I dunno, I currently have in my Runtime, Vic3, Steph3, David, Mike3, Freak, The Girl, Miki, Koji, Jessi, James, The Girl Next Door [yeah she runs off vic3 but you try and put v3 clothes on her..so I consider her a different character] Aiko3, Hiro, the Troll, Sixus1 Minotaur & Centaur,...David is a sweet character even if he is from DAZ. I think a lot of people have purchased from places like DAZ and Renderosity due to their popularity...some people might feel smaller independent producers might not have good credit card safety...Or might feel like they're more likely to get ripped off compared to the bigger company or they question the sites security, might think they won't get any customer service. I know when I've purchased from other smaller Poser sites I've second-guessed myself on my use of my credit card. Another item is, when I bought Poser5 as a brand new customer, I was treated to advertisements in the box for DAZ, Renderosity and RunTimeDNA...so as a brand spanking new Poser nut where do you think I went? Did I know any better? Nope. Personally, I'm looking for what looks as close to real as possible. Some places that have their own characters they have looked too cartoony to me to spend money on them. Now, I got the Girl, Aiko3 for free from DAZ during a sale, have I used them yet? Nope. Also a lot of people are looking for flexibility in their models, adding morphs and the changeabilty and ease of use. I could be wrong but the DAZ family have very long morph lists. Also a lot of people look at the galleries and see what other people are using, give these artists who constantly get 40-50 comments on each piece of their art a new character model to work with and see if that doesn't boost sales. I think DAZ wouldn't be where it is today without Rosity, and same goes the other way around. Rosity is a huge melting pot, its ability to entertain a wide range of artists is its draw. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, ie going back to those artists who can gather large numbers of hits/comments. When a new character or texture hits the market, I do a search in the galleries to see how other people have used them, how they look etc. What I would really like to see is more content for the guys. I'm kind of tired to seeing 10 things for the females to every 1 item for the guys. I wish the guys would come over looking as good as the females, but I think the most % of Poser artists are men. The Poser-men are coming along, but certainly at a slower pace compared to the female figures. I've often heard that the reason why there aren't many items to pick from is because there is no market for it...well if all we had to pick from was funky looking stuff then of course we're not going to pay money for it which in the long run isn't going to make them popular or create a decent market. Some of these merchants who put out some really great looking female characters need to try and dish out some good looking men for a change...how about that for a challenge? [there are some out there, don't get me wrong, but a very low %] I have sent a few of these artists and email to see if they are going to come out with a male character to match their females and I've been told it's in the works...so far it's been over a year now and no male sighted. Ok, I'm getting off the soap box now, I've probably mangled the subject with my tangent. I don't even know if I stayed on topic...waves Rosity ate my post, hopefully didn't post twice...