How to tell someone they look like a noob?

Most of the people I know in SL I met via private messages at the forums or IMs in-world, and then eventually met avatar-to-avatar after trading messages for a while. Generally I have found that residents over a month old have refined, unique-looking avatars- but every once in a while I'll teleport a new friend in for the first time to see them in full Linden regalia; default skin, no prim hair, no AO, and I'm sorry to say that it affects my impression of them if they're old enough to "know better."

Depending on the nature of the relationship, the person's total noob avatar can be embarrassing or distracting to the point that I just have this underlying sense of unease.

I'm curious: Is there a tactful way to say, "I want to give you a total makeover?"

When I think about if someone said that to me in real life, I'd be kind of aghast and humiliated, and I really don't want to make people feel small. I'm more than willing to pay for someone to achieve a new look if finances are an issue. I'd like to know if there's a tactful way to broach the subject and guide the person toward a more developed avatar.

Please don't hate me because I'm shallow. *blinks innocently*

P.S. I do know there are a couple SLebrities who sport hardcore default avatars, god love 'em. Depending on how well-known you are, it's possible that any major change to your look could negatively affect your image. Or maybe you're actually trying to make a statement by not buying prim hair. *shrug* More power to 'em, but I likes a guy without Linden pattern baldness.

I have a friend whose been on SL longer than I have. He still has noob skin and noob hair. He's been around long enough to know It drives me absolutely crazy. You know what I said to him? Nothing. It's none of my business.

Okay, but what if you wanted to make out with him?

I hand them a free skin and shape and clothes and even better than average looking genitals (if they're sporting that grand spartan wooden banana thing).

I tell them that its only a gift..not a suggestion..nothing more..and have a great SL

9 out of ten times i get "wow Thankyou". However occasionally I do get a "declined inventory offer"..After explaining to the person that it's only a gift and not a money taking script they reply they're quite happy with the "noob" look

Each to their own.

~Lana Tomba

There is no tactful way. What ever they choose to look like is their choice, (that's why they chose it). If they don't ask for your advice, don't give it.

Close your eyes? Or cam over to something else...

"Hey there n00by n00b n00b, don't mean to disturb you, but you look like a n00by n00b n00b n00b n00by n00b n00b, you know what I mean, you n00b n00b n00b n00b n00by n00by n00b," usually does the job.

There are many people in SL who choose to stay in the noob look. Some of us have fun playing "dress up". Obviously to them it's not important. If you're really interested in him then you'll need to take him for who he is. If all you want to do is make out with him then there's plenty of other fish in the sea.

"hey you look like a n00b" ok question answered

Just a few days ago I got into a conversation with a really nice guy who, though several months old in SL, kinda had a newbie look. He didn't have the default skin, but instead had what must be the most popular skin on record in SL, a man's skin given as a freebie in multiple places. But what struck me was that he had tried to make himself bald but had a big wad of default hair on the back of his neck.

I figured it wasn't his intention to have a big hair blob on the back of his neck, but even so, said something like, "Do you wear your hair that way on purpose, with that part on your neck?" Yes, I awkwardly inserted this into the conversation...there just was no other way. *laughs quietly* I gave him a baldie cap thing from one of my prim hair folders. He popped it on and was pretty happy about it, saying that he had wanted to get rid of it but couldn't be bothered to find out why that one blob was still there.

Another way to angle the conversation is to pick up from when he compliments your own appearance. If you answer such compliments in a particular way, you can lead him into revealing how he feels about his own appearance. ("thank you, I like to pay attention to details...and SL has so many wonderful ways to look exactly how I like" etc...) You could probably discover from that point if his "look" is his intention or if he just doesn't realize how easy it is to look a different way.

*splashes in the shallow end with Libby*

There's a practical reason someone would need to look more like an individual that goes beyond vanity. Go hang out for a few minutes at newbie friendly area like NCI Kuula. The newbs there are indistinguishable. Except for the name over their heads, you can't tell them apart. And increasingly the names are indistinguishable too. You've seen 'em -- guys wearing the casual male / guy next door avatar with names like "Baalzebub666 Paperclip", and a title that says "Member." Right . . .

But if you see the mentors or the officers you will recognize them from halfway across the sim. They just look different. Even those who are human and dress conservatively have a power and individuality that comes through the interface somehow. Some don't look like anything you've ever seen before.

So you could approach it like, "You know you really deserve to stand out in a crowd . . ." or something like that. Some of us guys get used to people trying to make us over in real life. I can't imagine why they keep wanting to, but . . .

Why do you care if they look like a noob... I tend to think more kudos to them.. not being drawn into wasting loads of money on skins and stuff they will change again in a few weeks

... I mean, another way to think of this is to compare how you handle meeting a guy at a party who has his fly open or has a bunch of snot on his cheek..... it's a delicate moment, and you don't want to humiliate him, but at the same time, you're not doing him a favor if you let him walk around with a bugger on his face, are you? I don't want him to get it on ME, after all!

I think some people just aren't so fixated on looks-if someone chooses to use the default stuff and it isn't a money issue (which, frankly, it can't - there are SO many great freebies out there, even skins-it might rather be an issue of finding stuff), let them. I'm all visually fixated myself, I play around with my looks a lot and love it, it might just not be everyone's idea of a pastime.


Okay, I *would* say something if someone turns up sporting a wooden woodie....

so what would you say about that "hey I like my cock a little bit more flacid"?

I agree, to each his/her own. I actually wish I could be like the people who don't spend and spend on their av, but I admit I'm a shopoholic and for me it is much cheaper to do in SL than rl. So it's an outlet for me in a way.

Tell them to sit down.

Take their hand and look them in the eyes with a empathic, soulful stare.

And then say


U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alliby, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!
U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alliby, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!

U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alliby, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!
U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alliby, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!



I saw you walking down the street, just the other day,
i didn't see you're damage from that far away
i should've got a clue when the kids started screaming,
u walked up to me with your buckteeth a gleeming!
Your hair was all frizzy, and your face was a mess,
I thought it was a sack but its your favorite dress,
you hurt the tree's feelings and the birds all flew
I don't mean to insult you- Ohh wait, yes I do!

your teeth are all yellow, their covered in mold,
You're only 14, you look 100 years old,
when looks where handed out, you were last in line,
your face looks like where the sun don't shine,
did u fall off a building and land on your head?
Or did a truck run over your face instead
there ain't no pill, cuz u ain't ill, u UGLY!

U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alibi, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!
U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alibi, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!

What u really need is to wear a mask
and book that plastic surgeon fast!
Girl your scary, your hairy, i heard about you,
you're the main attraction @ the city zoo
your so fat and ugly w/ a belly full of flab,
when u wear a yellow coat people shout cab!
(So Funny)

You got eyes like a pig, and your nose is big
And w/ hair like that u should be wearing a wig!
Uncle Fester! Remember him? I never knew that u had a twin
You can't disguise your googly eyes
In a Miss Ugly Pageant you win 1st Prize!
Your Mama say u ugly! U ugly!

U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alibi, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!
U.G.L.Y you ain't got no alibi, u ugly, eh hey, u ugly!

Get Busy x9
Yo mama says your ugly
Get busy
Your mama says your ugly
Get busy
Your mama says your ugly
Get Busy
Your Ugly!

u.u.u.u.
Now i feel like blondie

u.g.l.y you ain't got no alibi you ugly eh! hey! you ugly x2

quasimodo
camel breath
squarehead
ugly!

chicken legs
pig face
chin like bubba
ugly!

fish lips
toad licker
poindexter
Ugly!

Spaghetti arms
Limp butt
Freak show- ugly!

U.g.l.y you ain't got no alibi you ugly eh hey you ugly
U.G.L.Y you could make an onion cry
U.G.L.Y like an alien chased by the F.B.I
UGLY!







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no i didn't make this up its from "Bring it on" ..

I have a newbie-looking alt by design. I go looking for griefers with it, and looking like a newb makes it MUCH easier to find them - they come looking for me. ; )

the other day I got a slightly more observant one who was really outraged that I was walking around as a "fake newb."

I don't know many people who would actually _choose_ to walk around with snot on their cheek or with their zip open, but the OP said that they weren't noobies so I would think their look was their choice. Of course if it was an obvious thing like a patch of hair (SL's equivalent to snot), I would mention it. Heck, I've done that with strangers on the metro, "Psst, your fly is open..." and been thanked for it.

If you know them well enough to kiss them, or consider them friends, I think you know them well enough to guess if their look is intended or not. Maybe they really would appreciate some pointers, just don't assume...

That's a good suggestion,

Sighs...lol..

Me to, I am addicted to shopping for my av..that is why I find it so refreshing that not everyone feels that way

Yep!! That would be my approach....

Dude / Girl ... You look like a NOOBy, LOL. We need to get you some decent skin/hair/cloths to show off how sophisticated/smart/desireable you really are!! LOL

Lots of LOL's thrown in.

Just send me cash instead. Really. I don't mind.

Some entities don't take kindly to the spaghetti remarks.

Even though I do personally find it distracting, the two people I was thinking of when I decided to post are rather unhappy in SL, and I think their looks might be part of it.

Both move in the BDSM scene. One is a really sweet submissive who has been searching for a mistress for MONTHS, and the other is a promising dominant who keeps telling me he doesn't understand why submissives seem to shy away from him.

And I'm kinda like, "Well maybe it's because you look like you just escaped from Orientation Island! And why are you still holding that torch? We have local lighting here!"

I don't say that out loud, of course.

If there are people truly like that and they just don't seem to "get it" please message me inworld i will gladly take them on a little shopping spree.

Im serious. No need for people to be unhappy in SL because they can't afford or dont know what to buy to make their avatar look "sexah".

~Lana Tomba