Will Ross here, welcome to The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life. On this show we discuss tips and tricks for the game Second Life, created by Linden Labs.
Today’s Episode, Halloweenapaluza! Ok, thats a terrible title... but today on the show, Halloween stuff in Second Life.
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Welcome to our first ever Halloween special! (voice "Call it our "Spooktacular" Halloween special!" "No, I'm not going to use any made up smooshed Halloween adjectives on this show." "What about calling it our "Fearst" ever Halloween special." "Fearst?" "Yeah it's like, first, but with fear instead. It makes things spoooooookyyyy." "Ok do me a favor, can you stand just a bit to the left." "Over here?" "Yeah, right on that red X." "OK, why?" *Buzzer, sound of trap door opening, "AHHHHHHH!!!!!! *SPLAT*" OK, sorry about that folks. Today we're going to talk Halloween, that magical day where men dress up as large versions of products, and women dress up as street-walking versions of their favorite animated characters, and that one guy who thinks he's so hilarious puts on a name-tag that says costume and tries to get by on that "I'm cool because I'm so cynical" vibe. Unfortunately, however, you don't get the day off work (unless House Bill 2281 dash C passes, and we're all praying it does).
Costumes
So first up on the show, costumes. Now on our previous Darwin-award-nominated episode, "Man Clothes," we talked about "Vindi Vindaloo -- Fashion for Men", which is still one of the best places to find costumes in Second Life. If you're looking for a large selection of women's costumes, you might want to check out "A Touch Of Ireland." This store has a number of Irish and Scottish traditional outfits, as well as a large costume section with fairies, witches, and nearly every female lead character from a *beep* movie you can think of. Wait, what? I can't say *beep*. OK from that animated film company that has a world, a land, and a euro that nobody goes to. Happy? The best, or worst part, depending on your taste, is that most of these costumes aren't the kind that will have men trying to put lindens into your G-string. Thanks to Daphne from "Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara" for the tip about "A Touch of Ireland." I've mentioned them before but her and the gang solve groovy mysteries at http://daphneandtamara.libsyn.com/. Ok, they actually just talk about shopping. But wouldn't it be cool if they did BOTH.
Now, when looking for costumes, remember that Second Life has almost anything you can imagine available. Just use the search function and type in whatever you're looking for, and there's a good chance someone's selling a version of it. That's how I found my Cthulhu backpack!
Haunted Houses
Now, on to the haunted houses! When going through haunted houses you want to go into "Mouselook" mode by hitting the M key or choosing "Mouselook" from the "View" menu. This will give you a first person view that will make things much, much scarier. You'll also want to force your sun to midnight, and turn on your sound, but check to see if the music should be on or not -- this will vary depending on the specific haunted house. There are quite a few in game right now, far too many to talk about on one episode, so here are two of my favorites.
The Grim Orphanage on the Sleepy Hollow sim was my favorite. It's not the best looking haunted house in game, but it was the most fun for me. The audio was very creepy, and there were some logic puzzles dealing with game mechanics that you have to solve before you can progress. Finishing this entire house without help gives you a real sense of accomplishment.
The second one worth visiting is the Haunted House and Graveyard on the North Halsted sim. This is a much more traditional haunted house, but one worth visiting. It has a few surprises during your visit, though with the exception of one very unexpected part, it's more interesting and fun than bone chillingly scary. You start in the graveyard, and proceed through the main house, and it's attached underground catacombs.
From visiting a few haunted houses I've learned one thing. Any house with graves in front of it, probably haunted. Any house with lawn flamingos in front of it, probably not.
That’s it for this episode! Stop by the website and check out my Twitter page, if you want to see what I’m up to on any given day! Send your feedback or questions to secondlife@qdnow.com, and the comment line is 206-888-6975; that’s 206-888-mysl. The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network, so be sure to check us out on the Web at www.quickanddirtytips.com.
So until next time remember, only the Crypt Keeper gets to change words to make them spookier. From everyone else it just sounds dumb.
And our show is sponsored by GoToMeeting.com, so be sure to visit GoToMeeting.com/podcast and try it free for 45 days. Do more and travel less, with GoToMeeting.com!
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