Tag: Second Life Mesh Bodies

UPDATED WITH INFORMATION ABOUT ERIKA ZERO PLUS! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies—The New Free Erika Zero Mesh Body by Kalhene (and Where to Get Free Clothing and Shoes for It)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since writing this blogpost, I have learned that the Erika Zero mesh body is no longer available for free; instead, you can pick up an improved version (with detachable, tintable nails, optional belly and butt deformers, and a high-heeled feet option) for only L$50 if you join the brand new Erika Mesh Body group. You will also need to join the Erika Mesh Body group to pick up all the group gifts at the Kalhene store. Please see the last update to this blogpost for more details.

If you’re in the market for a nice, low-lag, free mesh body, you’re in luck! The Kalhene Erika mesh body, which I reviewed previously here, is now offering a version called Erika Zero, which consists of a Bento, Bakes on Mesh body with flat feet, plus one outfit (top, shorts, and sneakers). To pick one up, just teleport here to the N-Core/Kalhene store and buy it for L$0 (no group needed). Warning: word has gotten out and the store is busy!

The notecard included with the Erika Zero body package states:

ERIKA Zero are a simplified Bake on Mesh Body. The pack includes the Erika Zero body, shape, one skin and basic outfit.

Full Erika Version Includes:

  • Complete Erika mesh body modifiable.
  • Body shine and oiled skin levels.
  • Individual hand poses.
  • 5 Hand nails shapes with 32 colors and removable.
  • 4 Feet indvidual shape (Flat, Medium, TipToe and Pointy)
    with 32 colors and removable.
  • Includes a feet long nails add on.
  • 3 Nipples sizes with HD textures and tintable via HUD.
  • HD Pubic Hair with some hairy shapes and tintable via HUD.
  • HD Mesh Vagina with animated states.
  • HUD Built-in Breast and Butt deformers.
  • Breathing and Butt jiggling animations.
  • Alpha Cuts sections.
  • Built-in Add-ons: Bubble Boobs, Petits Seins, Petite Waist and Squeeze Legs.
  • 4 Bento Mesh heads.
  • Transgender Add-on in 4 sizes and Penis states via HUD.
  • Adult Playset with some accessories.
  • Cel Shading effect Add-on.
  • Weareable body deformers Add-on for Breast, Belly, Back and Butt.
  • Wardrobe with some outfits and clothes for Bubble Boobs, Petits Seins and Squeeze Legs.
  • 5 BoM Skins and Eyes.

Please note that the Kalhene Zero body does not include an alpha HUD, or any kind of HUD, for that matter! However, you can always use Bakes on Mesh alphas, like the ones that come with your clothes you buy. You can also pick up free packs of clothing alphas from various locations on the grid for free (like the Little Black Dress store). You can also pick up free sets of body alphas on the SL Marketplace; here are four:

The Erika Zero body is the perfect wearable demo for you to road-test, and try out various Bakes on Mesh skins with, before deciding whether to spring for the full-priced version! I have it for one of my alts, and I am seriously considering buying the full-price version for a couple more. (Please see the note at the very end of this blogpost—right now there’s a 25%-off sale going on!)

While you are in the N-Core/Kalhene store, be sure to join the Kalhene group for free, which enables you to pick up eleven group gifts from the Kalhene gift wall:

In addition to clothing, the gifts include several shapes for the Erika body, which are all illustrated in the gallery below. I have found that the Kalhene Erika body adjusts extremely well to the body sliders, allowing you to make your avatar as thin, thicc, or curvy as you desire! The default shape included in the Erika Zero package is quite pleasing, I think (see the first image below), but as you can see, you can get this body much more curvaceous!

Erika Zero (default shape)
Anisa Shape
Kumi Shape
Kiera Curvy Shape
Regina Shape
Kiera Regular Shape

So, now I am also going to share with you where you can pick up free clothing designed to fit Kalhene Erika mesh bodies (both the free and full-priced versions). First stop is Hilly Haalan’s freebie store, where you can snap up no less than seven outfits for Erika (see red arrows below):

You can also pick up some nice free footwear for the full-price Kalhene Erika feet, which allows for high heels. The Kalehen Zero free body only allows for flat feet, but don’t despair! The good news is that shoes designed for Maitreya Lara feet fit the Kalhene mesh body, but only up to the ankle—Maitreya shoes with lacing up the calves, or boots, won’t work. Fortunately, on the opposite wall from all the Kalhene Erika freebies are a nice set of Amy flats with a fatpack HUD. You’ll probably have to adjust the foot size smaller on the body sliders to make them fit, but they will fit, and look great! They come in a complete fatpack of colours, with either silver or gold trim.

Now, let’s drop into a few other places where you can pick up free clothing for your Erika body. At Reed, you can pick up a free dress fatpack, Andreza, plus the sexy Amore outfit fatpack (just join the Reed store group for free):

Then hop on over to Spotlight, and head to the gift wall next to the front counter, where for another free group join, you can get two fabulous dress fatpacks (Leina and Samara), plus a top fatpack (Luka). Just pay the vendors one Linden dollar each, which will be automatically refunded, and they’re yours!

Avale offers a gift of that classic wardrobe staple, a little black dress which comes in a size for Kalhene Erika; just join the Avale group for free and click on the yellow gift box icon to receive your present:

BlondeQueen is also offering a jumper for free (with a free group join):

The DM store has two freebie/dollarbie fatpacks, which include sizes to fit Kalhene Erika, as shown in the diagram below (with the relevant group to join indicated):

Rebane has four gifts of tops and bodysuits for Erika (again, the group is free to join):

And did you know that The Free Dove, the venerable and long-running freebie store run by Palomma Casanova for 17 years, has now been replaced with a memorial named in her honour? It’s a brand new freebie store/shopping mall called Palomma Plaza, with many new free items (plus a few carryovers from The Free Dove) and yes, there are fabulous freebies here for the Kalhene Erika body as well!

Palomma Plaza has a new central spawn point, but save this SLURL to your inventory, then right-click on it and select Show on Map from the drop-down menu, and simply follow the red arrow/column of light to pick up three lovely gifts from Grumble and Scrappy Scorpion!

All the Second Life vloggers are saying that the free version of the Erika mesh body is only going to be available for a limited time, but I don’t know for how long. Also, the full-price version of Erika is currently available for 25% off, at L$1,995, which is also a great deal! Note that the full package includes a very nice capsule wardrobe with ten outfits. Again, I don’t know how long the sale will last, so if you’re interested in either the free or full versions of this mesh body, don’t wait!

Also, if you have either the free or full versions of the Kalhene Erika body, you need to join the Dreamer’s SL Discord server (here’s an invite), where they maintain a kalhene-erika discussion channel, just for free and inexpensive gifts for that body!

Happy freebie shopping!

P.S. I wanted to show you yet another fetching free outfit for the Kalhene Erika body, this wonderful Grace dress, which actually consists of two pieces, a blouse and a matching long skirt. It is the Enchantment Dark Academia Hunt prize from Web Dew. You are looking for an open book, and the hint is: “Cozy place, pillow and coffee.” Quite easy to find! 😉

I paired the Kalhene Zero body with the skin included in the package (which is LeLutka Evolution compatible, not LeLutka Evo X!), and used the LeLutka Lilly Bento mesh head, which was a freebie from three Christmases ago. The long nails on the Erika Zero hands don’t quite fit the historical, Victorian-era nature of this look, and they unfortunately can’t be changed, but hey, this entire avatar look is completely free, from head to toe! (I once again used the free Amy flats from Hilly Haalan.)

Not too shabby for zero Linden dollars, I must say!

UPDATE May 20th, 2023: Well, in response to numerous user requests, the creator of the Erika Zero body has upgraded the body to include the ability to wear high-heeled shoes! Just teleport to the same location in the N-Core/Kalhene store where you picked up the original Erika Zero mesh body (SLURL), join the brand new Erika Mesh Body group for L$50, and you can pick up the new group gift of the Erika Zero Plus body (just click on the mannequin):

A note from the creator posted to the Kalhene Second Life group says:

Hi, after the high request to include tip toe feet to be able to wear heels, we have updated “Erika Zero” to “Erika Zero Plus”. Now includes flat feet and tip toe, removable finger nails, belly and butt deformers, and more…You will be able to get it joining the – Erika Mesh Body – new VIP group. Only for a limited time.

The Erika Zero Plus package contains:

  • a shape, two skins (medium and tan), and two bodies: one with flat feet (the original Erika Zero) and a new one with tiptoe feet, so you can wear high heels now;
  • separate fingernails, which are tintable, and which you can replace with other nails (see below for some free nails for Erika hands);
  • two body add-ons called “Belly Flat” and “Butt Up”, which work with both the flat-feet and tiptoe-feet versions of the Erika Zero Plus mesh body;
  • a mini wardrobe: bikini bra and thong; shorts; a tank top and shorts outfit; sneakers; and stiletto heels.

Remember that the tiptoe feet on the Erika Zero Plus mesh body are compatible with shoes made for Maitreya Lara feet, but only up the ankle! You can also pick up some free high-heeled shoes specifically designed for Erika bodies from the Hilly Haalan freebie store, which I mentioned higher up in this blogpost. There are three pairs of high-heeled shoes available for Kalhene Erika feet, as shown by the red arrows in the image below:

The Diletta Beaded Heels from Hilly Haalan fit Erika feet, and come in a full fatpack of colours

If you wish to replace the included fingernails with others, there are two free fatpacks of nails available from the group gift wall at the BINGE Events store (just join the BINGE Events group for free, and click the panels indicated by the red arrows):

The Aline nails fit Kalhene Erika hands, and come in eight textures

UPDATE May 29th, 2023: Another place where you can pick up four sets of fingernails for the Erika mesh body is Dalila (SLURL; the Dalila store group is free to join). Apparently, each set allows you to choose one of five different designs for each nail separately!

Apparently, the Erika Zero Plus mesh body package is only available for a limited time, so don’t delay in picking this up! Even at the cost of L$50 to join the group, this is a true bargain, and as we have seen, more and more designers are now creating clothing for the Kalhene Erika mesh body, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding clothing for it.

Doing Drag in Second Life: Pal’z Premier Drag Club, the Anatomy Mesh Body, and SeraPRIDE’s Ultimate Drag SuperStar Contest!

MissDrag, wearing the Anatomy mesh body, looking good and feeling absolutely FABULOUS, darling! (And, to quote drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis, “There’s always time for a cocktail!”)

WARNING! This is a super-long blogpost because, late yesterday evening, I received news about SeraPRIDE and their Ultimate Drag Superstar Contest, so instead of writing up a separate blogpost, I decided to add it to this one, which I was already writing. So go pour yourself a coffee (or some wine, or whatever your favourite beverage is!), settle in, and enjoy a little longform reading. 🙂

As my regular blog readers know, I have a drag queen avatar in Second Life, named MissDrag, and I have written about creating a look for her many times before on this blog (here, here, here, and here). I have spent many an enjoyable hour gallivanting around the grid as a drag queen, in search of sisters or a place to death drop. Alas, my search was always in vain (and searching for “drag” under Places in Search led me only to the countless drag car racing communities in Second Life).

Well, I am pleased to announce that I have taken my RuPaul’s Drag Race obsession a step further: I am now performing in drag shows in Second Life! Yes, I can now proudly add digital drag artist to my resume! I even earn money from it!!

The stage at Pal’z SL Premier Drag Club

Pal’z SL Premier Drag Club (SLURL) is operated by Pal Mally, and holds drag shows Thursdays and Fridays from 8:00-10:00 p.m. SL Time/Pacific Time. Pal is assisted on stage by a hostess, who is usually FrankOh, but at last night’s show drag queen Red Rioja filled in. (Please click on each picture in the gallery below to see it in its full-size glory; these are just one of multiple costume changes each queen did during their shows!)

Pal Mally
FrankOh
Red Rioja

As you can see from these pictures, you can do drag in EVERY body: classic system body or modern mesh body, male body or female body or something in-between (more on that in a moment). Pal Mally’s notecard with instructions for potential drag artists states: “No avatar will be refused (except child avatars), so the sky is the limit.”

Here’s a 25-second video clip of my very first drag performance last week, with Pal Mally and other drag queens! You can use the dance animations Pal provides, as we did here, or provide your own, as I did for my second show this week.

My first drag performance! (I’m in the red wig.)

Just as in real life, drag queens can receive tips from the audience during their performance! In the one-minute video below, you can see the drag queen Red Rioja set up her tip jar during her set, and receive a L$100 tip from me:

Red Rioja (a.k.a JackBeary) performs at Pal’s drag club, and receives a tip from me!

I actually earned over L$1,000 in tips from an appreciative audience each of the two times I stepped on stage at Pal’z drag club! It’s the best feeling in the world.

I donated some of my earnings back to support the club; there’s a donation box located at the rear of the dance floor.

At the end of the evening, Pal Mally invites everybody to dance on stage:

How I came across Pal’z drag club is quite a story in itself. At this year’s SL Skin Fair, Malediction announced a new male mesh body called Anatomy, which could work with both male and female heads, and could be shaped using the body sliders for a wide variety of masculine and feminine looks:

The body comes in two versions, Fit and Soft, and the package includes six base shapes which you can use as a starting point: Feminine Curvy, Feminine Slim, Masculine Chubby, Masculine Classic, Masculine Muscle, and Masculine Slim. The Anatomy body features 7 nail types and lengths, 5 feet types (flat, low, medium, high, and tiptoe), and something I hadn’t seen before in a mesh body, optional asymmetrical arms Bakes-on-Mesh (in other words, you can have different tattoos on each arm, if you wish).

In an April Fool’s joke, the Anatomy body creator, Adrien Absinthe, said they were going to release a “Bimbo Body”, and then instead released a free add-on to the Anatomy body, a ridiculously oversized set of breasts called Big Boobs which completely replace the regular male chest pecs on the Soft version of the body.

My first thought in seeing this was, “Wow, that would make a great drag queen breast plate!,” and I laughed so hard that I landed up buying the Anatomy body! So congratulations, Adrien, your April Fool’s joke made a sale. 😉 The Anatomy body retails for L$4,499 here in SL or L$4,949 on the Second Life Marketplace, so if you want to save some money, buy it in-world.

Below you see MissDrag, wearing the Anatomy body with the Big Boobs add-on, with a female LeLutka Evo X mesh head, Lilly, which I picked up as a free Christmas gift in a previous year (I alpha’ed out the feet completely and used a pair of older feet-in-high-heeled shoes I picked up at a freebie store several years ago):

And here’s three more MissDrag looks, all using the Anatomy body with the Quinn male mesh head, which was a LeLutka Holiday Special event gift from last December (please click on each image to see it in full size):

Anyway, to get to the point: I posted some of these photos on the Anatomy Discord server (where, by the way, they have a gallery featuring works by the many designers already creating clothing, footwear, and accessories for this body!), and somebody DM’ed me to ask where I got the wig in the third picture above, and he told me about Pal’z drag club! It’s funny how often that sort of thing happens in Second Life…the butterfly effect in full force.

Late last night, I got the following message via Discord:

Hi Ryan. I don’t know if you’d consider sharing this information with your blogging community, but I am wanting to spread the word as far as I can for the Rainbow Railroad project. This weekend is our final weekend to receive applications for contestants to sign up and participate in this year’s drag race. The winner will receive L$25,000 worth of gift cards, and they will be crowned this year’s Ultimate Drag Super Star.

The team of Seraphim has also been working very hard to reach out to creators and entertainers to ask for their time and/or donations for this event. The Second Life community has donated over 1 million Linden dollars’ worth of matching donations and prizes towards the SeraPRIDE event. We are hoping to bring in guests to join us in the celebration and help raise awareness and funds that go directly to the Rainbow Railroad project. If this is something that interests you, and you’d like to pass on this information to others, I am including some links and video clips to include in your publication.

Rainbow Railroad: https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/

SeraPRIDE announcement page: https://www.seraphimsl.com/serapride-2023/

SeraPRIDE Drag Race Application: https://www.seraphimsl.com/2023/05/05/be-the-next-ultimate-drag-superstar-at-serapride/

PLEASE NOTE that the deadline for applying to perform at the SeraPRIDE Drag Race event is very soon! The contestant application will remain open until 11:59pm Second Life Time/Pacific Time on May 15th, 2023 (the day after tomorrow).  Chosen contestants will be notified with more information by May 22nd, 2023.

Seraphim is always up for a great party, and what better reason to celebrate than PRIDE?! Seraphim is planning a full day of activities on the SeraSim, including giveaways, gifts, live music, parties, and a brand new, exclusive drag performance for 2023!

Rainbow Railroad works with LGBTQIA+ individuals facing persecution and violence simply because of their sexual identity by helping secure relocation, safety, and support. Since 2006, Rainbow Railroad has helped more than 7,621 persecuted individuals from over 38 countries.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your application in today! And be sure to tell ’em Miss Drag sent you… 😉

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Your Quick and Dirty Guide to the 2022 Black Friday Sales in Second Life (Plus a Few Tips)

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days in the American calendar, and, of course, it comes as no surprise that many Second Life stores also have sales running on or around the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend (November 25th to 28th, 2022). Many stores are having 50%-off sales on their merchandise, and a few are offering even bigger discounts!

The biggest list of Second Life Black Friday sales is probably the one compiled by Seraphim: The Seraphim Black Friday Sales List. But there are many other lists:

Please keep in mind that many stores do not use a list to advertise. One of these is Maitreya. For the past couple of years, they have had an (unadvertised) 50%-off sale on the ubiquitous Maitreya Lara female mesh body. Now, I don’t know if Maitreya is going to do it again this year, but I am willing to bet that they will (and, like in previous years, they will not announce it). UPDATE Nov. 25th: Yes, the Maitreya Lara mesh body is now on sale, for L$1,375. Best price of the year, get it now!!!

In fact, Black Friday sales are usually the one time in the year when most major mesh head and body creators offer significant discounts on their wares. (UPDATE 6:12 p.m.: The Second Life Syndicate spreadsheet I talked about earlier has a handy section right at the top, listing the major mesh head and body vendors and their sales!) So keep your eyes peeled for any announcements in any Second Life groups you belong to, and pay a visit to the stores themselves on Black Friday, to check out the action for yourself!

Here are some more details on a few specific stores, culled from this thread on the official Second Life community forums:

  • Nuve: As part of their Black Friday celebrations, the Nuve skin and cosmetics store has a free group join from Nov. 21st to Nov. 25th, 2022. If you do not already belong to this group, join it now, and you can pick up countless free group gifts of skins (head plus body skins included), eyebrows, eyeshadows, and lipsticks. Also, if you join the group, you can visit the Nuve store once every seven days to click the panel at the front desk and GET L$75 IN FREE STORE CREDIT! You can accumulate the store credit since it does not expire, and you can use it on anything in the store! I love this, and I wish more stores did stuff like this!
  • Dead Doll: you can join their VIP group for free on Thursday, Nov. 24th, and get 50% off main store products! The sim will be restricted to VIP group members only.
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Like so many other womenswear stores, Pink Cream Pie is throwing a 50%-off sale, until Nov. 28th. You can join the Pink Cream Pie store’s VIP group for free, and get a 50% store credit for any purchases you make with that group tag active! With that free group join, you can pick up dozens and dozens of free group gifts, located on the second floor of their store, next to the Lucky Boards.
Join the Pink Cream Pie group for free, and pick up almost 70 free group gifts!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Dotty’s Secret makeup shop (which also specializes in drag queen makeup) has a free group join from November 21 to November 30! Join the group and wear the group tag to get a 50% discount on everything in the store. There’s also a group gift wall with 15 free group gifts of makeup fatpacks for people of all genders!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Another store group that is free to join from Nov. 21st to 28th is Mishmash Fusion, which is offering 50%-off on everything in the store for group members, plus a couple of free group gifts, located up on the wall between the front counter and the stairs. Mishmash also sells clothing and furniture for dinkies (i.e. tiny avatars) up on the second floor!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: The VIP store group at the FAGA hair store is free to join right now, and they have over ten hair packs free for their group members (all in ombre tones, not solid colours). Just join the group, wander around the store, and click on the EXCLUSIVE GIFT signs below the hairstyle vendors. The store seems to have disappeared from the grid at the moment, but I’m sure they’ll get it all sorted out eventually…maybe the store owner forgot to pay her rent? 😜
  • Both LeLutka and Akeruka have a 50%-off sale on their Bento mesh heads (LeLutka’s starts tomorrow, Nov. 25th and runs until Nov. 28th; Akeruka’s is on now, also until Nov. 28th). Remember that Akeruka now has a line of ADVX heads, which work with LeLutka Evo X skins, as well as a line of baby/infant heads, called BABYX.
  • Velour’s body skins will on sale for 30% off, which is notable since so many SL head skin creators use the Velour skin tones. So this is your chance to stock up and save!
  • Moccino (skins, makeup, cosmetics) is having a 60%-off sale, Nov. 21st to Dec. 1st, 2022. Again, some SL head skins use Moccino skin tones, so stock up!
  • If you love being a fantasy avatar, Bespoke will be holding a 75% off sale on select fantasy heads and skins (please check for details in the store).
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Signature mesh heads and bodies (male and female) are 50% off.
  • UPDATE Nov. 27th: Loki (womenswear) has a free group join until tomorrow, November 28th, 2022. You can pick up quite a few nice group gifts in store!
  • Belleza is having a 50%-off sale storewide, but their new line of Gen X female bodies will be 20% off (Nov. 25th to 27th, 2022).

Again, my best advice to you is, if you have a favourite store, check to see if they are on any of the lists I posted at the top of this blogpost, but also check their store group, as well as in-store on Black Friday to see what other sales they might be having.

Happy Black Friday shopping!

Blogger’s Dozen: My Top Twelve Most Popular Blogposts from the Past 365 Days

An egg is always an adventure; the next one may be different.

— Oscar Wilde (source)
Photo by Kelly Neil on Unsplash

One of the things I love about hosting a blog on WordPress is that I can review my statistics over time, to see which posts are more popular and which ones aren’t. I have completely given up on my ability to predict which ones will fall into the first category, and which ones will fall into the second! A blogpost I dash off in a hurry without much thought can blow up on me, while a second one I slaved over and post in high expectations goes pffft! It just happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, on a whim, and to get a better sense of what’s trending overall, I ran some stats today on my 12 most popular blogposts over the past 365 days (Feb. 16th, 2021 to Feb. 15th, 2022). I do hasten to assure you, gentle reader, that all links in this list are safe for work, so don’t be afraid to click on them 😉

  1. The Dirty Little Secret of VRChat: Hidden Adult Content – I am endlessly bemused by the fact that it is still, far and away, the most visited blogpost on my blog, with 72,351 visits over the past 365 days, which works out to almost 200 views per day, mostly because it is usually the top result when people search Google for “VRChat sex” or “VRChat adult”, or something similar…and I hate to break it to you, people, but you are not gonna find NSFW worlds in VRChat using the Google search engine!
  2. Welcome to the Metaverse: A Comprehensive List of Social VR/AR Platforms and Virtual Worlds – this popular, constantly-updated alphabetical listing has seen a surge in visits since Facebook rebranded to Meta in October 2021
  3. A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Get Started in Decentraland (and Some Caveats for New Users)
  4. Clip and Save: Ryan’s All-In-One Guide to Freebies in Second Life – this is a constantly-updated compilation of my best tips and tricks for finding fabulous fashion freebies and bargains in Second Life
  5. Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Meshbody Offers Free Versions of Their Classic Mesh Bodies for Men and Women
  6. 3DX Chat: A Brief Introduction (and the Biggest Problem with Most Adult Virtual Worlds)
  7. Second Life: Maitreya Releases Version 5.0 of the Maitreya Lara Female Mesh Avatar Body
  8. Second Life Steals, Deals and Freebies: Free and Inexpensive Mesh Heads and Bodies for Female Second Life Avatars
  9. LGBTQ Spaces in Social VR and Virtual Worlds
  10. Shopping for a New Penis in Second Life: Any Recommendations? – this link is safe for work
  11. List of Non-Combat, Open-World Exploration/Puzzle/Life Simulation Games
  12. How to Change Your Avatar Name in Second Life: A Step by Step Guide

So, what trends do we see in this list?

Trend 1: Sex (As Homer Simpson would say: D’OH!)

Well, it would appear that sexual/adult content and activities are perennially popular in virtual worlds and social VR, regardless of platform (#1, #6, perhaps #9, and most certainly #10 on this list).

There almost seems to be some sort of rule that if you can get two avatars together on a platform—any platform—they are going to try and have sex. In fact, to prove my point, the BBC reported today on sex “condos” in Roblox!

Strip joints in Roblox proves my point: if you can get two avatars together on a platform—any platform—there will be sex! There appear to be no exceptions to this rule, even on platforms intended for children’s games.

So I was not terribly surprised when Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues social VR platforms recently implemented a hard-coded, four-foot boundary between avatars, after several women reported being sexually harassed (even though the avatars literally have no lower body!).

Trend 2: Lists of Metaverse and “Metaverse-Adjacent” Platforms

Secondly, people seem to be looking for comprehensive lists of metaverse platforms (#2) and what I like to call “metaverse-adjacent” content, i.e. non-combat, open-world platforms like Fortnite Party Royale and The Sims (#11). Of course, the line between the two is becoming ever more blurred.

One of my major tasks over the next few months is to complete a thorough reorganization and recategorization of the well over 160 entries on my increasingly popular list of social VR, virtual worlds, and metaverse platforms. I also want to update my equally popular, but by now somewhat dated, spreadsheet of what I consider the “top” social VR platforms (and a shout-out to Dr. Fran Babcock for doing some updating of the latter over the past few months; it is much appreciated!).

It would appear that there is lots of interest in my big-picture look at the metaverse and all the companies busy building it, so I intend to make both of these tasks a top priority, once things die down a bit at my full-time paying job as a university librarian!

As I have said before, I never expected to become a prolific Second Life blogger, but it’s clear that my coverage (with a focus on Second Life steals, deals, and freebies) continues to be popular with my readers, and among the most-viewed content on my blog. While it may seem weird to write both about 18-year-old SL and then switch to writing about much newer platforms, I see everything as part of a seamless, whole history of the metaverse.

Of particular interest, I note a lot of traffic to my posts about both free and paid-for Second Life mesh heads and bodies (#4, #5, #7, #8, and of course, #10!). Therefore, I will continue to provide that coverage, and I may restructure my now-sprawling blogposts about free and inexpensive male and female mesh heads and bodies in SL, to make them easier for people to navigate…but only after I tackle the long-delayed reorganization of my metaverse list, mentioned under the previous trend!

Finally, people seem to value good, step-by-step instructions on how to do things in SL, like rename your avatar (#12), so I will be continuing to write up more blogposts in that vein.

I notice that my step-by-step instructions for getting started in Decentraland (DCL) is an increasingly popular blogpost, even though the instructions may already be a bit dated (#4). As I have mentioned recently, DCL and all the NFT metaverses are seeing a huge surge in interest (and in financial speculation!), ever since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, and Mark Zuckerberg announced that they would become a metaverse company.

And, as promised, I will be writing about all these platforms in 2022:

Although I have mentioned and written about a number of virtual world/social VR platforms on this list which DO incorporate blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), please note that I have, up until now, tended to focus only on those projects which ALREADY have an actual working platform, where you can create an avatar to visit and explore NOW: NeosVR, Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, and Somnium Space. I have not really written much about projects which have yet to launch, because frankly so many of them are vapourware!

However, given the current burst of enthusiasm for all things blockchain/crypto/NFT and metaverse (particularly after Facebook/Meta’s repivot to become a metaverse company in October 2021), I will endeavour to expand my coverage of such platforms in 2022.

And I remain highly concerned about the number of poorly-thought-out NFT metaverse projects (and frankly, just flat out scams) that seem to be proliferating by the day. I will also be writing a lot about that topic in the next 365 days, I suspect.

Trend 5: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer Spaces in the Metaverse

My blogpost about LGBTQ spaces in virtual worlds and social VR (#9) is becoming more and more popular over time, an indication that queer people are actively looking for community in the metaverse. Therefore, I will write more articles about that, too!

white and multicolored love is love banner
Photo by 42 North on Pexels.com