Chic at Ebbe's Place

Info on the status of The Next Generation SL (2.0) is pretty sketchy these days. I have found some breadcrumbs but nothing that I can call "facts".  

If you missed Inara Pey's article from last month (and I did) it is well worth a look, INCLUDING the comments (always interesting if seldom always accurate :D). 

I do have a couple of thoughts on the responses to her well thought out and documented post.  They are simple and I will be brief (well for me).

OpenSim cannot compare with Second Life except perhaps for Windlight settings and framerates. Honestly, there is VERY little content. There are definitely some good designers in OS, scattered amongst the grids with many on their own grid. But while they (and I) make our content and our own world, much isn't available to the general populous. 

It is very much (VERY MUCH) like going back in time to early SL days. So you have a $5 a month sim (I do), BUT unless you can make your own goods, it cannot compare to Second Life.  I have a tiny wardrobe there and still probably one of the best in OS. 

Kitely is filling a gap nicely and some mesh clothes and hair makers have put up goods for export, HOWEVER --- the people complaining about costs should note that those really nice items can be up to ten times the cost of the equivalent in SL.  So, cheap land? Little and very expensive good content. It is a trade off. For some folks it works; for others it would definitely not. 

And now to what my post was going to be before I found Inara's article.

[Note: photo of new skin and info removed by request of the creator. Sorry as this makes less sense :D ]

It has been officially stated that TNG avatars will be much better than our over a decade old models. Most folks are reading that as mesh with a better skeletal structure so that we could actually sit with our knees up and not look like we are folded in half.

Mesh bodies are becoming commonplace in SL and happily I found my favorite last month, Lara by Maitreya. My head is still the same one I started out with seven plus years ago. I did however get a new skin recently courtesy of Skin Fair 2015. It is a lovely and beautifully made skin and quite impressive. I have been wearing it on and off for about a week.

And even though I know it is SO much better then the skin I have been wearing for two years, I am having a difficult time switching permanently. Now, why is that?

Do we get a picture of our pixel selves that we dare not change in case we would lose our identity?  I think that must be partially true, at least for some of us. I look completely different in OpenSim. Well my shape is the same but that is all. I look very different in Inworldz and the pattern holds true for all the grids I joined and then left over the summer and fall.

And STILL, even though I feel just fine and "me" on OpenSim, I am hesitant to make a switch in Second Life. I am wondering how the new avatars will influence the general populous of SL 1.0 and their decision to move or share both worlds. It is an interesting phenomena to watch -- and I will be.