Day: December 19, 2020

The Virtual Market 5 Shopping Event in VRChat Runs from December 19th, 2020 to January 10th, 2021

I invite you to join the RyanSchultz.com Discord server, the world’s first cross-worlds discussion forum! Almost 500 people from around the world, representing many different virtual worlds and social VR platforms (such as VRChat), meet daily to chat, discuss, debate, and argue about the ever-evolving metaverse, and the companies building it.

Virtual Market 5 starts today, and runs until January 10th, 2021, and the phenomenally popular avatar and avatar accessories shopping event is bigger and better than ever, leaping from strength to strength with each iteration! (I blogged about my previous excursions to Virtual Market 2, 3, and 4 here.)

I am seriously impressed by all the companies exhibiting at Virtual Market 5, including some big real-world name brands! Other social VR platforms would absolutely kill for this kind of corporate attention!

While VRChat is still working towards an in-world economy and currency, with a marketplace for user-generated content, the sales transactions at Virtual Market still take place outside of VRChat (usually via external websites).

Here’s a sneak peek at the worlds created for Virtual Market 5:

VRChat vlogger Shanie MyrsTear has created the following ten-minute overview video introduction to Virtual Market 5:

I am excitedly looking forward to joining Jin and his friends as he conducts several guided group tours of Virtual Market 5! Kent Bye of the Voice of VR podcast has already tweeted a thread of his personal highlights and recommendations of what to see and do, and episode #968 of his long-running podcast features an interview with the team behind the Virtual Market events.

Here’s the official Virtual Market 5 website. See you there!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free, Full-Body Bakes on Mesh Male and Female Avatars at Altamura!

At the Altamura store, you can pick up two free group gifts from the panels located at the entrance: free Bento, Bakes on Mesh-compatible full-body (i.e. head and body) mesh avatars! The Altamura group is currently free to join (normally it costs L$100), so these are completely free.

Here’s what the Movin’ On female avatar looks like, wearing the included skin:

And here’s what the rather handsome Take My Way male avatar looks like, wearing the Bakes on Mesh skin included in the package:

Now, there’s a catch. Both of these avatars do NOT come with a HUD. You cannot remove the hairbases or the lip layers on these avatars, which might pose a problem when using other Bakes on Mesh skins with them (I tried a very pale skin on the male avatar, and the lips looked dreadful). And the Movin’ On female avatar feet (which are Slink compatible) can only wear high-heeled shoes! No flats. (UPDATE Dec. 23rd.: I stand corrected! There is a HUD included with the female body, called the “Hide HUD”, which allows you turn on and off flat feet, mid feet, and high feet.)

Because there is no HUD with alpha sections, you will have to use the alphas that come with the clothing you buy (or repurpose from the SL starter avatar collection, such as these blue Alejandro shorts that the Take My Way male avatar is wearing). If you do need a set of alphas to use with clothing that does not come with them, you can pick up a free set from Little Black Dress at this SLURL (just click on the bag on the floor).

However, if you are not terribly fussy about your avatar, and you like the looks of these two, you simply cannot beat the price—completely free! Remember that these are both limited-time gifts, so don’t wait, hurry down!

I will be adding these avatars to my popular, constantly-updated lists of free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for female avatars (here) and male avatars (here). Happy freebie shopping! Here’s your taxi.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Advent Calendar Gifts for December 19th, 2020

Here’s my blogpost with links to four lists of Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars, plus my “Top Ten” Calendars you should not miss in 2020!

Today’s gift from Wow Skins is the Steffy skin in the sandy skin tone (the Wow group costs L$199 to join):

The present from 7 Deadly S[k]ins is the Hope skin in the cloud skin tone, which comes in both Bakes on Mesh/system skins and a Omega skin applier, in versions with or without the glossy pink lipstick (the 7 Deadl S[k]ins group has a group join fee of L$1,000 during the month of December):

Firelight Hair‘s gift from their Advent calendar is the lovely long Rebecca hairstyle, which comes with a three-colour HUD as shown (the Firelight group is free to join):

Time to bring out the soon-to-be famous Second Life supermodel 😉 Moesha Heartsong, to model some of today’s apparel, footwear and jewelry gifts!

Below, Moesha is wearing two gifts from JUMO: today’s gift of the gold and silver Stella jewelry set, plus the December 16th gift, the Sirena tied top and separate long skirt, which comes in a pattern to match the top plus the silver-grey version shown here. Remember that JUMO is one of the 12 Days of Christmas calendars where you can swoop down and pick up all the gifts at one time!

I leave you with the gift from Virtue, the Mireya outfit in grey and green (the Virtue group is free to join):

Also, don’t forget to check out the free Bento, Bakes on Mesh-compatible full-body male and female mesh bodies at the Altamura store, among their 12 Days of Christmas gifts! More details here.

Happy freebie shopping!