You all know about Snapchat, yes? The photos appear briefly and then disappear?

Except that they don’t always disappear…apparently.

I was able to source numerous Snapchat images from Google images.

I’ve never used the app, or even been particularly aware of it until recently, when an acquaintance in SL told me about three weeks ago of fairly basic ‘thing’ going on in SL which is going by the name of SLapchat.

Quite how widespread this is, I’m not sure, but the way it was explained to me is as follows :-

You upload some RL images to your SL avatar’s inventory (an upload costs L$10). These are, typically, within the ‘style’ of wherever you’re visiting, and people are pixelating their faces in some, but not all, instances, or replicating actual Snapchat type filters and overlays to disguise their face and thus provide some level of anonymity.

So if you’re visiting, say, Frank’s Jazz Place, you might want to load up a photograph of yourself in an evening gown, working out in the gym in real life if you’re visiting a SL gym and so on…

But where it becomes ‘interesting’, from a naturist perspective, is that if you’re visiting a naturist sim…

I’ve pixelated information on the screen grab, but you get the idea. Viewing profiles means you can see an image of the person behind the avatar. Our model shall remain anonymous but yes, she uploaded a photo to her SL ‘1st Life’ info box, complete with a snapchat styled face overlay.  The RL image can’t be downloaded, but while experimenting we found that a screen grab, as viewed from the perspective of someone viewing your profile, could be saved, i.e. see the pic above. I’ve no idea how widespread this SLapchat thing is on the grid, or how many people are briefly uploading RL photos, but I’d certainly countenance that you proceed with extreme caution regarding real life images.

I’ve been sitting on this post for quite a while now, because quite frankly I thought the entire concept was quite frankly far-fetched, but the same SL acquaintance pointed me at a thing on Tumblr…

Now I’m wondering if this SLapchat thing is following on from some sort of meme on Tumblr.

The jury’s still out on this regarding it being a hoax or an actual thing within SL. Currently, my money is on the idea of it being a hoax, but…do you know different? And if you’re an SL user, and SL naturist, is it something you’d even consider doing? Or does SL and RL remain separate at all times?

Ella

I’ve no idea how globally known the idea of ‘the gap year‘ is. In some countries, including the UK, it’s a year away from schooling between finishing secondary level education and beginning third level education -university.

The summer I finished secondary education I got a summer job in France, at Cap D’Agde, and discovered naturism, an experience that quite obviously remains with me and added to my growth as a person. From naturism I spun off in various directions to discover more about feminism, environmentalism, exercise and healthy eating, care for the planet and physical work!…and all by the time I arrived at uni four months later. As time goes on people have distilled the rather vague notion of a gap year (although mine only lasted 1/3rd of a year) and now quite readily decide to tour the world before knuckling down to a degree, a family and a lifetime of work.

In the UK, it’s not unusual for an 18 year old to pack a rucksack and head off across Europe with some, not a lot, of money and then find bits of work to help fund their next leg of the journey.

The model in our photos is maybe typical of so many gap year students. I know I’ve personally spoken to various people who’ve confessed to me they’ve discovered ‘skinny dipping’ or ‘been to a nude beach’ -no one really calls it ‘naturism’ at this point in their lives- while on this sojourn around the planet.

With ‘skinny dipping’ or ‘going to a nude beach’ high on many people’s bucket lists, the gap year sees a couple of boxes ticked early in life. Our model has arrived at the beach with her entire belongings in her rucksack, although she is obviously very body confident, wearing little more than a tank top, probably to keep the rucksack from chafing her shoulders and back rather than for any false ‘modesty’ reasons. Having reached the beach, there’s nothing else for it but to strip off the little clothes she’s wearing and plunge into the ocean, happy and content.

Tomorrow, she’ll probably be on a bus or train for another leg of her journey, building experiences. But for today, while she may never call herself ‘naturist’, she’s naked, happy and at one with nature.

SL avatar Willow, who also has a little bit of the hippy student about her, also appears to be taking in some well-earned R&R on the nudist beach having just arrived with her worldly possessions on her back.

Ella