Do you feel guilty when you spend L$?

Sometimes I do.

Then I remind myself that a pretty nice outfit costs less than a physical world (PW) cup of coffee. If you wear the thing for an hour, it already wasn’t a bad deal.

I have a PW cousin who thinks that spending even five cents on a virtual t-shirt is pure insanity. He seemed almost angry at the very idea and I didn’t try to debate it with him. But I don’t agree. For me, putting on some clothes and spending an hour with a fleshvatar is no different than putting on some clothes and spending an hour with an avatar. Virtual life or physical life, what I wear influences my mood, who I think I am, and how I feel. We create our identity and our experience by the clothes we choose to wear.

In the virtual world we get to shop not just for clothes, but also for bodies, skin, and hair! I wore the SL “Lara” body for a long time. I always liked it. Then one day I tried on the “Kupra” body. I know Kupra is a lot of curves! Too many for some people! But when I put that body on it was the most amazing thing. It just felt like I was home for the first time. Like I had discovered myself.

I can’t wear Lara anymore. Sometimes I’ll put on my old Lara body and one of those outfits. And I think it looks nice. But it just looks wrong. I have to take it off and put Kupra back on. And put the real me back on.

It doesn’t get any better than shopping with a friend. A chance to share the experience of shaping our virtual lives.

Won’t you go shopping with me?

~ Meg