Fusion Magazine - September 2014

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FUSION

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Publisher Notes

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A Look Back

A Breed of Their Own

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Pretty Places

Adoption - Dos and Donts

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Sort Your Inventory

Cover Story

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Playing the Part

Fashion Editor Notes

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Blogger's Corner

Get That Style

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Look of the Month

Shoe Trends

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September Fashion Feature

Gacha, Gacha, Gacha!

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C O N T E N T S

PUBLISHER

Libby

Farleigh

MANAGING EDITOR

Eavanya

Firelyte

FASHION EDITOR

Daija

Arida

MARKETING

Seth

Diabolito

Brittney Lynne

FUSION S t a f f contributors

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SENIOR WRITERS

Rylan

Carling

WRITERS

Auryn Beorn Jude Tatham Lily Holsworthy

PHOTOGRAPHERS Rylan Carling Autumn Ashdene Lauren

FASHION TEAM

On this month's cover: Photography by Libby Farleigh Modeled by Brique Topaz, Mankind Tracer & Harper Beresford

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Alex1985 Diabolito Drakkje Dailey Oakley Foxtrot Autumn Ashdene

NOTE-FROM-THE-PUBLISHER 14

Welcome to our anniversary issue! Fusion Magazine started a year ago this month. Like most years, it has been one of ups and downs. I have been trying to think of something meaningful and philosophical to share with you all, but then I decided all I really wanted to say was thank you.

Thank you to Fusion's amazing team of staff, past and present, and especially those people who have contributed over and above. You are the lifeblood of Fusion, this magazine is the embodiment of your individual crafts, I hope you're as proud of it as I am.

Thank you to our advertisers, especially those who invested in us when we had nothing to show in return but a vision. Special thanks to Ria from Bazar, Froukje from Dutchie, Luna from !bang, Kinu from Sakide, Frolic & Marcus from RGF Estates, Fusion couldn't exist without your support.

To our readers, our perusers, our 'dip in for 5 minute'ers, our 'flip through'ers, thank you. Thank you for staying interested in the beauty our world has to offer, thank you for exploring our featured locations, having a giggle over our humourous articles, nodding in agreement or yelling at your screen over our opinion pieces, however you engage with Fusion, thank you.

Before I sign off I want to introduce Eavanya Firelyte. Eavanya is our new Managing Editor and will be handling most of the day to day running of Fusion, I am so excited to have her on board!

With all that said, enjoy the issue, and we'll see you in October.

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Avatars for the young at heart!

a r s y r e I v s i s n ue n A A Look Back article by Lily Holsworthy

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year has gone by since the first issue of Fusion Magazine. Being a recently hired writer, a brief look back at some of the things from the first issue seems appropriate. Libby Farleigh had a vision for what Fusion should bring to Second Life residents and set the magazine apart from all others. Fusion really is all about loving our Second Life and enjoying all the beauty it has to offer. This was the essence of Libby's first Publisher’s note and from all the issues I’ve read so far, she’s certainly maintained her vision.

One of the very first articles published addressed the age old question, ‘Is Second Life dying?’. The article, by Bliss Windlow, went on to discuss the quality of people in Second Life and how it’s been on the decline. It feels to me, we’ve somewhat moved backwards as people, it’s becoming more and more like high school than a game where you need to be an adult to play. Places are not as welcoming as they used to be.

We’ve gotten lazy and unwilling to make much of effort for anything. If SL worked like RL we’d have gotten flabby and morose. Clothing events provide one stop shopping of your favorite stores, we rarely leave our pretty pixel houses, everyone has turned into a blogger and when we do go to clubs it’s just a bunch of people in one place standing AFK. Even role-play sims, where people are supposed to be active, are just not anymore.

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Have we ‘let ourselves go’ so much so that it’s really become a virtual world that revolves around money and status? With the changes and advances we’ve made graphics wise there are some wonderfully beautiful sims to see but we’d rather sit in our pixel houses by our pixel selves unpacking all of the things we purchased from recent events turned over with new ‘original content’. Even our fashion is moving backwards with all these applier options. We went from our jeans being plaster to our bodies with low quality prim attachments, to sculpted, then on to mesh, then back to our clothes being plastered to our bodies needing prim attachments. Are we really ok with our little world devolving to the point that people no longer talk to strangers and judge each other on their fashion that has gone backwards?

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a second to talk about content creators. Anyone used to be able to create content in Second Life. We’ve gotten to the point where even top designers are simply buying 3D mesh templates off of websites. There is not as much original content as there used to be. Also, if you aren’t part of one of these ‘fashion events’ there’s a good chance your content won’t sell after you spent all that time working on it. There are some real gems out there still if people would just open their searches and go old school to find what they need.

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Second Life was a place you could connect with people, a lot of time was spent hunting for places with people interacting with each other. We enjoyed the search for the perfect outfit with our friends and through lag it turned into memory making adventures.

This world becomes our sanctuary and the place we come to unwind, Second Life is what the residents make it, so if our world is dying, it’s because we are not doing enough to save it. 

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article by Jude Tatham & photography by Autumn Ashdene

A breed Of Their Own F U S I O N september

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any of us grow up wanting a pet and some of us are lucky enough to have one or two as we grow up. Often, however the novelty of owning a rabbit or a hamster wears off as we get older and the only pets we consider are cats, dogs or horses.

In SL over the years I have noticed the growing interest in keeping a pet. Years ago this would simply involve a rather basic prim dog or cat lead on the rug by the fire, or perhaps attached to your arm as your avatar is animated stroking it. But over the years this pastime has evolved into an extremely popular, and often lucrative, pursuit.

For those not in the loop, breedables in SL are virtual animals you can buy to care for and breed, a little like a Tamagotchi pet. They range from imitation real life animals, such as horses, gorillas, dogs, cats and birds right up to the weird and wonderful creatures like Dwarfins, Snuffles and Meeroos. Some players become so good at breeding these animals that they can often sell them for an impressive profit.

So what does caring for a breedable involve?

Once you have bought your animal of choice, depending on its age, breed, etc, it will have stats for things like energy, happiness and so on. You can buy food which you rezz for your breedable to ‘eat’ increasing its stats as a result. With breeding it seems to be all about pelts and breeding an animal with particular strengths, and just like in reality, certain things are more desirable than others.

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As mentioned before, breeding can be a lucrative hobby in SL and people will pay thousands of Lindens for a desirable breed. The most popular animal for this appears to be horses and one of the leading suppliers of breedable steeds is Amaretto horses, however there are several suppliers of horses across the grid, so it is certainly worth shopping around.

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If you think the buying, selling and caring for one of these digital beasts is something you would like to pursue then check out the multitude of stores and auction houses out there, but remember, a breedable is for life, not just for Christmas. ď Ž

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Breedables to Check Out

breedables featured are KittyCatS, click this page for a LM 24

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PRETTY PLACES

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photography by Libby Farleigh

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All photography taken at 30

Aspen Fell

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article by Lily Holsworthy & photography by Marina Dertzer 32

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adoption

IN SECOND LIFE

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Check out Marina's beautiful Flickr by clicking this page!

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o you’ve been in Second Life a long time, you’ve seen a lot and done a lot and think it’s now time to settle down. After a big lavish wedding that you invited everyone and their friends to and spent far too much on, you decide it’s time for children. You think about the whole prim baby idea and being pregnant and dismiss it quickly because you would need a whole maternity wardrobe and the babies are sometimes pretty creepy looking, so you decide to adopt. You begin your search for the perfect child for you, after a long debate of boy or girl, teen or toddler.

Adopting in SL can be a great experience or a very hard lesson learned. As parents here are a few things to remember while you’re choosing that perfect match. Next week we’ll explore the other side of the story. 

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Do ensure, if you have a partner, they’re honestly committed to adopting.

Don’t adopt a child as a novelty or an accessory, they aren’t pets.

Do take advantage of your full trial time, lots of people do longer trials to be sure it’s the right fit.

Don’t give them any money for at least 3 months. Keep everything in your name; you want to be parents, not a bank.

Do keep an eye out for inappropriate behaviour around other adults, including your partner.

Don’t run off with your child on their adult avatar, it gives the rest of us a bad name, and it’s just wrong,

Do be honest about what you’re looking for in a child. If you don’t have common ground it is doomed to fail.

Don’t collect children. They aren’t antiques and this isn’t the Antiques Roadshow.

Do be mindful of the things you say around them. You don’t want to be a trashy parent other people make fun of in IMs.

Don’t dress like a street walker. These are kids and in real life we all know what we think when we see parents walking down the street like that.

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CCCCCCCCR Come explore The Courtyard, a new kid, teen and family hangout. Sign up for Brownies or one of our other clubs!

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没 click this page for a LM

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UNDER CONTROL

SIX PART

Keeping Your inventory

by Auryn Beorn

Disclaimer: The screenshots and brand names shown in this article do not reflect in any manner any preference that Fusion Magazine or its staff has for specific stores. They show up merely as examples.

Greetings everybody! With the advent of mesh body enhancements such as hands, feet, breasts and whatnot, our avatars, currently, may look smoother and more detailed than the default SL avatar. In order to use said body parts, fashion creators provide a variety of appliers and add-ons. Appliers are HUDs that load into the mesh part the corresponding texture: skins, tattoos, lingerie, tops, pants; add-ons are (rigged mesh) objects that conform to specific body parts: rings for mesh hands (in specific poses), anklets for mesh feet (again, specific feet poses) and so on.

All these items have improved our appearance a lot, but in exchange, sorting our inventory in a way that makes sense has become more confusing. Also, some body parts require specific feet/hand sizes, while when not using them, our avatar better fits other sizes; dressing in itself has become more complicated.

We'll explore here some ideas I've been testing through time, that have helped me in performing these tasks faster, always finding everything I need with very few clicks.

Hopefully, these ideas will help you develop your own strategy that works for you.

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First of all: How do we go about having all of our body parts, controller HUDs, skin appliers, etc. accessible? I have the body parts under the Body Parts system folder, and said folder in my inventory looks like this, which works for me:

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The body parts I use the most are accessible at the top, by using the [ ] characters to enclose the brand. All of the body parts that I barely use, are under a [Z] Parts - Not Used Often folder, so the Body Parts folder doesn't get too long a list of folders that would force me to scroll down in order to find things.

The hands pose I use the most is one click away under the [Slink] Hands folder, and then all the other hand poses under a subfolder (again, avoiding having to scroll down to find the hands pose I use the most.)

Then, mesh bodies require a different size of hands and feet than my own shape does, so I keep those sizes within the corresponding mesh body folder. Notice also how I do the same with the hands pose: The relaxed pose is accessible directly under the mesh body folder, while all the other poses in that size are stored under a subfolder.

Remember, this is just a suggestion! It may not work perfectly for you, so use it just as a starting point to develop your own system.

Once we have all the body parts organized, we can use a little tip to easily find of our clothes/shoes/etc. that work with said body parts.

Suppose you have a folder with lingerie that comes with appliers for both the Slink feet and Ingenue shoes. You could rename that folder this way: Lingerie Folder {Slink} {Ingenue} What do we achieve with that? If we now start typing the following in the Search bar of the inventory window: {Ingenue} every folder that was labeled with {Ingenue} will show up in the search, making it very easy to choose something that will work with those shoes. If we have a dress that has appliers for Wowmeh, Physique and Lolas, by renaming it this way: Dress Folder {Lolas}{Wowmeh}{Physique} we are 40

making it easy to find when we look for out items that work with either of the three.

You can of course choose your own way of writing the body parts. If {Wowmeh} and {Physique} are too long, {Wowm} and {Phys} could work good enough.

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A closing suggestion: create outfits with your most used body parts. For example, create an outfit where you would have a mesh body on with the corresponding hands and feet sizes for it, if you use mesh bodies. This would allow you to quickly switch to that body and the correctly sized hands and feet for it. Then all you have to do is dress over that mesh body. Outfits can be really useful. If you haven't used Outfits yet, don't worry: soon we'll talk about more uses for them, and how to create them. But for now, we're closing this Keep your inventory under control series.

I hope you found it useful! See you in the next issue. In the meantime...

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Enjoy your SL! ď Ž

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article by Jude Tatham & photography by Libby Farleigh

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Harper Beresford is well known across the globe for her fashion connections, work within the industry and her popular blog, A Passion for Virtual Fashion. Almost since day one Harper has immerged herself in the fashion industry and has worked extensively for RFyre and splits much of her business time between Liv Glam, Damselfly and Sage.

A banner girl for the main Second Life website and Marketplace, she has a face and name most people in the industry recognise and respect. But being a top fashionista isn’t enough for Harper and when we met and talked about the causes she supports, she spoke very passionately about work she does.

One of her biggest annual projects is the part she plays in organising the Second Life birthday celebrations. These events bring together some of SL’s most creative and interesting designers, builders and performers to share their creations with the grid. Other events she has been heavily involved in include Fashion for Life. All money raised goes to the American Cancer Society, but these events are also about providing outreach to those members of the SL community who have been touched by cancer in some way.

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Working as an English teacher in Germany, this native Californian is a focused and tireless fundraiser both in RL and SL, and runs her own registered non-profit charity, Live and Learn in Kenya (LLK Int.).

Although much of her work is done in RL with her charity board, she has created Lavendar Field, a live music and performance venue in SL. Up to five or six times a week some of SL’s best and well know performers grace the stage for free and help to raise cash for this worthy cause. The likes of Samm Qendra, Russell Eponym and Maxx Sabretooth put on a fantastic show and encourage people to part with some of their Lindens for people who really need it. On top of fantastic music, Lavendar Field hosts art exhibitions, stages plays and hosts storytelling events, so something for everyone to enjoy. As Brique herself put it, “...raise funds to feed the very poor children of Kenya....and have fun doing so.”

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The charity is all about raising funds for the children in Kenya to help buy food and essential items and more recently, to build them a school. At the time of meeting with Brique, she was very excited as her school building project was about to begin, with completion in December this year. This will, without a doubt, make a huge difference to the children in her programme.

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Another exceptional SLer is Mankind Tracer, also known by his RL name, Seth Regan.

As many of you will know Seth is an experienced and very popular performer in SL and brings a fantastic rock sound to wherever he performs. After joining SL in 2006 and attending some events, Seth decided that he would like to try sharing his music with our virtual world and he has been performing ever since.

Influenced by 60s and 70s rock including legendary performers such as Pink Floyd and Billy Joel, Seth has honed his own sound and as a result is now a virtual award winning performer receiving the “Best Live Performer” award, “Listener’s Choice Award” and “The Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Second Life”, to name but a few. But with all his success, Seth has also given a lot of his time to charity and has raised money through his performances for Toys for Tots, Wounded Warriors and has recently been asked to help with the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.

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http://leben-lernen-kenia.org/

m a n k i n d http://www.sethregan.com/

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Jude Tatham walks briskly through the market square, briefly pausing to inspect some rather attractive gloves being sold on the seamstress’ stall. She looks up and smiles at the woman looking eagerly at her from behind her workbench, "Exquisite workmanship, how much for these my dear woman?"

I am wearing a gravity defying corset, my skirt is so full and long I can't remember if I am wearing shoes and I am emoting my heart out as a 12th century noble woman, trying my best to remember the required etiquette. I am dabbling in a little medieval/fantasy role-playing and have taken on a character I feel reflects my inner nobility... or at least allows me to wear nicer outfits than the tavern wench.

But this is a drop in the very large ocean know as character driven role-play. This past time is so rich and diverse there is something for everyone. What is great about role-play in SL is that your favourite character can often translate into any number of sims. Lady Jude wouldn’t be out of place in Avilion, a medieval fantasy sim offering magic and romance, or perhaps Drekiheim with its Vikings, Celts and even a furry Lycan. Even if I want something a little grittier I could tweak my character and join the Game of Thrones themed sims and play a devious Lannister maiden or a dragon taming Targaryen queen. But if the medieval life isn’t for you, there is so much more.

Jude Tatham walks briskly through the dark street, her leather boots making little sound as she weaves around tramps and prostitutes, all of the night creatures who crawl out from under their rock when the sun goes down. Truth be told, she is one of them, and as she 48

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pulls her leather jacket around her tighter, she senses someone close and spins around, her voice almost a hiss “Back off, I have nothing you want.”

So now I am transported into modern day and beyond, the sim is dark and foreboding and at times rather unnerving. This sim isn’t for the faint hearted and from what I can tell, these dark urban settings are rather popular. Combat is what attracts many, dark and supernatural beings are also popular here, and more disturbingly the ‘promise’ of forced sex and violence too. But I suppose SL is all about doing what you would not in reality, so each to their own. Toxian City, Dead End City and The East End are all doing something right, with high traffic figures and green dots a-plenty. Urban role-play seems to be where it is at.

Jude Tatham marches briskly towards the docking station of her spacecraft, her hand brushes against the Light Saber at her hip. She feels a pang of guilt knowing she stole it from the Jedi Knight who helped her. Her servant is at her side and as she is about to board her craft she turns to the girl and whispers “Tell Obi-Wan I’m sorry.”

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Yes there is even a Star Wars role-play sim, or two and other popular movies and books have been brought to life also. Harry Potter themed sims, Marvel superhero sims, Battle Star Galactica and even My Little Pony (I kid you not). There is something for everyone and each sim has its own back story, way of life and often a lifestyle meter to get you completely immerged. So if you want to be someone else for a while, then why not play the part and join in! 

by Jude Tatham

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Fashion Editor N O T E

Photographed by Rodes Resident

IT’S FALL!!!

Who’s Ready for some Fall fashion?!?! I know I am, but to be fair, I’m always ready for some new fashion! Our extremely talented stylists and photographers have put some amazing trends together to showcase!

This month we have all our returning sections coming back to share in the awesomeness! We have our Looks of the Month, in which I’m obsessed with. They look forward to seeing you guys back here next month.

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are amazing bloggers and photographers. So I truly hope you enjoy everything and

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me in world or via email, daijaarida@gmail.com

blogger's corner

By Alex1985 Diabolito

Summer is over, Fall is here and to be honest, I'm really glad it is!

I was getting tired with all the summer stuff and picking up some cool September finds was a very pleasant change. Especially when they look as good as these!

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Hair : James from Action Pipe : Manhattan pipe from Adjunct Coat : XIV collection from Kauna Knit, shirt & tie : XIV collection from Kauna Pants : XIV collection from Kauna Shoes : Oxfords from Kauna 54

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Hair: SWISH hair in Dark Blonde from [LeLutka]

Skin: Cassia skin in America from -Glam Affair Shorts: Elina shorts in ebony from Zaara

Blouse: Open Collar Blouse in White from -tres blahShoes: Roxanne Leather Penny Lane from [Co57]

Glasses: Obscurity Shades in Black from ::Modish:: Bag: Rhea Saffiano bag in red from ::{u.f.o}::

Watch: Sitennoah in black from [MANDALA]

Styled, modeled, & photographed by Drakkje Dailey

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GET THAT STYLE

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Photographed by TheSatanicDevil Resident Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/75450386@N02/ & http://thelastvigil.wordpress.com/ 58

Look OFTHE Month F U S I O N september

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Photographed by Isis Feden Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/40948409@N03/ & http://freebiesailors.blogspot.pt/ 60

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SHOE TRENDS

Photographed & modeled by Autumn Ashdene 62

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Bens Boutique

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Styled, modeled, & photographed by Oakley Foxtrot 66

•Skin: Claudia Fair from -Belleza- •Hair/crown: Writ Mesh Lids and Lashes from Slink •Lashes: Shironuri L Collar & Pearls in Black from Maitreya •Tattoos: Ja FaMESHed *{Junbug}* •Ring: OP

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ter Hair @ The Arcade from Tableau Vivant •Eyelids: Lashes 4 in Black from -Glam Affair- •Collar: Vintage ameson (Faded) from .Reckless. •Gown: Ariel [Ink] @ PERA skull set from Donna Flora

GACHA, GACHA, GACHA!

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article by Lily Holsworthy

ne of Second Life's biggest most anticipated events is gacha. An event where designers put together a themed series of never before released exclusive items and some even super rare items.

On opening day we spam click teleport until our mouse hand cramps just to get in to start loading up the machines with our hard earned linden dollars. These events are the equivalent of Black Friday deals, women clawing and chomping at the bit to get their favorite things first.

We are offered these fantastic items at a price of 25-100L per play. We think we're getting an amazing deal on some quality rare stuff. Question is are we really getting our money's worth or just being manipulated into thinking we're paying less for something 'rare'? I use the quotations as we do wait for days on end to get these items that are really just a ploy to get us to spend ridiculous amounts of money on what could really be defined as a gambling addiction. We sit for hours thinking just one more try, we see the word 'rare' pop up and think "Omg I finally got it!", just to realize it wasn't the color, item or version you just sank 5,000L to get. You walk away feeling dirty and sad because you spent all of your money on one single machine that didn't give you your fix of your favorite poison.

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Of course we have the other option of getting it 'second hand'. Not only is gacha a great money maker but after you've spent all that money trying to get that one super rare item that everyone got anyway, you have the option of buying it from a gacha market. You start hunting and finally find it for sale somewhere for a ridiculous amount on top of what you already spent on the machine. The great debate is on, asking yourself if you should buy it at what this person is gouging you for or walk away and cut your losses...

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You buy it because it is super rare! Satisfied and super happy with your purchase you rush home open it and wear it out to packed club, rez, and look around to see half the girls in the place wearing the exact same thing.

You solemnly leave, disappointed your super rare item wasn't that rare and swear that was the last gacha you were going to attend. The next day you log in and see a preview release of the next event, start pinching your pennies while you swear you won't dare spend that much on a rare item again.

Next thing you know you're at that machine again 5,000L worth of plays in, debating if you really need to pay your tier.

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Your landlord would understand, just this once, right? ď Ž