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Nobody ever asks a furry if they’re really a cat or dog or fox in RL. Why do people wonder if child avatars are children in RL?

Nobody assumes a person has a dragon avatar for sexual purposes. Why do people assume this about people with child avatars?

Nobody appears to be creeped out by the fact that I’m a grown human adult in RL, playing an elf in SL. Why do they get creeped out about a grown adult playing a child in SL?

Shops carry items for vampires, nekos, furries, dragons, aliens, tinies, and all manner of other types of avatars without the fear of attracting customers with devious intentions. Why then do they have such a fear of carrying items for child avatars?

Who is really more creepy: the person who chooses to have a child avatar and pretend to be a kid, or the person who automatically assumes that they must be doing something sexual?

Why is the latter (in the previous question) the one being catered to?

madskillz_2009july30

Taken July 30 at Hotlanta Blues.

Coming soon: the Fall Fellowship Festival.

I have to kind of chuckle that a lot of people spell our band’s name “Cat Angus Cu”. I’m sure lots of the time it’s a typo; your hands just kind of make the word that feels more familiar. But just for the sake of clarification, we have neither a Scotsman nor a cow in our band. “Agus” is the Irish-gaelic word for “and” (often the only one I’ll recognize when I hear a song performed in Gaelic). “Cat”, thankfully, is the same word in both languages so it’s nice and easy to remember. “Cu” (which should have an accent over the “u”) actually means “hound”; the word for “dog” is “madra” but that doesn’t scan nearly as nicely. It lacks the brevity and alliteration.

Also, while I’m just talking about myself (in a blog? Perish the thought!) and the band, I wanted to mention why we don’t say we play “Celtic” music. I’m sure when people say “Celtic” in the case of our music what they mean is “Irish and Scottish”; in which case the word “Gaelic” may be more appropriate. “Celtic” refers to a group of languages, the speakers of which include not only Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; but also Cornwall (in England), Brittany (in France), Galicia (in Spain), Cape Breton (in maritime Canada), and other far-flung places as well.

Well, fair enough, you may say, but what I was referring to was the genre of music. And while it’s true that Irish Trad music often gets lumped into the same category, it’s still not correct. If you ever want a good glaring- and possibly yelling-at, go to a pub in Boston and compliment the seisun musicians on the “Celtic” music they’re playing. To most Trad musicians, Celtic means Enya or Lord of the Dance: new-age, synthesizers, modern compositions. Instead, compliment them on the Irish music. Not only is it more accurate, it sounds more appreciative as well.

Come and join Cat Agus Cu as we help introduce the new sim Fate’s Muse to the world. We’ll take the stage at 5PM SLT (8PM Eastern, 1AM GMT) for an hour of our usual jigs, reels, drinking songs, and ballads; we hope you can come along & join us!

About the venue: Fate’s Muse is a medieval/fantasy light-RP sim which is friendly to kid avatars though not necessarily PG (time and place!). Slavery is strictly forbidden, medieval/fantasy garb is highly encouraged though not required.

I am thinking I want to make things for kid avatars.

This one’s really going to boggle people’s minds I’m sure. In a world where more people question the will to be a kid than the will to be a slave, the idea of kids in a medieval/fantasy RP type setting is sure to set a few cerebral cortexes to critical mass.

A few years ago when I was flipping through the dials, I saw one movie version or another of Beowulf. Goodness knows there are tons, none of them that good (some more tolerable than others), so I’ve no idea which one it was or even how true to the original work it is. In the scene I was watching, Beowulf and his men arrive at a village and realize that something is amiss when they discover that there are no children in the village. None. It’s an eyebrow-raiser, even in an epic violent saga, for there to be no children in a medieval society (or for that matter in any society, but what we’re talking about now is this particular type setting).

The Seven Isles sims, bless ‘em, have a kids’ group. THIS IS ME SHOUTING OUT TO YOU. You guys rule. I gotta remember to get Petal’s paperwork out to you folks. I gotta remember to pick up paperwork to do up, heh.

So. I want to make some medieval/fantasy kids’ garb. And skins (if nobody else will do it, damn it, *I* will!). And Stuff. I’ll add them at my leisure at XStreet.

As it stands now, one lonely (and increasingly bored) young ‘un lives in Nortfarthing. It’s a start.

Photo credit: unknown :(
Medieval FAIL

Many of you know I have an alt that’s a child avatar. I’ve talked about her, and about the whole idea of child avies, in the past; so my feelings and thoughts on and approach to the matter are probably already pretty much understood. In a nutshell: yes, there are pervs out there, but for the most part child avatars are an innocent and (to me) fun idea.

Well I got to talking today with a friend (and reader of this blog! HI!) who has a skin & shape shop. She’s in the process of moving/expanding and I offered a friendly suggestion: “KID SHAPES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.”

I went on to say that what few skins and shapes for kids are out there seem to be the overly made-up “pageant kid” look (which creeps the bejeezus out of me). Six-year-olds should NOT wear lipstick and eyeliner, if you ask me. And it doesn’t matter if you did ask me because it’s my blog so nyah-nyah. Sorry, heh, slipped into character for a moment. But, seriously, there’s NO good reason there can’t be kid faces that look like KID faces, and kid bodies that look like KID bodies.

Her response intrigued me though; it was something I’d not considered and it makes me wonder if more skin/shape shops feel similarly and that that is the reason for lack of supply: the idea that having kid-themed skins and shapes would attract “pervy” clientelle to the shop.
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Jul 17 09_008

When one first arrives at Quaddryl– or any of the Cairwynne Estate sims– one’s first impression may be, “So what is there to do/see here?” They soon become aware that the beauty of these sims (whether it be the rain-soaked loneliness of Crucible, or the forgotten secrets of Templum Ex Obscurum, or the drowsy late-afternoon beauty of Quaddryl) lies in their subtlety, in the interesting little touches here and there that just wait to be discovered.

Quaddryl has the feel of a late August/early September afternoon, in some secret grove and meadow unmarred by the busy hands of humankind. And yet, among its overgrown orchards, thick plume grass, and lazily floating dandelion fluff, occasional small touches of “civilization” appear.
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Tweedily-Deedily-Deet

Help out if ya like.

 

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