The Alphaville Herald

Ryker Beck – Post 6 Grrrl

by Pixeleen Mistral on 20/04/07 at 11:34 pm

Greetings, fellow addicts!

I say addicted merely because, at the present, that is what I am… addicted. To Second Life, to the people in it, to the creative outlet I’ve been presented with… a veritable mountain of opportunity to express myself through the glorious world of virtual reality.

I’ve been in this “world” since February 22, 2007. Very much still a baby. I first read about the Post Sixxx Grrl pageant in the Herald, the day that Aurel Miles was featured, and thought – what the hell. So I signed up, participated, and the rest is history.

I know that you expect me to tell you that I am the typical hobby-horse in Second Life. That I enjoy shopping and mingling and dancing in a club, which is all very true, like it or not. Bottom line is, let’s face it – virtual reality or not, there are still the feminine basics which automatically result in the need to spend serious amounts of money on shoes and clothes. It’s built into our DNA. However, out of respect for my readers, I will save the name dropping for later.

Since I began playing Second Life, I have been very fascinated with my own determination to learn how to make “all the cool friggin’ shit”. Clothes, jewelry, tattoos, skins, furniture, I’ve tried my hand at a good chunk of all of it. Some parts I am very good at. Others I couldn’t do to save my life. But that doesn’t stop me from trying. One day, I hope to grace the Second Life world with my creations – despite that I still have not settled on exactly what that creation will be. I am a perfectionist, and I demand perfection, which unfortunately doesn’t allow for a lot of leeway in my creativity. I am determined to do it right, which means endless experimentation until I find the one thing I am flawlessly good at. And then I intend to wow the world. It’s all very Pinky and the Brain. “What are we gonna do tonight, Brain?”

When I’m not out in a sandbox somewhere, I am usually doing one of two things: finding fun, and occasionally unusual, things to do, or tapping away at my keyboard pretending I am any good at the LSL scripting language. Last night, I helped a fellow creator learn how to use the alpha channel in Photoshop. Day before that, I went “dumpster diving”. Last week, I went salsa dancing with a chippendale dancer. The week before that, I bought a motorcycle and spent a couple of hours exploring various racing tracks. The adventures range from the very exciting to the very mediocre – that is what I love about this place. It’s all in what you do with the opportunity you have.

And so, without further ado – if you’d like to meet me one day, you might find me dancing at the AMA Dance Club (see AMA Productions), a fantastically friendly place with good people and fun times. The owner, AnthonyMark Alcott, was actually spoken about in a recent Herald article (“Casino Owners Unimpressed with Linden Crackdown”) regarding the new in-world casino issues. But that’s another story all its own.

And so, in conclusion, I will leave you with this word of advice. There’s more to this “world” than dancing, shopping, and the occasional idle chatter. There’s fun to be had, excitement to find, and an endless array of fascinating people to meet. This world is what you make of it. Whether you’re here to find true love, make t-shirts for a living, or dance in the nearest seedy joint you can find – the possibilities are endless.