Fantasy Faire Trip Report in Second Life

Yesterday was the final day of Second Life's Fantasy Faire, a charity event benefit for the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. For two weeks, a special group of fantasy-themed sims host shopping, concerts, performances, literary and roleplay events, a special quest, and probably even more things I'm forgetting about. Point is, there's a lot going on.

I always enjoy visiting the Faire. This year, I did the Quest, caught a fun performance from the Misfit Follies, shopped a little, and found lots of new designers to follow and people to watch on Flickr. Of course, there's also the sims themselves, which are always beautiful and creative. On the one hand, it feels a shame they're only around for two weeks, but on the other, the limited availability motivates me to take it all in when I can.

The standout this year had to be Queensgarden, a lovingly detailed sim gorgeous at practically any angle.

Like most Second Life events, this one is organized and put on by the users, which makes it doubly impressive to me. You can see a lot of passion for the cause- after all, who doesn't know someone who has struggled with cancer? I found it impressive that even in the midst of a pandemic, people ended up giving the equivalent of ~$73,000 to RFL, according to the website.

This hot take has been expressed many a time already, but in the middle of a quarantine, I can really feel the power of Second Life as a platform. I don't think Corona is some opportunity for a new golden age of renewed interest in SL as some have suggested, but it does make me value the scraps of social gathering I can have there more highly. The fairies and fantasy landscapes are a nice bonus.