Linden Lab JUST announced that the new starter avatars I’ve spoken about a few times before, here and here, are NOW available.
Go give them a spin and let me know what you think!
You can red the full announcement here;
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/New-Mesh-Avatars-Now-Available-in-Second-Life/ba-p/2720912
So at first sight it is nice to see some diversity.
However, as discussed before, most (if not all) of these new avatars are mesh and with mesh avatars we get certain issues that may make things only more difficult for new users.
Nevertheless, they do look a lot better than previous ones and that is also important when it comes to first impressions.
I’m not sure about the Vampires section, ‘Fantasy’ might have been a better name, as I also see monsters and zombies there.
I still think that we should just get rid of starter avatars altogether and let new users create their own avatar from scratch before they even start their Second Life.
Not only will this be fun, will it cause the new users to invest into their avatar and create a connection, even bond with it, it will also give new users more freedom and will make it easier for them to adapt to Second Life as they won’t find themselves in this virtual world with an avatar that looks like dozens of others, who’s mouth doesn’t move and for whom all the free basic clothes they get won’t fit.
I also fear a flood of new users visiting my sim and then having to explain to them that they won’t be able to dress their avatar in 1920s clothes because we don’t have fitted mesh 1920s clothes as a freebie at the moment and having to explain to them how to completely change their avatar because they choose a fantasy themed one.
Sorry folks, no zombies in 1920s Berlin.
So in short, good idea to replace the old avatars, about time even, but I don’t think it is a huge improvement to SL as a whole.
Here you can see them all;
Josh said:
They forgots to include a cute set of mesh furries, they should of poked lusk to get help. Those people are so willing to help at times, Just standing there as a visitor you learn they LOVE SL and want to see it grow
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Vanity Bonetto said:
I wish they would also do something about the ongoing naming issue … there are a million “Resident” residents now and it is impossible to create a new avatar with a nice, easy to remember name … I mean, who really cares about “display names” … my username is my name, it is how people remember me … – I am sure it would help to motivate users to sign up.
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Nia Cyannis -VAI Supporter said:
And of course Linden Lab has neglected to design at least one starter avatar with a visible disability. What message does this send to people with disabilities in RL? Second Life is a welcoming environment,hence from the get go, we should make it welcoming with a starter avatar that has a disability. There are plenty of residents at Virtual Ability Island who would be willing and ready to share their design ideas. There is a need and it has been voiced on numerous occasions in the community…How can we create change? Where do we start?
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