So what to do........

There are so many different events and things to do in Second Life, it's no wonder so many of us are addicted to it. If you check out the different events which are listed every day, I can't imagine anyone being able to get bored.

My favourite events are the trivia ones. This is basically a quiz where we all gather together to test our brains. All questions are asked in open chat and the first correct answer on screen wins. Unless SL is being it's usual helpful self, in which case chat lag dictates which answers get seen at all, and which order they come out. I went to some trivia this afternoon, and the question appeared in the middle of a load of answers.

Being in the UK there are quite a few trivia events I've never been able to go to because of the time difference. There are still plenty of others to choose from though, my favourites being Double Standards, Moysies, Lillys, and Demented Souls. Sharons Diner also holds regular events, but I can't always get to them.

The trivia crowd are a great bunch. They always congratulate each other when they get questions right, and any rivalry that exists is very friendly. I feel privileged to spend so much of my time with such intelligent and witty people.

Revenge of the stripy T-shirts at Double Standards trivia

Double Standards is a nightly event and one of my homes. I host here twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and other nights you can find me there in the crowd. This is the only place I know that allows smart ass answers. You'll get paid for being first with the correct answer, but if all else fails think of something witty and you may just get the smart ass. It's also the home if the bad pun these days. For some reason everyone tries to out pun each other, and you just can't help laughing. This makes it an interesting event, and if the right people are there an extremely humorous one too.

Moysies games is one which I set up at my friends place, with the help of Ana. It's not been going very long, but we get a good crowd and we have a lot of fun. Ana and I take it in turns to co host, and we recently did our first combined event. We call it Silly/ Sensible. We think of a silly topic and one of us will ask questions on that subject, and the other asks questions which relate to those answers. The first one we did was Monty Python. Lots of trivia players have been asking for Monty Python and we provided. Needless to say they didn't (or couldn't) turn up on the night, and I think everyone else had good fun trying to get the answers. Next time I'm having a stab at being sensible, and Ana will be silly. Hopefully it will be another good night.

Lillys is held twice a week, and is hosted by Lotus and Nelly - or Nellotus as Mael calls them. They are total opposites, and they work very well together. Lotus provides the intellectual questions (on such topics as fillums, telly and booze:) while Nelly provides more sensible subjects, such as simpsons, Johnny depp and the inevitable Canada. You always get a good crowd with plenty of chat.

Demented Souls had just started it's regular weekly trivia again. This is on a Thursday and it's slightly different. They pay for the first 3 answers so you get lots of frantic copying. Needless to say this can provide a lot of fun, especially as I think we all copy anything without thinking about it. They pay out at the end of each half, and it's nice to find out at the end how well you've done.

There are also 2 other events which started recently. One is the Buccaneer Bowl. As far as I know this was the first team trivia event, and it's now held once a month. It attracts all the best trivvers, and even though they pay for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, getting in the top 10 is quite an achievement. My team, The Trumpton Trivias, somehow managed to win the first one, and we came 3rd in the next 2 as well. We won't mention the last one - we'll just look forward to the next.

Trumpton Trivia showing what we're made of at the Bucc Bowl.

My team consists of myself, Mael, Ana and Stiggs. We have to keep our ARC down to decrease the lag, so Stiggs goes bald, while Ana and I both have nasty cheap hair. Mael manages to keep a low ARC anyway the lucky thing. We have team Shirts designed by Stiggs and Ana made a team tattoo too. We certainly look the part - we'll have to wait until May16th to see if our brains can act the part.

The event is run by Thornton (aka Captain Stripey), Lette and Lillian. Not only do they put a lot of time into this event, but they also put their own trivia winnings up as prize money. These are 3 of the nicest people you could meet, and the Bucc Bowl has certainly put a new slant on the trivia events. In between events there's a lot of friendly rivalry among the teams, and even though we all want to win, we're always pleased for the team that wins on the day.

The other new event is Smartasstermind. This was run for the first time over the Easter weekend, and proved so popular it is being repeated at the end of the month. This follows the format of Mastermind, where contestants answer 10 questions on a specialist subject of their choice, and then 10 general knowledge questions. The audience also get a share of the trivia, getting the chance to answer any questions that the contestants get wrong.

Me hosting at Smartasstermind

This was held at Double Standards so I was one of the hosts, and I know how nerve racking it was for the contestants who took part. They all did extremely well, and they gained a lot of respect for getting on stage and taking part. Mael won the first one with his Dr Who knowledge, and he also had an extremely good general knowledge round too. We had a good crowd throughout the day and everyone supported each other. The hosts were there offering support to each other and the competitors too, and I think everyone enjoyed the day. As an experiment this certainly worked, and now people are talking about this as well as the Bucc Bowl. I've entered the coming Smartasstermind. I don't suppose I'll win, but I know it will be fun taking part.

As well as trivia, I've now discovered fishing. The most popular seems to be 7 seas fishing, where you actually 'catch' proper fish, which you can then put in an aquarium. I did this with some of mine, except I didn't know you were supposed to go and feed them. Mael got home one day to find all my fish floating at the top of the tank. Oops! Now I know I've set the automatic fish feeder. You can also 'wear' them, and you can always tell when somebodys been fishing because they usually have some sort of fish floating around their head. You also win other little goodies. The most common is bikini tops and bottoms. I think most women now have enough free bikinis to fill a shop. I have also fished up a mermaid and merman, a bicycle pump and tire, a boat and a fishing hat. Some of the things you catch count as salvage, which go towards more valuable items. At the time of writing this I have an inventory full of salvage which I haven't even looked at. When I do, I'll see if there's anything interesting enough to add to this blog.

Me, wearing some of the fish I caught

I'm still quite new to fishing, but Humm is starting to hold fishing events at Double Standards, so I hope one day to get in the top 3, or at least get out of the bottom 3. This is held immediately after I host trivia on a Sunday, and it attracts a good crowd. Needless to say we all have a lof of fun with this too.

It is also possible to build things as well. I had never built anything until I met Mael, and I've now built a house for our tiny av's. It's very basic compared to some of the things he builds, but as I've never designed or built anything in my life, I'm quite proud of it. I can't draw to save my life, so trying to design something is nigh on impossible. I have to build based on what I see in my head - which isn't easy. I was doing really well, or so I thought, until Mael decided to tell me that nothing was lined up properly, the floor was crooked and the list went on. After nearly killing him, I knuckled down and put it right. Don't tell him, but it's only because of the help and advice that he gave me, that I was able to finish it at all. I still need to work on the textures, but I think it looks pretty good for my first time.

The tiny house that I built

My piece de resistance though were my windmills. This was built with a skybox in mind, so I had to find a way of keeping it in the air. I decided that windmills would look good on a tiny house, but they were very difficult to find. So I built them! Although Mael pointed me in the right direction, this was the first scripted thing I had made, and they actually work. This has whetted my appetite to build more bits and pieces, so I have a feeling I'll be spending even more time on Second Life than I do now.

These are only a few of the things there are to do on Second Life, Whatver you're interested in there will be someone who arranges it for you, and you can be pretty sure you'll meet a nice group of people if you go.