Having this debate with a friend and I would like to hear your thoughts on this, what would you think if tomorrow the Lindens released a completely updated avatar? I'm not too sure of the technological names, but say when you logged on you were able to operate an avatar that had an infinitely better mesh, looked more realistic(and with the already fabulous skins, pretty much photorealistic), had none of the lighting issues, no distortion in poses and walks, and had an updated layering system so makeup, tattoos and skirts were more flexible. I realise a few of those factors are controlled by things other than the avatar, but stick with me. Basically, the avatar looked and moved and interacted with the up to the minute technology.
But there was a catch. Around 70-80% of your wardrobe now looked completely horrible. Even the most talented designers' work looked mmm..a little off, and a few outfits and hairs were still wearable, but on this whole new level of avatar construction, you now had to buy almost a whole new inventory. Although most skins and shoes(except for any higher than the ankle) survived the transformation, hair just doesn't fit or look right. Even worse, you either have to wait a month or so for the first releases that co-ordinate with the update, or try to create items yourself (however existing designers will find this easier than most). To counteract this, over half the designers had been informed so at about the month mark there are a decent amount of stock available, and at discounted rates since everyone realises the update means you can no longer wear most of your existing wardrobe. But how would you react?
Would you prefer to have the incredible new avatar and build a whole new platform of massively higher quality avatar clothing textures, clothing prims and avatar experience? When put in-world clothing textures are more true to what it was in photoshop and doesn't flatten the image. Any attachment prims for clothing and accessories would mesh better. Or does the thought of your now - obsolete majority of your inventory put you off? There are more and more amazing creators who keep raising the bar in terms of what our avatars look like and how they move, so would you prefer to see how we can continue to improve the existing avatar?
I'm interested in any thoughts on this, it's purely just a dive into theoretical waters, but with so many avatar developments for console gaming platforms I would have thought an online community like SL would have been a part of those kind of updates.
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10 comments:
I think my avatar looks pretty good already - doesn't look cartoonish, looks human enough to be pleasing, but no so human as to be creepy. The avatar is fine. I don't change my makeup that much in SL, or Rl for that matter. And add the fact that I have a multiple hundreds of US dollars (not Lindens) worth of clothing and accessories in inventory and I do not feel like spending that much again - at least right now.
I would rather the Lindens work on other issues - like why the RL 14 year old who lives in my sim and all his friends can still easily get accounts in SL or the fact that you can't get more than 10 of the current avatars on one place without incredible lag or bring down a sim.
I would jump for joy!
As a content creator, I'd jump twice and then get hard at work making new stuff. Because, of course, it would mean a major rush in sales. It would also be a bit of an equalizer for the smaller shops, as there will be a mad scramble to release new clothes and skins, and the first ones to market will have a huge advantage.
Even as a consumer I wouldn't mind tossing my entire inventory one bit, since there would be so much new stuff on the way. My older clothes feel pretty stale anyway, so I really wouldn't miss too much and I always love buying new stuff.
I don't know if Linden Lab is even considering updating the avatars, but I would vote for it in a second.
I wouldn't want it at that price!
I think avatars can look very nice as it is and though I would welcome an improvement, (I love Windlight now that the face shadows have largely been fixed) - I would not want an improvement at that cost.
I think the fashion community would jump for joy but the Role-Play and non-human communities would be devastated!
Most guys would just say "cool the chicks look hotter!" and look for another free t-shirt!
Faerie
I'd probably in the long fun be happy. I'd be upset that some of my favorite outfits are unwearable, but it would give me a good excuse to finally clean out my inventory. I hardly wear most of my stuff anyway because 90% of the time I don't remember what it looks like and there's no photo included in the folder, so I usually end up buying something new for whatever look I'm going for. It would only be that way for a short time though, cause I would probably cave in and start spending hundreds of dollars on new stuff yet again. The designer side of me would be ECSTATIC, depending on how the templates are made anyway. It would be nice if there weren't so many seams, or if there just HAD to be seams, that the individual pieces matched up together better in both size and placement.
I've often wished that LL would make a new avatar set, one that's got the same bone structure (but with posable hands for us PLEASE) so you can still use AOs and poses to some degree, that you can choose to use, much like how you can choose to use a male or female shape. It would solve the issue of old-clothing and new-clothing, but then some people might be frustrated that maybe most of the new stuff is only made for the new, designer friendly avatar. If that's even what would happen anyway. I'd like to see a new avatar, I REALLY would. I'm just afraid that it's too late to make such a drastic change without some backwards compatibly.
Lol thanks for some feedback everyone, I keep trying to balance the infinitely better graphics that could be possible, with the huge amounts of money already spent, and my inventory being made almost obsolete as it would no longer be fittable to the new avatar.
On another note, how insane are the templates? If we could overhaul THAT, so it was more simplified to judge seams, and also simultaneously more detailed to stop blurring of finer textures like lace, I'd be more tempted to go back to working on clothing files in photoshop again, instead of wanting to set my damn computer on fire when I see a torso template file.
I'd really love it if the avatars were changed to look more like the poser models in DAZ 3D (see here: http://www-cache.daz3d.com/store/item_file/4280/image_large.jpg) or on other games. It would open so many opportunities to create real individuality among avatars, plus any excuse to shop for new stuff is always welcome ;) (p.s. I've been in SL for almost 3 yrs, my inventory is HUGE! but I'd still sacrifice it all to get better avatars). Great question, btw :)
No. Never. I wouldn't like it.
- The average client already barely gets 12 FPS out of SL. That is miserable enough as it is. Sure in other games you might have better looking 3D models. But those other games don't have to render 40 MOVING humans in one room. It's a given that the more objects there are to render, to lower the quality of each object has to be.
- I like that it doesn't look 100% real. I hate "photorealistic" (as much as that's possible in SL) skins enough already. If I want to look at humans with a real skin and a real shape, I shut down Microsoft Windows and open the House Windows.
- As pointed at before, it would completely ruin things for roleplayers and non-human avatars.
All i really want is more layers for the current mesh, even if the just found more ways to customize your shape. I think if they build off when we have already instead of an overhaul it would be alot better and smoother to transition.
I hate the shape of the skirt mesh, and I weep to even think of that template. I say this as someone who likes system skirts.
I have pondered this myself a couple of times and I'd prefer to stick with what we have. There's enough amazing content out there to prove it can be done, and I'll just have to live with having seams when I don't want to have them and weird stretches in clothing. Because I am shallow and like the things I already have.
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