So last night I finally decided to go visit the jewelry fair. I generally have low expectations when it comes to fairs/expo’s/etc in Second Life but this one was the most….”unique”?

Lemme see here…..giant stretched textures….megaprim walls……awesome.

Okay, I get the maze concept based on the seasons they were going for. But I have to be totally honest and say….it’s bullshit. First off, anything maze like in Second Life is going to insta-fail due to the fact the client itself blows like a college chick during Fleet Week. Secondly the textures on the GIANT MEGAPRIM WALLS….is A: photosourced and B: Too Stretched. After awhile it all blends into one.

The booth actually did not look all that spectacular. To me personally it had the whole medieval flea market vibe and there was tons (and I mean tons) of completely wasted space.

This is the view from the air, hopefully you can see what I am referring too. The space being used wasn’t efficiently used. You figure the smallest stuff in Second Life (jewlery) would be much less space intensive and would be designed in a much better way. In theory you could have fit three times the number of merchants that ended up being displayed.

There were no Lindens there when I showed up. I found this sign near the “Dunk a Linden” booth. Usually when people do these expos and fairs it’s for either A: some type of charity or B: so everybody can make a fat lot of money. The charity (Oxfam) was not as displayed as I personally feel it should have been.  Here is the thing though, I think at this point there are so many fairs and expos going on somebody should just say fuck it and open up a mall. Seriously, you throw a stick and it’s a fair.

Despite how bad Jewelry Fair was, it was not the worst thing I came across during my travels last night. The two things that had me absolutely shocked were things I actually would not expect to see.

Do you see that? That is a fucking Guild marking. Some genius in Second Life said “Forsooth, I have an excellent idea! Let us bring back and archaic system of elitism and rock it outeth with a fancy logo”. I can only imagine how this works out in Second Life. I mean the corruption alone in who gets to be a member would be comedy gold for us observers for months alone. What are the requirements? Who judges your stuff? Do I get a nifty tshirt? If it is like a Traditional Guild System what is the percentage of my profits that I have to pay the guild? More importantly, what are the benefits? Do you ensure me that my products will not be stolen? Will you advertise for me? Will you muscle out the competition? Seriously, why the fuck would you even have this in Second Life? Why would you need to? Kids, SCA is down the hall and to the right. Go do that guild bullshit over there.

Oh look, a pay to learn fashion and design school? This is like one of those late night learn to draw at the fancy e-college commercials isn’t it? There are plenty of free resources available both inworld and on the internet on these topics. Please people, start looking at them and maybe asking your friends questions. This whole “You pay we teach you shit you can get online for free” thing reeks of some pseudo Art-Institute scam. Most of the blame is not even on these people. It’s on the users who think they have to pay to learn something. Stop it. Google exists for a reason besides porn (not really but we’re optimists here in Dancien-Land).

So let’s recap shall we?

Jewelry Fair – One of the most poorly designed and executed fairs in Second Life

Guild System – For WoW people. Leave it the fuck there

Career Institute for Fashion and Design – Charging People for shit they can learn for free.

Did I miss anything?