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A Note to My Readers

A Note to My Readers

by Ellie_Avora ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello Readers!

Thank you for the last few years for popping in and reading some of my posts as a virtual world consumer. Since 2020, I moved platforms, and CharmingEllie is no longer a part of the Second Life Blogging Network. However, my new website is. I decided to move forward with Tumblr as my platform for my URL instead of WordPress. As much as I love WordPress, the interface on Tumblr is more modern and appealing to the eye; it keeps me writing and interested and helps get my report out to a broader audience. If you would like to check it out, it is http://www.evwuniverse.com. I have been posting on it since 2021 up till now. I am still a part of the Second Life Blogging Network, just on a different platform and rebranded. Thank you to those of you who have kept up with my blog through time. You are all truly unique!

Warmest Regards,

Ellie

New Addiction: Kleptocorns

New Addiction: Kleptocorns

by Ellie_Avora ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This post is a little more out of the ordinary than my usual concepts. Today I’m going to discuss an app. Yup you heard it here folks! We’re going to talk about an application found on the app store and Google play store (if you use an android device). Ahead of time I apologize for the black around photos and what not. It is an application so photo’s weren’t coming out like they should and even with cropping it’s still there. To continue, I felt like a professional adult the need to spill my heart out on the pages on something adults don’t normally download. But let’s be fair we’re all kids at heart. Let’s be honest, we all have that one app on our phone that’s just the best time waster. We may be on the subway in New York city making the commute home or you could be that one individual in the doctor’s office who got there at you’re appointment time but you’ve been waiting in the waiting room for 3 hours (big thanks to my doctor’s office every time). This is sure to keep you happy and entertained during those adulting moments. Today we’re discussing the new app that was just released yesterday on November 6th called Kleptocorns.

Background Information:

A little background information on this application is it was created by “HyperBeard inc.” currently it has 4.9 stars and is still killing it with the reviews upon its launch. There are in-app purchases such as being able to get new unicorns quicker without the need to earn coins every few days for free to reach being able to get a new unicorn buddy. To be fair, it is a little off-putting for me sometimes as it takes forever to make more than two unicorns when first starting. But hey! Apps need to make money through in-app purchases somehow which is where we come to the next thing. There are indeed in-app purchases! Don’t we just love them (I can taste my sarcasm as I type this)? The in-app purchases are to earn something called gems faster. Their prices are a lot more affordable than some applications on the market with in-app purchases but still, sometimes these are annoying. Depending on who your app is aimed at and the market if your 10-17 most likely you won’t be spending your hard-earned cash on a unicorn. But yes in-app purchases they’re in there.

Who is This app for?

Let’s be honest, this app is for anyone who has a love for cute and adorable. If you’re an anime and cartoon fan, you’ll fall in love instantly. If you need a time waster yes! This is also for you. You could waste hours on this game trying to grind for coins to get new unicorns and accessories to dress your cute little pal up in. I would say the age range for this type of application would normally be marketed for tweens to young adults if I had to guess the target market. I am still somewhat young and odd so obviously, I’d have this game on pre-order. But honestly, adults can have just as much fun with this application as it’s targeted audience in the app store it’s under family so that just tells you it can be for pretty much anyone who falls in love with the graphics. As I’ve explained before in all of us we’re kids at heart even if we don’t want to show it it’s there. We’re all expected to grow up so quickly in today’s society I feel this app gives us our youth back to an extent and it’s so simple that it’s both fun and enjoyable.

Mini-Games:

Oh my gosh! Don’t get me started. Too late I’m already there. The in-game mini-games are more fun than you expect them to be. Remember when we were all younger and our parents might have taken us to a carnival or maybe you didn’t have the experience, but you went later on in your lifetime. The mini-games are similar to carnival games. They’re very chance related and if a kid plays this game it’s almost like children’s gambling. Good luck with that one’s kids! If you don’t want your kids participating in carnival-like games and thrills on an app just don’t point out the small icon to the bottom right of your smart devices screen and you should be fine. It’s such a small button that honestly, I forget it’s there a lot of the time and when my unicorn is out grabbing objects (which it always is because that’s how my broke self gets coins for free without spending money on in-app purchases). But if you’re using this as a time waster and don’t want to run this app and another app to do whatever it is you do than there are mini carnival games for your enjoyment.

Unicorns & Dress up Accessories:

This is the cutest part of this game! If you’re into virtual pets or can’t have a pet of your own whether you’re in an apartment or mom and dad won’t let you have one for whatever reason. This is a great little companion. When your unicorn comes back from its hunting journeys through space and time there is a health meter in the shape of a heart in the bottom right-hand corner that shows you a percentage. You always want that at 100% to do anything this is where you can care for your little unicorn. Yes! You can care for your unicorn. Pet, bathe and feed it treats to raise its health and with that when you have enough coins you can buy cute little customizable items to further customize your little unicorn. I think it’s an adorable addition to customize your unicorn in the way you want within reason. I remember when I was a kid and had a Nintendo DS after saving up which felt like years for it and being able to dress up my dogs in Nintendogs or my pets in the Littlest Pet Shop Winter Pet Series game that was out at the time.

My Experience, Thoughts, & Rating:

My overall thoughts about this app are I’ve been playing it since I got home last night at 12 in the morning and couldn’t sleep because of insomnia. I played this during the time I was up and then played it a little more when I woke up. It’s cute, entertaining, fun and overall just a great time waster and something to do that will keep you smiling. Also, if you’re not smiling it will make you smile it’s one of those feel-good apps where you can do what you want in it at your own time and own pace. I love games and applications like this! The only thing I wish was a little better was earning unicorns I have to wait days depending on how much I play or even weeks just to get a new one to have and take care of. I highly would recommend this game and I can see where the 4.9 stars on this app come from, I give it about the same in my opinion and hope to see more from this game in the future as they roll out updates.

Exploring a Vast Virtual Environment

Exploring a Vast Virtual Environment

by Ellie_Avora ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Photo Credit: Pepa Cometa

What can I say? Virtual worlds give us an experience that we might not be able to experience. It helps us to fulfill ideas of travel it will never replace going to the actual location; however, it helps you to see what a culture could look like or what a place could be. Virtual worlds give the user a platform to explore and interact with their surroundings via their avatars. I know with open simulation virtual worlds (open sims) the user can walk freely in their surroundings and interact with most of the objects in the environment. For example, I’m the type of individual who always felt like I was born in the wrong era. It couldn’t be any truer as sometimes I feel lost in the world, I’m in now there is a sim in Second Life that I just adore. It’s called 1920’s Berlin. This area I came across through the destinations guide a few years ago when I wanted to join a historical roleplaying sim. The environment is specified by the detail what it looked like in Berlin during the 20s it’s spot on! I looked at photos on Google to be honest because I wanted to see how historically correct the environment was. This is an amazing example of exploration in a virtual world you’re able to live in a world that uniquely is yours. Whether you want to live in the 20s or Luxembourg in the 30s-40s or you just want to go out and enjoy the nightlife. It’s all possible, throughout my explorations throughout virtual worlds during the years I’ve come across galleries with users artwork, photography outside of the virtual world and inside, with the technological era growing tons and tons of blogs and YouTube videos that you can access straight from the virtual world platform, there is so much it’s somewhat hard to even explain it all.

I’ve been an IMVU player since Beta testing

Virtual worlds not only give us a place to grow, learn, and explore, but they give us the confidence to live our best life even if it’s just through a computer screen. I’m by no means promoting that you shouldn’t go out and experience the world outside your front door but for those who can’t this is an awesome alternative. There is so much to do, honestly, I could spend hours just exploring, taking in world photographs, and living life. Virtual worlds are more about the experience and the exploration than it is anything else, however, it is important to note that everyone joins a virtual world for different reasons. I didn’t know what my purpose was after schooling when it came to Second Life, but I shortly found it afterward. My high school when I first started using Second Life as a platform for teaching, creativity, and communication with classmates and teachers while providing us with hands-on experiences that were created in the world. In 9th grade we would go on “field trips” to a virtual MOMA museum since obviously going to New York is kind of pricey. My school at the time used Second Life as an educational platform at some point it died out, but it was the only game kept on the school laptops that I could continue to play and explore at my own leisure. You know something to waste the time! That’s when I learned my soul purpose and what I wanted to use virtual worlds for I wanted to use them for exploration and interior design. Through the years I also picked up the title’s shopaholic, virtual world guru, and fashionista but that’s also just me living my best virtual life. I do consider shopping to be a source of explorations because you jump around to different places there are some places, I’ve never even known about that I’ve visited and just walked around their decorated sims without buying anything. One of my favorite shops in the world till this date is called +Half Deer+ the sim is so beautifully created, and it reminds me of a kawaii London feel with old telephone booths, pastel desks, brightly colored sidewalks, and gorgeously pink and light green colored trees. It almost looked like a fantasy-themed park and it is still one of my favorite sims to just hang out in even if I don’t buy anything. Exploration is so important in a virtual world platform even if it isn’t part of your purpose when joining a virtual world, it is an important aspect of one and you’ll most likely be finding yourself exploring different areas at some point during your virtual world experience. I know I’ve been discussing more from a Second Life and Open Sim standpoint these are just my favorite types of virtual worlds because there’s so much freedom with movement and a user’s creativity. However, I also wanted to discuss exploration from an IMVU standpoint!

Chatroom with random people photo taken by: Lizzicess (aka you’re wonderful blog host)

IMVU is all about exploration while chatting their avatar creation and room creation system is what makes them so popular as a “chatroom” based virtual world platform. Their goal wasn’t to provide freedom of movement but to connect users from across the world pretty much forcing them to be social with others. It’s a social platform hence the reason why their exploration is through the creation of rooms like “chatrooms” instead of vast areas of land that you explore. Even though it’s more limited as to what you can do and explore there is a sense of exploration still attached to the world of IMVU. Through personal experience, there are a lot of clubs, kawaii and Japanese type rooms for my otaku’s and anime fans out there, parks, restaurants, and scenery. IMVU uses a posing system where you sit on a “pose” and it will animate your avatar in the specific area. Poses are what IMVU revolves around. Exploration is seen more for photography purposes for virtual world enthusiasts and photographers for IMVU otherwise it’s an immersive chatroom. There is nothing wrong with that I play IMVU very often especially if I’m feeling super social and creative because the interface is so simplistic. The way of doing things such as creating environments and rooms are simplistic as well. I could place furniture, poses, etc. and finish a gorgeously made room within an hour at most. It probably takes users less than that. The only reason it takes me that long is because I’m picky about how I create things in virtual worlds both avatar and room/land wise.

When you join a virtual world, you join to explore whether it be finding who you are as a person, actual places, or even exploring friendships and relationships this is a place where your imagination comes to play. Virtual worlds give us as the user an opportunity to do things we probably wouldn’t or see things we might not see in a safe environment from the comfort of our own homes whether we’re on the couch, a comfy computer chair, or in our beds ready to go to sleep for the night and just need something to waste some time. There is so much to see and explore! If you want a game where you can explore than a virtual world might just be the right choice for you.

Is it Possible For Someone to Use Both Microsoft and apple Having Both Products Coexist in Everyday Life?

Is it Possible For Someone to Use Both Microsoft and apple Having Both Products Coexist in Everyday Life?

by Ellie_Avora ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Is it possible for someone to use both Microsoft and Apple and have both products coexist in everyday life? To be fair recently I’ve been on a YouTube review kick where I’ve been watching technology reviews on new computers, tablets, and tech. Specifically, in the reviews that review computers and tablets, there are constant debates in the comments between what operating system (OS) is better. However, what people tend to not understand is some people own both a product that runs Microsoft and a product that owns Apples Mac OS. I would be one of those people and I wanted to share my experience with all of you and that it is indeed possible for someone to own both and that both OS’s work well for the different things I’m trying to accomplish. To begin, I feel I need to add a disclaimer before I begin just so there is no hate or negativity because I don’t need that negativity all in my personal space. Everything that is going to be said is my experience, opinions, thoughts, and feelings on both sides I don’t think one OS is better than the other and feel both OS’s have their strengths and weaknesses. Though at some points it may seem as if I prefer one OS to the other, I’m completely unbiased I’m just explaining how I’m able to use both OS’s in unity and how they both work and are used in my daily life. This is a lot different of a post than I normally do however, I’ve been on a technology kick and wanted to add my thoughts and opinions. Being a virtual world guru I’m also a huge techy and enjoy using and playing with new tech when I can get my hands on it. With that all being said onward!

Microsoft OS has always been a huge part of my life, every computer my family and I have had have been PC’s that run Microsoft Office. We needed Microsoft Office for school and creating documents and PowerPoints we also enjoyed playing PC games and just browsing the internet while checking e-mails. To be fair third-party computers that run Microsoft’s OS are normally cheaper by a lot this is the complete opposite of an Apple product. Any person will also realize that this is why Microsoft OS is easier to find in a family household. It’s because it’s cheaper to own a PC than it is to own a MacBook but there is a huge reason for this that I’ll get into aa little later when I discuss how I use my MacBook in my everyday life. I currently own a Samsung 7 spin which I’ve had for years and this honestly is being passed on to a younger family member. Then recently on sale I was able to get myself on Amazon a gaming computer it’s a budget one but it runs like a charm and I love it. I have the Acer Predator 300 series so the one before the newest that come out. It has 258 GB of storage, with an i7 8th gen processor, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and ports lots and lots of ports such as a USB 3.0 port, ethernet port, HDMI, etc. I use it for gaming (obviously!), typing up documents, making spreadsheets, and PowerPoints, view documents and sort them on various flash drives and external hard drives and code websites and various coding using CMD. Needless to say that it does everything I need it to do and behind all of that power you would think I could edit video and photos on it too and you can. However, for most products that run Microsoft, you have to give to get. So, I, for example, got the faster power but with that, I had to give up battery life and a true to color screen which is something you need if you do digital art and photo editing. This isn’t terrible however, that brings me to the drawing board what can I get that will help me with my photo and video editing and other creative things I need to do on a computer. Though Microsoft is good for managing files, documents, and gaming I feel an Apple Mac or MacBook with the Apple OS is better for creativity and expression.

Apple OS I’ve recently switched to almost fully within the last year I’m completely new to the interface and to be honest the OS. I have used Apple products in school before, but they instructed you on what to do so I never really got to experience and explore Apple’s Mac OS as I can now. I own the recent MacBook Pro 2018 edition with touch bar with 258GB of storage and an i5 processor in space gray. You’re probably thinking an i5? But were onto i7’s and even some computers have i9’s. So, with that being said I should explain that I ended up winning this computer in a raffle when I was in college through a club, I was a part of throughout my college experience. So, the MacBook for me at least was free. But I’ve found as an audio, video, and photo editor and doing digital design and sketching that Apple was better in this area. I have come addicted to garage band which is an Apple exclusive program. I recently got into the world of Podcasting but have always had a professional mic for when I gamed and was talking with people online which I did quite often. Garage band has made all the difference when editing audio, it is my life and even though I tried Microsoft programs for audio editing I didn’t like them as much. To be honest, it was because, for someone just starting with audio editing, I wasn’t used to such an advanced interface and to be fair Apple kind of dumbs down their applications for everyone to use even a beginner starting up a podcast like me. I love garage band so much that my MacBook is where I do most of my audio and electronic music recording and I haven’t looked back. Video and photo editing are just ten times better on the MacBook Pro because of the Retina display which is what Apple’s computers are known for. The screen is true to color and so it’s easier to produce edited videos and photos based on realism because it shows every color that you need perfectly. Creative programs, applications, etc. are just so much better through a MacBook and I haven’t looked back. The huge downfall is it couldn’t replace the gaming on my PC. I play light games such as The Sims 4 and of course virtual worlds which can be a little demanding but that is an Apple MacBook’s downfall but then again, they weren’t created for gamers. Apple computers have always been considered to be more “premium” than a PC because of how they’re made. They don’t normally have a ton of ports anymore on their newer products so you have to purchse dongles but if this doesn’t bother you then read on. I don’t want this post to get too long talking about specs, but they’re supposedly made with premium and higher-end materials. You can tell the difference when using a Mac versus using a PC. The Apple’s Mac OS is a learning curve and a lot more simplistic but, some things just didn’t make sense to me but that’s also coming from someone who just recently started using Apple’s Mac OS. I feel it’s good for what it does! It’s good for creative individuals such as myself who do a lot of creative editing and use Adobe Suites. MacBook’s also run Microsoft Office software but they also have their products for creating documents, slides, and spreadsheets but I use Microsoft now and then on my MacBook. I prefer using my PC for documents and whatnot though.

With that being said both will offer a fast and fluid computing experience. If you’re part of an older demographic I feel Apple’s items are a bit more simplistic and use gestures on the mousepad instead of hotkeys on the keyboard. All in all, I feel that this demographic would have a better experience with a tablet than a laptop. I’d also recommend a tablet for someone who just needs a simple computer to do simple things on. There are IPad’s which is Apple’s tablet currently running on iPad OS which is Mac OS but simplified for their tablets it’s a user-friendly experience. Or if you’re looking for customization there are Android tablets. There kind of dying out but Samsung is coming out with the Galaxy tablet S6 which is a more premium Android tablet, but it is a tablet that can give a computer experience. The iPad Pros can give this type of experience but if you’re just someone who needs to do minimal computing or tasks one of the cheaper iPads will do just fine. Now that I’ve gone with my rant on tablets versus computers….

Overall, I feel in my experience that both MacBook’s and PC’s can coexist in my daily life, they each have something unique to offer and each is specific for a specific type of individual. I feel Apple is beginning to branch out a little bit more with their products, but they’re still limited to the creative and productive individual whereas there are just some things that PC tends to do better such as bringing the everyday gamer and productive user together in harmony. That’s okay! with time the line will be blurred between the ongoing debate on which OS is better than the other but until then Microsoft users will always complain about Apple OS and Apple OS will always complain about Microsoft but in the end it just comes to the users personal preference and what they want to get out of their computing experience.