Getting Started: Creating an Avatar

 Yadni's Junkyard has been a mainstay in Second Life for years. While the "freebies" may be older stock, many of them are useful, just the same.

What is an avatar? Most people will tell you it's a big blue ailien from a movie or a cartoon character with power over the elements. They would not be wrong, of course. The term comes from sanskrit avatara with the common reference of the god Vishnu descending from the heavens to take human form. From this instance the term has come to mean a human's representation within a virtual world. While not every game refers to the user's interface representation as an avatar, it can be argued that all, indeed, are.

But in Second Life, the term has become enshrined in the everyday language of its users. Reference to themselves or others is often shortened to "av" or "avi". Lines such as "look at the size of the butt on that avi", or "how many avs are at the club today?" are common. Your avi is your representation in the virtual world and most players spend a great deal of time crafting its appearance.

When you first log into secondlife.com you are presented with a range of avatar choices for your initial foray. Choose one carefully or grab one at random, it doesn't matter. The odds are it won't look that way for long, anyway. Virtually every part of the av is costumizable. Once you get in-world, or "on the grid" you can immediately access your inventory and browse through the library offerings from Linden Labs. The initial offerings from the web site are there, as are a multitude of others in human, animal, robot and vehicle form. Yes, vehicles. Linden Labs refers to them as "vehitars". Below are one user-generated full avatar and two available in your inventory library.

Most people opt to modify their avatars and this is where the fun begins. Feel like you have a pretty good understanding of the human body and its proportions? Then do it yourself. You can sculpt the av's proportions through a series of slider bars manipulating varies regions of the body.

There are also many pre-configured shapes available through content creators. Some can be found in freebie shops will others will require use of the in-game currency. All will be added to your inventory and be only a double-click away from being implemented. Likewise the skins. All Linden skins have painted-on underwear to prevent public nudity. The vast majority of created ones have no such modesty. Eyes are available from basic to highly detailed. Hair can be plastered to you like wet cabbage or float around you like the tips are helium filled. In future blogs, I will take my latest "alt" Mark Skidmore, in search of the best freebies in SL in an attempt to create a decent avatar that doesn't cost a cent.