The Behavior of a Member Changes his Avatar Features

I thought it might be fun to be able to create group areas in Second life where the physical features and abilities of each avatar are affected by that person's behavior as judged by the other members in that particular group. In other words, just like any social clique in real life, you have more and less popular members of the group with the more popular members enjoying greater influence, more respect, better benefits etc. Well in Second Life you can't really affect another member's experience or avatar, which is good because SL is all about individuality. However, it might be fun as an alternative in select areas if you could create a closer and more interactive group dynamic by being able to have an influence on the experience of the other members - but only while they are in that particular area.

Once you walked into that area, you could no longer change the physical features of your avatar. They would be automatically changed by the program running in that area. If you are well liked among the other members, then your avatar may appear a little larger, the words you type on the screen may be bigger and more colorful, or perhaps you can see or experience things that are hidden to other members. If you constantly harass other members, then your avatar may reduce in size, and the words that you type might appear in a smaller font to others. Perhaps you are restricted from flying or you can no longer listen to the music that is playing in that area.

The ways that you gain status in each group would be based purely upon the principles of the group itself. If the group applauded sacrifice and charity, for instance, then the individuals who were bestowed the most benefits in that group would also be the most giving as well.

Opinions might be tracked by small sliding indicators in each of several categories for the other members of the group. For instance, a well respected member of a group may raise your "Coolness" factor which would in turn make your avatar a little bigger and the color of your avatar a little brighter. Other members could see that and know that your status has changed.

Once your avatar left these areas, though, it would be fully changed back to the standard Second Life format where it would have all the characteristics that you select for it and all options open to it.

This may be something that could be created by a programmer in his/her own plot of land or it may be something that has to be done by Linden Labs, I don't know. In fact it may not even be something that is practical to do at this point, but I thought I'd at least throw it out there.

Sorry for the long ass post.

not likely to be possible so far as Linden Labs forbid any unwanted tampering of other people's avatars/balance/inventory

And do you really think LL can pull something off like that? Another feature? Hahahahaha.......with inventory problems, TPing problems, prims jumping around, textures not taking. And you want a new feature? Surely you are joking.

I don't care what other people think.
Oops, there, all my Gold Stars and Black Dots just fell off. :0

I like that last post . I didn't think about policies against tampering with others avatars. However, I would think that LL would allow an exception if each and every person entering an area was fully aware of what was going on and consented to it. Maybe not, I don't know. LL does have a lot on their plate so maybe this kind of seed change to the programming of SL isn't likely or even possible at this point. I do think some kind of group experience where you could affect the experience of other members would be a lot of fun though.

Ahh cliques. Brings back such wonderful memories of highschool. I think I would be permanantly shrunken with a 2 pixel font.

That is the most disgusting thing I've ever read. Might be nice to show who's a griefer yeah, but that whole thing just reeks of (like someone said above) cliques and popular people and everyone boosting their egos "Look how cool I am, look at my status, look at you miserable unpopular person down there, nyah, nyah"

I hope it never is able to happen. Thank goodness we all can be who we choose to be in SL and not subject to the whims of people who think they're better than us.

This attitude makes me sick.

well, to be serious, he did say that this effect would only apply in certain areas (and one asusmes, be reversed the minute one steps away from the area). I know an inordinate number of tribes (sex RP'ers, combat types, magic RPers, etc) who desperately want the "mess with my av" restrictions lifted, and this is just another request for that coming in from a slightly different angle.

You can actually achieve what he wants with a very simple thing anyway: New Orleans style mardi gras bead necklaces. Make a copyable bead necklace; when you give it to someone, they wear it. The person with the most bead necklaces is obviously, the most popular in that particular context.

(I do entirely agree with those who say it's a crude and blunt instrument with almost unlimited opportunities for spite - but so long as it's not a universal thing all across SL, what's the problem?)

Again, to be fair: there's a LOT of players who invest proper money in the sexiest av they can build, whose entire in-game purpose is to deliver precisely the kind of rebuff you describe, to anyone who approaches them. It's a way of playing,and one assumes they get something from it...