Does appearance matter??

Men's clothes!?! Yay! *hugs you*

I think it depends on how personally involved the av is in marketing. If Dave Thomas (rest his soul) had looked less like an avuncular gnome and more like my bitter old toothless grandfather (rest his soul), then Wendy's would have been advertising with a chihuahua.

If you're rarely in the store anyway, how you look is inconsequential. But if you sit there and chat up the customers, you'll have better luck with an av that is in line with your customers' expectations.

But note if you look too straight-laced and you're trying to peddle something funky, that's as bad (or worse) than somebody "alternative" trying to sell mainstream goods.

On the other hand, if you're willing to forgo sales and want to prove the shallowness of surface appearance, ROCK ON! Thumbing your nose at convention may not make you a giant of capitalism, but giants of capitalism can't get a good night's sleep anyway.

Heh... shhh, I'm not trying to hijack the thread, really... I was just pointing out that, while I can be sort of snide about common marketing practices, I, too, am in the SL selling/marketing fray along with everybody else. In an ideal world, we'd all find what we want and need with the greatest of ease. In RL, and now in SL, you have to hunt for what you want, and the best marketed and advertised products are what we find, not necessarily the best product itself. *shrug*

I agree about the conformity aspect, yeah it is dull to see clones around, but the 'cheap hooker' thing makes me think.

Having a love for psychology and having made carefull observations on the female mind I can say that most females have a naughty side that can be harmlessly exhibited in SL.

Females seek attention, it's natural, if they ran and hid all the time we may not have enough children around for a diverse gene pool. How many times have you seen little girls embarass their parents by lifting their dresses up in public? I think it is a hardwired subconcious edict within all female minds to show themselves off.

and while I have yet to ever see a hooker, cheap or expensive, I don't think it makes you 'sleezy' to buy something from someone in SL who dresses like that, or even if you wear the same clothes as someone you might consider undesirable, the concept of shame connected with sexuality is something that is taught to us not the way nature designed us.

People would really not at least browse a person's selection in SL based purely on how that person appears? Ack! This is a land in which anything goes, specially appearance-wise. Hell..I'd browse a tuxedo selection happily, even if the proprieter was wearing a tuxedo t-shirt (which i happen to hate).

I'd buy fine jewelry from a female av covered in bling. I'd buy a car from the greasiest mechanic-looking av around. I base my purchases on their own merit, and what
i've heard of the integrity of the maker and the quality of the items.

Deathwish much?

But seriously, how are females any different than males in this regard? You've never seen anybody preen until you've seen a man preen. If it weren't for male preening, no RL three-piece suit would ever sell for more than $60. Why do three-bladed razors sell for more than one- or two-? Why was there ever a hairstyle known as a ducktail? What was with those gawdawful white polyester suits? Why did Miami Vice ever air on national TV?

Pardon my daily wild tangent. Carry on.

Certainly appearence matters in SL, but to a somewhat different degree than in RL. I noticed this myself.. When I first joined SL, my first avatar was based off of a RolePlay character of mine.. Tall, muscular humanish-type with foxy ears and tail(but coloured black, gray, andpurple). I'd noticed that in crowds, as in RL, I was easily ignored. The, I switched to a custom-made av.. Small, cute, furry, but sad in appearence, to have reflected my typical mood. And strangely, that av seemed to be more noticible to people, in particular those who try to figure out what species furry it is(Kewlip, an imaginary mish-mash of animals). ^.^ Also, how one writes, in this world, can also affect how one is treated.

It's not a matter of shame regarding sexuality, it's simply a different idea of what's sexy. I don't find cheap-looking to be sexy. It's a matter of style preference. It's the same as choosing Victoria's Secret over Retail Slut, or vice versa. They project different images, and their sales associates do as well. You usually won't see tattoos, hickies and the coy hint of pubes in a Victoria's ad, but those might be part of what sells an item at Retail Slut. (For those unfamiliar, Retail Slut is where most of the wardrobe for Kelly Bundy was purchased or inspired by.) One is no more or less 'shameful' than the other, but they're notably different.

I agree and would venture to guess that it goes back to the instinctual mating rituals. The female preens and shakes her tail feathers and fluffs herself up to attract the strongest male's attention, while the males show off their manly prowless and try to intimidate or kick butt on the other males so that he can have his pick of the females.

It really bothers and/or amuses me whan a woman dresses to show ALOT of skin, legs, cleavage, etc, and then acts offended if guys looks at those areas.

good answer my friend, you clarified your point without taking offence at my response that was based on my interpretation of the words you used.

I fully concur with you, there are different versions of sexy and you have a right to find the one that works for you and shop at the places that are your style.

SL can be bizarre sometimes. How would you like my sliders today? Do I conform to your culture's ideas of beauty?

Do I look shaggable? Will you buy more of my stuff?

We have some of the shallower elements of Anglo-Saxon culture here. Sad isn't it?

A few weeks ago I met a guy in SL who was kind of overweight, looked like he had a bad toupee, wearing a plain white t-shirt, etc. And I caught myself thinking, "why would anyone *choose* to look like that?" He was new, and said so, but he obviously chose to make himself look that way, because he was nowhere near the default settings on the sliders.

Then again, why not? My av looks pretty much like me in RL: kinda thin, no makeup, a few "laugh lines," graying brown hair, glasses, loose t-shirt and plain jeans (not the low-cut kind). Maybe people look at me and wonder the same thing... why do I choose to look like that, when I could make myself look so much more glamorous or flashy or sexy or whatever? I can't say I don't care how I look. I spent a fair amount of time customizing my av. So I guess I believe that in SL, just as in RL, people tend to react to others based on appearance, and maybe I wanted the predictable sorts of reactions I get to my appearance in RL. (Let's just say that few people I meet in RL are surprised to learn I'm a vegetarian. )

A couple of times I've encountered people with demonic or vampiric looking avatars, and I have to admit I've been somewhat reluctant to strike up a conversation. But the few people who've been rude to me have not been those with the most outré appearance. I end up feeling guilty to have been shallow enough to presume personality based on appearance. But this is a world in which appearance can be completely dictated by personality. I guess the problem is, we don't all intend or interpret appearance the same way.

neko

haha! yeah, which adds creedence to my theory that exhibitionist behavior in females is subconciously directed, but it seems soooo obvious to males haha!!

and to be fair, there are probably things that males do on a regular basis that make females annoyed/amused that are subconciously directed, not that I care so much about that! *checks spaghetti stain on white 'wife-beater' shirt*

You can't pin it on simply Anglo-Saxon culture. Visual cues and how to react is hardwired in all of us. Deny it all you like, but it's true.

To me it's ludicrous to pretend it doesn't matter when it's so very basic to human ... no, to animal nature.

True, because we're humans and can think and use credit cards, we take it to ridiculous lengths, creating generational fads about minute differences and nuances in looks. But all this does is build on the framework nature (or god if you go that nonsense) gave us.

To make a comment on the fact that everyone else looks like Barbie?

You started with "most females" but then drifted to "Females" and then to "all female minds." Bit of an overgeneralization there, don't you think? Or was this just a bit of bait to see whose feathers you could ruffle?

neko

One of the people I met during my first couple weeks in Second Life interested me due to his AV. Overweight, white haired, haggard looking, clad in a pink t-shirt and matching shorties with pink bunny slippers on, and swigging on some vodka. He was different, interesting, and extremely humorous. His personality fit his avatar, even though I realized later his RL appearance was the opposite. Also very intelligent, and very in touch with why people feel the need to be as sexy as they possibly can in SL. I had some great conversations with him, and I would have been poorer for having ignored him due to his unattractive (in the sexual sense) appearance.

Some people have a lot more to offer than T & A, and I wonder how often they get the chance.

Didn't seem like he'd been around long enough to react that way, based on the short conversation we had, but sure, maybe.

neko

So if you are beautiful in RL should you make an ugly avatar just so your pixels don't appear shallow?

This is true to a point... when I'm buying clothes, I want to look pretty in them. An attractive model in the clothes display is almost universally assumed.

But... for Mr. P (and I have bought items from him in the past, and probably will do so in the future), I don't think it matters at all. I've seen some fierce looking avs, and some prissy, angelic looking avs... and I've noticed absolutely no corellation between how they looked and how big an asshat they were. As such, I pay no heed to what the avatar of the person I wish to buy things from looks like, as it is irrellevant to my purchase.

Now, an interesting-looking av does make me think that the person might be interesting. Avs that seem purposely designed to provoke others (by being exceptionally gross, offensive, etc), though... those make me wary of the person wearing them.

Yes, simple isn't it?

If I am shopping somewhere and the store owner is helpful, nice and has good merchandise then that's good enough for me. If they are a good conversationalist and interesting, they usually end up with my ongoing product loyalty and often my friendship. In both SL and RL.


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Being beautiful doesn't make you shallow. Reacting poorly to those who aren't beautiful, and judging them solely on that, does.

In any arena, appearance is very important. What you wear and how you communicate tells the world a lot about your priorities, your personality, your tastes, your financial means, and on and on. It's a reality.

Now, myself, I sell robots. My avatar is based on JC Denton, with some considerations taken from my real-life face (feel free to compare first and second life tabs in my profile). My eyes are light objects with fogged pupils, my skin is riddled with subdermal nano-augmentation, I have an occiptal interface just below my hairline... I'd say my cyberpunky appearance resonates very closely with the type of product I sell, and thus with my customer base. There's a certain credibility there, as a result.

Now, imagine a wholesome, bespectacled grandmother avatar with a ball of yarn attached to her right hand and a pie attached to her left. Think she's going to sell many robots?

I started out trying to make my avatar look like me, luckily I actually look like a tattooed spikey haired punk rocker in RL so it was pretty easy but after trying a female avi, to pose infront of my paintings for snapshots and to interview people and save movies of I found I was having more fun not being me and kinda see my avi as decoration for what I see rather than an extention of me. It's so cool that we have this freedom!!!