Welcome to Gaia! ::

Extra Tips
Post Two: Summation


What all "styles" really boil down to.


This is just a trend that I noticed.

Currently on Gaia.... or at least in the AT, there are quite a few "styles." But what do all of these current fads have in common? They have interesting facial expressions (when you can see the faces ;D). They usually pay attention to the small details by adding small accessories. They usually have interesting layering or an interesting combination of items. The combination can be interesting because the items clash or because the items are otherwise rarely used.
Don't believe me? Look skim the forums for avatars that stand out. They'll most likely have an interesting expression or some interesting item combination. Now, if you only like avatars because the person has piled their expensive items on in a big cluttered mess, then you've learned nothing. D; (But you're still entitled to your own opinion. :3)


Face: Use items that give your face some character. You want to show expression.
Contacts are almost a must. It's easier to pull off expression with contacts than with the regular salon eyes.
You'll usually need a mouth. Smile, whether it's sweet or evil. Frown. Gasp. Wear lipstick.
Fill in empty space with tattoos, blush, eyeshadow, facial hair, freckles, scars... Moles never hurt. Add facial items that enhance the character you want people to see.


Items: Use lots of little items to add in small details. Use items like belts, earrings, pocket watches, bracelets, necklaces, anklets, etc.
ATers and anyone else who is too cool for school tend to hold cigs, long drags and kiserus. ;D
If too much skin is showing in any area, cover some of it up with tattoos.
Try to use as many layers and items as possible without looking like a giant blob. Keep the general shape of your avatar. (Unless your goal is to become an abstract blob).


These avatars are all rather interesting. Why? They pay attention to small details and show some form of expression.

Extra Tips
Post Four: Color Balance




Try to keep the amount of color on an avatar roughly equal.
It is not always about adding more items (color) to balance it out. Instead of adding color to one area to balance out another area, try covering up the area.

This isn't the best example. I'll fill it in with a better one eventually.

In this avatar, the red items are small while there is a whole lot of red hair. This can be fixed by adding more red items or bigger red items to the rest of the avatar. It can also be fixed by covering up some of the red hair.

Total Value: 5,585 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Drop Dead Gorgeous Stone Skull Hairpin
Waste Glamrock Headband
Red Bowtie
Red Tennis Wristband
Red Tennis Wristband
Those Black 90s Gloves
Cloud Zebra Top
Black Class Sock
Warm Starter Skater Guy Shoes
Fitted White Shorts - grey trim

A black and white hat was used to cover some of the hair.

Total Value: 8,405 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Drop Dead Gorgeous Onyx Skull Hairpin
White Baseball Cap
Waste Glamrock Headband
Red Bowtie
Red Tennis Wristband
Red Tennis Wristband
Those Black 90s Gloves
Cloud Zebra Top
Black Class Sock
Warm Starter Skater Guy Shoes
Fitted White Shorts - grey trim

Extra Tips
Post Six: Texture


Texture

Ever ask for a rate or suggestions on your current avatar, only to have someone ramble on and on about how you need to add or remove “texture”? We cannot feel our avatar’s clothing with our hands. If we tried, it would feel like a smooth computer screen. What the heck is the person rambling about!?
This post provides a quick introduction into the world of texture as it relates to Gaia items. If you would like to learn more after reading this, check out guides on how to not match or how to dress in the non-matching style.


• • • • What is texture?
Texture. All Gaia items have some form of “texture.” Texture is just another word for the different types of patterns you see on items. Texture is created by how the artist drew the item. Items are drawn and shaded in specific ways so that patterns, shadows, textures, etc. appear on them. Are the edges pixilated, rough or smooth? Is there a color gradient? Is the color gradient gradual or blocky? Is the item striped, checkered, plaid, dotted? As you can probably tell, there are many different types of texture.

Just as you can mix and match colors, you can also mix and match textures on an avatar. When creating an outfit, be sure to spread each texture evenly around the avatar. There’s no such thing as bad texture. As long as you pair items of similar texture, it’s all good.

The following five avatars show examples of texture. I did not make outfits, just combined items of similar texture.





• • • • Why use texture?
Texture can make or break your outfit. Add an item of the wrong texture, and the balance of your avatar is thrown off.

Texture is not bad though! It creates lots of depth and character in an outfit. When playing with other styles, such as non-matching, you should pay attention to texture. Texture can make an assortment of items look like a cohesive outfit or look like a random, no-thought combo. Balancing different textures is the difference between looking like you equipped items at random and looking like a good non-matching avatar with style.

The thing is, you can’t really ignore texture. It’s not like it goes away if you choose not to use it. You're just choosing to use less of it. All items have some form of texture. If you don’t want to use texture, you have to hunt down smooth items that are mostly solid colored and have very little pattern in them. In fact “smooth” would be considered the texture of those items. (Before the buzzword “texture” came along, all I knew was that I avoided detailed items. I used to hunt down and pair smooth items. I hated texture. I didn’t realize that I was supposed to spread texture evenly around the avatar. All I knew was that a rough textured item thrown in with my smooth items looked bad. I therefore just stuck to my simple, “smooth” items since I knew they paired well together.)


• • • • Texture and the Matching Style
Texture is important. However, it’s more important for other styles like Non-matching. Non-matching avatars rely on texture to make them look like an interesting outfit, not just a random bunch of items. Texture is not as important in the matching style, but it's still part of it.

When first learning the matching style, I think it’s best to stick to items that have very little texture. That way, you can focus on the most important detail of the style: matching. You only have to worry about two major points. Finding items that are an exact shade. And spreading your colors evenly around an avatar. Once you get into texture, you have to spread all colors and textures evenly around an avatar. It’s not easy. The items of perfect shade and texture that would complete your outfit might not even exist.

With the matching style, I believe your first and foremost goal is matching exact shades of colors. For example, if you’re working with a rare color hue, and the only item that matches is the wrong texture, use it. (You’d most likely get away with it since you’d get props for using a rare, hard-to-match color.) Keep in mind that a lot of outfits are ruined by adding an item of a different texture. It sticks out. It sticks out just as a hot pink item would radiate out from an outfit of blue and green. Your goal is to blend items and spread all color and texture evenly. This creates a nice overall flow. You don’t want your socks to be a different texture and consequently a point of the avatar that people can’t stop staring at.

If you can make an outfit that spreads all colors and textures evenly, the outcome is phenomenal. It’s very eye-catching, indeed.


• • • • Just for fun
I told you that an avatar would look interesting and cohesive as long as you balance the textures. I decided to make an extra test of that statement. I attempted to make outfits by mixing items from the above examples. I didn't pay attention to color balance, only to balancing textures. Here are my two attempts.
These avatars aren't good non-matching avatars. If I'd planned this ahead of time, I would have made sure to have better items available. At least the outfits are interesting. Pair them with the idea from post two (show facial expression and character) and they just might make an okay outfit.

Post Eight:




Think Out of the Box - Adding Color to the Bottom

This post contains tips for adding color to the bottom of an avatar. This post was adapted from an actual question posted in the guide.

The typical way to add a specific color to the bottom of an avatar is to use pants, a long skirt, legwarmers, socks or shoes.


In this example, we want to keep the tektek the same as possible. We must add green, but not make the outfit unrecognizable. For that reason, we will keep the same blue pants. Thus, we will need to think out of the box.

The example here adds green. You can apply these ideas to any color you want. The trick you use depends on what items exist, on cost, on theme and on what works best for your outfit.


The Problem:



Item List:
G-Team Ranger Green Gloves
Green And Emerald Reversible Hair Pins
Deoxygenated Apocaripped Scarf
Sunrise R0x0rBilly Boots
G-Team Ranger Black Chestplate
Nitemare Sash
Blue Baseball Socks
Skipper's Navy Blue Pants
Nartian Rock

This tektek has four colors, blue, black, green and white.
All colors are rather balanced, aside from the green. There is no green at the avatar's feet.

Here are some possible options for adding green to the feet. Some of the example items don't match because the right items don't exist. They still show the concept. If you're making an actual outfit, you'd want to choose an option where a matching item exists.


• • • • Add items that sit under or by the feet. This can usually be done without any edits to the outfit.


• • • • Add a handheld that reaches the floor. Canes work very well for this.

This tactic often works better for females than for males. Guys often hold handhelds up at their chest while girls hold the same item down at their feet.
In the above example, the guy must hold the flyswatter in Hand One in order for the flyswatter to angle down. While this does add green to the bottom, the green square is far away. It attracts the eye away from the avatar. It's best to have the color distributed closer to the center of the avatar.
In the examples below, you see that the guy holds the flyswatter up to his chest, while the girl holds it down at her feet. The female's pose is what you want here.
Guys do hold items down at the feet also. You just have to look for them. (And remember this handheld trick when trying to add color to the middle of the avatar. Instead of adding a shirt, vest, gloves or necklace, you can hold an item. )

• • • • The shoes in the tektek are one solid color. Swapping for a pair of multi-colored shoes is an easy way to add more color to the feet.
Since we need green and we also need to keep black, we'll use a pair of green and black shoes. (This option won't work. Yes, green and black shoes do exist. However, they don't exist in the right shade of green you need.)

Here's another option. Above, we used shoes with two colors. Since we have many colors in this avatar, we can use shoes with many colors. Here's an example with a pair of green, white and black shoes. This is good because the avatar already has those colors.
However, they're not right either. These shoes offset the color balance. These shoes only add a little bit of black. And a lot of black is needed to balance the large wings and shirt. The shoes also add too much white.

• • • • When the right two-toned shoes don't exist, you make them. >3 How, you say? By using both socks and shoes. Use shoes that allow your socks to show through.

There are two options:
(black shoes and green socks) or (green shoes and black socks)

Sandals work well for this option. The balance is tricky. You don't want to add too little black or too much green. Both of these examples add more black than green (what we want). It's totally up to you whether you want to put feminine shoes on a male avatar. But remember, this is just an example. Many shoes exist in many different colors. You might not have to wear girly shoes depending on what color you're using.




There are more options available too. This type of thinking becomes second nature after you've made a lot of matching avatars.

Extra Tips
Post Ten: Real Example: NO Matching Style



Real Example: "NO Matching Style"
This is a real conversation I had with someone. I've edited out any information that sounded too personal (if there was any).
Before the conversation starts, I've written a mini rant on why people should dress in the matching style (or any other style). I've decided to leave the mini rant. No, I did not ramble off this mini rant in my conversation with the person.
In this example, you will see my mini rant. (Ehehehe ^^;; ) You will also see some suggestions for how to match. You will find these same suggestions written all over this guide. There's nothing new here. Truthfully, you might only find this example to be helpful if you have dark blue hair. (:



The person's avatar looked something like:

This type of outfit doesn't show any flair for style. It's rather bare. The items have no common theme. It says that she randomly equipped items that she liked. She probably equipped them because she thought those items were cute. Hey, cute items do rock.
However, this type of outfit screams, "newbie." This type of outfit also screams, "n00b." Many newbies beg for items. This gives all newbies a bad rap. Begging for items puts you into the n00b (or overly annoying person) category. And yes, oldbies can also be n00bs.
We are all free to dress our avatar however we want to. Since we're all human, we also judge people by our first impressions of them. Oftentimes, the first impression you make is what your avatar looks like. As someone who changes outfits a lot, I also change styles. One moment my avatar might look adorable and the next moment it might look creepy. I try not to judge people based on their avatars since my avatar does not represent myself. To others, their avatar represents themself and what they love. For them, it makes sense that your avatar represents who you are.
Therefore, if you dress like a n00b, you must be a n00b. If you dress like a newb, you must be a newb. (That or an 03er who removed their halo for shits and giggles.)
I wish it weren't true, but just as in real life, you are judged by your appearance. We say, "Ohh that's wrong," but it still happens. Many people are fed up with dealing with n00bs so they won't give them the time of day. They'll see your avatar and won't even give you a chance to speak. They'll assume that you're just going to beg them for items or have nothing good to say.
Sad but true. If you want to be heard and treated with respect, please dress with some sort of style. Any sort of style. It doesn't have to be the matching style. Truthfully, I think the matching style is one of the cheaper and easier styles to pull off. It's not always easy to wear a non-matching outfit with style and grace. Most often, your outfit might just make you look like a n00b. :c
At the same time, making matching avatars can be very challenging. Finding the right items and arranging them all just right can be quite intricate. And there's a great rush of satisfaction once you complete your masterpiece.
So go find a style that you like and go for it. And hey, if you want to go for the matching style, hopefully you'll find at least some part of my rambling to be useful.


Actual Conversation Starts Here
Can you rate my avatar.
I'm not sure what kind of opinion you want since it doesn't look like you're dressing in the matching style. Do you want any suggestions for matching or any other suggestions? ^^
hmm, well, all of my friends say that I have absolutely NO matching style, so, i think some tips on that might work. do you think you can put in a suggestion.
Ah, well~ you don't have to match if you don't want to. XD But I can give ya some tips.

What you want to do is match your hair and eye color. So, use dark blue items and green items. Either that, or use items to hide your eyes or hair color.

You can ignore our eye color most of the time since it doesn't really pop out of the screen. ((I suggested this because she's just starting out in the matching style. Your first few matching avatars might not look too great, but you'll eventually make outfits that make people say, "Wow.")) Your hair is very big, so you'll want to use dark blue items. ^^
I've made a list of items, check them out to see what ones you like. Not all of them match exactly, but are close enough. You don't have to buy all of them.

Total Value: 10,690 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Lex's Blue Gloves
Fresh Taj Pants
Fresh Taj Shoes
Cool Starter Glam Guy Dress Shoes
Cool Female Starter Preppy Shoes
Cobalt Mink Shoes
Cool Basic Skirt
Blue Sleeveless Rough Top
Blue Aero-D Pants
Blacklight Punk Miniskirt
Black Denim Button Skirt


It'll make life easier if you own a dark blue shirt, skirt, gloves, pants, socks and shoes. You don't wear those items all at once. If you wear a dark blue skirt, then wear dark blue shoes. If you wear a dark blue shirt, then wear dark blue pants and a different color skirt. (I'll give examples). The key is just to add dark blue to the top, the middle, and the bottom of the avatar.


You can add other colors that you like too. ^^ As long as the color appears at the top, middle and bottom of the avatar. It's tricky at first, but you'll get the hang of it. The more matching avatars you make, the easier it gets.

Recommended Items
Post Twelve: Recommended Items- Key Items


On 01/28/10, I shortened the post that exists in the main guide. I'll leave it here for those of you who want exact examples of what I'm talking about. I feel it's no longer needed in the main guide since tektek makes item searches so easy now.
The original post:



This post lists items that are useful for making matching avatars. Items on these layers help you spread color evenly around the avatar.
You don't have to memorize these items, so don't waste your time reading through all of them unless you want to build up a wardrobe.

I made this post before tektek updated its search system. You can quickly search for items by type and color now. Very nifty.

Why use items on these layers?
A typical avatar could include a hat, shirt, pants, shoes. It is possible to make a matching avatar with only those four items. However, it's much easier to add more colors into the mix when you add in more head items, gloves, belts, accessories, socks, leg warmers, handheld items, etc. (Don't go overboard with color! Try to stick to two or three colors until you get the hang of perfectly balancing four, five, six colors in the same avatar~)

People who want to change their avatars a lot should consider buying these items. As in, you'll need items if you want to change your avatar. You won't need a ton of items as long as you pick items that can be used in more than one outfit.
Making matching avatars is very simple as long as you have or buy items that all match. Viola. ...And yet I keep jabbering on and on about the details~


• • • • Key Items

These are the items that are useful when designing a dream avatar, or for keeping in the inventory to work with many outfits. The goal is having a variety of items that equip around the avatar.
I will list items that are relatively cheap. Hahah, believe you me that I want to list them all. I also want to list more types, such as skirts and shorts. I know you don't want to read that much, so I'll just hit a few highlights. Please bear with me. >.<;;

Tattoos
Tattoos layer under on top of the skin/base and under other items. Some tattoos even layer with other tattoos. I hear that striped tattoos will usually layer with tribal tattoos. They come in an assortment of colors and can help fill up empty spaces on your avatar. If you're having difficulty with finding an item that will fill in and help balance the color in a certain area, see if a tattoo will work. The best part about Gaia tattoos is that they're removable. :}
Any: White Clown Makeup, Kachina Clown Body Paint, Blush Clown Makeup (high and low), body dye (various colors)
Female: -
Male: -

Undergarments
These are wonderful items. They basically equip under shirts, skirts, pants, socks, gloves, etc. These items are definitely a key tool in adding more color or filling up spaces that just seem too bare.
Note: For guys; stockings and leggings are on the same layer (excluding snug leggings). This means that most sock items will layer over most stockings. For females; Stockings and socks are on the same layer and both can be worn over leggings (not snug leggings).
Any: longjohns, wool shirts, Elegant Snowy Leggings, Santa Baby Leggings, Blade's Leggings, baseball undershirts, galaxy suits, spacey body suit leggings, spacey body suit tops, traveller undershirts, g-team ranger bodysuits,
Female: the strapless bras, soft underwears, one piece swimsuits
Male: wetsuits

Items that Hide Hair Color
This category includes wigs and masks. Many of the current wigs on Gaia are either expensive store items, expensive monthly collectibles or expensive evolvign items. I only list versatile wigs that look like they'd work with multiple outfits. The expensive wigs are listed in the expensive items section.
Masks are very handy as they will hide both the eye and hair color. Many masks exist at a cheap price, but are often very colorful. I will only list masks with basic colors.
Any: Black Skeleton Mask, The Mask, Egyptian Short Black Wig, Benkei Wig, Blonde Yamanba Wig, Red Yamanba Wig, elegant antoinette wigs, elegant lord's wigs, ritzy wigs
Female: -
Male: -

Items that Hide Eye Color
Now, I know people don't run around matching their clothes to their eye color every single day in real life. However, this is Gaia. And we're dressing up in the matching style. Eyes can be used just like an accessory and add that punch of color right where you need them. ;] However, if the eyes don't match, they can stick out and ruin the whole overall balance of an avatar. So, when the eyes don't match, change them to match.
This can be accomplished by buying new eyes from the salon, wearing contacts or hiding your eyes with glasses and masks.
Any: Zorro Mask, chache shades, torque shades, Romani Glasses
Female: -
Male: -

Necklaces
Any: anti fashion necklaces, ties, the 4th amigo ties, Gold Locket, Neck Ruffle, scarves, winter scarves, bowties
Female: pompom scarves,
Male: -

Gloves
An excellent way to cover bare arms and add in more color to the midsection. Females have more choices in this area. This is good because female hands look very awkward and nubby. XD [/personal opinion]
Any: medical gloves, Those Black 90s Gloves, Gold Bracelet, Roco Rochel Costume Bracelet, Black Gloves, White Gloves, Brown Gloves, audreys long gloves, Mens Wearhouse Gloves, Dancer Cuffs,ribbon luv sleeves, reversible bracelets, tennis wristbands, g-team ranger gloves
Female: Felicia's Gloves, daisy's gloves, lex's gloves, peasant gloves, Elegant Blue Gloves,
Male: Matial Arts Bracers

Belts
Belts add color to the middle of the avatar, can break up two items of clothing that are the same color and often pull in that last touch of sophistication.
Any: leather belts, buckle belts, single loop belts, galaxy belts, g-team ranger belts,
Female: -
Male: -

Socks and Ankle Items
These items are great tools for adding color to the bottom of the avatar. Open toe shoes really bring out the potential of socks. The ankle items layer over socks and usually layer over pant items.
Note: For guys, many 'stocking' items layer under 'sock' items. Preview them in the marketplace to check layering.
Any: leg warmers, class socks, snug lacy leggings, egyptian gold anklets, tennis socks, baseball socks, stockings, striped stockings, winter socks, deluxe holiday legwarmers,
Female: White Mid Sock, punk socks
Male: radicool socks, long socks, Retro Scholar Cloudy Socks, split socks

Handheld Accessories
These are very versatile. Holding these items in different positions will bring different colors to different areas of the avatar. Handheld items come in all shapes, sizes and colors. ...Or at least a lot of them do.
Any: pimpin canes, magician's wand, boomboxes, jenny's purses, ceramic mugs, coals, pennants, galaxy grenades, plastic thermoses
Female: -
Male: -



• • • • Expensive Items

Skins
Skins change the skin tone of your whole avatar to another color. Some even change the facial features or shape of the base too.
This list does not include the bases that can be obtained as potions from Skin Tyte. The current list includes: Experiment 105, Zurg Energy Drink, elf potions, Zombie 2k8 Potion (glompie), Vampire Potion, orc potions and, of course, human potions. The three grombie bases from 2k5 aren't included either since they're no longer available. These skins cannot be equipped and unequipped with the click of a button. They're still handy for dressing up.

Though this guide does not focus on dressing up your avatar with themes, a different skin or base can help you get your idea across or complete your cosplay. You can also think of the skin as another item you can use to spread a color around your avatar. Turning the whole avatar blue, for instance, would hide whatever flesh that may stand out, and allow you to add blue items to match your skin. FYI, there are people who treat an avatar's skin color as another color on the avatar that must be matched.

Ideas to keep in mind:
Compare the prices of the various skins. Sometimes two skins from two different items will look very similar, but one skin will be much cheaper than the other skin. For example, the Death Whisper Evolving Item has a black skin that's slightly darker than the Black Body Dye. Some generations of the Death Whisper are currently cheaper than the Black Body Dye in the marketplace. "Everyone's Reprise" is cheaper than the Death Whisper skin and Black Body Dye. However, you cannot have eyes or glasses when wearing Everyone's Reprise. Most contacts don't work with it.

The white skin from the Masterpieces monthly collectible comes with eyes and a mouth. Many mouth items cannot be worn with the Masterpieces skin. Recently, some of the contacts have changed layers. Some contacts can be worn with the Masterpieces skin, while others cannot.
In some cases, you could use the Masterpieces MC instead of the more expensive White Body Dye. Please check out [this post] for a further explanation of what contacts will layer with the Masterpieces David skin.

Any: various body dyes {Obtained by collecting inks}, Superior Form, Skeleton, Masterpieces (the main pose: base + hair), Masterpieces (skin), White Drome Egg (Black, Red, Tawny and White skins), Alruna's Rose (New Body), Death Whisper (Consume), Furugasa (Onryo no kaminoke), Padmavati's Lotus (various skins), twilight sparkling skin, Dandy's Reprise, Kink's Reprise, Everyone's Reprise,
Female: -
Male: -

Wigs
Wigs can be used to alter your avatar's hair color for an outfit without having to go off and buy new hair from the salon. I already have a list for wigs up above. However, many wigs are found outside of stores and their prices keep increasing. Either that, or they're just expensive in general.
Any: elegant antoinette wigs, elegant lord's wigs, Elemental Hair (all poses), Mythic Hair (all poses), Yokai's Treasure (Oni's Mane), Fire Flower (hot head), Fire Flower (hot head eruption), Masterpieces (David's Hair), Magical Girl (wig), Western Zodiac (Mane of Leo), Biancamella (taffy wigs), White Drome Egg (feather wigs), Head Case, Kelp o th Loch (water horses manes), Fallen Wish (Supernova Dragon Spikes), Fuseling (wig), Queen Bee (behive wig), Spacefleet Wigs, Kuros Induction (wig), Cockerels Waltz (Crest), Everyone's Reprise (Hair), Briar's Shot (Hair), Sybil's Incantation (Hair), Opal Borealis, Fluorite Borealis, Moonstone Borealis, Reve Rouille (Mademoiselle's Hair),
Female: -
Male: -

Contacts
These are items that replace your avatar's eyes and can be equipped and unequipped with the click of a button. For an in depth look at contacts, please check out [this thread].
Any: Oculus Magica, Oculus Mythica, White Drome Egg, Determined Eyes, Inari's Beads (kitsuneme), Mona the Platypus (smiling eyes), Gogh Reed (Azure Eyes), daruma dolls (eyes), Kuros Induction (kuros and cordells eyes), Acteons Blessing (eyes), Oisins Blessing (eyes), Chuchips Blessing (closed eyes), nano-c (mirrored optics), Gaia-Tan (Kawaii Wink), Diapered Egg (baby blue eyes), Assorted Contact Lens Set, SDPlus # 7 (My Eyes Are Here), SDPlus #99 Kanoko (Eyes), Sibil's Incantation (Eyes), Reve Rouille (Mademoiselle's Eyes),
Female: -
Male: -

And here's a quick list of expensive items that make good key items. They're just too expensive for me to say that every inventory should have one.
Many of these items are cheap at this moment, but will increase in price. If you like any of these items and can buy them at the moment, go for it. ;]

Devil Tail
Chain Wallet
Golden Laurels
Winged Anklets
Dark Halo
Ancient Katana
Demonic Anklets
Oculus Magica
Fresh Grass Skirt
G Pin
Labu Necklace
Soot Face Explode
4 Leaf Clover Pin
Card Shark Bands
Long Drag
Various mood bubbles from the Cash Shop
Go Player
Coraline Button Eyes
V-day 2k9 Chocolate
Street Fighter IV Megapack
Zhou Yus Staff

Fourteen



Sets vs. Originality

This post attempts to answer the question, "Why can't I wear a set of items?"

Wearing a set of items is seen as being unoriginal and uncreative. Why? Because all the work has been done for you. An item set is a group of items that were released together and are usually pre-made outfits. Even if a set is extremely expensive to put together, it's still a set. You don't get props for spending gold. You get props for making an original outfit. Putting together a set, no matter what the price, is not creative.
Why is it not creative? Because anyone can type "g-lol" into a search bar and combine the g-lol shirt, skirt, stockings and shoes. What thought did that take? Very little. All the person did was combine items that had the same name. Boring.
The short version: When you wear a set, you look generic and unimaginative.


There's no rule against wearing sets. You can wear sets all you want. Thing is, Gaians vote based on how imaginative, creative or original an outfit is. If you're wearing a set, don't expect high accolades. If you join an avatar contest or ask to be rated, expect to hear bad comments about your outfit.


Outfits to avoid:

partition, g-lol, some expensive armor, starter sets, aquarium



Set-less Outifts:


Like I said, originality and creativity are highly valued. So, there's also a style where people use sets. The catch is, it has to not look like a set.