and is tintable, comes with its own set of eyes, and expressions so you can customize yours. The marketplace also has custom textures you can apply to your head so you can stand apart even further. Even if you buy a custom head texture, you can also purchase eyebrow and eyelash textures from other designers. That way, you can mix and match looks even further. Check out this blog post to see a few examples of custom head textures released so far!

Picking A Body

Most of you might just purchase the Venus head and pair it with the default SL body or a mesh body you’ve purchased already. However, if you’re someone considering wearing what I’m wearing in the above picture, you’ll need to read on.

If you want a mesh body from the same creator of this mesh head, but you want to still be able to wear most of your SL clothing, get the Avatar 2.0 body. It doesn’t have a lot of boob sizes, but it matches the mesh head a lot better and comes with its default skin tones already.

However, I like the wasp-waist the body I’m wearing comes with… which is the Kemono mesh body. It’s wonderfully curvy but you’ll need to buy separate chest parts for it if you don’t want a flat one. It can wear less SL clothing than the 2.0 body, but it’s way cuter. For boobs, people either seem to buy this set or this set (but I got this set).

Demo all the extra parts before buying, you might not like them!

Dressing Up The Kemono Avatar

After this, you’re wondering: what about clothing for the Kemono body?

First things first: Kemono is very turtleneck and fluffy-skirt friendly. Some of what you have in your inventory will fit your new avatar already. I’m able to, for example, wear a lot of puffy skirts from Tres Blah with ease. As far as mesh sizing goes, it fits a little smaller than size XXS. Clothing stores that have these sizes in mind will be your best friend.

For jeans, bell bottom or loose-cut jeans will work. I went digging in my invy and found some Maitreya jeans that fit my av perfectly! It helps cut back on spending so you can get others things that are specifically created for the Kemono.

After you find some mesh clothing you already have that fits, here are some clothing made specifically for the Kemono that I recommend:

• This strappy bikini (fits their brand of boobs only though)
• This ruffled corset top
• This sweater
• This spandex/shorts set
• This pencil skirt
• This pleated skirt
• These very cheap jeans
• This bomber jacket
• This bodycon dress (demo first; mine had alpha issues for some reason)
• These heels

There’s a lot more out there, but these items will get you started! Whatever you pick, demo everything to make sure you’re happy with it. You don’t want to spend a million Lindens trying to get what you want.

For hair? I personally like Exile, Alice Project, Chemistry, and Lamb for hair choices with the Venus. We’re all different, though, so look around to see what fits your av’s personality!

Also! If you were looking for the rest of my super-bright art collection? They are now all on the grid here. You can now buy the whole set!

What I’m Wearing:

Flowers: Boom – Nature’s Crown (Dark Pink)
Hair: Alice Project – Mary (manually tinted)
Top: Puppy – Ruffled Corset Top
Skirt: ABC Denim Skirt
Shoes: Rei’s Stuff – Heels for Kemono Human Feet
Necklace: Yummy – Miss Havisham’s Broken Heart
Earrings: Maxi Gossamer – Widdershins (Cross And Skulls)

Shooting Location: Cannibal Island