Mass Effect Lovin'

Mass Effect 2 is out and much has been improved to all facets of the previous game. Locales ranging from sparse colonies to heavy urban blight are beautifully rendered, all with a hefty amount of atmosphere.

I spent 150 hours with Mass Effect 1 over 5 playthroughs, and up to the very end I was still discovering small gems I'd never noticed before. ME2 will be no different, as I'm enjoying just walking around and taking in the amazing universe Bioware has crafted.

I'm a sucker for character creation screens...I can spend an entire evening playing with features to make a character "just so."...I'm in OCD territory.

I've never used the default Shepard in any of my games and I have the shirt to prove it:

NOT MY SHEPARD

-Roe

Sophia Harlow has thrown a challenge to take a look back and compare our avatars then and now.

I started off humbly, noobishly and naively on Help Island. Spent an entire week there, learning little bits of scripting, building, inventory management and the like. I met the Mentors regularly and some are still friends today, 4 years later.

Anyway, here's me taking my first baby steps in SL:

That didn't last very long. A male avatar just didn't work for me. I wanted/needed something that represented more who I was, who I felt like at the time. After a few weeks of tweaking, this felt closer to the mark:

Yes I was totally boobular, I realize that now :D This was not out of some fetish or for what I desired. Honestly they didn't feel *that* big at the time, standing next to models on the catwalk (they were HUGE). I loved modelling in SL, making my own poses, having fun chatting with the other models.

This shape I was completely comfortable in. It felt "me". However once I came out (being male in RL) modeling contracts dwindled, but the sense of freedom I gained from being at peace with my RL gender and my avatar made me very happy. I thank my RL/SL wife for this.

Here's me now, 4 years later and hopefully wiser. My boob size went down three times, but my face never changed.

I'm still "me", but I have changed in those four years. Changed in RL and in SL. I know myself better than I did before.

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15 days in Liberty City

Here's a time-lapsed video showing 15 days in Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City.

It's amazing to me how elaborate virtual sandboxes have become in the last 3 years alone.

Have a look.

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I love to visit the Japan Kansai/Mao Sims. I find them very relaxing and a nice change of pace.

There are plenty of spots to take a break and enjoy the detailed textures of the scenery.

These sims also host a roleplaying group set in the time period.

365 days: 1/365

Inspired by Chestnut Rau's blogpost, I decided to forge ahead and begin my own "1 picture a day" project and hopefully keep at it for a full year.

I'm interested in seeing the changes that will be shown through this project. New client-side features, new SL changes, new lighting setups. It will also be a nice retrospective and allow me to remember events that happened throughout SL.

I haven't logged in a few days, so here I am, still in my Hallowe'en costume.

Hello Kitty officially middle-aged, celebrates in Hello Kitty Online

Hello Kitty officially middle-aged, celebrates in Hello Kitty Online