Chances are you spent an awful lot of time trying to get into ‘The Deck’ to collect the birthday gifts that were placed on the sim by the rather wonderful designers who rent there.
It must be said that in all my years in SL I haven’t encountered chaos like it; it was even worse than when Last Call was closing down. The map was a perpetual mosaic of green dots for practically the entirety of the weekend, and people became VERY impatient, taking it out on anyone near enough to yell at and also venting their ire in numerous in-world chat groups. To be honest it spoiled a rather lovely occasion. The Deck is a fabulous place to shop, due to the quality of the build and the businesses that rent there. I guess the desperation displayed this weekend proves the popularity of the designers and the location, and to have so many avatars trying to get into the place must be a huge ego boost for all concerned..I would love to see the traffic statistics for this event!

But the problem with occasions such as this is one of avatar etiquette. I’m afraid that when the freebie frenzy hits, common sense flies straight out of the window, and this was proved by the deck debacle. Readers, you may find this hard to believe but, The world will not end if you miss out on a freebie. Some freebies you will love and relish for years to come, but others you’ll open, try on and throw to the bottom of your inventory where they will collect dust and lie unloved forever more. We were lucky in that The Deck did announce some of the freebies that were available before the event and this was great, because it enabled the more sensible avatars amongst us to study the gifts wisely and make a note of the ones required. If you follow this logic you mustn’t deviate from the list, because the idea here is to go in>get goodies> TP out as soon as you can, and by your doing that, you’re freeing space and allowing another avatar onto the sim. But hang on I hear you cry, isn’t the point of freebies to allow people to try a designers work and peruse the rest of their wares with a view to buying some? Yes of course it is, BUT to be perfectly honest at an event as lagged out as this one was you can’t shop, period. The grey goo that washed all over The Deck made it totally impossible to identify or focus upon any items that would have been of interest to the buyer. I rezzed in once late on Sunday and all I saw was grey everywhere..I couldn’t make anything out at all. Stores, avvies, everything went all New Romantic ( think about it) on me and I rezzed out a lot quicker than I rezzed in. In situations such as this I recommend making a mental note of going back and perusing the stores once all the chaos has died down, and if you’ve been lucky enough to collect a few goodies you’ll have had ample time to try them on and see if the designers involved are to your taste. But if there’s one thing this weekend proves above all else, it again shows the necessity of wearing a low arc avatar. I know it’s been said time and time again but no-one seems to get the point! It’s logical that a sim full of virtual Fashionistas dolled up to high heaven with their heels, bangles and big alpha-hair is not going to allow for smooth running of an area. Look, no one will think any less of you if, for just a few minutes at least, you are a low arc avatar. I use one that is totally blacked out with no detail upon it at all meaning that my arc is almost 0 when I’m attempting to get into these occasions. You’ll find that sim owners when hosting events often request people use these too, in fact Pose Fair 2010 was very wise and made a point of supplying them. There really is no excuse for not using one once asked.  Right, let me share with you the highlight (for me) of the gifts that were available this weekend..and this was collected by me TODAY (Monday) from The Deck. It’s STILL busy but many designers out of the kindness of their hearts have left their gifts out knowing what a trauma the weekend was for some. Anyway, this gift was definitely worth fighting for: It’s a skin from Tuli and a special edition from her Sayuri collection, and it’s simply beautiful. Tuli never disappoints with her gifts and this one is very special indeed. I’m wearing SLINK eyes in Amethyst that really work well with the tone of the skin, and I’m also sporting some beautiful hair from LAMB that was part of their 50L Friday offering this past weekend.

Try trotting over to ‘The Deck’ and see if there’s anything left..you’ve got to be in it to win it after all and it doesn’t hurt to try. I also recommend that you stop by Miel and Whimsy Winx too but don’t feel obligated to run around like a rabid banshee collecting everything in sight. Chill. What you don’t have, you won’t miss.

(Oh and the shape I’m wearing is Kittylicious ‘E’, a really versatile shape that suits all kinds of skins, and is the prize in my Midnight Mania boards in both my mainstore and Second Style locations.  Both are set to just 25 participants….jus’ sayin’ ;P)