Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
recent posts
- Welcome to New World Notes’ 2006-2025 Archive!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
- Top Five Posts Including: Huge Rec Room Layoff & Meta Boots Neal Stephenson Off Facebook (Briefly)
- Four Glorious Second Life Sims to Explore — After Watching Sabina Valeska’s Machinima Tributes to Them!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
about
Category: Avatars and Identity
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Image and avatar by "Father Daddy" A recent /SecondLife post sent me down the rabbit hole in search of "painterly avatars": I'm not super into the Extremely Realistic Human Skin style that dominates the [Second Life] market. Don't get me wrong — this style requires a great deal of skill to execute, and I do…
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Good comment from Dee, one of many Second Life users welcoming back Philip Rosedale to advising the virtual world he founded: I am MUCH more optimistic than I have been for a while where SL is concerned. I hope that Philips' return will bring renewed enthusiasm and fresh ideas that are outside the Linden Lab…
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"I think of this whole disability as one joke that God put on me… I don't think I would be the person I am now without this disability. It's helped my perspective on the world." Here's the latest interview from Syrmor, the Toronto-based embedded reporter in VRChat, in a characteristically surreal and zany yet but…
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Here’s a fascinating new report on avatars and gender from longtime game culture researcher Nick Yee, based on a survey of nearly 3,000 gamers. Nick’s topline takeaway is that 1 in 3 men prefer to play as female avatars, which is more than many might assume. Two other learnings stand out to me even more:…
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Barb photo by Catalina Staheli, edited by Kreao Kujisawa Click here to join the 12th year anniversary of Fifty Linden Fridays, one of Second Life’s largest in-world groups. Expect a massive crowd, however, because with 52,530 active members, roughly 1 in 10 of SL’s entire user base is a member of FLF. Founded and still…
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"I was inspired by my real look," a Second Life user named "Rainhaindiamorena" tells me. In real life, she continues, "I'm a Brazilian singer. I live in Bahia. I tried to make the avatar with my style. black with braided hair Rainha. In Second Life I sing in different lands." Her SL/RL photo is one…
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Back in May, a FOX producer was reaching out to members of the Second Life community (and presumably other virtual world communities) about Alter Ego, an upcoming avatars-meet-Masked Singer reality competition show. Now set to premiere on September 22nd, here's the teaser. … and here's my questions about it:
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“A friend introduced me [to Second Life] a few months ago," Billie Echo (above) tells me, "It’s quite interesting.” The inspiration for her avatar's appearance (also above) is also interesting: "Actually, I was going for a tall vitiligo queen but a lot of wonderful mistakes were made. But I don't regret it." (Her father is…
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Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting Parthenoid 2. 0 is a blog by Sian who focuses on cyber-fashion for trans avatars. Sian’s most recent post “xx:xy tryouts” is a fascinating and insightful exploration of how Second Life offers freedom of exploration to individuals. They write, “one of the…
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Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting Chiaki Xue, recently posted a fabulous picture with a pose he created that really demonstrates the power of Bento avatar skeletons. This is an amazing picture that tells a story. It’s like a movie in one snap. We can imagine these young…
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 