BREAKING: Project Mesh Revolution's Cardboard Avatars Evolve from April Fool's Prank into Genuine Second Life Social Phenomenon

Originally published on my Patreon

Longtime SLer Ciaran Astral was in a hopping club last Sunday when they realized an unexpected thing: Though surrounded by upwards of one hundred avatars, they were dancing and socializing in a space free from lag. (Watch above!)

"It was amazing," as they recall it now. "I remember saying to someone, 'Holy crap there's this many people, and I have 150fps."

But it wasn't just a matter of feeling liberated from lag:

"It reminded me of the old days of Second Life," Ciaran tells me. "Loads of people making silly fun stuff and either giving it away for free or just charging a tiny amount for it -- makers coming together to create a community event, a sort of 'DIY it, let's have fun' atmosphere." (Ciaran created the cardboard club, of course.)

All this was possible, because everyone in the club was outfitted in the new Project Mesh Revolution mesh avatars -- low poly cardboard cutouts that began as an April Fool's prank, but have quickly become a genuine Second Life phenomenon:

"Lots of people made their own mods or clothes; what was cool to see was looking around at everyone, almost nobody had the same outfits/looks. Which, considering these 'Bodies' came out less than a week ago (at the time), is quite a testament to the creative power of the Second Life userbase."

And I do mean "phenomenon": Since becoming available early last week, roughly 1 in 5 of the entire Second Life user base has gotten themselves copies of the PMR avatars:

Ms. Peppermint in her own PMR outfit

"Currently counting a total of 105,000 given bodies," PMR creator Salt Peppermint confirms with me last night. She's since added it to the Marketplace, and it's already on the first page of bestsellers, a disarmingly simple cardboard body amid a sea of high poly, ultra-realistic avatar accessories.

The dance party I mentioned up top is something that sprung up without her input, evidence of a growing community emerging around PMR:

"They decorated a whole venue with cardboard," Salt says with a touch of wonder, after being invited to join the fun. "They had DJs, lots of people, and all dressed in Cardy and Cardo." (PMR's default male/female body names.)

The community is still growing:

"Someone is setting up a shopping events with things all for Cardo and Cardy and cardboard-related things. People started building decor items, pets , anything cardboard really. And even a kid cardboard avatar was added. It's totally getting a life of its own at this point. amazing to see, truly."

When Salt Peppermint first created PMR, it was a response to the pressures of Second Life's massive, lucrative, but highly vexing mesh avatar economy. (Not to mention a pricey one, where a full high-end mesh upgrade can cost the consumer upwards of $50.)

"We have TOO many mesh bodies and I am tired of rigging," she told me last week. "With the current state of how mesh bodies work in SL, is that you buy an item that is rigged specifically for the body you wear. [Top-selling mesh body] Maitreya has released only female bodies. And only clothes rigged for their specific bodies will work for them. Same goes for any other current body brand."

PMR was her humorous response -- which was quickly embraced by many lead SL brands, and then by the Second Life community at large:

"I think everyone was always chasing ultra-realism," Salt says, reflecting on all this unexpectedly continued excitement, "but Cardy and Cardo reminded us how fun and refreshing simple can be. Their 2D charm brought back the joy of just playing, the ability to create for literally everyone, and it turns out - flat can be fabulous!"

I agree. After years of high poly hegemony, which has led to all kinds of negative social consequences (let alone lots of lag), Project Mesh Revolution is a scintillating breath of fresh air. Who knows how long it will last, but for now at least, it points to a new way of experiencing Second Life which is far more social and egalitarian.

Comments

[Sue]

Many people in-world are saying that PMR is bringing back the fun and creativity to Second Life.

This also shows how disconnected social media can be from the actual community. When PMR was released, the comments on Reddit and Bluesky were outraged and negative; reading them, one would have thought it was awful and that the creators were even ruining their brands, going to be buried in hate. Meanwhile, in-world, people were enjoying themselves and having a blast with their fun avatars, looking for more outfits, accessories, even looking for creating something themselves, because it's relatively easy to crate something for it. And the PMR group in that moment was the most chatty, the liveliest, sharing their findings and so on.

[Haridsam]

I completely agree with Sue's comment, and Wagner's conclusions. Though I enjoy and live the high realism of conventional mesh amd BOM, SL has arguably become so "Bel-Air Barbie" and hyper-materialist that a lot (the wacky fun and limitless, easy creativity) has been lost. Not to mention SL becoming somewhat classist.

It's hard to see where this is going to go... we could even end up with two distinct SL societies. As for what people say on social media... it's all just noise, and best ignored.

[Mei]

The main problem with the April Fool’s joke was that the advertising for the PMR touted the fact that it was “all gender inclusive” and took advantage of the LGBTQIA+ community to gain steam, people who were genuinely seeking a new, more flexible alternative to the current “flat chest” and androgynous bodies and mods currently available. I understand that the creators involved think it’s a great joke, but did any of them stop to think that an entire community of people would be heartbroken and emotionally distressed by such a terrible, long drawn out joke? Some creators were even duped weeks in advance and kept in the dark when applying to create for the PMR under the guise that it was going to be a 3D body to compete with current line of mesh bodies available. Bottom line is it wasn’t a “harmless” April Fool’s joke.

[Nat]

You keep toeing the line for this project without actually reporting any of the reasons why the people on social media were upset with this prank.

Thanks for keeping your bias out in the open I guess.

[Kylinn]

Meanwhile Paperfriends (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/en-US/stores/207021) have been around for at least three years and cost half as much.

[HalfOfTheOfficeNeedsToBeFiredHere]

Not a surprise.
Lo poly stuff is a palette cleanser from the hyper-realism that keeps getting promoted.
VRChat is relatively lo poly, and lo-fi environment and more accessible and relatable then the now fairly elitist SL is.
Notice how everyone is having fun even in a simple world that doesn't have a lot of detail.
I have seen this over many years, from custom game maps to vrchat and other things: People like to hang with their friends, have good fps, and a good social experience.
Sansar failed against VRChat directly because it focused on high end hyper realistic unoptimized high poly content because everyone lagged out for one reason or the other and VRchat ran smooth as silk in comparison.
AND since we have limits like the cardboard bodies people could have fun making variations or w/e and not worry about being 'professionals' and can be just wacky and silly and relaxed.. what the original SL was all about.
This is why Roblox that is definitely widespread lo poly and lo fi in nature has MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of daily users. They're too busy having fun, socializing and playing games without any technical 'photorealistic' things getting in the way.
SL'ers are old, crabby and snobby and they destroyed Sansar's chance with the same attitude and both SL and Sansar CONTINUE to do this, each dying in their own way but of course their mass hubris and narcissism won't allow them to see this and change direction. So who cares let them both die.