My original Noob Dude Style 101 guide was started way back in 2020, and a lot can change in five years. In Second Life, a hell of a lot can change in five years, and the way that we put together and customise our avatars these days is very different from how it was back then. So, I’ve decided to reboot this series for 2025, and guide you through the various decisions and confusions you might face as you put together your avatar.
In this first ‘chapter’ I’ll be asking you the questions that you need to be asking yourself before you even begin picking up demos and trying things on. This is your prep – your homework, if you like – and if you get all of these answers sorted out beforehand you’ll be in a much better position when you actually make the jump into demoing. So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
Q1. How lazy do you want to be? Once and done, or bells-n-whistles?
The reason this rather cheekily-phrased question is the first one is because the rest of them kinda hinge on the answer to it. What I’m asking you to consider here is a choice between the following:
- I just want to put together a very simple, easy to manage look. One hairstyle, one skin, maybe two or three decent outfits to cover most occasions (casual, beach, formal), and that’s it. No fussing about, because I don’t plan on changing my avatar once I’ve done that.
- I’ll probably change up my look fairly often. I want a wardrobe filled with different outfits, and I might even change my skin and hair now and then if I feel like it.
- LET ME SHOP! I’m a fashion whore, and I want all the things! (In short, basically you are me…)
Most guys in SL fall between 1 and 2 on that list. A few of us fall firmly into 3, and we’re the ones with the 200,000+ inventory folders, but that’s probably not where you’re coming from.
Q2. How comfortable are you with tech and jargon?
I mean, you’re obviously comfortable enough with tech that you can log into Second Life and navigate your way around a viewer and the world itself. But what I’m asking here is for you to be honest with yourself when it comes to things like wanting to (I might even say bothering to) learn a few basics such as how to use the HUD (Heads-up Display) for a mesh head and body, etc. Second Life does love its jargon (you’ll be coming up against things like ‘BoM’ and ‘EvoX’ as part of this series, and I’ll be explaining those as we get to them) and having a rough working knowledge of the most commonly-used acronyms, expressions, and phrases will help immensely once you come to actually starting to create your avatar.
- I just want to wear an entire look and have done with it. No fussing with HUDs and stuff, and as little jargon as possible. Preferably none! (If your answer is this one, unfortunately you will need to do a couple of things for your initial setup, but once those are done that’s everything you’ll need.)
- I’m fairly comfortable with that kind of thing. I don’t mind working with HUDs if I need to, to change colours and textures of clothing and hair. I don’t mind a bit of jargon, but I don’t want to be overloaded with it.
- Can that HUD change the metals? What about the shiny bits? What’s PBR? Ooh, that’s cool. GIMME ALL THAT! (Once again, you are me…)
Again, most guys will fall between 1 and 2. In this case, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it, and that includes using HUDs and understanding things like BoM, PBR, and EvoX. Learning to accessorise and layer in SL can take a look to the next level. See the banner image at the top of this post? Take away the earrings, shades, and collar, and it’s just another leather jacket and tank top look. With ’em, though? Hell, I’d take him home ;-)
Q3. What look do you want?
No choice options for this one, as your look is going to be personal to you. But what I’ll do here is give you some things to consider.
What kind of physique do you want? Slim, average, muscular, bodybuilder? There’s a mesh body to suit pretty much any look that you want, and some of them can be customised to look more or less muscular (for example). But if you want to use a body that gives you a very slim or very muscular look then that will limit the variety of clothing you can purchase, since clothing is rigged (fitted to) specific bodies. It’s sometimes possible to wear clothing rigged for one body on a different body, but the results may not always work.
What kind of age do you want to represent? Most dudes in Second Life tend toward the young or early middle-aged in looks, no matter how old we are in real life. But if you want to represent in SL as an older avatar then in the last couple of years there has been an explosion of skins and customisation options that will allow you to do exactly that. It’ll take a little more effort to source the age lines and salt-and-pepper hair and beard etc., but it can be done if that’s what you want. Or, alternatively, rejoice in that six (or eight) pack that you can have in SL without spending time sweating your pixels off at the gym!
Consider what ethnicity, culture, and gender expression you might want to display through your avatar. Second Life is a fantastically diverse place, and you’ll find mesh heads, bodies, skins, and clothing to customise your avatar to just about any ethnicity, culture, and gender expression that you could want inworld. Hell, you don’t even need to represent as a human in SL (although ‘human male’ is going to be the focus of this series) if you don’t want to. Your options for customising your avatar are limited only by your imagination (and, of course, by what’s available to purchase. Even then, you can learn to create your own things, but that’s way beyond the remit of this blog).
Q4. What’s your budget?
Ouch. This is the big one. I’m fast approaching my 18th rezday inworld, and as an inveterate shopper (as well as a landowner for pretty much that entire time) I don’t even want to think about how many tens (or hundreds) of thousands of real life dollars I’ve spent in SL over the years.
This question used to be the kicker, the big limiting factor in what you might be able to get. Shopping in Second Life has always been a woman’s world, with freebies left and right for the ladies, and most guys have had to wait until the big Christmas giveaway events to pick up something like a free mesh head. But very recently – literally in the past few months – every SL resident now has some new items in their inventory from some of the grid’s top creators. So, even if your budget is “I’m flat broke” you can still look good from the outset. We’ll look at that option later in this series.
But do consider your budget. To get the full versions of the most popular (and most created-for) heads and bodies in Second Life would set you back anywhere between USD25 and USD40 unless you managed to catch a sale or a holiday giveaway. And, while you can shop at one of the many dedicated menswear events that run each month, there’s also a plethora of much cheaper options to be found in the weekend sales. If you opt for the ‘inventory head and body’ option that I mentioned in the previous paragraph, then together with some judicious weekend sale shopping you can pull together a really great looking avatar for the price of your morning coffee and bagel.
Q5. How much time and patience do you have?
Honestly? This final question is the most important one. Especially the bit about patience. Even if you’re the guy who will have picked No.1 for my questions that have numbered options (in other words, you want this to be as simple and basic as possible) then you’re probably still going to have to sit down with a nice cold beer or three, and a generous handful of patience while you work your way through it all. I’m going to try and simplify it as much as possible so that you have your options narrowed down as close as you can, but I’m not going to be able to tell you that ABC head and XYZ skin are the exact ones you want to get the look you’re after, purely because there are more heads and skins (and other customisation options) than I can possibly cover in these posts, with more coming out all the time.
It’ll be down to you to do the legwork once you’ve got an idea of what you want. It might take you a few tries and a lot of demos before you settle on your base look, but I’ll be here to help you through it, and once you’re there you’ll look and feel fucking great.
Coming next in this series: Choosing a Mesh Head – to EvoX or not to EvoX? (That is the question, but what is EvoX?)
The above will be a link once that post is online, so you’ll be able to click through and read each one in turn.