What is S.L.A.R.F.?
In late 2008, the founders of SLARF took notice of the fact that there was an increasing number of avatar creators who were diversifying their offerings in a growing number of shopping venues. When the first complex avatars showed up in the early years of Second Life, there were only a couple, central locations where people could find avatars. Choice was limited and the market was much smaller. Since then, the quality of avatars and frequency of new avatar releases has increased.
Now SL community members have more choice. Avatars offer more features, styles, and personalities. To help users find what they just might like to buy, it’s time for a resource that will help people keep in-step with the fast-paced world of avatars.
Our job as a team of reviewers is to examine and evaluate various avatars within Second Life. As such, our reviews include information on the build quality and technical features, as well as opinions on the strengths and weaknesses. There is no ulterior motive of product promotion or the creation of bad publicity. We wish to act as a first-stop for avatar product reviews and as well as a News, Events, and Picture Repository.
Our Mandate
Our Mandate is three-fold.
- First and most importantly, to act a resource for SL users to find avatars they’re interested in by:
- Searching our Archives
- Reading about Features of an Avatar
- Viewing pictures and sometimes video content
- Offer the opportunity for the increasing number of new avatar providers to be reviewed and showcase their work to a potentially larger audience.
- Offer any avatar creator the ability to announce upcoming avatars or updates and make sure information reaches interested persons without any miscommunication.
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, Please feel free to contact us through the General Questions and Comments Form.
Yours truly,
SL Avatar Review Files Staff
Forepawz Golem
Editor-in-Chief
Founder
Forepawz Golem is the founder and editor-in-chief of SLARF. A resident of Second Life since 2005, he has come to enjoy many a good avatar, and come to realise that avatars can really make the persona in Second Life. Having seen the best and worst that SL has to offer, he works on ensuring SLARF brings informative reviews for its reader base.
Zoren Manray
Contributer (On Hiatus)
Founding Member
Currently one of SLARF’s review contributors, Zoren Manray has been a resident of Second Life since October 2004. Having experience in building and scripting various objects in SL, Zoren has had the opportunity to watch SL evolve over time. As such, he’s seen numerous design innovations come to pass and is always excited to see what the next will be.
Do you wish to have a creation reviewed?
If you are an avatar creator and wish to have your avatar(s) reviewed on SLARF, you’ve come to the right place! Click the following link:
When you apply for the account, be sure to select that you are interested in submitting review copies of your avatars.
Or, just give an IM to Forepawz Golem in-world and he’ll be happy to have a chat about your avatars on the site.
Our Review Process:
The content of reviews come through negotiation with creators to receive Review Copies of their avatars. These discussions are opened by communicating with creators themselves and/or their PR/Public Relations Liaisons.
Sometimes, we proactively send messages to creators to find out if they are interested in having their reviews on SLARF. The recipients of these messages is decided by an independent, anonymous panel of Second Life users.
This same independent and anonymous panel of users is responsible for negotiating with the staff to decide what avatars are placed in the queue for review. We attempt to ensure that we get as much variety from as many different avatar companies as possible.
Please note that if you choose to buy advertising space on SLARF, or if you provide SLARF with review copies, you will not be guaranteed a quick review. Additionally, providing copies of your avatars will NOT result in us giving you a biased review.
Information coming soon
Questions and Answers
Q. Why is this section all empty?
A. Because we haven’t written anything yet. As commonly asked questions begin to come up, we will add more to this section.