By Bixyl Shuftan
On Monday December 19, Second Life had it's
"Jolly Holiday Crawl" followed by the Linden Snowball Fight. The event was organized by Linden Lab, and had a number of Lindens taking part. This was the virtual equivalent of a bar crawl, in which people spend a little time at a pub then head to another one on their list. But instead of bars, the people would go to noted places in the virtual world.
The idea of an inworld venue crawl got started last year with the 2015 "Creepy Crawl" on Halloween. The event was so popular, the Lidens organized another this year, and decided to follow up with a Christmas-themed one. This would be a shorter crawl, with just four stops in a two hour period. It was probably just as well, as some residents were itching to toss a snowball at Linden Lab's finest.
The event started at 10 AM Second Life time at the Arctic Express at Moonlight Sonata (
197/141/23). Unfortunately, I didn't get there early enough, and found myself with a few others in the adjacent sim trying to teleport over every so often. After several minutes, I gave up and headed to the next stop on the list.
Kate's Whirl was the second stop of the Holiday Crawl. Located at Luscious (
205/53/11/), the most noticeable part of the place was a brick and iron bar maze.
Already the place was filling up, even though I was twenty minutes early. The crawl was attracting quite a number of people. One commented, "Do pardon if I bump anyone I'm lagging, plus I derendered a ton of stuff."
Xiola Linden soon arrived.
Not far behind was Warp Linden.
Whitney Linden demonstrated even Linden Lab's finest go Away From Keyboard.
Next was the Winter Ice Christmas Festival 2016 in Rebel Yell Concerts (
49/62/27/).
It took a considerable amount of time for the avatars to rezz, but the scenery was pretty.
The final stop in the Holiday Crawl was Frisland at Liebe (
192/152/22/)
The lag was less of a problem here than in the last place.
Torley Linden was there in his off-duty account, complete with trademark watermelon colors. He described the thing on her head as a roast beast which was a
reindeer crossing the road that ended up freezing at the sight of
oncoming headlights.
Zig Linden looked like a "Transformer" or a "Robotech" fighter, or with his name, perhaps a fighter from "Zero Wing," the poorly translated Japanese game that led to "
All Your Base." Actually, Zig did admit, "That's where the name came from," but, "I'm less of a fan of the game and more of a fan of the video." Did anyone ever ask him to "Move Zig?" His response, "It happens from time to time."
Tommy Linden tries a Santa look, but it was reminding me more of the Red Spy in "Team Fortress 2."
Noted resident Loki Elliot was also there.
Xiola Linden soon rezzed, but Steeltoe Linden remained steel gray.
Finally as 12 Noon approached, it was time for the event we were all waiting for, the Linden Snowball Fight. But I made the mistake of using an old Portal Park LM.
So I checked the Newser for the SURL at Portal Park 1 (
175/118/52)
Heading to the portal to Winter Wonderland.
Getting to the snowball arena involved getting through some scenery.
I forget who this Linden is, only that he was one.
There were a few sights on the way to the "freeze-for-all."
To get the weapon hud, one had to click on the display at the glass case. Then a HUD would appear. For most players, they had a choice between a snow rifle with a high rate of fire, or a kind of pistol that produced snowballs that would knock someone in the air for a bit but had a five second recharge. naturally most chose the second option. The Premium players, and presumably the Lindens, also had the option of a "snowzooka" which fired snowballs that could trap someone for a few seconds.
Unfortunately I ended up crashing after just a few minutes of snowball scrapping and lost my gun. But rather than go and get another HUD, I went to the tallest spot in the place and took pictures.
The avatars of all kinds showed up, such as this centaur.
Marianne Mccanne was there, with her snowzooka.
Squishy Mole coming back down after a snowball threw her into the air.
Keira Linden's hands in the air looked confusing at first. Was she giving up?
Not exactly ...
She had taken a seat onto the Loch Ness Monster, "It Liiiivvessssssss ..."
This guy was prepared to sleep it off if he got knocked out.
Rider Linden, with his steampunk look and hovering sled, enters the fray.
Bianca, Dee, and Xiola Linden bunch up with Torley in a ditch, Xiola shouting, "Could we make it any easier? There is a nice, whole, pocket of sitting ducks, er, Lindens, over here!"
As expected, they got a number of snowballs tossed their way, and broke up. Xiola earlier commented she didn't mind the snowballs too much as it gave her a chance to enjoy the view from above. But still, there was one person she felt overdid it earlier, "Where is Marianne? I owe her from last time! ... ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO LINDEN!"
Shimmy Mole gets caught in a Snowzooka's trap. Kona Linden tries somersaults to dodge the snowballs.
This guy coming down spread out after being hit. No sign of it slowing him down.
Magic Mole in a tiny avatar, of which one guy commented, "These Lindens are cheating, they made themselves smaller."
Or maybe he was talking about Derrick Linden, who was in a small avatar of his own.
Quartz Mole and Kona Linden survey the situation.
There were a few residents whom were "jellydolled," even though I had set my Firestorm to the max in avatar rendering. Even the most decorative avatar designer in my virtual community doesn't have this problem with me.
At 1PM SL time, fireworks went off around the arena. It didn't really stop the action, but for those whose computers could handle it, it was a nice sight.
I never did see the end of the "Snowball Showdown," but no doubt the fun went on for a while. For those interested in a snow battle of their own, the arena should be up there all winter.
It was a fun event in Second Life
Bixyl Shuftan
