MMO Challenge: Does Second Life Have the Most Realistic Avatars of Any Online World?

Left, an avatar from Electronic Arts' MMO Secret; right, an avatar from Second Life

I was recently chatting with another former Linden Lab staffer, and we got to talking about what advantages Second Life still has over other online worlds. He brought up one which hadn't occured to me: "Second Life," he asserted, "has the most realistic avatars." At first I suggested Eve Online's avatar customization system was better than SL's, but as I understand it, Eve's avatars are just represented as single screenshots, not fully animated, and unable to interact with other user-controlled avatars. I thought something similar playing Skyrim, which as a single-player game, you'd think would have more realistic avatars -- but no, Skyrim, while a great game, has characters that look blocky, and sculpted. I'm even more hard-pressed to think of another MMO that can compete with Second Life on these terms; then again, there are a lot of MMOs out there, so maybe I'm missing a counter-example. So let me put the challenge to my readers:

What fully interactive MMO avatars are the most realistic, in terms of physical details, facial expressions, and characteristic diversity?

Discuss in Comments, and please post links to screenshots there.

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Comments

[Jo yardley]

Depends on your idea of realism.
Because 99% of people who I meet in SL look nothing like real people but more like Barbie and Ken.
Models and action heroes every where.
But yes, SL does allow you do create realistic looking people in detail.
My avatar looks like RL me, as much as possible.
So I am a nearly 40 year old woman in SL, who works in a bar, has a dirty apron, chain smokes and wears glasses.

[Damien Fate]

I'd say SL has the most customisable avatars, whether that is realistic or not is up to the avatar's owner and the viewer's opinion.

[1angelcares Writer]

Having recently created an account on both Cloud Party and IMVU, I have to say Second Life is the hands down winner in the customization arena. Although IMVU has an extensive catalog of items to buy, the basic shapes of the avatars remain disconcertingly similar. You have your choice of huge head, medium head or small head, but all with the same nose, cheekbones, etc. My 2012 IMVU av doesn't look like RL me nearly as much as the carefully crafted Second Life shape that I made when I came to SL in 2007. Heck, my "MangaMe" from FaceYourManga looks more like RL me than my IMVU avi does!

[Scarp Godenot]

I think that this is a measurable thing. And I would measure it in mesh triangles.

AFAIK, SL has the most with around 9000 ish.

So much of a look depends on texturing. So SL avs can look horribly primitive or awesomely detailed depending on what skins they have or what they are wearing.....

[superflufee]

I might not be realistic looking but the fact that nowhere but in SL a creature like me [& my gaggle of meshy friends] can be born, live and do mischief speaks volumes for avatar freedom, unparalleled elsewhere in the digi-realm for sure!

[Adeon Writer]

SL wins the award of most customizable avatar system,, no contest. It's undisputable.

But, if you are instead asking about realism, possibly not - YET. But it will win that award too after we get the incoming materials project.

[Valiant Westland]

Realistic is NOT a synonym for Authentic

I was just discussing this topic last night with a well known journalist, who was interested in what I thought the next 12 months would bring in Virtual Worlds. We talked about a Virtual World "S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis." Avatar appearance appears in my "Strength & Opportunity" quadrants for SL.

[Joshua Philgarlic]

Ok, I'm for 5 years in SL now, so the look of human SL avatars is pretty familiar to me. When I see avatars from other worlds there's always a fly in the ointment I think. Most of them are comic style, and if not they don't look... hmmmmm... natural.

Looking at your example of "Electronic Arts' MMO Secret", this girl just looks like Schwarzenegger pretending beeing a girl, and I saw this problem in many pictures from other worlds too!

In Sl we've got tons of possibilities. Starting with the "human" style of avatar creation, going further with fashion and even special stuff to create totally non-human avatars.

Speaking of human avatars I dare to say: YES, avatars in SL are as realistic as a world that doesn't look real can be!

[Emperor Norton]

Jo yardley @ "So I am a nearly 40 year old woman in SL, who works in a bar, has a dirty apron, chain smokes and wears glasses."

Let's see an avatar based on Jo here and not the two twenty years olds you have up their Hamlet. Real humans aren't airbrushed fashion models. I am willing to be SL is the only MMORG you can even attempt a Jo based avatar in.

[Metacam Oh]

SL obviously, except for the glaring primitive facial features, and barbie doll hands and feet, which are long overdue for an upgrade. C'mon Rodvik, another perfect open source project for some volunteers. These imperfections in the avatar are really the only thing holding back SL from being the go to platform for machinima making. For example, the rough lip sync that Hamlet hates so much. They really could be improved.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

I'm afraid I haven't used/played enough VWs/MMORPGs to give a valid opinion, since the few I know have much worse avatars — if we compare them to 2012 SL avatars, that is, with meshed clothes. Materials (in 2013? Or already for September, since the code in the Exodus viewer seems to be full of references to materials already?) should improve this even further.

I agree that hand and feet are the only nightmare right now :) The rest, well, is reasonable enough.

I also remember my disappointment when seeing the avatars in Blue Mars, which had such a sophisticated engine. The trouble is, it didn't capture the attention of content developers long enough to see them tweaking the "standard" avatars enough to make them more visually appealing. I suppose that if that had been the case, BM might have beaten SL. Alas, that was not to happen.

What about realXtend? I never tried it out, but one of their leading arguments as a "better platform than SL" (in 2007!) was that it had much better avatars... and so it looked like, in 2007. The recent videos I've seen are nowhere near so impressive as they used to be. realXtend continues to be actively developed and releases stable versions more frequently than OpenSim :) so it's by no means "dead"... but I have absolutely no experience with it to be able to compare it with SL, in terms of avatars.

[Lani Global]

2048 x 2048 pixel textures (and higher) are possible to upload in OpenSim. Whether combined with mesh avatars, or baked onto a system avatar skin, this makes OpenSim a factor of 2x (or more) higher resolution than SL.

[LeeHere Absent]

I wonder what Lum Lumley would say.

[Hamlet Au]

I have summoned him!

[Lum Lumley]

"I was summoned to this thread." -- Prokofy Neva

Second Life absolutely has the most *customizable* avatars in any online game. Of course, this is primarily because Linden punted and gave the users the ability to create their own avatars from soup to nuts - models, textures, what have you. No other online game gives that level of freedom, period.

So, with that complete freedom, and years to iterate, and some real artists given motivation (aka $$$) to do their best - yes, there are some truly stunning avatars in SL.

Of course this comes at the cost of accessibility. The average new user is *not* going to have a L$20K tricked-out avatar. The default SL avatars have improved tremendously over the years, but they still do not compare to what users create.

[Iggy]

@Lum, 20K? Dare I contest a game-god's claim?

Oh, sure...fools rush in...unless one is a fashionista, one can spent between 4 and 6K Lindens for a great avatar skin, hair, clothes...but that's, admittedly, for a male, where options are more limited.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

There are technical and aesthetic pitfalls in making an avatar too realistic, which we've discussed in detail in the past. Due to these factors and others, most MMO avatars are at a similar place on the "realism" scale.

I love Star Trek Online's avatars. There's a fair degree of customization, though more should be done (Caitian hair is my pet peeve... I want my MANE), and every time I take a screenshot in that game, it looks like it could be the cover of a Star Trek novel.

I'm guessing your screenshot is The Secret World (by Funcom -- EA's just moving the retail boxes). It's got an urban grit to it that makes it feel more "real" than many. But customization is lacking -- body shape in particular is unmodifiable. I am enjoying the game, however.

[David Cartier]

I wear my 2005 skin to scare noobs. I think it's the constant evolution and improvements that set SL avatars apart. When you compare pictures from way back then to the options we have now, the improvement is amazing. IMVU avatars started out looking awful and they still do, and THERE avatars, if anthing, look even worse than they did the first time, though they made a lot of other technological improvements in this new version.

[melponeme_k]

SL avatars can be hit or miss. But they are extremely customizable but to the arcane degree.

It takes a lot of time to figure out the sliders then on top of that you need to have a sense of proportion.

A well made avatar in SL blows any regular game avatar out of the water.

Unfortunately those personal projects aren't what new players receive. They get something that looks on par with other game avatars and the workload to personalize an avatar is intimidating to new players.

[soror Nishi]

Lani Global has a very valid point, 2048x2048 textures for skins would be a great improvement.... unfortunately LL never heeds what builders want.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

2048x2048 skins would quadruple rez times for those textures.

[Adeon Writer]

Seems like all those extra pixels would go to waste being put on something like the default avatar model.

[Karma]

I found SL after spending some time in The Utherverse (aka Red Light City). I am not even sure if the place still exists, but i always thought there avatars were much more realistic in appearance and movement. Not much was offered in customizing the size or shape, but what you were stuck with was pretty realistic.

[Lani Global]

One of my friends remarked recently, that she

"just looks more beautiful in OpenSim than SL".

She uses the same avatar size/proportions and same uploaded skin texture images and same viewer. And it is true, she does look more beautiful in OpenSim than SL.

I create avatar clothing in both SecondLife and OpenSim, and I see the difference every day. The textures just look more beautiful and have more detail in OpenSim.

Perhaps it is OpenSim's better image to texture compression?

There are a lot of factors in avatar realism. But starting with MORE DETAIL for image/textures is probably OpenSim's biggest advantage.

But, don't take my word for it, try it yourself.

[LeeHere Absent]

Yay for summoning Lum. Thanks to you both. ;-)

[LeeHere Absent]

It's funny to me that I've been running around with my purchased-parts avatar long enough to forget that is not necessarily the kind of thing people mean when they say "a Second Life avatar." I don't think much about the first-day Linden-provided system avatars except when I occasionally run into them, and I think of them as being more like portals or first-steps in a larger process, though clearly that is not what they are to everyone. I think the point raised by those who had the wider vision to make that distinction might encourage Hamlet to rethink and refine his question.

[Julia Benmergui]

I have to say, I rather enjoyed taking my 2006 starting AV from her somewhat lacklustre beginnings to a carefully constructed and much more realistic level. It was a real process of creation and I enjoyed making an AV that appealed to me but wasn't me.

I also agree with Jo Yardley's comments about Ken and Barbie AV's. Often they have expensive skins and items but don't seem to do anything with them. Oh, and don't get me started about 7 ft tall women and ludicrously muscled men!

Now can we have arms and legs that articulate better without weird shoulders and bums and also proper hands and feet? Please? Pretty Please?

[Sunny]

The problem in SL is a bit that it would have the potential to customize an av into the appearance of a RL human being BUT through time we got used to a certain comic style that everyone sees that as 'normal' for SL. Too big head (else hair doesn't fit), too small hands (else nails dont fit), too small feet (see mesh/scylpted bare-feet and shoes), shoulder hip proportion off, too long legs, too big butt, and so on. Best example the 'Mesh Standard Sizing' created out of average av slider numbers which is completely cartoonish, but reflects what we are accustomed to see/expect in SL.
I only know one av that looks really RL human: the av of artist Mikati Slade. When you spot her in SL (if she for once is not wearing her techno stuff) you go WOW. As soon as she is standing among other avs the funny thing happens that she looks completely odd. Because you see her in relation to what we are used to in SL, which makes her look freakish.

So SL has the potential for the most real av, but no one makes use of that potential due to perception customs in SL.