I use the blog page Scoop.it Second Life destinations quite a lot.

Less an emphasis on fashion, more a focus on the photogenic aspects of SL.

And autumn (Fall) is always a beautiful time in SL with the vibrancy of the colours. So imagine my delight to discover a sim that is not only autumnally brilliant, but ‘clothing optional’! 🙂

 

Habitat Springs (or Countryside) offers all of that!

All bedecked in autumnal splendour!

So I’ve been asking several of our models, Harry’s models, our friends, etc, to hop over there and grab some photos, beginning with Mandy and Jose. Others will follow as we illustrate subsequent posts.

At some sims we feature, we remind avatars that they’re not ‘naturist’. No need in the case of Countryside/Habitat Springs.

It looks magnificent, dressed in browns, oranges, reds and yellows!

It feels to me like SL is becoming more conservative, in some ways. Several ‘naturist’ sims have become a little more ‘clothing optional’, a sure fire sign that you’re sacrificing your ideals on the bonfires of ‘traffic’. I’ve been asked to leave a couple of sims recently while taking photos for the blog in my birthday suit, as my appearance contravened…and some sort of Linden Labs TOS would be cited. As if Linden Labs’ staff, employees, directors, shareholders or users in the form of avatars never stripped off somewhere in SL, even if only to change outfits.

I admit that in SL I’ve more or less abandoned any ‘discretion’ as regards nudity. Everyone knows what a naked avatar of either gender looks like, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise. So why some ridiculous coyness when a naked body turns up, a long distance form anyone else on a sim, to take a few naked photos? I won’t be making any attempt to reel in this approach. You signed up to SL as someone aware of what the naked body of the same, or other, gender looks like and the sight of one won’t shock or offend you, so why pretend otherwise?

But back to Habitat Srpings/Countryside. It’s extremely satisfying that someone should create a sim that’s ostensibly a beautifully photogenic autumnal countryside sim and then say ‘hey, but do you know what? In such a real life environment someone might take off their clothes…feel free to do the same’. Do you have any idea what a positive, realistic message that sends out????

If you use Flickr, be aware that Countryside has its own pages on the service, many of which utilise naked photography sitting comfortably alongside ‘textile’ shots. I don’t imagine users of the Flickr page or in SL will have had any problems coming up against others with a different dress code from themselves, and perhaps SL and its users need to take a more adult approach to the presence of nude avatars in exactly the way Countryside/Habitat Springs have.

Brilliant sim. Brilliant mindset by its creators!

Ella