My Virtual Life - KaticusSparrow.com

Even Katicus has Celebrity Look-alikes ...

I got this idea from Natalia's Second Life Diary blog ... do celebrity matching for my SL avatar. Here's who Katicus looks like according to My Heritage:

Couple of interesting SL meets RL moments: L'Oreal Paris and 300 (the movie)

A couple of interesting partnerships between real world companies and Second Life companies that, I think, give back to the SL community in a positive way.

The first is a partnership between Aspire! Modeling Agency (SL Company) and L'Oreal Paris (RL Company).  Aspire! is hosting a search for the avatar to become "Miss Second Life L'Oreal Paris Glamour".  Entries are being pre-screened by Aspire! who will select the final 20.  A pageant will then be held on Aspire Island (on a L'Oreal branded catwalk) and the winner will be selected.  The winning avatar will receive a modeling contract with Aspire and the avatar's typist will receive a year's supply of L'Oreal cosmetics.

The deadline for the initial submissions has passed; the finalist pageant will be held on March 31, 2007.

I like this promo for a couple of reasons.  First, a partnership between strong SL and RL brands.  Aspire is the best known modeling agency in SL (if you don't think that avatars take their fashion very seriously, you are mistaken).  Aspire has a lot to bring to the table.  It's a great fit for L'Oreal who doesn't have to make their own island, try to have people take them seriously and figure out how to deal with some of the mechanics of SL.  They can concentrate what they are good at .. cosmetics and fashion.  Modeling jobs are hard to get, so its a great opportunity for avatars.  And the SL fashion community will get a great show on March 31!  Keep up to date on this contest over at the Aspire! blog.

The second promotion is in conjunction with the release of the movie 300. Adam n Eve, a UK firm specialising in SL avatar, skin, hair and fashion, have created avatars for the stars of the movies who participated in a live chat event in SL.  They also created free Spartan costumes for male and female avatars that can be picked up over in the Spartan build on Silverscreen island.

This promo is a really good fit with the SL community.  First, they are giving something interesting and unique to the community.  The costumes are great and the Spartan build is really stunning (if you're in SL, go check it out - seach for Silverscreen).  There is a lot of opportunity for movie company's to come into SL, hire indigenous SL designers and developers, and create something really special for the community.  I hope they leave the Sparta build up - I think that's one danger, to get rid of something like that too quickly.  Or let a group of fans take it over and continue to extend it.  Talk about a great co-creation opportunity!

After a Fashion .. our second excursion

This past Monday was our second "After a Fashion" outing.  On the agenda: shape shopping, skin shopping and hair shopping, plus a little fun.  We had almost a dozen avis out which I think is hitting our limit.  Lag was bad (Linden had experienced a power outage earlier in the day) and regions were coming up as we were bustling around.  But still, a good time was had.

Some interesting conversations were had.  First, around shapes.  We went to a shop that had 11 shapes on sale.  Someone asked, why would you buy a shape when you can tweak your avatar yourself.  Great question!  For human avatars, it's often just a time-saver.  Proportion is surprisingly hard to get right - which is why a lot of SL is populated with tall, well-endowed folks (women and men .. have you ever seen some of those pecs!).  Also, as Catherine Omega demonstrated, you don't have to have a human avatar.  Her alt joined us for a bit as a runaway dishwasher.

Inspired, after our excursion, I went back into SL and got myself a new shape.  Cute, huh?  This is a mini-avatar.  It only comes up to about knee height on most human avatars.  This is something that marketers will need to keep in mind - some residents of SL do not take human form.  As you're learning SL, get a non-human avatar to experiment with.  It gives you a new perspective on the world when you're only 1.5 feet tall, but it also helps break down some mental barriers to what an online community is comprised of.

Next up was skin shopping.  When you sign up, your avatar comes with a skin.  You can change the tone of the skin, but "professional" skins have two advantages.  One, they are usually either sampled from real skin tones or they are drawn in a photorealistic manner.  This allows you to have shading and contouring on body parts (around cheek bones and clavicles, but yes, those other parts too).  It also lets you have freckles.  Plus, "professional" skins have makeup detail.  These can range from the "daily wear" to the outrageous.  You can see examples of how make-ups and skin tones vary in a previous post of mine, My Quest for a Second Skin.  Skins are generally not cheap ... it's not uncommon for one skin to cost $1000 Lindens (approx $4 USD).  However, if you scout around, you can find freebie or dollarbie skins.  (Note: dollarbies are things that cost a dollar ... often demo items in SL or other "free" items actually cost a Linden dollar which can be problematic for those avatars who don't have any cash).  Now, you generally get what you pay for, but we managed to find a nice set in a range of tones .. from alabaster to rich mocha. 

Oh, another side note, bigotry is alive and well in SL.  This is a fascinating account of one woman changing her avatar from white to black for a period of three months.  Another opportunity for SL to teach us something.  Spend some time in SL as an avatar who is not-like-you.  Especially good for marketers.  Gives us an opportunity to challenge our assumptions that we make.

Next up .. hair shopping.  Again, hair can be created as part of your avatar, but a more popular form of hair has taken hold in SL: prim hair.  "Prims" are the basic building blocks of SL.  Buildings, furniture, plants are all made of "prims".  In fashion, prim skirts are those attachments that get your skirt to swish around.  Prims also let you create bling on jewelry or clothes.  Prim hair is textured hair that can be flowing or swishy.  However, sometimes native hair (hair that is an extension of your avatar) and prim hair (something you attach to your avatar) can clash.  It will look like you're wearing two hair styles.  This happened to a couple of our intrepid shoppers.  But it can be easily remedied by wearing a "bald cap".

Finally, after all that shopping, we headed over to AOL Pointe to the Quiz Lounge.  One of the great activities that AOL has setup is this quiz game where you and up to 10 or 12 other avatars can play trivia.  Winners of each round get $20 Lindens.  So we played a few rounds before we all called it a night.

Next one should happen in a few weeks ... as always, let us know if you're interested in attending.  Big thanks to Paradise, Catherine and the rest of the gals who came out!

Places we visited:

• Shapes: Colette's Body Shop - shapes are in the back.
• Skins: Skins by Hose & Queen on Panache Island - free skin pack is high up on the back wall
• Hair: Panache Hair, next door to the Skin Shop above
• Trivia - AOL Pointe Island - unfortunately, this won't take you directly to the trivia lounge. You'll need to click #10 Trivia Lounge on the billboard when you land.
• Mini-avatar - ExtroVirtual : Wynx's Whimsical - this is tricky to find.  You'll land on the ground, but need to go up into one of the trees.  Follow the red arrows that appear. They should lead you.

Next "After a Fashion" excursion ...

Well, our first "After a Fashion" event was a success! (yes, yes .. I know I'm very late blogging about it).  Paradise wrote it up here.  None of us took any group pix - what were we thinking??  Next time!

Oh, speaking of next time .. short notice (my bad) .. is Monday, March 12. 5:30 PST (SLT)/8:30 EST.  We're starting 30 minutes earlier.

We have a couple of spots left; if you're planning on joining us, please email either myself or Paradise to let us know to expect you.  We'll make sure you're on the list.