Saturday, July 18, 2009

Thoughts on Second Life and Child Avatars

As most of you who read my blog know, I play a game called Second Life, and from time to time I post an essay on my views of or about things that happen within the virtual world called "SL." Today I am going to offer my opinion on people who insist on playing child avatars (called AVs in SL) and taking those child AVs into what should be, and are classified as, mature, or adult simulators (called sims in SL).

Personally, I think people who insist on playing children in an essentially adult world have some mental issues to begin with, and those issues are multiplied exponentially when these people take a child avatar into a mature (meaning sex beds are in use in said sim or that the sim has sexual or adult activities) sim, as their mere presence, in my humble opinion, makes most of the other adults in the area very uncomfortable. It certainly makes me uncomfortable, and for obvious reasons, if one uses common sense. Of course, people who play child avatars tend to abdicate common sense in their zeal to make the rest of us "tolerate or accept" them in any situation. Sorry, but no, and I'll detail my reasons in the subsequent paragraphs.

  1. There are many reasons why people choose to play children in SL and I'm ok with most of them. So you had a crappy childhood and you feel that you need to "get that back" by playing a child in a virtual world....ok, fine. Stay in the sims where children are welcomed, and there are picnic areas and playscapes abounding. No sex beds and no noobs with huge phalluses running around naked and jerking off every 10 meters.
  2. The whole reason that SL had to set up an "adult" continent is because they were taken to court by some incensed parent who caught little Johnny watching cartoons fuck. Do you think those outraged parents are going to be comforted to see a child AV on the new "adult" continent, dancing with an enormous cock? I don't, and these militant people with the child AVs know it too.
  3. To me, the only reason a child AV is present in an adult sim is to suck a potential pervert into trying to play with them. This is entrapment in it's purest form. Get the perv to make a move and zap them with a report. Seems to me that if the temptation isn't there, the perv would never make a move, because there wouldn't be anything to move ON.
  4. Lastly, we have "child" AVs who have baby talk on their profiles, telling the world that they're 8 years old, yet they have an SL "partner," meaning a wife or a husband. How many 8 year olds do YOU know that are married in rl? If you're going to present yourself as a child, either do it all the way or put on an adult AV when you are in an Adult area.

The thing that chaps me most about people who play child AVs is their utter hypocrisy. They present themselves as "children," complete with the baby talk and the sexed up, Bratz doll look, and then they want to say they're adults when they're confronted in a place where children don't belong.

You want to play a kid? Great. Stay in the Disney sims where you belong and stop forcing the rest of us to look at you in places where no children should be found and we'll get along just fine. I don't hang out in sims that are child friendly and the people who play child AVs don't need to invade the places where the rest of us go to be rid of them.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Thank You

Today is July 4, 2009. America is 233 years old and we are celebrating the anniversary of Her birth, so I would like to pause for a moment, between the tragedies and crises of the day to say a profound and heart-felt Thank You to the members of our past and present Military.

Thank you for understanding that there is something bigger than yourselves.

Thank you for doing what most of us cannot or would not...your sacrifice of time and physical abilities in the service of protecting our country.

Thank you for the fact that I, as a woman, can get an education, can drive, can have control over my daily life.

Thank you for defending our shores from hungry tyrants that would see us, as Americans and Westerners, on our knees in submission.

Thank you for ignoring the peaceniks and haters who would denigrate your service. We who are grateful see their ignominious behavior and are embarrassed for them.

Thank you for keeping America the "Home of the Free and the Brave," for you surely rank among them.

The Chinese have an interesting curse...."May you live in interesting times..." It seems that we do. Evidently we are poised on the brink of history, watching as it rolls over us, times that seem to challenge the very foundations of what liberty means to each and every one of us. Are we so soft and bloated and apathetic that we will allow the destruction of such a beacon of light in the dark and ugly world? Only time will tell, but for now, our nation is safe because of your sacrifice.

Sleep well, brothers and sisters in arms, I fear we will need your courage again in the not so distant future.

Friday, July 03, 2009

I Am a Virtual Shoe Whore

Since this is a blog with the word "confession" in the name, I'm going to do a little confessing. I am a virtual shoe whore.

I'm a shoe whore in real life too, but in virtual reality (aka, Second Life) you can have shoes that are impossible to have in the real world, because they would never hold your weight. They are 10 inch, spike heeled, ethereal works of primage that set my heart aflutter with a mere picture, let alone the real thing. Behold the Stiletto Moody shoe.

In virtual terms, Stiletto Moody is the Manolo Blahnik of Second Life shoes. Her shoes are walking works of art. As I write this, her rabid fans are waiting with bated breath and itchy fingers on the mouse for her sim's grand re-opening and several new styles. I can't wait. I intend to be the proud owner of at least one pair in each style. I'm quivering with anticipation.

Yes, Stiletto Moody shoes are probably the most expensive shoes in Second Life (her *Bare* styles with sculpted feet run L2300 per pair and L8k for a color set), but they are also the most technically advanced as well. They come with beautifully sculpted feet and toes, have tons of skin color and toenail color options, as well as prim toe rings, and they also come with a little prim bag that allows you to save the settings from one pair to another, and believe me, that's convenient! Second Life skins have such a broad range of texture colors, so it's very difficult, especially if you tend to wear different colored skins (as I do), to color one pair, let alone half a dozen. The little back up bag is great for storing your settings and recalling them at the click of a mouse, instead of spending a half hour trying to match your skin color every time you put a pair on. The new styles will also be featuring alot more toenail colors, as well as tattoos for your feet! Sounds very cool and I just can't wait to play with those menus!

I must also mention another shoe creator. She has the most amazing coloring system in her newest style of shoe, the Wow. 2408 Alexeev has worked her little virtual fingers to the bone and come up with a hud for her sculpted foot shoes that uses textures instead of a monochrome sculpted foot, using the standard SL coloring system. The difference in using textures on the sculpted foot, as opposed to the system that all the other creators use is that the foot does not become a chalky, yucky color in different sim lights. The textured foot never changes color, and 2408 has done her homework in matching pretty much any skin that comes down the road. Her shoes come with 2 huds, one for pastel tones, and one for other skin tones. You wear the hud that matches your skin the closest, then there are about 100 different shades to choose from...you select the one that comes closest to your skin. The shoes themselves are nice, but not quite as hot as the Stiletto Moodys, though I think this lady is still in her educational evolution (still learning to sculpt), so I think the appearance of her shoes will continue to develop. I have high hopes....