I haven't been in Second Life that long (about 8 months). During that time, I've had multiple people comment to me that the way an avatar looks is important (e.g., animation overrides (AO), skin, clothes). To me, it never has been. One of the first people I met in Second Life helped me a great deal just to purchase "appropriate" clothes as it was important to her. One woman was so frustrated constantly seeing me without any AO that she made me an animation and gave it to me (I tried it a few days ago for the first time and it appears it doesn't even work). A Braincrave member recently discussed with me that, because Second Life is a visual environment, it would improve my marketing of braincrave.com to have a better skin and AO. My response is that I would much prefer people to read my profile, read my articles, and judge my mind based on what I write, more so than the colors and shapes of my 1s and 0s. She thinks that people who build their on avatars are generally smarter than the rest. I don't have any hard data to suggest that she is right or wrong.
Do you think having a handsome avatar makes a difference in marketing? Do you think I would be more successful marketing braincrave.com's intellectual discussion group and real life dating website if I purchased a new skin and AO? If so, why do you think it makes a difference?
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Jun 22, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=239
We all admire beauty, but the mind ultimately must be stimulated for maximum arousal. Longevity in relationships cannot occur without a meeting of the minds. And that is what Braincrave is: a dating venue where minds meet. Learn about the thoughts of your potential match on deeper topics... topics that spawn your own insights around what you think, the choices you make, and the actions you take.
We are a community of men and women who seek beauty and stimulation through our minds. We find ideas, education, and self-improvement sexy. We think intelligence is hot. But Braincrave is more than brains and I.Q. alone. We are curious. We have common sense. We value and offer wisdom. We experiment. We have great imaginations. We devour literacy. We are intellectually honest. We support and encourage each other to be better.
You might be lonely but you aren't alone.
Sep, 2017 update: Although Braincrave resulted in two confirmed marriages, the venture didn't meet financial targets. Rather than updating our outdated code base, we've removed all previous dating profiles and retained the articles that continue to generate interest. Moving to valME.io's platform supports dating profiles (which you are welcome to post) but won't allow typical date-matching functionality (e.g., location proximity, attribute similarity).
The Braincrave.com discussion group on Second Life was a twice-daily intellectual group discussions typically held at 12:00 PM SLT (PST) and 7:00 PM SLT. The discussions took place in Second Life group chat but are no longer formally scheduled or managed. The daily articles were used to encourage the discussions.