Part XXVI: A Linden For Your Thoughts?

"In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot
That's how conditions are."

Torchy and I are just hanging out in this Medieval zone and harpooning random passersby. If you stay far enough away and get a few knee-high objects between you and the victim, they bounce off the object and go flailing and are none the wiser that it was you. It's good.

We were having a great time but then were thwarted by a couple making out. With no more avatars in the near area, we gave up. What to do now?

Then I remembered a discussion I had with CTC. We wondered what all these people needed to "camp for lindens" so much for. As you know, the linden is the form of currency in 2nd Life. In almost every quadrant of 2nd life I have seen spots where, if you stand in that spot for long enough, you earn lindens.

It's slow pay and you are usually subjected to perform whatever action the camping ball wants you to do, such as a wide variety of dork-alert dances. If you're lucky, you can just sit there. It's all basically a tactic to get traffic in one's 2nd Life establishment. If you see a spot with traffic clocking around 14,999, then you know there's some camping spots there. And most likely sex.

With all this in mind, Torchy and I were going to go ask some folks, "What do you need those lindens for?" I start this mission keeping in mind that I probably already know some of the answers. The first ones that come to mind are clothes, tats, and maybe a hooker or three. We shall see.

I start off by selecting your run-of-the-mill techno/dance club, traffic clocking around 14K, to teleport to. And it's hopping. And kind of ugly. I figure I'm going to be doing a lot of walking so I don some breezy shorts.

When people camp, they tend to leave their avatar to gyrate like a lanced squid while they get the hell away from their computers. Some people do stick around and attempt to chat or they use the time to sort inventories. We'll just have to see how many respond. I may be all over the place.

I kind of remember dancing naked in front of a bunch of campers once, in the middle of the night, and getting no reaction at all. Maybe it was a dream because it's real foggy. Oh well.

I walk up to the closest thing in a short skirt. I try and strike up a dialog, but I get nothing.

Then, I move one camper over and ask, a one Tinydogg, if I can ask him a question.

He says sure, so I ask him what he's earning money for.

He responds, "Anything I can get." I don't know why, but I started laughing out loud. If you could have seen the way he was dancing, it just seem fitting and a great response. I told him thank you.

I bet he's on the E.

I switch locales. I flew to a nearby Latin mall. Strangely, it was deserted except for a lone scantily clad female. I knew there were camping spots close so I took a gamble and asked if she planned to do any camping.

Then she teleported away. Jesus. Was it my shorts? Whatever the case, we took our dis like a man and torch and decided to move on. Upon looking over the guide, I noticed a hippie-pay site. Might be worth the smell. It's got huge traffic cred, though.

We get there and it's packed. Right away I see a winged gentleman having a conversation with a newbie. She asks him what he's doing and he says he's camping for lindens. This guy is the perfect candidate for my questionnaire. Hopefully the British girl won't mind if I butt in.

I walk up and ask if I can ask him a question. Thankfully no one yet has quipped, "You just did. Lol."

He says sure, so I ask what he's earning money for.

He says clothes, tattoo's, etc. Oh, and maybe a coat he's had his eye on. I thought about it and agreed it must be hard finding a jacket to match those wings of his. The responses were what I thought I would find a lot. If you're not a nomadic slob like myself, then you're probably willing to sit a few hours to get money for name brand socks.

Man, this joint is smoking. Torchy says he needs some air. Not wanting my friend to extinguish, we headed on outside. I started to notice all the Obama signs everywhere. Hippies do like change, I've heard.

We walk up to a chap doing a Timothy Leary routine and attempt to engage him. He seemed to be tripping some heavy-ass balls, so no response was forthcoming.

Strolling up to a VW van camp spot, we're addressed by a guy with the last name of Moonites. He asked me what was with the torch.

I introduced the two and Mr. Moonites asked Torchy, "Sup?"

Since things were going groovy, I asked him if he was camping. He said yes and asked if I was doing the same. I told him no, and that I was doing a report for my blog to which he responded "cool."

I asked him what he was earning money for. He said, "Guns." Not your traditional hippie response, but he didn't look the type to me anyway. He asked me for the URL for my blog. I think I was able to give it to him but there was so much traffic, the program locked up and I was forced to quit.

That's why I don't like visiting high-traffic zones. But, what the hell. I decided to go back to Hippie-Pay Island for one last toke.

Back where we left off, I stroll up the hill and find a sparkle-shoed lass by the name of Izina Quandry. I say hello. She says hello.

I asked her if she planned to do any camping for money today. She asked, "Why? Are you going to rob me?"

This made me laugh, but I dispelled her fears by stating I was just trying to get a scoop for my blog. She seemed curious. She asked me what it was that I was going to ask her.

I asked her and she told me "nothing in particular, but she likes having the money just in case she does see something she wants". I told her, "It's always good to have a nest egg, I guess."

I thanked her and was about to take off for the day when she asked me for the URL for my blog. I gave it to her and told her to stop by anytime and that she'll probably be in the next episode.

And she was.

Well, until next time, boys & girls. Maybe we'll ask more people about what kind of purchases are worth making their avatars dance like asses for hours for....

...