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Yes, this is me. I'm not always white and nerdy, you see....

Right at the moment, I’m cruising through the annual Peace on Earth Hunt.  With over 200 stores and venues, I think this is one of the largest hunts we have in Second Life.  I’ll say for sure that I’m discovering lots of interesting stores along the way, and I’m making notes for both fashion and decor as I go.

If you’re interested, here is the list of hints and landmarks.  Just start at number 001 and proceed through the list.  Look for the ball with a dove flying over the Earth and click on it; everything is free.  The hunt runs through January 3, so you have time before it shuts down.

 

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Just a quick note to remind you the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest, which was extended this year due to my computer problems, will be closing on Tuesday, March 15.  Now’s the time if you’ve been holding back; the prizes aren’t large (L$2,500 to the winner), but it’s enough for a new gown at Fashion for Life!  Go here for the rules, and drop me some entries!!

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It took a fight — as much with my computer as with the quality of the submissions.  After my previous notice, the blasted box decided to die again!  this time, though, I think we have it; I’ve installed a new C: drive, cloned Windows onto it, and pulled the old D: drive out of the loop.  So I’ll take a chance, and say, in the words of the immortal Bullwinkle, “This time for sure!”

The Around the Grid Virtual Hallowe’en Photo Contest had a lot of good offerings to sort through and decide which ones would make the final cut.  Then, after that, how to order the final cut (grin).  But the job is done.  I gave myself until November 9 to make the decision, allowing for RL schedules and other things; indeed, with my computer in the shop for a time, it looked like it might be necessary to go way beyond that to just have a chance to even start reviewing the entries.  Things lucked out, though, and it’s time to announce the winners.  For those of you reading from the front page, click on through to read the results.

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Like many of the Second Lifers who chat with each other in Plurk, I’ve become fascinated with the game called Brute.  Why does a peace-loving type like me enjoy seeing a tiny avatar of myself pound on opponents in an arena?  Don’t ask me; I just do!

If you’re curious, follow this link, join up (it’s free), and become a pupil in my dojo.  I am always open to new students, grasshopper….

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Second Life begins to bite.  Or at least certain Residents do.

No, I’m not developing an Enemies List.  I’m referring to players of Bloodlines, a viral game centered around vampires and their victims.  It’s apparently spreading through the Grid like…well, like a pack of hungry vampires on the prowl.  I was unaware of the game’s existence until I read about it at New World Notes, where Hamlet Au interviewed a player who was begging him to be bitten.  (The guy was trying to bite a Linden, looking to goose his rep with a slice of cachet.  Ham isn’t working for Linden Lab anymore, but he still has the cachet.)

The game is quite simple; one of the players comes up and “bites” you while they’re wearing the game HUD.  If you accept the bite, you become one of the Walking Undead — by wearing the HUD yourself — and your avatar’s name is entered in the game database.  Then you go on the hunt yourself.

Bloodlines claims an unreal number of participants — and therein lies the problem.  In order to rise higher in the ranking, you need to bite more necks.  (The resemblance to a Real World pyramid or Ponzi scam, where you need to keep bringing in more new [ahem] blood to raise your returns, has been noted by other writers.)  Some players have taken to hanging out in areas of avatar concentration in the search for victims.

Avatar concentration.  Gee, I wonder where avatars tend to concentrate…?

More after the break….

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I’ve been coming up with occasional terms for use in Second Life and SLogs. (Second Life blogs — see, there’s a term! Though I doubt it’s original….) Leading from that one, you have SLoggers, and the Slogosphere. Hmmm…maybe we need to come up with something better; it sounds like we’re slogging through treacly mud. Of course, we also get SLang in this case: Second Life slang.

Anybody have any suggestions, their personal coinages or things they’ve heard elsewhere? Drop them in the comments, and we’ll leave them up to the court of public usage to decide which live, and which are consigned to the back of the dictionary. (And they don’t have to start with “SL.”)