Ethnicity & Avatars

I'll pitch in my two Lindens after reading about half this thread (much amused by the side show antics apart from the original post and genuine replies, by the way).

My own feeling is that until there is a larger percentage of ethnic skins, shapes, hair etc. available, we will see a "Caucasian" majority. Yes, there are Asian men skins and shapes, etc., but not in quantity. Exposure is key, I think.

But it's also supply and demand. If there is little demand for non Caucasian avatars, then they won't appear on the grid all that quickly. Moreover, newbies might not be aware of the availability of ethnic avatar parts because they aren't as common, so they choose what they see before them and don't give it another thought later on.

How does someone choose their avatar's appearance? There are too many reasons. Some wish to recreate their RL selves in world and others wish to create a true Second Life avatar (i.e. play God with themselves). If someone wishes to be ethnic, it is possible... with a little research and time

As a side note, I'd love to see more choices. I DO see plenty of ethnic avatars in my travels, but more choices for skins and shapes would be great.

Peace and cookies

Yep. They have a great under 30 package. And I heartily recommend them for everyone else.

ty!

I consider it a compliment that Qui was able to pick out the exact model that my "Zhan" skin was predominantly based upon . That aside, this type of skin is simply termed a "photorealistic" skin, and is just one of many types of skins (hand drawn, anime', hybrid, furry, robotic, exotic, gothic, drow, elemental, etc.) of which many fall outside the constraints of what occur naturally. I just happen to like producing skins that appear realistic be they of representational flesh, metal, or whatever.



There is definately a market for producing skins that represent who we are in RL. I think that market will expand the more we find ourselves dealing with "mixed reality".

In response to the OP - To attempt to explain the trends in diversity of avatar ethnicity inside SL is perhaps an extremely difficult (if not impossible) attempt at explaining an evolving and complex dynamic between RL/SL socioeconomic trends, technological barriers in the SL client, available RL resources (i.e. skinning reference materials for photorealistic skins), and the preferences of individuals purchasing and designing both skins and shapes. I know there are plenty of other factors I've failed to mention. Throw RL cultural crossovers into the mix as well as VR/gaming specific phenomenon, such as androids, robots, furries, vampires, zombies, elves, pixies, etc., and the task of explaining all of this becomes even more complex.

Felix von Luschan attempted to classify skin color in the early 1900's with limited success using a fairly sophisticated color chart (chromatic scale) referenced from areas of the body that recieved very limited sun exposure.



Most people using this chart found it very difficult to categorize skin color because of the varied skin tones on an individual's body (thus limiting samples to arm pits and similar areas of low sun exposure). Inside SL areas of varied pigmentation are even further complicated by the lack of realism in dynamic lighting. Most good skin designers are going to compensate for this lack of realism with thier own baked in lighting effects (simulating overhead light). Add in the fact that darker skins are going to carry far more contrast in highlighted areas (have more shine), one begins to see why designing a very dark skin is much more complex than one that falls into the lighter and more forgiving color range with subtler highlights and shadows. That may go a very small way towards explaining why there are fewer skins in SL that are of very dark skin color, but very far from explaining fully why certain ethnic backgrounds recieve less representation inside SL. That task is for someone armed with very sopisticated demographic tools, both in SL and in RL, with tons of data to back up thier conjectures.

My black skins, both male and female, are my best sellers. I think the reason you don't see many is that good dark skins are much more difficult to do, and that translates into those skins not being as readily available, because the majority of skin sellers simply don't have many (or any) dark skins.

I have several photoreal skins myself (and a couple of painted ones)

That Male Asian skin in particular struck me as very realisitic in your store.

I am pretty certain that a similar Asian female skin would sell well. As many people I have known in SL were interested in finding something like that.

I second that. I still use the freckled Aurora one from the free package! Even tho I have bought several more from that range with more...radical makeup styles.

@Chip: Whoah, these are gorgeous!!!

I'm Caucasian American in RL and chose African-American skin color immediately upon joining SL, and haven't changed. At the time I joined, I said to myself that I wanted to root out and get rid of subtle racist outlooks within myself, but with time I've come to realize it's complicated, and I don't really know the whole story of why. I think (just personally for me) dark skin is more gorgeous than white, which (just to me) kind of blinds one to its nuances, washes things out. I enjoy trying to look like my idea of gorgeous.


[Edit:] I love Chip's skins too! Thanks, Chip! (There was another one my alt has that I love, wish I could remember its name.) There are more dark skins out there than there used to be. I've run into quite a few.

Chip's work is top notch (incase anybody didn't already know). This skill is further exemplified by the series of black male skins he has released. Those type of skin highlights are much tougher to do on darker skin colors while simultaniously maintaining the illusion of good lighting inside SL.

Also, there are very limited "good" resources for skins of this color. Chip's already used most of the publicly available models I would have chosen for this. If I do any skins this dark, I'll either wait until a newer reference model becomes available, or shoot the reference for the head myself.

Oi! I lived in Wales, and I only have furry ears and a tail...in SL, I mean...er....

But I worked at uni there, and we had many "non white" students, and I've also had neighbours who couldn't be considered "Caucasian". I think these statistics are rubbish.

Thanks, Namssor You are most kind! And yeah, I really wish someone would come along to compete with the one source most of us are using, and I'm surprised that no one has. If this were more profitable I'd think about hiring models and shooting my own source, but I can't really justify the time and expense currently. I've now started to mix and match features from different sources/different models to try and avoid us all having versions of the same people (as quite a few of us do with caucasion male skins), but that cranks up the level of difficulty all the more. The last male skin you did that's currently in the gallery is jaw-droppingly great, btw. Your work is very inspiring.

wonder if that is something a art school could do ... since it would be cheaper than a professional group.

My friend (the mixed heritage one) chose one of those very skins - he looks great btw

I think anyone with the right equipment, willing models, and a willingness to run it at a loss for a while until it attracted enough subscribers, could compete pretty easily. That's why I'm surprised no one's come along to compete with 3d.sk in all the years they've been around. He's got a nice little monopoly going there! If I had studio equipment I'd seriously consider doing it myself.

If you were doing it with the idea to sell directly into Second Life,

And then after a period of time perhaps offer it for sale on a competing website for wider distribution.

Would that mitigate the loss?

Since Im assuming an art school already would have such equipment.

And of course models since nudes is something they do sketch/photograph, etc. Not to mention access plenty of college students who havent gotten old and less than gorgeous yet.

Any college art students reading - this might be a decent project for your class.

yes!! i saw those while visiting your shop! and they are goergeous! i now see why people rave about your skin skills.

This thread went from where are certain people/races in sl to advertising and hawking of skins and shops. This isn't what the op was about.

But it never fails to see this same thing happen all the time.

Count your blessings. Crass commercialism is so much more honest and healthy than Political Correctness...

Ricardo, it took me Seven months to find a DECENT Skin in my Tone, There were Several Bad ones, and i was left just Tinting another skin until i could afford to have one custom made (In RL i'm a particularly Dark skinned person of African Descent). One of the reasons people are posting places to Buy Ethnic Skins is, Finding Good ones is Half the reason you don't see them in SL.

I Agree, Doing a GOOD Black skin is Difficult, and it seems only the most Skillful Skin Artists do them Well.

Angel.

Finding the right skin has been an ongoing thing for me since the first custom skins appeared in SL. In RL, I am Black, but light. Although the av does not look like me, I've been trying to match my RL complexion. The skin in the forum av shot comes close, but not quite there. Needs to be just a little darker.



I think I read the same blog some time ago, and it was a rather nice Chip Midnight skin. Racist assholes are a universal constant and I guess SL has more than its share of them. Its easy to be hurtful from the other side of an Internet connection. It totally eliminates the risk of an epic RL ass kicking.

Talk to the clothes designers... both RL & SL are guilty for this. I increased the size of my butt and hips, and they still are not huge by any means but I've had to adjust more than one prim skirt and there were even some regular skirts that didn't fit right.

I am not offended at all by seeing Chip's (magnificent!!) work - how are people supposed to find good ethnic skins if you don't know where they are? Even so, skin is not the only issue. Shape is a huge part of it. There is a lot of conformity with the reed-thin, cartoonish look of the shapes, and it's sad - I would appreciate seeing more realistic shapes, some bootylicious but not Jessica Rabbit shapes. Stuff that reflects the range of who we are as people.

The discussion was Photo-realistic non Caucasian skins.

The fact that only a couple of skin makers make such led to the discussion.

If you know of competitors to them - I think wed love to hear about them.

And Chip and Nam are quick to compliment and help competitors work check out the textures forum.

I was dark purple elf for bit there wonder what that means. I checked out Chips skin's they were really good once I figured out the shape thing just need the money for it for my black av

Sorry, Ricardo. That wasn't my intent. As others have said, one of the primary reasons we don't see more ethnic diversity in SL is that people who don't make a career out of shopping might not know that there are options available to them that go beyond the Ken and Barbie look. My apologies if it seemed opportunistic.

Nina and Teeny, that was an article in Hamlet's blog: http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/2006/02/the_skin_youre_.html

I believe that Sl is segregated based on many different things, race being one of them. This is'nt done purposely, but people tend to polarize themselves when they come or go to a new environment(SL in this case). If your a black man or women who has had a diverse upbringing, then there is more of a chance that you will welcome diverse experiences and crowds. Without the benefit of a diverse upbringing, you may not feel comfortable around other races and ethnicities. If not, then you go with what you know.

I think the lack of other races speaks to the demographic make up of SL. It happens to be predominately White. So one can only expect to see white people the majority of the time. It was this fact that made me actively seek out Black people just to try and find what kind of presence we had in SL. We do have our own clubs and functions, however anyone can come. SL is representative of RL, different races residing on the same 3-D platform, but living in two entirely different worlds. I love social sciences.

P.S When i'm in an all white orgy room and no one wants to give me any ass, is this racism, or is it my breath?