about a month ago, i got into second life. i feel like as i've stated i'm a fan of lapfox trax on this site, people familiar with this site will know that's why i started playing. my first avatar was my alien fursona. it turned out quite well because i learned how to use second life in about a day.
as i'm 16 (the minimum age for SL) as of writing this, i'm incredibly limited in the social aspects of the game. i cannot visit places with a maturity rating above general, and cannot view anything above general. i can talk and have friends on there, but socializing on there is very rare since no one wants to go to the general places (which is fine; most of second life's playerbase is adults, and it's completely fine for them to not want to have the chance to run into minors. having boundaries is ok.) i don't really care, i mainly use it as a dress up game anyways. my only friend on there is one of my other friends, of whom i've known since i was 13, that plays second life. i chose to not lie about my age, as 1. i had previously tried signing up for SL at 13 because "the minimum age for most places is 13, so this'll probably be no different." i did know that second life was a game, but i had no depth on it. just that it was a game. as i got older, i did hear a lot about it from my friends who did, their horror stories of tackling an apparently hard to learn piece of software, and more about the culture of the game itself (the last part was mainly from being grossly over-educated on the lore for "hell" as a place in the lapfox lore), and 2 i'm going to use the barriers put in place to keep minors safe on that platform. i am keeping myself safe online by using the protections in place for minors instead of putting myself in danger of being groomed or invading spaces for adults.
all of that yapping, for like... two pictures. anyways, one thing i've thought aout ever since i made my first avatar was "can i make my favorite characters with this?" and with the technical knowledge, yes! of course, you can buy stuff from the marketplace and go from there, but there's also making your own content to customize yourself. in the wise words of a friend, "second life is microtransactions the game", and they're absolutely correct. uploading the textures and custom models costed linden. for the sideburns and ears, just a measly L$100 since they're quite simple, small, and low poly with smooth shading turned on (i have a very limited skillset when it comes to 3d modeling of this level, and i work with what i've got...), but the hair was L$256. that's because i used a method called a tube method for the hair, and thus it's going to be higher poly than the things i made from scratch with a mere point and extrude method for modeling that is quite primative. textures can either be L$10 or L$50, depending on the resolution of the image.
so, here's some pictures of a wip NGR avatar i'll be working on for a while.
as for the body, i've chosen to use the himeko body, which is the successor to the kemono, and ideal for me because it fits the cartoonish curvy look i want to go for in my fan design (though, (i like to think, due to how i structure and shape things, as well as my fondness for thicker lines) my style is noticably more influenced by western styles of various late 90's-early 2000's shows with styles reminiscent of UPA's, and the SL body aims to emulate an eastern style.) the head is the M4 kemono.