Once a ______ Always a ______

This just came up in a Slashdot story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin

Your great^4th grandfather was a leatherworker and lived in a Buraku district? That's apparently going to limit your job prospects in modern Japan if it ever comes out.

People will often imprint upon another individual based on that individual's appearance at the time of their first meeting. After a few interactions and encounters, one can get a sense of what the other individual is about (i.e. neko, gorean, vampire, human, fur, whatever). But should a person assume that the individual in question will always be that way?

I was human for probably 6 months before I decided to explore my fursonae. I spend about 75% of my time as fox and 25% of my time as human. The people I am with often affect which avatar I become, but left to my own devices, usually I'm fox.

Some people never change and others change all the time. Yet others simply transition from one state of being to another. Why does it matter to anyone but each individual? Because SL is very visually based, we cannot help but make certain assumptions.

My only wish is that these assumptions would be tempered with an open mind. I was recently in the market for a new 18th Century wig (for my new fox avatar). I had thought I found the perfect one but the creator, after being surprised that a fur would wear an 18th century wig, informed me that his wigs were no mod and he saw no reason to make them mod. I could resize with the script. ... ... ... No, I'm a fur, and my head is not human shaped and therefore resizing will not help me and it certainly won't earn the creator any Lindens.

It's most unfortunate that people cling to preconceived notions and refuse to even accept anything other than what they believe. While we may not choose to spend time with (insert whatever group here), it's rather daft to take a prejudicial stance based on appearance or projection – especially in a virtual environment. Today’s skateboard punk may be tomorrow’s prim and proper Victorian. SL is about exploration of self and environment. It’s an ever-shifting universe, and so are many of us.

The real truth, if one must find it, is within… it is with repetition of behaviour over time. A truly vile person can just easily project themselves as a fine gentleman and stroll around Caledon, but eventually, that inner behaviour will be discovered. And we all know how quickly gossip can spread.

Appearances are deceiving but behaviour patterns are not.

^ This.

My first av was just a male human av for a long period of time. Then, as I started to get more into business with Ty, the other av kinda only logged on periodically (typically to drop more L$ in the monthly tier box). When I decided to dig the old av out and get on more frequently, I also fixed him up as an anthro equine. You'd think the world had ended for all my old friends. The joking comments from the guys, and especially the IMs from the females, finally persuaded me to change him back to a regular human (I know, in SL there probably isn't a regular human).

Anyway, Ty is on 99% of the time, and my original is on again just to pay rent and to occasionally go dance with the wife (as a human male).

Though I normally have not been one to shapeshift, preferring to cast additional roles in the form of alts, you'll often now find Ty running around as either the original male human that I created him as (and typically use in most business dealings), a Clydesdale horse, or any number of other avs I've been collecting as of late. I guess that element of "what's he going to show up as next" kinda makes Ty accepted regardless. hrug:

PS - I think mermaids (and mermen?) should be able to adopt a child av, furry or whatever. It is adoption, and not childbirth, after all.

You can't even take responsibility for the kittens! For shame...


BTW: Do mermaids give live birth? Or do they spawn?

That saddens me to hear, actually. On the other hand, it is definitely a good test of friendship and could be used as a method to determine whether or not those friends truly are compatible with you. This is not to say we should all get along, but a "friend" should be supportive.

Tegg will always be a roo, he wasn't always but he has settled now. I find it easier to shift in different circles using alts with different avatars. And I use the appropriate aatar if I'm going somewhere that is "specialised" otherwise the rest of SL is free for all as far as I'm concerned. But I have no problems with others changing avatars/sex etc. If it's a RP area I treat them as the shape they are now. otherwise it just makes me uncertain of their personality, so I treat them in a neutral fashion.
I know friends by personality, not their appearance

Wish I remember although I'm somehow thinking it was live birth. One of my alts went to a mermaid sim once and they had a book on the lifespan of a mermaid. Very well written, informative and beautifully detailed (for fiction of course). Who knows, I might have it in my alts inventory for all I know, I should check that out.

Mermaids lay eggs.

(I do not actually know; I did just learn, though, that there is a very rare condition where a person is born with reduced gentilla and fused legs. They tend to die shortly after birth. As per wiki. Which can very well be wrong. Like one time I saw an actor listed as having died before she was born)

I have just the one avatar, and no alts. That's enough for me.

oh, since I said something in this thread, I should comment, eh?


Mistress turned into a cute cuddly neko in front of my eyes. I meowed and purred loudly. Course Mistress was adult naked neko, not pink frilly child neko.

Mermaids are mammals.



Well, I guess they could be monotremes. Sure doesn't look like a platypus, though.

What, they both have tails and really like the water (and thoses noses look suspiciously beak like).

/me thinks of all the hubbub she caused with an adult avvie in this forum April of 07.

Hmmmm....

I have one avatar, and she's probably never looked the same twice. But, I stick with human female ONLY because it's who I am.....and I was never interested in RP or any kind of alternate life style in SL. And.....I do a lot of creative stuff based on the human female.....from my SL photography to making shapes, to now making skins. It's something I enjoy as an artist. But......I don't 'relate' to avatar personally, I see her as more of a tool that I use.....and I am always me.

In terms of other avatars......I do not, nor will I ever 'type' another person based on their avatar. I have friends who morph their avatar all the time......I have gay friends, I have friends of different races and religeons..... I have transgender friends and I have friends whom I have really no clue who they are. LOL And every dam one of em is equal in my eyes because they have a soul, and that's pretty much all I care about. What happens in SL......is really only the smallest indication of who a person is. And why they have chosen to run around a virtual world as a furry or a dragon or a wolf or a kid.....whether or not I personally understand it, is not the issue.....I absolutely accept it.

I have never met someone in SL.......and had kind of reaction based on their avatar appearance, except maybe, hey that's cool. I just don't equate the human with the avatar. After a few conversations......then I have a feel for the soul.....and that's all I'm really talking to, the person that I know is there.

When my brother made the decision to finally check out SL......I was freaked out, and so psyched. My brother is a loner like me.....but he's also a gifted artist/musician with a very intense personality and perfect eye contact when he speaks to you. He's a very good looking guy too, and charming. Like me, he hates crowds, but he's near genius in intelligence and quite sensitive and passionate about the issues he believes in. You'd never KNOW he was a loner if you met him.
The reason I'm going on about my bro is because I've known my big brother for 41 of his 46 years.....of anyone in my family....he and I probably the most alike. So......I was absolutely caught off guard, when he talked about maybe being something other then human in SL.....like maybe a tiger. (when he was little he wanted to be a "tigo" when he grew up lol) It never even occurred to me that MY brother would be anything but a dude avatar. So.....WHY would I ever pass judgement or lay any kind of expectation on a STRANGER....based on their avatar.

*remembers and laughs. She was very pretty too.

That would depend if they're cetacean-based mermaids or fish-based. Logic (such as logic can be when talking about a fantasy creature) suggests to me that a mermaid would need to be warm-blooded, since the human half is mammalian and I doubt it's possible to mix warm & cold-blooded physiology. Therefore I'd be inclined to think that mermaids are more likely to be half cetacean, and therefore give birth to live young as dolphins and whales do.

/end of today's "Care of Magical Creatures" class.

Um, prof Lewis? I volunteer to help the mermaids with their suntan lotion.

(dolphins burn easy, and it's so hard for them to oil their tails...)

^ Pshaw. Everyone knows that's where the BEST caviar comes from. ^

I've seen a Neko family before. A female neko was wandering around a store with her neko toddler.