This is a great discussion, but as an SL mesher I just want to correct misconceptions about the "quality" of mainstream goods being ported over here. The fact is, the quality of a heck of a lot of SL goods, particularly clothing, is merely that it fits into a contemporary fashion style.
A huge amount of SL products use a cheat with LOD levels in the uploaded to falsely seem like its 1 land impact when it should be a lot more. Sure- you can put it on your Sim in SL and have it be 1 prim, but it's still using up the amount of resources both on the server on for your visitors viewers of a much heavier object. OS still counts prims/land impact like the way SL did back in the old days. Most anything you upload on the mesh uploader to here can be one prim , as an experiment you can go and link 24 prim boxes together. You can then use the firestorm "save as collada" function, and then re upload them. Most OS grids including Dreamgrids, it will be one prim.
This brings us to the second thing about secondlife "quality ". Items, especially clothing, tend to be way way way WAY high in triangles. We in OS, due to less people lagging any one Sim, can afford to be a little more relaxed about this. But in SL it really messes things up. People think individually meshed tiny buttons that don't blur when you zoom in on them 200% = "quality mesh". No! It does not. Knowing how to properly mesh and utilize textures would make the same effect.
Why does this happen in SL? Because SL is not the bastion of luxury, original content, and legality you think it is. People- including big name creators- will buy models from CG trader or gumroad and then rerig and retexture them . This isn't necessarily illegal- until you realize this is done regardless of what the license of the mesh is, and what the actual creators thoughts are. As a result, quite a lot of "SL Original Mesh" is not made for an environment like SL, it is meant for rendering as static art in Blender or Daz.
And in fact, a few of the very big creators will use art students from China or the Middle East * who only know that the mesh is going into "a video game"* to make their meshes. There's also much more legal routes, a few people on SL itself will also rent out their services. The "originality" of the mesh is therefor merely about a contract of exclusivity, not "who made what".
So, you will see people in SL turning up their noses at "template mesh" and "amateur mesh" in favour of what they see as "quality, original mesh"- but it is in fact essentially ""Chinese sweatshop mesh" with either mistakes,or techniques meant for static renders being paraded as top quality haute couture !
And that's what makes some of the mesh cartels here funny- you are stealing what is already appropriated labour power! Authentic original SL creators are more like Aaack on here, making often niche goods in small batches. The fashion biggies are at best a team under one uploading avatar, or a sweatshop front.
Don't worry so much, folks. There's not a lot to envy on the other side of the fence. Create what you want here, and don't worry so much about making it like in SL.
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