Second Life Shopping Shouldn’t Be a Gamble but Here We Are
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Second Life shopping shouldn’t feel like gambling, but somehow, here we are. From no-demo disasters to ridiculous timed trials and one-shoe samples, let’s talk about the chaos that is trying before buying.
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Funny thing that this video pop in after a regretful purchase last night lol. It was a fullperm outfit. First realized how bad the shoes where rigged then while I was working on the blazer texture, realized that the blazer had some, small yet annoying clipping issues with itself on the stomach area. That's where I gave up. No inworld store, like most fullperm stores, and of course no demo.
A Good Roast enjoyed it,my pet hate shopping is you have found a new Designer,there Mesh is to die for the fit perfect,each outfit they make is perfect until they get a following,then they start rushing there creations yes still look incredible,but you need to mask a third of your body ,just to hide the rips in the outfits.Rant over:)
Thank you so much for this. I am with you 100% about the issues related to Demos, especially the Demos without HUDs that show all the colors, as well as those with timers. They are the bane of my shopping experience. I do, and I will pay more for items that show me what I am getting, and I run like the wind away from those who do not. I may buy from you once in a fit of desire, but I will think 3 times over when the next time comes around.
Hear hear, Prisqua! Couldn't agree more. At events I always collect all the demos I want to try, bring them home, try them on, make my decision, then return and make a purchase. However, it's very rare I'll buy from a designer who won't provide a full demo. I want to see what the various colors or patterns look like on my avi and against my skin. I forego a lot a purchases because of that. I'm sure it's no skin off the designer's nose, they must feel that the potential loss of sales is worth it for not providing the copybotters any fodder. For me, after a moment's disappointment, I'm on to the next one. C'est la vie.
I paid for a hair fatpack once from a popular hair store without checking the demo properly and realized after purchasing that the hair was ill fitting and had huge gaps behind the ears. Ever since that moment of spending a couple of hundred lindens on a hair fatpack that wasn't suitable. I decided from then on to always try on demos before buying. I also had a girl IM me once and she flat out said to me that my stuff wouldn't sell without demo's. she said to me 'no demo = no buy.
It is really a gamble to buy without a demo. Is it a lot of extra work to create a demo?
Thank you for this! I totally agree! I always try to demo but I have been burned countless times.
I agree with you about EVERYTHING you said in this video -- and also, you are HILARIOUS! --- That being said, I'm surprised you didn't mention eye shopping in this video. I finally updated one of my favorite roleplay characters to EVOX, and I wound up dropping well over a thousand linden on eyes trying to find the perfect ones for my avatar. OVER A THOUSAND on eyes, all because for some frustrating reason, SO many stores that make eyes only let you try on one or two colors! So you just have to look at the shine of the eye and cross your fingers that the color you want will look as charming as the color provided in the demo. While the eyes I wound up with weren't bad by any means, they weren't what I was looking for and I honestly felt robbed. Sequoia wound up being my savior, they happened to have a lot of green options in their demos (go try their eyes out if you've yet to, they have some seriously stunning eyes).
At least it isn't as frustrating as shopping for furry avatars. While at least these days you can usually try on a demo for a specific head, it is a hail mary every. single. time. you want to buy a kit to put together a furry avatar. Buying a complete avatar from literally anywhere is even worse because there is pretty much never a demo to try, you just have to clench and pray you'll like what you're dropping all your linden on.
I rarely buy eyes, which probably explains why I didn't think to mention it. Some makeup items usually let you try two colours only , but it's crazy to have to spend 1K just to find the right eyes because there's no demo available.
Rant Two, Clothing and Accessory Demos
I hate PAID demos. It has been a let down EVERY TIME, without fail. Especially when the rigged shapes are not listed ANYWHERE, or it is a new designer. And the absolute worst, is when it is a PAID TEMPORARY DEMO. Of course you do not find out until you got suckered.
A single linden, sure I will take a gamble...but FIVE LINDENS for a temp demo and there are 11 outfits I wanted to try on? A better gamble would have been to go get a gacha...at least I would walk away with a prim teddy bear.
Ahhh but the advertisements were beautiful, so I decide to try on three. Fifteen lindens later and they were all sloppy rigging, no texture hud and no alphas. It was not just me, I watched others first. Moral of my shopping story: If I have to pay to try on a demo, it should NOT be temporary. If there is NO demo, no thank you. All of this was BEFORE AI, it is worse now.
Creators worth their salt, know how to use a demo properly...it is an advertising tool!
Their media links, landmark/slurl and picture are on the demo delivery box.
Store logo is proudly displayed over your head while wearing the demo.
When a demo is realllly good, you do not want to take it off...even after buying the item.
And a truly superb demo gets noticed by the other shoppers around you!
"Where is that vendor?" "That is beautiful on you, what is the name of that hair?"
Example: Moon Rabbit had a Cat Throne at an event. Wearable fuzzy throne that walked or ran while your avi sat on it. Idle animations of scratching its side with a hind "leg", swishing tail, etc. Came with three different sizes and texture hud. I ran around testing the demo. Ended up racing strangers who saw me and got their own demo! Crowd formed around the vendor and I watched others get tped in, try demo and BUY FATPACKS. That work paid off.
Five lindens for a demo is pushing it. Why can't this happen to me when I am making a video dammit?
Exactly!
I guess I disagree with just taking "you're stuck with it" for granted. I've had several occasions where something I bought was defective (and I'm buying full perm models, which can be expensive), so I contacted the vendor. In every case I was either given a refund or the seller thanked me for bringing the defect to their attention, fixed it and gave me a new one.
I've received a few customer complaints myself, I respond exactly as just described; it's even happened that the personal contact ended up as a friendship.
I've got ugly-texture "demos for fit" for almost everything in my shops (mea culpa, not quite everything), along with photos and videos that show what they look like in motion INCLUDING THE BACK. If someone buys something from me, they should have a really good idea what it's going to look like. But if someone is unhappy, they need only ask.
Moral to the story: Ask! Give the vendor a chance, anyway.
I agree. I’ve contacted a few creators when I had issues, and some were really nice by fixing the problem, replacing the item, sometimes even upgrading me to a fatpack or offering a refund. There are definitely creators out there who provide stellar customer service, and I appreciate that. But generally, if you check most creators' profiles or their store policies, it’s pretty standard to see ‘No refunds unless it’s a double purchase.’ So while there are amazing creators who go above and beyond, for the most part, once you buy something, you’re stuck with it. That’s why demos are so important. They help avoid situations where a customer even needs to reach out.
when it comes to demo's I also quickly realized that timed demo's with timer scripts can be a curse. So my demo's i provide will either have demo cube signs attached to mesh or the rigged demo circles. I also hate the timed demos that detach mesh once timer runs out. It can be embarrassing if a timed demo detaches the clothes off your avatar in public.
16:12 maybe try to mute the little audio error ♥ - but nice video for sure
How to Demo:
1) If - Timer do a 20 Min Timer ♥ -
2) If no Timer, do inverted Cylinder around your Outfits, put a DEMO sign into it, so that the view is not BLOCKED just the "DEMO" is always behind the Avatar.
3) NAME your colors in hud to the single color sales! - I have offen issues if I buy single color what color is it! Onyx or Black?
4) My Rule: I don't buy Clothes with DEMO textures, Textures do ALOT with clothes.
I think it’s Not Found that has like 60 BOM hairbases, and every time, I have to manually count through the HUD just to find the matching color. And somehow, I’m always off by a few numbers. If I can't see the texture I don't buy either. Textures matters. A LOT.
Soon I'll celebrate 1 year in which I literally HAVENT BOUGHT 1 single cloth ! I give up buying clothes in SL , I hardly find anything what i like or all in my style rage they all look the same. What's the point in buying something new when the old is literally the same ! And there is another reason ! I was cleaning my inventory and I come to realization that I hardly own any color and the reason is that they usually give demo for 1 or two colors from which usually are black and white or gray ! So yeah I haven't bought any clothes AT ALL in soon to be 1 year ! As for the furniture I buy from sale and nothing at full price (NEVER not anymore). Why, you might ask ? I used to buy furniture fatpacks but not anymore, they all have same crap poses , they don't fit and or they act as female poses are unisex . I have 1 or 2 friends in SL there for, almost no1 come to visit my SL home so why I have to pay $$$ for a chair with 20+ poses from which I only use 1 pose I have my own made poses, thank you very much ! ...Border line is this ! I used to spend but today I hardly charge 5$ and this is like once per month (IF)!
Agree with everything!
Influencers didn't exist when a lot of the older picture bloggers started hence why they are still called bloggers. And just like how Flickr is still required to gain sponsors, changing the blogger title to influencer will take time.
But someone needs to start, and it probably should be creators since they’re the ones hiring social media marketers to promote their products. The word influencer might sound better, but it’s getting a lot of criticism in real life, so I’d steer clear of it. Social media marketer is more accurate and professional.
And I can tell you all that Flickr likes and comments are so full of bot or random bs ;D - Honestly its a further topic to blow up the scene a lil xD (if you did not already). So you can play that funny game - licking and following and grind up to big numbers. But the real thing is. No one cares what you are post on your flickr or what ever. - The only "real" clicks on flickr I GET - is when I do pictures from Parties and send these to the persons i shooted. The rest is just a "farming" game.
@@chrissyskydancer True! Most likes on Flickr are just likes for likes, and the real engagement, probably a tiny fraction, comes from actual friends. Lots of the comments are mostly just meaningless award spam that nobody really cares about. There’s so much more to Second Life than what we see on the surface, but there’s also an exhausting amount of mindless competitiveness.
@ yeah most funny thing I saw - a picture badly edited - had 200 Likes so ;D while there was "hair" on her left leg (no kink shame xD , to be more precise that should be belong to a head and not to a leg xD)
The copybotters typically use demos to bot items because they won't have to pay for it. That's likely why some creators choose to limit the demo textures. Most of the botting does occur on the demo and not the paid product. They can *and do* bot out full versions, but they don't bother paying for it if they can get the entire thing and all the textures for free.
Okay, now that makes sense.
Demoed a dress set with no hud in the folder, went to buy just to see the colors had abnormal names. Got so frustrated trying to figure out what was true white and black I bought the fatpack, to find that there was not only no hud, they had made sizes for all bodies with addons as well. There are about 250 items in that folder. I have to try on about 3 different dresses each time to figure out the right color. Even better one of the sheer items clips horribly and the same color in different sizes aren’t the same. Never bought from them again.
OMG. How much was the fatpack?
@@secondlifespectrumabout 2k I believe. I just watched your fatpack video as well, I was never an fp girlie, give me my white and black items and let me go lol. But hearing your perspective really made me realize how ludicrous the notion is, I may never buy another one again. Especially as the prices climb higher and higher. The average person shouldn’t have to decide between a dress fatpack and paying for groceries.
@@secondlifespectrum oh and I forgot to say, I absolutely love your channel, personality and style lol. Your content is well executed, thought provoking and hilarious more often than not. Whenever I share with my friends it always ends with a good debate and us thinking of ways to incorporate your points in making our SL experience better.
Rant One, Display Demos of builds, buildings or furniture
No inworld display, no rezzer and not a land impact number in sight. Yeah that is a mighty fine picture, but are you sure you want MY lindens?
RL we test drive vehicles, go to an open house, measure furniture, and can touch it.
SL has prim limits. Does not matter how pretty the kitchen is, when it is almost as much land impact as my house. HUGE 4bdr, 2ba house with full attic loft = 116 Li, Kitchen = 74 Li.
Do NOT get me started on LOD. I cam back to take a picture of my little darlings and the crib crumples like a wad of newspaper and poofs...while I am still in the same room!!!! UGHHH!
Totally agree. I bought a house from Rebourne and I deleted it because I couldn't take a picture of it. All the windows would disappear.
what about those that only say animations but not how many ? I REFUSE to buy those if they dont say
good video
loved that you used the valentines day event as an example. Had my friend complaining the whole time about these same products while she was testing demos all morning.
The last outfit I got from Ricielli I was disappointed because the demo did have it all - including pbr - but I got a single outfit not the fatback - no pbr version = what??
Have you contacted them? I've never dealt with their customer support, so unsure how they rate in that department.
The amount of disappointment I have had with bags is just as great as yours. No demo for bags (especially because their shades of black are different etc) , no demo for glasses either. What about no demo for BOM stockings etc... depressing really . Renie is another brand that gives you a non functional HUD so you cant demo colors. I play it safe and buy black or white xD I love CandyDoll but her demos are timed too. I hate that because sometimes lag in events wont even let me demo properly and by the time the demo expires I wasnt even able to try the colors. Also, I like to put my whole outfit together in demos first then buy, I cant do that with timed demos I hate that T.T
The reason for 1L is so they can keep track of many people buy the demo, compared to sales. But some people dont get that i guess and just charge you 1L with out paying you back. I dont mind paying 1L for a demo if i am sure to get it back.. but u wont know cus the creator wont tell you. So u gotta gamble that 1L to figure it out.
The problem is you don't know if you're getting it back until you actual spend it.
@@secondlifespectrum yep, it sucks..
Second life is so old and outdated, the graphics are too slow, there is too much popin textures take too long to load, its too difficult to find people and people are too antisocial, i dont blame anyone for making low quality items because the state if the game reflects the products made for it.
Yes, secondlife is a game if you want secondlife to exist in the future you have to treat it like a game it is NOT your real life.
So someone else may have given there actual experience and knowledge on it ^^
I am just going to give a few shots in the dark on the reasons for stuff
Why only one color:
1. The demo is meant for checking fit, not seen as done to check colors
2. Workload, making the HUD and setting it up and all is work, you cant simple use the Fatpack HUD always as then someone may also be able to buy a single color and just use the HUD to change to all colors
3. Bloggers/photograpthers will get to that later
Why stick all the demos around the item?
1. Its true copybotters can copy from anyone, but they got 2 options, one buy the item, then copybot, or hope someone near by will buy the fatpack and switch to all the colors or at least to the color they want
2. In case of BOM items the copybotters are more limited, as much as I am aware the server sends the BOM stuff as one part, so if they don't buy it, they cant get it in parts and get anything that is on it as well.. like if you wear socks, or underwear that will be downloaded to them as part of the skin, except if they buy it, then it will be separated to layers
3. If a copybotter buys an item you could try to take more checks and stuff into it, like if you see an item you made was copied with a full fatpack you can most likely assume the copybotter buy the entire item, and then you may be able to check some numbers stats and stuff and finger out who it may be and try to report them
4. Bloggers/Photograpthers will get to later
Time demos, why?
1. I think this one is mostly to avoid people that buy the product, then just use the option to hide things in the viewer to hide the demo signs, if you stick signs on top of the product some will just do the ignore on it, and walk around with a demo there friends also hiding it, so time demo breaks that option, except if they want to we-wear it over and over (with a lot of separate copys)
2. Some people take demos, just to take photos, they don't buy it, some are less thrilled about that way of doing stuff
Beside all that the last reason I will say is I think some just do it as others do it and that can be relvelt for all that are above, I am not sure all creators understand so much copybotting fully, or understand fully how people want to use demos, and they follow what others do, maybe with less understanding on why they do it
Ending tail:
I will say I do not have the experience or the place to really tell why or all that, my one product is yet to have demo (completely on me.. this an interactive mesh.. and I want to make a demo system for it.. I just not had the time to get on it XD) all of this is guess work mostly, a little experience from understanding why I seen some people that walk around with all there body full of Demo signs (they just hide them on there side) and that... I am very likely to be completely off, and love corrections and even guesses why I am wrong or a plot hole I missed will be good
Thank you for sharing. Some great points. Surely the people who are walking around with demos are a minority because in my 18 years of SL I have never run across someone wearing demos outside a shop or event.
@@secondlifespectrum Well over all its a closed group, as they all have to know how to disable the demo showing for it to be viable outside of if they only care how they see it
I did see a few like that, taken me time till someone mention the part of hiding elements that it finally clicked, for a long while I was trying to understand that groups with demo signs all over them XD
Beside its all guess.. it could be something completely diffrent
I just subscribed today. And I love your commenting. You are hilarious 😭😭😭💀💀
Thank you.