Ethnicity & Avatars

Yep, Sideways.



Would Lexxi in a whipped cream bikini help?

I sat on the crabs, once, and they flipped over . . and walked around dragging me. I stood up and the little thingies continued to crawl around upside down. Sorry. Oops, that was at Junkyard Blues

The answer to that question is fairly easy to answer if you look at the AV's of humans. Most of them look like models. So it's clearly everyone wants to look like the people they see in the fashion magazines and ads. If you see that race and weight discrimination in the fashion business is still a big issue you have your answer.

I guess that's why Sideways keeps disappearing. Some nosy neko sits on him and he swoons....

I'll test it with the next crab that comes my way....

Most RL models are shaped like tall, slender boys, not much T&A, so that clothes hang better. Pretty faces, but often a bit androgynous because that makes them more versatile. I don't want to look like that and, aside from being too tall, my av doesn't look like that either.

Yes, I do not want to look like a real life model either. I have seen shapes that use the word "model" in the description, and they do tend to look like real life models. Then there are the shapes that use something like "Vegas showgirl" in the description . . .

I`m a samoan avatar

Ethnicity is partially a matter of shape and partially a matter of skin.

The skin market is diversifying, but to be very blunt- it's more difficult to capture the spirit of what makes the difference between Caucasian and Asian, and they're pretty much as far apart as you can be and still share the same basic skin tone ranges. It can be done- there are a lot of great Asian skins out there (in fact I seek them out for reasons I'll get to in a moment) but they can't turn an avatar Asian on their own.

The shape market is slower to diversify because a hell of a lot more people make their own shapes or heavily modify a base shape than make their own skins. Without a more stylized ethnic face, the ethnic features of the skin are lost or subdued. and without a skin to compliment, most stylized ethnic faces tend to get lost completely under a basic Caucasian skin.

Why?

Well for those of us in America (which I speak to only because it's my only experience- other countries may be more or less different) there is so much mingling between races and ethnicities that there are 2 points of identification in real life- skin tone and eye shape. The others are pretty much lost in translation because there are so many mutts out there diluting the ethnic gene pool. I've got native American and a *lot* of Russian heritage with a dash of colonial English. Realistically I look like pretty much any other Caucasian- I've got higher cheekbones than usual, straighter hair (won't hold even a small curl) and I've got a blockier bone structure than average. None of those translate well into Second Life.

It's much more rare to see folks with pure ethnic backgrounds- even my African American friends are pretty American, just one or two white or Hispanic ancestors in the pot and you'll see different facial structures, lighter skins, different eye shapes.

Capella has a somewhat unique shape. I like the Asian eye shape, but not to extremes, and she has higher cheekbones and a somewhat more pointed face. The skin I use is as Asian as a hand drawn skin tends to get- Sakura from SinSkins.... but because her features lack the purity of a full Asian heritage done stylistically, it doesn't matter. People look at her and just see standard Caucasian.

That's fine with me. I have a pretty unique face among a sea of people with longer blockier faces and pink based skins- and that's all I hoped to achieve.

You have to make a concerted effort to go beyond a standard pin up shape and a flavor of chalk-chocolate skin tones. It's more difficult to be unusual- not from reactions (I've only received favorable responses to my appearance) but from the upfront work necessary in shuffling through dozens of skin makers and shape possibilities.

Even now, my skin choice doesn't have the variety of makeups I crave. I consider myself damn lucky to have 5 choices since I refuse to compromise on the facial shading and eye detail. It'd be super easy to just go with a standard Caucasian skin with the hundreds of makeup choices and just make my shape a little more Asian- but even then most people wouldn't see the mixed background I was aiming for.

It's easy to be a part of the pack, and once you've established a shape and skin tone for your avatar- most people don't change. It can take weeks to find the shape/skin that are perfect (Please note that I've seen a hell of a lot of Asian skins and I've only found ONE that was perfect. So it's not a matter of just having any old ethnic skin thrown in front of you- people looking for ethnic skins are generally even MORE picky despite the limited selection) and by then most people just give up and go with something that's flexible.

All that plus the player base may very well be more Caucasian. It adds up.

Of course we hang out in different locales as well as our preferred clubs. The music as well as taste is different then the norm here of screaming rock music. Most are into R&B or Rap and Salsa and the clubs we frequent play these tunes as well. The atmosphere is different too as well as our style of dress.

Yes, you are right.
Maybe not a runway model, but a calendar model.

Most want to be the typical calendar or miss universe girl i guess.

Snow leopard? That is really cool!

YES!!!! We need more women in SL who are built like women! If I wanted a woman who is built like a boy, I'd get a therapist and try to work it out. Too many pipestem legs. Too many less-than-A-cups. Too many anorexic booties. Think of teh womens!

I quite enjoy being a little bootylicious

You wanna have sex now?

you just described everything my avatar is not.

Do you want sex now?

ANYONE want sex now?

Not with anyone who has to ask.

Heh, I got suckered into that one. Lots of girls in single bars like that, but it's been a while since I've been in singles bars. Guess I'm out of practice dealing with those. hmm.

lol, I'm a difficult case. Anyway, personality goes a long way... if a guy has personality, well... I'm not going to disclose what it is, but if someone hits the magic button there and chemistry rules, it's a situation where there's no asking that needs to be done Each know darned well what the answer is, so no need to ask.

Ah! You secretly yearn for a Gorean master. Ok, got it.

LOL... no. Anyone who feels the need to dominate in that manner has a weak personality in my eyes. (no offence to Goreans, but most of the guys in it suck) I don't like men who demands someone to behave in a subservient (and therefore passive aggressive) manner. It's a matter of two people who have learned to share the same mental space, and understand how the other is thinking, what makes them tick. It takes two... btw. Both have to be there. It takes a long while to get to that point.

Oh yeah, and I found it IRL already

I'm probably not wording it as well as I'd like, because I understand what goes on in the BDSM mindset of a lot of folks. No offence to folks intended.

laughs at the response . ..