This is what I looked like when I was spawned, I use the term "spat out," on the left, and what I look like now on the right. Looking at my avatar the first day I broke down and cried for half an hour. You could not have made worse choices for a start than I did. The next bad surprise was when I started to try and move the avatar, I waddled like I had a full diaper.
Yes, yes Lillie, you are saying, but you think nothing of dropping 5K in a day on clothes. However, look closely, the now still has both a free skin, a version of a free body, and free eyes. I may be wearing Style 0's wonderful Eleanor, and DE Design's Mirror Queen, but underneath is a girl you could pull out of free boxes and fiddle your way to. I have two high priced skins, one for close face work and the other for the, ummmm, "bits". But much of the time I'm wearing something that is there for the taking. And, you know, it's hard for me to walk around without getting propositioned.
So how to do it? Here we go. Someday there will be more "Jill in a box" like at Calla but for now, girls, and especially boys, need to go on an adventure. It's not so bad, by the time you are done, you will know SL much better, and many of these stores will be your mainstays for some time to come.
Here is how it works. An avatar is made up of pieces, including some for things that you usually would not think of as pieces, like your face and your skin. The pieces need to be assembled in a particular order to get a good look. The first piece is a "shape," which is your basic wire frame, the form over which everything else goes. However, what people will see is your "skin" because so many of our clues, especially in the one eye world of sl, are from shading and color. Later we will put this all together, but for today, it is just about grabbing things. Lunch on freebies, then sort. After that you add an Animation Override or "AO", and prim hair. This plus some better clothes will be all you need to join sl, and not be "playdo".
Blessed by Free Dove
Your first step is to get "Blessed by Free Dove." This is the gateway to looking human. First step away from the teleport area. Free Dove is crowded, and there are people dropping in all the time. The two most important tables are to your left and your right as you enter. There are skins and shapes and a female AO on the right, and for girls a selection of free clothes that you will want to grab all of. But left first.
Rez.
No, really, rez for a while.
I'm sorry, did I mention rezing? Well it depends on time of day, computer connection and graphics.
Oh and while you are waiting, you have opened up preferences, in the "Edit" menu, and turned your graphics rendering down to 64M or 32M, yes? No? In preferences, there is a tab labelled "graphics". Click on that. Now there is a box with "render distance". Set that to 32 or 64, because there's nothing scenic about your route today. But you will be more scenic at the end.
On that right hand table, s you face into Free Dove, you'll know because there are large friendly "No weapons" and "No nudity" signs visible. It should tell you something, that something is may of the boys come here, and their first instinct is to run around with a cock hanging out, or carry around an sword or gun that doesn't do anything. I know, enough of them wander up to me and start a conversation with "You're hot!" Thanks dear, I get paid upwards of 3K for an hour of sex, I think I could have guessed that. These people require some house breaking before they get to the rest of SL. Hence the friendly signs at Free Dove.
Anyway, back to the table on your right. Things in here are either bought for 0L, that means right click and buy for 0L, or touched. If you don't see a buy menu, try touch. Somethings have a linden cost. You don't need any of them.
There are boxes on the table with pictures of bodies. In here are basic body and skin types. Why they don't just give you these choices on the island, I don't know. It's their world, we just pay rent on it.
Boys you are going to get your first lesson in SL, namely, it is better to be a girl for fashion. You have two choices, the large face which is almost directly in front of you as the knight of the round table body, and the white box on the other side of the table with a man in a swimsuit. You then have to walk around the table to see another box, which has two not very good skins from Opium.
For girls, there is more, go through and gram the white box with pink letters, the pink ring, which has a serviceable female AO, the purple boxes and the white boxes with women on them. That's enough to get you started here. Since you are here, pillage the clothes boxes on your left. You can keep grazing your way around the corner to your left and on the table straight ahead.
Both boys and girls will want to take a left hand turn, and then turn right. Keep going, there is a tree with purple leaves out the window, if you don't see that you've missed a turn someplace or need glasses even more than my avatar does. (Is there script call that will reset preferences? I want a set of scripted glasses.....)
Keep going until you reach hair on the left, and forma wear and gowns on the right. Boys, you need Vindi Vindaloo's white tux, shoes, underwear. Four boxes in all on your right. Boys and girls, get all of the sets of free prim hair to your left. For boys it is up a bit.
Girls you can get the proton pony tail pack, which is adorably cute, and the White Lies Collection, in addition to Calla's nice, if a bit junior promy, freebie collection for women. Also nice to have here, is the Eolande accessories because it has a pose stand. This will come in handy later.
Boys, you are basically done here, girls, keep grazing your way up the tables. I'm particularly fond of the grey blox way near the end of the tables on the right which has a reasonably good prim sandal from Dellycious.
Time to grow up
You have in inventory enough to look much better right now. Many avatars look distinctly teenage, so it is also time to grow up as well. What you need to do now is go to a public sandbox, so you can unpack the first round of your booty, and you will actually have one when it comes to that.
Boys, your body choices are simple. Make one, toss on an Opium skin, but if you are younger than 30 days, this is strictly temporary. Girls, you have too many choices. It is going to take you a while to go through them. Again, don't think this is your final look, just enough to get you out of the newbie status.
Now put on a "bald" hairpiece. I'm about to try and explain one of the most counter-intuitive concepts in SL fashion. Basically, we are all from the baroque era. Back in the 18th century, in Europe, where bathing was only just in fashion, people shaved their hair, and wore elaborate wigs. So when you see pictures of all those baroque beauties with hair piled high, realize that many of them were shaved bald underneath. One reason that country girls started to go into fashion, was that they still had all their hair.
Except for special circumstances, like big concerts and a few very specific hair styles, you won't be wearing newbie hair again, instead, you will be wearing a prim hair wig, attached to the skull. It won't be a "hair" piece in your inventory, but a cube "object," like any other kind. It will come off if you "detatch all." Sometimes a bad teleport will leave your hair style in your crotch. I know some men like "a nice full bush," but that is ridiculous. From now on, it is almost always a fashion mistake in your life, to be wearing anything but prim hair.
Right, ditsy Lillie. "Prim" stands for "primitive," which is a graphics primitive. The basic unit of drawing and accounting for land, and building, in SL. Prim hair is made up of primitives like a house, or vehicle is. Prim skirts, or prim collars, or prim cuffs, like prim hair, all attach some place.
So you are going to wear a "bald" piece, I think the Calla box has one. Then, and only then, can you fit hair on. Some of it is going to look awful, because the prim hair is sized, and it might not be the right size for your head. This can be fixed later. For now just find one that works.
Next post, free linden land, Platinum, TAP and coupon shopping.
But this is enough for this installment, I need to get to the floor at Sexcino and then work on Yedo.
More later dears.
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