Orchid Glitterbuck – Post 6 Grrrrl
by Pixeleen Mistral on 18/05/07 at 10:47 pm
[After several seriously SL-drama filled weeks, I suspect we all need something special and soothing - like a break from bad news. So we offer a new guilty pleasure -- Orchid Glitterbuck. My special friend Marilyn Murphy and I were both horrified when RL technical problems made it impossible to maintain the Herald’s Post 6 friday tradition last week. I hope that this week’s feature more than makes up for it as Marilyn (the photographer, visionary, and publisher of Players, SL’s in-world erotica magazine) and her latest discovery Orchid, makes the metaverse smile-- the Editrix]
In a world where you can look like anything – why look like everyone else?
This has always puzzled me about Second Life. The female shapes are never really been ‘realistic’ unless you only leave your house to attend red carpet events. The proportions are off completely and everyone is pushing six and a half feet tall. Happily I can say the days of the Jolly Tan Giant have been waning, and some people are getting more indy with their avatars.
I’ve been a Herald reader since I was a noob in January of 2005. It was my guilty pleasure for a while, I guess. Much in the same way that some people can’t resist to pick up a Star or Enquirer mag at the check out. So yes I’m a long time reader, first time poser in the buff.
Why? Why after two and a half years am I doing this? Because in the time I have been reading the Herald many of the models in the Post 6 column have all been the same. They’ve been tan with tits jacked up to their chins (with the exception of a very small few) and I felt and still feel that they were a mere “norm” of Second Life.
You know the type. They come in for a couple months, do the club thing, make themselves a couch, get a few Lindens for the same skin and hair that 90% of the other female avatars are wearing then claim they’ve “Done it all.” I read the comments and very rarely is there any substance in what they say. Its just this big brag-fest about a company they run, but don’t explain or about all the friends they have or how popular they are, but I’ve never heard of them.
That’s my motivation in a nutshell. My avatar isn’t a way for me to live out this far-fetched fantasies that many stretch to reach. My avatar is chubby like I am. She is merely a representative of my personality with all her color, but of course its a color that I surround myself with. Maybe I’m selfish by posing in Post 6 after all this time. I really don’t feel that way. I feel its best I do so as maybe to encourage other people to steer away from the norm if it isn’t what they want to do. Perhaps they enjoy the norm? More power to you but I’m just here to show that ‘norm’ comes in a lot of varieties … especially in Second Life.
When I started Second Life I was a twenty something aspiring for anything. I was working as a beta tester for Sonly Online Entertainment and doing what most gamers would love to do. I’ve never been the creative type, but I’ve never been the dull type either (at least I dont’ think so.) I grew up in a small sexist redneck town which I loathed. I was a recent refugee of Worlds. And looking back, Worlds wasn’t all that bad. Second Life became what Worlds should have been … at any rate I left after hearing a few Worlds residents talking about it. Ten bucks didn’t sound like much.
Right off the bat I was different here as soon as i learned just how customizable avatars were/are. My first stipend was used to buy some black and purple Washu hair. My first shape wasn’t all that different from most the other shapes you see; large tits, small waist, long legs and impossibly big butt. I hated it.
I met Bebop in March of 2005 while I was doing that whole Deejay thing because most of ‘us’ have. At one point there were probably more deejays in Second Life than there were escorts. We were around in simpler times where the only thing people really complained about was Anshe Chung (which I know believe to be just jealousy but I’m not sure) or trying to figure out what was making that whole ‘mafia’ thing so cool that so many were doing it. Things now are much more complicated even if needlessly so.
I had taken photography classes at a community college near my hometown, and Bebop had gone to film school at University of Columbia at Chicago. Immediately he and I shared common interests based on our unique characters, personality, and honest truth we had with one another.
His longtime friend from TSO (He’s an Alphaville refugee) JellyBean got married and we said “Hey bet we could film that”. We did. It was slightly cheezy, but she was our sire as far as wedding videos in Second Life go. We are both social butterflies. Never can I remember us having one circle of friends and not meeting new people. Shortly after Bebop learned that I wasn’t a shabby writer and pitched a few film ideas at me.
I crave to be around creative people. They inspire me in what limited creativity I have – which is how Bebop and I always find these awesome people to work with. He and I did a few business videos, but the wedding videos were what was in high demand. No one was really doing machinima in Second Life, and the few that were didn’t offer services to residents like we were doing. We named the company Natural Selection Studios as Bebop had already had that name in mind if he ever did have his own company.
He left for Basic Training in August of 2005, and the first time we met in December 2005 was funded on money we made from wedding videos in Second Life. Right before he left for basic we realeased a short video we did which was a trailer of a series I was writing a script for while he was away. We still do little small random videos like that.
Now days machinima is pretty common. You can browse YouTube and see any number of videos made in Second Life. Anything from the spur-of-the-moment club dancing video to videos which actually have a plot to them.
In December 2006 I moved from the opressive redneck town where I grew up to live with Bebop, and we got married in March of 2007 – and we continue to be a great team. He and I have been releasing videos consistantly for over two years now. – and we still film on average 3 weddings a week. All this is probably way more information than anyone could ever want about me, my Second Life or even my Real Life – but its hard for me to talk about my Second Life and not involve my real life since its all one in the same. That’s another thing that seems rare in SL. People treat it as an RPG when its an MMO, or am I the one who’s been wrong all this time?
marilyn murphy
May 18th, 2007
hay orchid!! nice job, fun girl. thanks for posing.
dandellion Kimban
May 18th, 2007
who gave this zippocat teenager a word here? Hey kid, go play with your toys, squeeze that red spot on your face and go to bed. Come back in couple of years. Till then, you’ll hopefully understand that you are boring while thinking that you should revenge the world just because a cheerleader told you are nothing special.
Now back to the Orchid’s nice shape :p
The 9th Circuit
May 19th, 2007
>People treat it as an RPG when its an MMO, or am I the one who’s been wrong all this time? <
What it is, is what you want it to be.
“Your world, your imagination”
Carlton
May 19th, 2007
Patriotic Nigras itt
Beathag McMahon
May 19th, 2007
I liked what you said about looks Pixleen. I’m a redhead – and I bought a skin with a matching complexion. I adjusted my height, so I’m 5’4″. I’m petite and fair – and I like it that way. Being tall and tan is boring.
marilyn murphy
May 19th, 2007
what i think: the tall slender look is a bow to convention. its the common “good” look dictated by western thought. how our culture arrived at this perception might simply be the rise of mass media and the constant bombardment of this look on us all by print and cinema. i see efforts often to change it, while anorexic models still walk the walk.
i don’t think it’s evil. it’s simply a cultural outlook. rhodan still has his place. it was just a different time.
Brent Recreant
May 19th, 2007
The only time being tall and tan isn’t boring is when you’re the only good looking guy in Second Life with a skin and hair.
JM
May 19th, 2007
But you still look like many SL avatars. The hair, makeup even body are typical and trendy. Unique my ass.
Alaska Metro
May 19th, 2007
I don’t know… somehow I feel that this would’ve been so much more effective of a protest about the Barbie norm if the text didn’t go on and on about how unique the avatar is. I mean, it’s already deviating from the typical Post 6 shoot. Why do I have to read 5 paragraphs about how most of us choose avatars that are apparently unoriginal? I guess, like Playboy, we’re not really meant to read the text, it’s just filler.
Cute enough girl, though.
I think the next Post 6 should be done with Swirly Cyclone: http://slfashionvictim.blogspot.com/
Mabb Dilweg
May 19th, 2007
@Alaska – yes! I was thinking the same thing as I read this article. Swirly is *truly* unique, in looks and personality. Let’s start a campaign
As for the content of this article, honestly – tolerance is a virtue many people need to embrace. What right does anyone have to judge the choices others make with their avatars, or in the way they conduct their Second Life. I was disappointed. Orchid, you came across as a snob. I suspect that wasn’t your intention, but it does seem that despite being in SL for so long, you don’t get the basic attraction for so many people – choice! You made yours in terms of your avatar’s look and how you experience SL. Others make theirs too. You’re only the “one who’s been wrong” if you think that you can pidgeon-hole such a flexible platform for self-expression.
MMO or RPG – why can’t it be both, and more?
Mabb
(tall and white, nothing like my RL self, because *I* would find that quite boring)
Interbreeding
May 20th, 2007
Wait a minute – there’s no University of Columbia ‘at’ Chicago! Did Bebop perchance go to Columbia College in Chicago and then pass himself off as a pseudo-Ivy Leaguer?
Kahni Poitier
May 20th, 2007
You guys are being needlessly mean. Just shut up and look at the bewbies.
NigrasOnMyLawn
May 20th, 2007
Being a virtual purple mutant must make you feel very special.
Mark
May 20th, 2007
Being a sociophobic dickhead whose mommy and daddy were to busy to show you enough love and whose brain operates at a 14 year old level of logic must make you feel very special.
You have no power over anything. You, of course, already know this, which is why you’ve set your whole “organization” up on a foundation of anonimity, so as to avoid having your RL typists ripped to shreds for acting like Simon Bar Sinister. You and your idiot friends are nothing more than a bunch of cowards.
Veronique Lalonde
May 21st, 2007
Nice pix, Orchid. I do think so. But frankly, the text does not put you in a good light. Never compare yourself to others. Never denigrate others to make a point. I have to tell you, although I like your body, your boobs are bigger than mine and my wife’s put together. So much for a Second Life breakthrough. We also have real hips. Maybe Patrice was one of your exceptions. You did mention exceptions. And I’m not tan. I’m dark. That’s probably more unusual in SL than very pale skins. And hard to get right!
Y’know, I love purple, and I tend to cut Post Six Grrrls a lot of slack. I don’t pick apart their bodies or give them shit for their copy. But you really should not have made yourself out to be so bloody different. Because I’m afraid you’re not. I’ve seen a lot of originals in SL. Maybe you need to look around some more.
I’m glad your business has done well. I admire all creative people, because I’m not really one of them. I’m just a counsellor, writer, and DJ. I’m never going to be a mover and shaker. I try to have fun, and I try to bring goodness to the world, in however small a way. It seems you’re doing that too, and that’s great. Maybe it’s just the way you phrased it.
< < People treat it as an RPG when its an MMO, or am I the one who's been wrong all this time? >>
Someone quoted the Linden slogan: “Your world. Your imagination.” I’m right behind that. If SL is an MMO to you, great. If it’s an RPG to someone else, that’s just as right. There’s no right or wrong. It’s a matter of individual choice. Now for me, SL is both a place where I express the real me and where the SL me is not quite the same as the first life me. SL gives me an opportunity to be different than I am in RL. And why not? I love my RL. I don’t need more of it. I like to use my imagination. In SL, I’m still me, but I’m not confined to the RL me. I certainly hope that’s not a problem for you.
Veronique Lalonde
May 21st, 2007
This is what’s missing next to the floating right angle bracket in the previous message: “People treat it as an RPG when its an MMO, or am I the one who’s been wrong all this time?:” A quote from your write-up. I think the comment editor did not like my double angle brackets.
Jezebelle Voom
May 21st, 2007
Ey, her shape is like mine. Only more purpley. I think she’s purty!
Jorus Xi
May 22nd, 2007
Hell she’s cute, don’t tell me you people actually read playboy for the articles?
Sadako Shikami
May 23rd, 2007
Orchid, i don’t think your avatar is chubby at all! I guess it’s time for me to re-apply for Players, since Marilyn Murphy thought my av was a bit “plus size” *lol* But she did give me some great advice – I was going through the “breasts up to my chin” phase of a newbie, and have since added realistic gravity, a little tummy fat, a slight doubling of chin. Real women have curves, as the saying goes.
I think the reason so many in SL are too tall is the damn DOORS. If you create an avatar that fits through a standard Linden door (from Inventory, Library, Houses) just like your real-life body, you’ll notice that a height meter tells you you’re 6 feet tall or over. Standard doors, as far as I know, are 6 feet, right? So it’s the fault of whoever built the standard Linden houses that started the whole tall craze! That’s my conspiracy theory for today.
Great job Orchid, and Marilyn!
Ophelie Ennui
May 31st, 2007
Cute avatar! I love the little tummy!