If some animals are good at hunting and others
are suitable for hunting, then the Gods must clearly smile on hunting.
Aristotle
STEAM
7 is now past the halfway mark.
After the blast of a kick-off
party for the event, I thought I’d check in on
Perry Peterson’s, the organizer’s, Steampunk Hunt and see how things were
going. Not to my surprise, things are
going better than expected.
Just
a quick recap, STEAM 7, a steampunk themed Second Life (SL) hunt
runs from September 1st to 30th inworld. As usual the Hunt has a subtheme to main
steampunk one. This time it’s “Time
& Space” honoring H.
G. Wells. Participating
merchants are incorporating this concept into their gifts to the hunters.
Checking
in with Perryn and a few participants, a few themes are becoming clear. First, everyone feels that this is the best
Hunt ever. This has been a recurring
theme over the last several years and reflects on Perryn and his team’s
organizational skills and commitment. Gifts
are better than ever and only two shops dropped out at the last minute, a new
record for low losses.
Knowledge Tomorrow,
Curator of the Joy of
Steampunk Museum, is participating for the first time as both a hunter and
a merchant. She believes the community
is stronger now and the hunters are more social.
Noddington Schmooz of Land of Nodd
says that the STEAM Hunts always seem to be a cut above and apart from the
rest. The gifts are consistently of
good quality, and there is such a spirit of camaraderie among the hunters and
the merchants.
One of the
principle differences from past Hunts is hunters who are starting the Hunt at
the end and working backwards. This may
also contribute to Perryn’s observation that the number of hunters is exceeding
expectations especially for shops towards the end of the Hunt. Sounds like hunters are developing strategies
to beat the crowds. Could STEAM: The Hunt for Dummies be in the
offing?
Traffic
from STEAM 7 is up from previous Hunts.
Knowledge reports that traffic is “way, way up” for the Museum. Noddington says that, happily for him, both
sales and revenues are up. Marcel ghostraven (no
relation) has run off to a different sim and left his shop on auto pilot for
the duration of the Hunt to pursue other building projects. (One of the many wonderful things about
SL!) He believes his sales and traffic
may be up. Interestingly, Marcel is the
only respondent who thought traffic might be off on this Hunt. Kyris Upshaw says
he has slight increases in sales and traffic.
Janeel
Kharg of Ankh
Morpork reports traffic up but not sales.
She’s not worried because she’s in the Hunt to raise the awareness of
her sim.
As for the
gifts in STEAM 7, a whole new level seems to have been achieved (and will be
difficult to surpass in future Hunts but somehow I think Perryn and the
merchants will figure out how). What
follows is a partial list which hopefully will encourage those of my readers
who haven’t visited STEAM 7 yet will.
Knowledge
was kind enough to send me a list of the mini-Hunt’s gifts and their
creators. Included are a personal hot
air balloon (Noddington Schmooz), steampunk wall clock (Shigeko Tachikawa), NS6
Dusk Banshee (Nightshade
Sixpence), Copper Sea Mine House (Albus Weka), Red Sea Mine House
(Albus Weka), steampunk rocket (Lexx Bondar), steampunk bathysphere (Albus
Weka), Visionary Quotes – Mechanical Eyes that Speak (Ceejay Writer), Black Sea
Mine House (Albus Weka), gas discharge tube (Shigeko Tachikawa), steampunk
submarine (Rebecca Bashly), steampunk chopper (Rebecca Bashly), and
escargot-a-vapeur (Sextan
Shepherd).
Marcel has
created Inside the Machine, a representation of our Solar System; When the Land
Masses Appealed, a volcano in the box; Is This Roswell?, a do-it-yourself alien
sighting kit; a steampunk rocket station; a lunar styles steampunk space
station; ST3000, a futuristic space shuttle with working weapons; and TM1, a
time machine. Kyris has built a
“steampunky” fan that blows physical objects about. Noddington, in addition to the above, has also
fabricated a mesh version of H.G. Well’s time machine and a sculpted
grandfather clock. Janeel also based her
gifts on Well’s time machine, as well as male and female Eloi avatars, jewelry based on 30
Million AD, and a versatile circular building.
Overall,
I’d say that everyone has been very busy!
Finally,
I’ve heard that hunters are getting better dressed every year and the Hunt may
need its own photographer soon! I met
one hunter who was dressed rather appropriately to my mind as Sherlock Holmes. Maybe STEAM: The Hunt could become an event
like Mardi Gras or the Halloween parade held in NYC’s Greenwich Village. Something else for Perryn to think about!
Merchants
tell me that hunters have been overwhelmingly friendly and courteous. Merchants and hunters appear to be forming a
tighter community. I wonder what this
might portend for the future? Some of
the hunters seem to try rushing through to be the “first” to complete the
Hunt. Some worry if they really enjoy
the Hunt when they do that and if they can really visit all the merchants.
Maybe going slow and enjoying the Hunt might be good advice to hunters. There is no prize for being first!
Also, some
merchants have not taken the time as requested by Perryn to wrap and mark their
gifts appropriately. The gifts are still
marvelous but a little packaging can go a long way!
I want to thank Perryn for
his time and assistance. I look forward to visiting with the hunters and merchants
during the remainder of the Hunt. I
would also like to thank Knowledge Tomorrow, Marcel ghostraven, Kyris Upshaw,
Noddington Schmooz, and Janeel Kharg for taking the time to reply to my
queries. I would also like to thank
Knowledge for her permission to use the pictures indicated below.
So, remember! There’s only two weeks left in STEAM 7. Please go and see the beautiful work prepared
for it by the creators, meet the merchants and other hunters, and see all the
work and effort that Perryn and his team have put into this spectacular and one
of a kind event!
As always, I’m grateful to
all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was
passing through their lives.
Below are a few pictures of
some of the communities I’ve visited inworld, which at the time seemed a little
humorous. I hope you find them that way
too!
I welcome feedback from
readers, please either comment on my blog or
e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com
.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Photo No. 3 Joy of Steampunk
Museum Landing Zone
Photo No. 5 Personal
Hot Air Balloon (with the permission of the Joy of Steampunk Museum)Photo No. 7 Steampunk Wall Clock (with the permission of the Joy of Steampunk Museum)
Photo No. 8 Visionary Quotes – Eyes
that Speak (with the permission of the Joy of Steampunk Museum)
Photo No. 9 Escargot-a-Vapeur
(with the permission of the Joy of Steampunk Museum)
1 comment:
Love what you are doing with the blog man!
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