Looking to interview African-American players

I assume you meant this ironically? 'Cuz you know it sounds offensive...!

Hey, Jennyfur! Thanks!

Yeah, I know some people just want to argue. No matter.

Thank you!

Just my L$0.02,

I've had a black avatar in SL for well over a year. OK, granted I'm not exactly well known, but I'm not invisible either. And if you call me African-American, I'll be more than insulted since I'm neither... except insomuch as maybe we're all African...

That's a lovely skin. Brace, I may request to use a pic of your av -- if it's okay with you!

No real argument about it. All humans are descended from African ancestors if you go back far enough.

(Let's see if we can add a good creation/evolution debate to a thread about race.)

Oh no they don't!



and yes, I was being silly earlier.

...which is such a big change from your usual deep and thought provoking posts.

All my posts are deep! Especially after a moderator has seen them. Deep in the Sandbox.

Two people who I'd say make nice african american skins are nora and celestial designs. I'm sure there are others as well....

What shade of tan caucasian you want to be is right...I usually buy the darkest skin tone available at skin stores, but the people who everyone is calling white in this discussion is the same color I am )

As a designer, I like my models to have a different array of skin colors, and I noticed people coming to me wanted to model were all the same shade...that I'm a beach bunny or...I am from Brazil type look. One avatar approached me with a vanilla mikly complexion and I snatched her up so fast...She didnt get what I meant when I said I was happy to see an avatar like her, but I think you do, poster.

Check out Gala Pheonix. She makes great pale skins.

Yep! You can click around the "LIBRARY" section of your inventory to see what new residents are born with; full avatars, various objects, and so forth.

Regards,

-Flip

I'm not Aboriginal, but from what I know, "Aboriginal" is preferred over "Aborigines", but I think it's their tribal names they identify with more. In my state, it's mostly Nungas, in NSW and Victoria they're Kooris, I can't remember other states.

ok, a few more insights...

(OP: Feel free to use any of this and earlier posts in your research)

- There is a dark skinned avatar in the default freebies given to new players, but a) this isn't made clear to new players (I wasn't aware I had beengiven more than one avatar skin at the start until several weeks after I started), and b) It isn't really a truly black avatar skin anyway. It's what I'd consider a half-caste. With appropriate changes to body shape, it could be quite appropriate for an Asian-Indian (hyphenation here is for clarity, as the OP is presumably from the USA, and I am not refering to to native Americans here) avatar.

- I find the whole hyphenation-American thing rather silly, as I think do most English speakers not from North America. As others have stated, not all African-Americans are black, and not all blacks are African-American. There's prejudice against both groups, and some overlap, but they aren't the same. fwiw, the US census considers you black if at least one parent has identified as black, regardless of other ethnicities in your mix.

- Having done some searching for black avatars, I have found one, by Chip Midnight, that actually looks like a black skinned person. Most dark skinned avatars are taken by adjusting the base skin tone on an otherwise caucasian avatar, but there are significant differences in face detail which this technique ignores. There may be more black avatars around, but I haven't seen any.

- I am actually in the early planning stages of making a line of newbie avatar shape/skin combos to feature ethnicities from around the world. This is partly because I have gotten very bored seeing so many avatars look almost the same. I don't really have anything to show as yet though. The plan is basically to sell them for 1 linden, and use only the tools available to a newbie (sliders and shading basically). The plan is to give newbies a selection of bases on which to make their own identity.

Not really. She is still considered South African, although she does reside in Los Angeles these days.



The thing is, the common usage of the term "African-American" DOES normally refer to someone of the black race, who is an American, even though technically that may not be accurate.

P2

For what it's worth: I'm mixed black/white in real life, and wanted my avatar to look similar, so I started out making my skin tone pretty close to 50-50 between light and dark. When I decided to shop for a skin, I found several with dark tones but they all had far too much makeup for my taste, and I wanted something with, shall we say, more subtle genitalia. Plus, being a newbie I didn't have >$L3000 for a skin and I wanted to see how far I could get without spending more US$.

I finally found an inexpensive skin that met my makeup and genitalia criteria, but it was not as dark as I would have liked. I will still shop around to get a darker skin color that doesn't just make me look like a "white person with a tan", though. I do wish more skinners would have no- or very-light-makeup options for those of us who would just like the realism of a skin; maybe I should have chosen a male avatar!

In any case I've seen several attractive darker-skinned avatars. I like that in SL you can be whatever color, gender, or species you like and change both your mind and appearance at any time.

I know it's been said before but the skin based on a black woman from CMFF is one of the most beautiful and realistic skins I've ever seen in SL.

Typical forums! Why would people get so upset and self righteous at labels? If we didn't label things how would we communicate what we mean to others!!? The original poster wants to talk to certain people, what would you have her do? Ask for humans with DNA code XXXX.....?

I think it's safe to say they're arguing for argument sake )

Yeah I'm black would be nice to meet a black girl that's over 21 and not lesbian.

Agreed! There's a certain line of skins that I really like -- though the pale skin is, as always, not the right color -- but even the lighter makeup options are something I'd wear out in the evening RL. Another skin I've got (which I don't really like, or like at all) was labeled as having natural lips, but they're so heavily shaded it looks like the avatar is wearing shiny pink lipstick. And another "natural" skin I've got is clearly wearing eyeliner. Skinners, please! Some of us just want to get rid of the Linden skin with its horrible eyebrows and weird blotchy spots.

Hey, Blazingsonic Tank Would you be willing to help me by sharing your opinions on your experiences?

Quote:
Originally Posted by PetGirl Bergman
I have been in SL for more than one year.. flying around a lot... meeting many avas.. (persons humans)

Plus many animals.. and ONE very short green man.. in a KILT!

I have ONLY seen ONE black skinned ava,.,, BUT I have not seen any ”yellow” or ”brown” or...

Wonder why....

/Tina - EXAKT TGIF

I happen to be of Native descent..Cherokee to be exact and I have found a good skin from nomine that fits my real skin color with a more red to it then others use. A new and upcoming skinner has made one that is extremely close to that one and has good abs, so now I have 2 choices of awesome skins. She is also working on skin tones ranging from drow all the way to the black skins. Hopefully these will give all what they want. So far so good.

I am not sure what to make of this thread. I am a black American male who has been in SL quite awhile so please let me share a few things. First of all some of the posts in this thread don't have anything to do with the original post. I see a lot of attempts to sidetrack the original intent of the poster.

Secondly I have not been discriminated against and yes I have a black av thanks to a fine skin I bought at Nomine. I keep mostly to myself so I doubt if many of you have seen me despite me being here for one+ years.

There is a problem with SL culture though. I go to a club and I see stereotyped behavior based on what I can only assume is what white people think how black people talk and act. Not all of us wear pimp hats and talk trash all day long. When I see a pimp and ho event I shudder and think "what are these people thinking of?"

If you don't know what I am referring to I am sorry.

It appears that it is much easier for people to post new sarcastic threads and to state that they are Native American than to deal with what it is like to be be a black person in Second Life.

I know exactly what you mean, Tommy.

I saw your IM, by the way. I don't know if you got my response (I was away when you sent it to me and then when I got back the sim I was on crashed), but I'd love to get your opinions. Please IM me again or send me a private message. Thanks!

I could be wrong (however I highly doubt that I am) but it appears that some people are misunderstanding what Starax is meaning here...

If you look back a bit you'll see that he first said this...

and then Cottonteil Muromachi said this in what I believe to be a non racist AND a non sarcastic tone...

So if you put it all into context and keep in mind that Starax can be/is a major smart ass, you'll see that by no means did he mean anything in regards to trapping black PEOPLE but was instead referring to his prior (sarcastic) comment about his "african-american-african-english gerbil" in which I believe he was pointing out how rediculous it is to refer to people in similar ways while also trying to add some humor to this thread. Let's try to stay on track and not misunderstand each other. Take the time to understand what someone means BEFORE you go shouting racism. Also think about this...(and this is just my opinion based on observation) one of the biggest causes of racism is ignorance, ie: not understanding something.

The defense rests, heh (yes, this last four word statement is sarcastic, but the rest of my post is NOT)

... and not a bloke!