By Becky "Sha" Shamen
I have been writing for SL Newser, for several years now. With all this
practice, we gain skills in finding and writing about ever greater
adventures. This also enables us to observe and teach those elements
that make any life, real or virtual, better for all. Life can be
difficult, but the rules are very simple. To have a better life, always
obey these two little rules. One, life is fun. If you're not having fun,
you aren't playing by the rules. Two, life is for learning new things.
Everything in life is a fun lesson and even an old god can learn a new
trick. If you are not learning fun new things, you are stuck in a rut.
Being stuck is not fun. Go back and read rule one. In addition to
writing about a fun life here, we also give one-on-one guidance, to
those that seek it. They are like students or Padawans. We will be
including one of these padawans in this adventure. Let us begin to set
the stage, for his entry.
On an intuitive hunch, I opened the World Map, of the SL Grid and
began scanning for interesting sim clusters. Finding a good candidate,
we zoom down for a closer look at the terrain. Like a good spy
satellite, we get a detailed picture of what is going on down there. In
this case, we located a tight collective of 24 sims. Each sim is named
after an area in the western part of the USA and you could see it in the
landscaping. This area had all the elements of a great place to
explore.
I had copied the SLURL for one of the sims and went, briefly, to
set a LM and get a "first impression". The landing is a skybox, with a
painted interior. There is a shack, a horse and a few signs. The 24 sim
area is called "Wild West Roleplay Lands" and, as we guessed it, there
will be rules. As kids, we called "Roleplay" by the name "Let's pretend".
You did your best to look and sound your part, in order to free the
imagination to act out the role. It has been many moons, since we last
played "Cowboys and Indians" and my imagination has many other ways of
getting around. I decided that when I come back I would take in the
whole experience, by joining the group and wearing the HUD and health
meter. After the regularly scheduled evening's event, I returned home to
dress western, horse included, and returned to those wild days of yore.
Back at the skybox, I gathered and read all the notecards about the
ground rules and notice that they are in English and German. That seemed
unusual, at the time, but I would eventually learn the reason. I joined
the local Buffalo Wyoming Group and wore the WW meter HUD and health
meter. Now I was ready to descend to ground level and begin the
adventure.
Turning towards the TP, I spot something at my feet that
wasn't there before. It was my tiny neighbor, friend, Erik Mouse. He had
located us on his world map. Not long ago, I had invited him to join
me, during my explorations of Creations for Parkinson's and he had
figured out, if I was far from home, I was probably researching another
fun adventure. I could tell, he was hoping to get invited to join the
fun. I have to admit, my first thoughts were, this is like getting a hot
first date and your mom says to have to watch your little brother and
let him tag along on your movie date. Then, my mind steps in, telling me
this is exactly the thing we are trying to teach others to do. It
wouldn't be a change in our plans, because we were making it up as we go
along. Besides, I reasoned that roleplay was a bit like sex, being more
fun to play with friends, than to play with self. I told him that I
wouldn't mind if he joined me, but he would have to do it as a human
cowboy. He said he had never played a human, in SL, but would do what it
takes. I informed him that he could find a human avatar in the library
section of his inventory and that they provide free period clothing at
the near by shed. Our location seemed to be preventing us from making
any changes to our avatars, so we returned home to make a man of him. At
the Surf's Up club, I located a complete cowboy avatar, on Marketplace,
for only L$25. The cowboy avatar even came with a coiled lasso, so Erik
was now fully prepared to rope him some fun.
So, now we have Erik, on his first day as a human, but he's not the
only cherry. I quickly discover that I am no longer the author of this
play and the actors are working without a script. Our first location, on
the ground, was the town of Buffalo, Wyoming. Sha, from experience,
takes up the lead position and her faithful companion follows a few
paces behind. Being in a Wild West town, our first interest was finding
the local Bank. We found it, but it was locked so we went across the
street, to the Saloon. The barkeep and patrons are all cardboard
cut-outs. If we wanted adventure, we needed to head on down the road. A
quick check of the radar showed that we were the only ones on this sim,
but there are a handful of others on the next sim, so we head in that
direction. As we entered the next town, there only seems to be one
resident and he is taking a nap, in front of the Pub. I spot the local
jail and head over to check the accommodations. I entered a jail cell
and invited Erik to come in and pose for a souvenir photo of our
adventure.
We broke out of jail and returned outside where I spotted a gallows. I
think this might be a good place to demonstrate the virtue of Courage,
so I clicked the gallows and selected the hang by the neck animation.
Well, I was having some fun, but my companion was probably wondering
when the adventure would begin, so we headed towards the blips on the
radar. This ain't no big city. There are no paved roads or direction
signs to follow. As we walk, I spot three buffalo, grazing in a field
and say, "Oh look at the cute critters. Let's go pet them". BIG MISTAKE!
One of the buffalo turns in my direction and prepares to charge. I take
off for the hills, double time, and see on the radar that Erik is right
behind me. I run into a stone canyon and find a Medicine man's tee-pee
and campfire. Thinking this is a safe place, I sit down at the fire.
Turning my cam around, I see Erik lying face down on the ground, with a
rattle snake biting his leg. I asked him about the snake. He said that
he didn't know about the snake, but his HUD just informed him that the
buffalo had killed him. I'm like, OMG, they killed Kenny! I brought my
little buddy here and got him killed. Then, the unexpected happened.
Laying face down in a pool of blood, Erik begins to comfort me. "Don't
worry, I'm just dead. I'll be better in about 30 minutes". WOW! Who is
this guy and what did he do with the timid little mouse? I said, " no
worries pal. I'll sit here and wait for you, while I smoke this peace
pipe that I found by the fire." As I sat there thinking, I realized
something else about this man named Erik, that was different from the
mouse I had known for years. From the time he found me in the skybox,
until now, he had not been AFK, even one time, throughout our adventure.
At about this time, a stranger approached the campfire, carrying a
rifle. I could only hope that he was one of the good guys, because we
were in a defenseless posision. As he began to talk to us, or should I
say, er begann, mit uns reden, I realized this cowboy was speaking
German and it was being translated to English. I learned, later, that
Wild West Roleplay is very popular in Germany. The cowboy told us that
Erik would soon live again, although his full strength would take a bit
longer. When Erik rose from the ground, the cowboy pointed to the ground
and said, here marks the spot where you were dead. The blood was gone
and the cowboy bid us well on our journey. I told him, "Danke shon", and
Erik and I continued on the trail. We soon found ourselves in another
small town and it had a church. I have always been interested in the
architecture of places of worship, so we went inside for a look. Erik's
first comment was that we could have used some of this guy's healing
skills, back on the trail. WOW! He understands religion. I was seeing
inside the RL Erik in a new light. I wanted to get to know him even
better, so I steered the conversation to our RL selves. "Do you go to
church", I asked. "No", was his reply. I told him my age and birthday
and he told me his. Erik is in the same age range as my three daughters.
Our sun signs are also very compatable. I asked him if he used
Facebook, so we could friend there. He did and we set it up, then and
there.
The hour was getting late and I had a staff meeting the next day. I
told Erik to feel free to explore some more, but I was going to bed and
would probably come back a few more times, to explore more of the Wild
West Roleplay Lands. He wanted to know if he could come again, with me. I
told him, "Si, mi casa, su casa".
I must point out here that Erik and I only covered about 1/6 of the
Wild West Roleplay Lands. If you come here, there is enough adventure to
keep you going for months or even years. Besides that, I am scratching
my head, wondering what this story is really about. A fairy mouse king
becomes a mortal man, to descend to earth, is killed and comes back to
life. It all begins to sound like a symbolic initiation into some secret
brotherhood of knights or an ancient Greek passion play or the labors
of Hercules.
I don't know where the story came from, but I'm signing it,
"Sha"
Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, but after three weeks, our
little friend was feeling stress, because his club had yet to become an
overnight success. He came to the Newser staff meeting, seeking help in
getting more visitors to come. At the close of the staff meeting, Erik,
Bixyl and I convened to Surf's Up, where an event was in progress. This
was the ideal location for the discussion, since we could also get
additional input from those on the dance floor. Indeed, I took notes as
Skylark LeFavre began to describe a different decor, from her
imagination. She described a clearing with a large oak tree..... Before
saying another word, I was already seeing the complete picture.
