From Friday February 20 to Sunday March 1, the Science Fiction Convention in Second Life took place. There were a number of exhibits among several sims. This was a chance for a number of sci-fi roleplay groups to get more players. It was also a chance for fans to meet up and chat with one another. The event raised money for the Relay for Life, one of the last RFL related events to take place before the start of the official season.
There were six sims of exhibits, Fhloston Parside, Pern Sound, New Vegas, Risa, Shinon, and Margalthea. Fhloston Parside and Pern Sound were mainly water and walkways over and across them. One could also walk to the American Cancer Society sim, which was next to Fhloston Parside.
Dropping by the ACS sim, Trader Whiplash of T-1 radio was there, among with a few others. He was broadcasting from there, and happy to help out at another fundraiser for the cancer charity. One of my neighbors from Sunweaver, Shadow (the naga) showed up to look around as well and joined me.
There were a few events going on, such as a cake baking contest. No doubt a few involved some unusual varieties of wheat for the flour and eggs.
An amusement park area, complete with a ferris wheel.
Stargazer Creations, one of the shops.
The thing about science fiction conventions is many of the visitors look like part of the exhibits themselves, such as this lady whom in real life was an ethnic Indonesian living in Ireland.
The Apollo 17 Visitor Center by the National Space Society's Second Life chapter,
Part of a Dr. Who exhibit.
Chatting with these two convention-goers took on a roleplay theme. The lady in slacks described herself as from a space station run by her parents. The pink rubbery bunnygirl described herself as once being human, but ended up being tricked into undergoing a procedure that changed her into what she was. Fortunately her memory was restored.
A classic "little green man," or in this case a female.
A reptilian huntress trying to hold a conversation with a small android.
A statue of "Kahless the Unforgettable," in Trek lore the man who founded the Klingon Empire.
Going on a dragon ride.
After the passing of Leonard Nimoy, the actor behind the Star Trek character Spock, many exhibits put up a tribute to him, notably some Trek ones.
The "Alien Culture Dating" event. At first I thought this was a discussion about concepts of dating in science fiction. It turned out to be a roleplayed speed dating.
Shadow and I trying out a shuttle.
Flying it proved to be a little tricky.
The "BSG-82" exhibit, a Battlestar Galactica roleplay group. Talking to Ito Naminosaki who was there, he described the group as one of two remaining roleplays based on the science fiction show remaining, "our sim has more Combat Elements ... but still (an) RP Sim." Their own roleplay involved elements of both shows, "the Colonial fall in (the) Miniseries (had) not happened ... so we are in an still running second Cylon War."
What happened to other Battlestar Galactica roleplays? Ito seemed to be saying the actions by Universal against them a few years ago had a rather chilling effect on morale, even though there was an agreement and the company backed off. Ito did say that a third was around when the convention was being planned, but dissolved before the sci-fi con began.
Another exhibit I stopped by was Black Gaza Prison. Talking to one of the people there, Spirit Wolf (wraith.solo), he described themselves as, "We're SL's oldest running sci-fi themed prison RP. We're mainly furry, but we accept all regular size AV types, furry, human, alien, neko, etc. We have several roles within, medic, guard, robots, inmates, K9 units for feral avatars: We also have mechanics guild." He thought they had been around for six years.
So what were the challenges of a prison roleplay? " Not knowing what is going to happen. As an inmate, it is all about loss of personal control. Every encounter with a guard, you never (really) know what is going to happen. As a guard, it's rolling with the flow, and trying to guide things along ..." Taking a look at the notes, the setting was a rather dark one, described as being influenced by a corrupt corporation. "White knight" behavior by guards was discouraged. Still, they have their chuckles, "especially late at night. Everyone has late night typos, and your brain isn't working 100%...things come out wrong or you don't describe everything like you had invisioned in your head, and it begins to turn out like that old game, 'Mad Libs.' "
For more information on the Second Life Science Fiction Convention, one can check out their website at https://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/ . Daniel Voyager has a few more on his Flickr page.
Bixyl Shuftan
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