Copycat

I have a hardcore fan… or a diehard that refuses to add a pinch of change not to spoil the original concept. That’s actually me saying that someone loves what I do so much that she goes to any length (and spending level) to duplicate exactly what I use in my plot. But it isn’t just buying the items and rezzing them: it’s placing everything at the same location and orientation. She’s just missing a few colors because I have modded some objects to suit my style, and let’s say maybe she prefers the original scheme. Would that suggest that I should reconsider my choice? (Roll eyes). The post is picture and comment intensive in order to illustrate how it’s been done.

In the first two pictures you can compare the entrance to both parcels. The concrete platform (it’s sort of a platform) was built by yours truly out of a bigger platform I assembled last September for my first parcel in mainland. After moving from Corsica to Bay City, I had to shrink all large objects to fit the smaller 1024 sq.m. plot. What I mean is, it isn’t something you buy at any store; I built this thing myself, so she even replicated my objects to have an identical look. She’s using different textures because maybe she hasn’t found the ones I applied to the surfaces… or hasn’t had the time to ask me yet (roll eyes). Or maybe she prefers bricks instead of rocks. My flagstone pavers (from Barnesworth Anubis) are terracotta because I modded the color; she’s using the original shade instead. I hope she’s not splattering her brains on the walls trying to find the “correct” blocks. She’s also using a newer Japanese maple that Organica released a couple of days ago. Me, on the other hand, I’m using an older version. And she didn’t like alirium Garden’s narrow trees, it seems. They are lovely, though.

Her Ossanha Gardens’ cyclamen are more abundant than mine; how lucky she is… On the other hand, she doesn’t like Botanical’s sacred lotus. Maybe it’s because they haven’t bloomed yet. Once they show their true colors (as summer approaches), maybe she’d change her mind.

Her yellow car and my red “voiture” are both from Manji Automotive Factory. It’s the same car and all, just a different color. It’s also an old automobile (made of sculpts), so aside from liking it a lot, I went for this because I already owned it. She should have bought a newer mesh model (as I would have done) instead. I love driving this little thing around Bay City, so in my case it’s not a decorative element only.

Her house, as well as my house, uses bbqq’s humble abode and floorplan’s midsummer’s retreat. Both of these buildings are pretty and comfortably small to fit any parcel, so hundreds of people might be using them together. Yet, chances are not all of them are oriented the same way. This isn’t the out of the box angle; you have to rotate them manually, so it’s not by mere chance that her house and mine are rotated in the same direction.

At the house entrance everything starts to resemble a creepy Hollywood movie scene. She just replaced the what next? welcome sign with we’re closed‘s equivalent, and put it among the MeadowWork’s  moonflower vines. The former is a gacha item that is rarely found in yard sales (actually I’ve never seen one so far); it’s not rare, I just think it’s a keeper, so nobody sells them. She decided to go with Sari-Sari’s full potting shelf instead of breaking it into pieces and scattering them around as I did –probably a better decision prim wise. Lark’s winter bunting and Zigana’s chime are both identically placed, but she altered we’re closed’s group gift ladder slightly.

Her Roawenwood’s small gong looks larger than mine, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s an “optical illusion” since it’s the same object, and it is no-mod, so there’s no way to alter its size by regular means. My Dysfunctional Designs’ autumn branch shelf has green leaves because my plot is heading for spring time. I have no reason to keep them yellow, so I recolored it. My Trompe L’Oeil’s bird on a stick is looking to the left because I wanted it to gaze into the house, not away from it. I feel like having it the other way is a sign of wanting to fly away, as if not welcomed.

While I went for more plants around Cheeky Pea’s autumn fly to the sky bench, she preferred to add a sleeping fox. She also moved Botanical’s hanging Capiz lamp –one round, one starry styled– to a more logical position. Mines are grey because they are off; it was daylight at the time of the shooting. I wouldn’t place Dysfunctional Designs’ wine rack outside the house for fear some wild rascal would come in and steal it for sure.

If you think it was too much already, you have to wait and see the interior. Did she really need to copy everything? It is ok to use Apple Fall’s books, Art Dummy’s chair, Zigana’s grandpa’s desk, Trompe L’Oeil’s lamp, and even Terrashop’s hyacinth (hers in fuchsia, mine in blue), but the other two potted plants are a different story. None of them is available as a retail item. Monkeyworks’ ivy pot and Domus’ potted plant are both parts of two sets:  a stool in the first case, a chimney for the other one. You have to unlink them if you want to use them as I do. Isn’t it creepy? She’s not a simple fan, she’s obviously a copycat! I better watch my back, I say.

I prefer the rest of my house’s interior decoration, though. The curtains she is using are too… wavy, I don’t know. I just don’t like them I guess (maybe it’s the color, but I’m not sure). They are both from the same maker (Mudhoney) though. She also painted the back wall with some other texture, but that one is too washed out, as if it were missing resolution, or maybe stretched too much. Her side table looks more appropriate for a coffee-house than a simple abode, but at least she’s been more original with that one and the TV set.

She also opted for the same Trompe L’Oeil’s ceiling fan, Seven Emporium lamps, and curtain placement. At least she varied a little bit with her specimen jars, and decided to do without the clock and the lamp on the wall, which she replaced with a simple art decoration.

There’s also a slight variation in Casa del Shai’s papaya crate. She’s missing floorplan’s apple crates. Maybe she ran out of prims or ate the fruits already.

Of all the patio furniture available everywhere, most of which are über-gorgeous, she went for ILO’s garden set too. In the background, you can see she’s also using Forest Floor’s potted scrub maple (hers in red, mine in yellow), Art Dummy’s wintertide’s chairs (one of each, the exact choice), and Dysfunctional Designs’ vineyard grapes.

Though my Zacca’s fish bowl is somewhat hidden from view (it’s behind the main building, next to Culprit’s Victorian gazebo, as shown in the lower picture), she rezzed it in a more prominent place. I have to admit I like it better that way, but if I had put mine in that spot, it would have blocked the way to the gazebo. My plot is narrower than hers, so she has more room to play with.

I also prefer the way she accommodated Pilot’s water hose next to ILO’s  garden basin. I agree they look good together, though I placed them apart, on different sides of the house.

And to mirror the plot completely, she also placed Half-Deer’s sleepy Italian greyhound on Zinnias’ “Pedro” harvest wheelbarrow. She couldn’t miss that one, could she? Not after so much work!

I blog for fun; I have said so a thousand times, and it’s true. It’s good to know other people find inspiration in what I do occasionally. That’s the purpose of posting ultimately. But then, up to what point should people be this lazy and just repeat everything I –or you, as a matter of fact– do?

There’s no way of knowing if SL residents are merely repeating what they see in other people’s blogs. I think I wouldn’t care that much or would even think it OK –somehow– if the copycat were living a thousand sims away. Distance would dilute the mixed feelings effect. But when it’s someone in your neighborhood, it’s creepy because you know you’ve been watched too much and for too long. The lack of originality makes it worse. I honestly hope there wasn’t any copybotting involved, because when the copying is so exact that’s the feeling I get in the back of my paranoid mind.