Just Say No to Gacha, and few more gripes from CC McCrankyPants

Just Say No to Gacha!

Why?

Because while it was originally created as a fun inexpensive thing based on Japanese toy/collectable-in-a-capsule vending machines, it's turned into just another customer un-friendly marketing tool that is akin to gambling.

Think about it, while you can trade your gacha items, how many turns of the wheel do you have to do to get what you want?  And how much would that thing have cost you if you had just bought it in a store?  When I want something, I want what I want when I want it, which is usually...NOW.  I don't want to have to put 1500L$ into a machine to get something I'd only pay 350 for.  I don't want to have to wait for a trade so that I "might" get what I really want.  I want it now.  Not later, now, and at a fair price....now.  I don't want to have to go to a lag heavy region and wait for a machine, I just want to go in, and get what I want...perhaps even WHILE shopping on marketplace at the same time. Yes, I'm one of those people who have actually paid full price for items that were in Lucky Chairs...because I didn't want to have to wait.

And this isn't the only issue.  There's another of Gacha only items.  Meaning if you don't go there, you can't get it at all, not even if you wait.  I consider that, downright contemptible.  Sure I can accept some waiting period, but I want to be able to buy the gacha item in the store without having to put up with gacha to get it.  I'm willing to pay a fair price for it.

And don't get me started on every designer and their pet KittyCat starting up their own C88 style clique and doing their own monthly location based event.  Sometimes with the evil that is event only items, which the organizers tell the designers to use to get people to come to the events rather than just shopping at the stores.

And Hunts!  I'm one of those people who think Designers that participate in hunts should put the hunt item in the front of the store in a box  you can buy...just as an option for those who just want to get in, pay a little something for it, get the item and get out.

Look...Designers you have got to stop doing this.  These events don't really help you or the consumers, they just fill the pockets of the organizers.  I know they're one of the forms of marketing that work in SL, but you need to figure out something better.

Notes on the Outfit:

I wanted an Adolfo-ish Nancy Reagan-esque outfit, so I settled on the Steffen Garcia: Blair. The skirt is shorter than Nancy or most Political Wives would wear, but otherwise it has that whole "lady who lunches/Political Wife Sex Kitten thing going on.  It looks classic, but it also has sex appeal.

The skirt's rigged a bit too slim so it looks funny when you walk, the alpha and skirt rigging need some tweaks. Hopefully the designer will do an updated version.  It comes in several colors.

Hair is Truth Colbie, which is my go-to hair for that tailored elegance/anchorwoman bob look. Skin is my usual Belleza, Jewellery is the Michelle Pearl set from Yummy. (Which makes perfect sense with the outfit). Shoes are the Hucci Glynco's.

SLURL's:

Steffen Garcia/Faenzo on Marketplace

Belleza skins

IKON eyes

Truth Hair

Yummy Accessories

Hucci

Sometimes I just want to smack the oldbie crank commenters on NWN.

Really. @#$# oldbie cranks with axes to grind! What's funny is that I'm one of them too!

NWN Deathwatch post on Firefly RP sim

RP sim's aren't viable long term, no, not even with cheaper tier some of the oldbie cranks go on about, because when they lose their "funding angel" they go down it's that simple. They simply DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES RP groups really ought to start charging fees to enter their land and fees to support their groups, donations aren't going to cut it if the "funding angel" has a bad year and needs to cut back or gets bored with SL, or annoyed with the Drama of RP groups. The tools do support access fees you know.

Let me quote Iggy here:

It's one sim. But that is how it starts. If LL loses its RPers, its over. They've already lost the business world. The educators and nonprofits are seeping away.

Oh Iggy, the hardcore RP community in SL is miniscule. the clubgoing howlzers outnumber them 10 to 1 at least, even in the old days hardcore RP was a niche.

For all the fashionista angst over mesh doo-dads and the right eyeshadow, I'd wager that there's not enough XXX and play-Barbie customer base out there to keep the Lab open.

Oh Iggy, you're like those Slashdotters that think everyone thinks like them and wants to spend lots of time tweaking/building and messing with computers rather than just buying something that works without fiddling. You know the ones, who t hink that because their nerd games like Eve Online are 90% male, that SL is as well. They're the ones who keep that "there are no women on the internet" meme going.

But, Iggy, The Barbie girls...they outnumber you and the people like you by a HUGE margin. Haven't you SEEN the HUGE number of SL fashion blogs? Do you not realize that avatar appearance enhancements, drive the SL economy? In other words, the Fashionistas basically run SL behind the scenes. They have for quite a while now. They're the ones spending the money. Skin Fair? Hair Fair? Sin Fair? Fashion for Life? Vintage Fair? Fantasy Fair?

There's tons of old fashionista centric regions STILL going strong. Because unlike college students popping into SL for a class project, or Open source obsessed nerds who buy their furry avatar to make a statement against the "Barbies" (and also say how they didn't have to pay for their furry form on opensim because it was "free") and then spend the rest of the time building Battlemechs or starfighters in sandboxes, fashionfolk spend money. A LOT of money. Look, Iggy, read these posts by Salome Strangelove, that'll help you understand I think:

Post about being a girloholic

about misogyny and denigration of fashion play

The real reason some of the cranks exist is...the hardcore builder/scripter nerds aren't the center of SL anymore, LL doesn't need to cater to them like it used to. I'm lucky, while I'm a nerd, being a fashionista means that I don't feel as alienated from modern SL culture as folks like Orca Flotta or Shockwave Yareach or foneco Zuzu seem to be. Once there were quick build contests, and everyone driving around in vehicles, and hanging out in the nerdy places the "builder/scripter" crowd enjoyed. But not anymore. Now there's voice, not just text and there's a horde of 25-45 year old women going around SL, and they tend to not go to Aerodromes or space museums.

I think that folks like Orca, Shockwave, etc, kind of feel betrayed, like SL turned it's back on them...they helped build it, they were the pioneers and now it's "fine fine, you helped kickstart SL, but we don't need you so much anymore, now shut up about sim crossings, only the cult of the vehicle and a few steamlanders really care about that, everyone else TP's everywhere so it's not our #1 priority so just be quiet and go back to fiddling with your vehicles in your vanity sims that you basically use as sandboxes." You can see it in how Orca and the others talk about "The masses" and how they feel ignored. They don't want new users...they want to go back the way it was, when people like them were a larger portion of the SL userbase.

But deep down they know SL needs new users and they resent it, and it makes them oldbie cranks...grid love em. Now they spend a lot of time bragging up opensim...which is nerd centric like the old SL...not very many Barbies at all there. But what they don't understand is that the most important part of SL isn't the prims or the scripting or all the things the builder/scripter crowd holds up as the greatest things in the universe....it's the people. And opensim is going nowhere without people. Sure the nerds love it, but it's not going to grow beyond them, and the educators who want a cheap region to bring a few students in, without the Barbies those people dislike. No currency, no shoes, no people, it's that simple. And while there are some opensim based worlds that DO have currency, why would I go to one of those Tiny little markets when SL is so HUGE. Those places are just SL...without the community. They're going nowhere, because ultimately, they depend so much on SL that they ARE SL, under different names. They're SL for people who want to say "Fuck You" to LL for various reasons (too many barbies, region pricing, ignoring sim crossings), without actually giving up SL.

So there you have it, a rant from an oldbie crank...ME, about OTHER oldbie cranks. I understand "why" they write what they do, and I feel for them, even if I don't agree with them.

By the way, Pussycat Catnap is easily the most commonsensical voice of reason commenter on NWN these days. Well worth reading.

Undercover Tableau Girl

You've seen them, we all have. At Mon Tissu and Tres Blah in Lula, FD, and Clawtooth in Tableau. I've always called them "Tableau Girls"







Where did they come from?

The shapes of the original "Tableau Girl" designers, that's what. Google search for Nylon Pinckney and Elka Lahane for example. The shoppers saw the shapes in the displays and pretty much adopted them themselves. Originally it was somewhat honest smart-alecky reaction to the more traditional barbie-ish glamour girl avatars and styles, a la Dazzle and other cocktail/party/formal designers, since the Tableau crowd did mostly hand drawn casuals at that time.

But now.....lets admit it, it's become something of a parody of itself and has somewhat taken over. I was there at Tres Blah last week during a sale....and I overdosed on Oracul Maidenly, sourpuss faces, and thighs so far apart you can drive a truck through. Avatars that don't look "pretty" but like nicotine addicted 12 year olds wearing their 22 year old sisters clothes and makeup.

Yes, I know I shouldn't judge, but I like seeing pretty, and seeing some Tableau girls overly photoshopped, gaussian blurred and shadowed pics makes it hard to see the actual quality of the stuff! And the exaggerated bodies means the stuff will look somewhat different. But they have great stuff, sure they tend to over accesorize, but damn do they have some nice stuff...I think...but I can't tell. Yes I know there are not many review blogs anymore that's part of the problem.

I'm not saying that avatars shouldn't be curvy or have junk in the trunk...but there's good variety and bad variety. To much exaggeration in anything, height, boobehs, or hips makes for a bad shape for showing off fashion in a pleasing way.

I also can't tell Tableau Girl hair apart,has a sort of sameness to it, at least to my eyes.

Former Boss Salome also makes a slight of a reference to this issue in this post but she's not really commenting on the girls themselves.

I'm not going to SLURL The stuff, though that bag and skirt are Mon Tissu and nice. Shoes are G Field "Alex" First picture was taken using standard Caliah style Windlight settings, 2 and 3 were taken with shadows and whatnot on.