You may know grunge is a THING in computer modeling. It is easy to make perfect stuff that looks totally new. It takes some talent to age it and give it signs of wear and dirt. Those improving their creative skill seem to eventually try adding grunge to whatever they are creating.
A fascinating display of grungy, dirty, rusting things can be found in Second Life’s game The Wastelands. I’ve been exploring and playing in Wastelands, probably SL’s oldest and longest-running game, at least AFAIK. My problem is I feel overdressed. I more commonly dress for shopping, events, and clubs.
There are numerous other role play games in SL set in the post-apocalyptic eras. However, in most SL role play areas of such eras, the women make high-end call-girls look like nuns.
I don’t have the clothes for a Wastelands look… The players I have seen go for a more probably real look. So, with my 55k inventory, I have nothing to wear… so sad… …and I have a bridge for sale in San Francisco. (Contact me in-world.)
It is true I literally have nothing I think works for Wastelands style… well, with my mesh body. I have made a classic body outfit that suffices. But, I hate it. So, I’ve been on a quest to find clothes I think work and that I like. I’m not going to take on the Walking Dead zombie look. Eck! There are plenty of those playing in Wastelands that favor that look, just not me.
The look of the living in Walking Dead I can tolerate and is more what I’m going for… somewhat dirty and worn.
You probably know and I will confirm Second Life Search sucks when it comes to finding grunge or post-apocalyptic clothes… actually for anything specific. I’ve tried the filters and they help. But, still there is a lot to wade through with little joy.
Searching the marketplace with Google returns 4 million hits… yeah… I’ll dig through that … NOT.
But, I have found some interesting places in my search.
Razor/// – I’ve been in Razor before, it has been awhile. I like the Razor store and has some stuff that think might work. I loaded up on demos. Razor (Map URL). I tried the demos and then went back and spent some money.
I found a lot of Razor’s stuff was made for Standard Sizes. But, Kehl Razor’s new stuff includes Slink, Belleza, Maitreya, TMP, and varyingly some others. I am less particular about changing shape to fit clothes these days. But, I ran into a problem. I realized for the 2 or 3 dozen custom shapes I have for various clothes makers none are going to work now as they are all for use with my classic head… dang. So, new shapes or wear my classic head.
I found I could export my shapes as XML files, edit them, and make a head shape part and a body parts shape. I can import the edited shapes. Any settings missing from the file leave the previous setting in place. I can wear a designers’ or my head shape, import my body shape and the two merge giving me what I want. But, I would need to export all my custom shapes and edit the XML files then import them… easier to make new shapes. So, now I have a folder for Classic and GA.EG shapes.
I find that with Razor the Slink body the alpha cuts are not going to work. Too bad. But, Kehl’s newer stuff is made for Slink. So, it works. The newer stuff made for Slink fits well. 🙂
There are some funky boots at Razor (5k ACI range). Just what I want for Wastelands. But, not all the pants work with all the boots. So, use those demos.
Things like face masks work with my Jennifer GA.EG head, surprise. But, they are not Bento animated. Which for Wastelands would be good. I can take off the face animation HUD.
Flickr, Marketplace, Web, and group (2,000+).
INSANYA – The INSANYA main store is across the street from Razor. INSANYA has less of the grungy stuff I was looking for but has some nice stuff. INSANYA (Map URL).
INSANYS is selling nipple tap in like six colors for L$200 and my nipple tape in all colors with the strip-me feature for L$149 isn’t selling… hmmm… what did I do wrong? Maybe because I just made it for Physique. Maybe I’ll add Hourglass…
INSANYA is a huge store. I kept getting lost.
BRII Underground Wear – Then I found BRII… Oh Wow! If you need a costume, this is the place. Huge store. Huge selection. Carnival, Mardi Gras, Super Hero, Alice in Wonderland, and way more. BRII (Map URL)
At times lag is pretty bad. It comes and goes. Plus, there is SOO much stuff that has to download. Turn down your draw distance. I think the robot models add to the lag. There are like 15 or 20 of them. But, the store is more than worth putting up with the lag.
During April there is an in-store hunt going on. You can get some of the L$300± outfits for L$3. But, it is tricky. Once figured out, you can score. But… I found all the stuff I bought was Standard Size mesh. So, I’ll have to build new shapes to wear it. The Slink alpha cuts just don’t work with INSANYA.
The hunt notice shows you the 21 items you can find. It is all nice stuff. But, I didn’t see any way to know which hunt item was which outfit. As an example, the “RIMS3H # 21” hunt item is the 4th image on the notice… but for L$3… does it matter? There is about L$6,000 worth of outfits available for L$64… a deal if you don’t mind editing your shape.
Plus, there are accessories in the packages, shoes, bracelets, sunglasses… Most of these individual accessories would cost more than L$3.
There are magic chairs using your first initial. You have to wear the BRII group tag (L$200 join fee). But, one or 2 hits and you have that back. Nice stuff in the chairs. I assume it is the Std. Size stuff.
Flickr, Marketplace, Web, and group just above.
Velvet Whip – This is a place for those into medieval role play. Large selection of furniture, clothes, and stuff for the medieval era, Gor, and slave clothes. Velvet Whip (Map URL).
Older stuff seems to be classic and newer stuff supports some mesh. I found a few ragged, torn tops and skirts.
Posing
I finally put together an outfit I don’t mind wearing. I wanted to include a picture of it. So, I TP to my green-screen room and start snapping. I have 40± poses in my pose HUD. THE POSES MAKE ME LOOK REDICULOUS in this outfit. An apocalyptic look is anything but feminine. So, those feminine poses just look wrong. It never occurred to me how far-reaching a particular ‘look’ can be.
Summary
So… it’s hard to find specific stuff in Second Life… still. I think the big problem is from users being able to use whatever keywords and tags they want. They spam the search engine using whatever they think anyone might possibly search on hoping for an impulse sale.
The Lindens are ‘working on it’.
Whatever the reason search sucks, do you buy grunge, dirty clothes, raggedy clothes? If so, where?
You need to try Gor
Will that get me the clothes I need for Wastelands?
Why do you think I need to try the Gorean life style?