Second Life Sci-Fi Convention 2009

From Friday July 31st at Noon to Sunday Aug 2nd at a minute to Midnight, Second Life was the scene of a science-fiction convention. The notecard sent out advertised, “Various science-fiction based groups will be on hand or have information available to those who wish to get involved in the SL science fiction community. Some will be holding free side events. There will be science fiction-based vendors, an assortment of media, and freebies.”

The Expo as it was also called, was sponsored by Linden Labs, Spacial Audio, Duck Radio, and the IFT Alliance. Proceeds from donations and ticket sales to the special event went to the American Cancer Society. Among the people there was Ron Roddenberry, the son of late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

The convention covered four sims, Platinum, Iridium, Rhodium, and Palladium. Around the walkways were various displays. Star Trek was the most represented science fiction theme, with numerous RPs and sims represented and a few Trek items on sale, including a “redshirt” uniform with numerous burn holes. But they were not the only ones. Battlestar Galactica had a booth there, as did the Firefly sim & RP. One display had the Winnabego from “Spaceballs.” One spot had a few freebies, including a “Trekopoly” game.

There were also things to do, such as a Borg combbat arena in which the infamous Trek villains would spawn and you had to shoot them with a ready weapon. There was also a much larger arena in the middle of the Expo with free weapons that could be picked up, as well as a Trek space fighter rezzer, which you could fly and fire within the confines of the space. Not everything went as planned. Occasionally, someone on the bumper cars would lag, and the car would spin out of control and barrel in a random direction out of the ride and into someone’s booth. Fortunately this being SL, no one got hurt.

There were also timed events, various lectures and discussions on Star Trek and other sci-fi, but there was also a “Search for Spock” scavenger hunt, a ship building contest, and others. There was also a special event which one needed to buy a ticket to see.

The display that was the most visually stunning was that of Digital Dynamix. The glowing color on black of the objects and the color and gray on the staff’s avatars clearly reminded one of the movie Tron. But due to Disney being touchy over copyrights and the desire for their own plotline, “We are, officially, a VR Themed Combat and Arena sim.” Jera Saphir explained, “We are not Tron, different storyline.” I was shown around the place, and was invited to get a demo disk weapon. Jera talked a little more, mentioning they got the attention of a certain celebrity, “Rod Roddenberry jumped out of the motorcade for our booth ... ‘ Cool, Tron! ‘ .”

Chatting with Wabisabi Matahari of the Trek Museum after the event, she had a few things to say. Of Ron Roddenberry’s appearance, “It was his first time here. He seemed to really enjoy it. He did not know you could build so many great things.” She told that he planned to return.

As Sunday came to a close, booth owners were asked to take down their display, and at 11PM SL time were the closing ceremonies.

“Humans are capable of so much more than we yet understand. We’re really something. Star Trek fans believe that, and so do I. For us, no limits.” - Gene Roddenberry

Bixyl Shuftan