Some More April Foolery In, And Out, of Second Life

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

As longtime readers know, our April Fool article is something of a Newser tradition. And so, when yours truly unleashed his, some had an idea what to expect. But it looks like at least one friend of mine was gotten good, "I HATE APRIL FOOLS!"  Over the years, we've had a number. A few had no reaction, others were a mix of laughs, groans, and "You are SO going to get it!" The later of course is what I strive for. *grins*

 

As they've done for a few years, Linden Lab had one as well, their announcement of an HOA for Linden Homes.  This one got some chuckles too. Someone in the SL forums posted about an HOA officer badge available in SL. The giver was in the Grass sim just outside the Satanic Temple (which some under an HOA would say makes perfect sense). Just head to Grass (194/167/116), click the shield on the wall, add to one's chest and shrink the size (it was huge before editing). 

 

 

My time in Second Life on April Fools Day was limited, but I did head of one good prank in the Sunweaver area. I received a tip from Cynthia Farshore to get a look at Club Cutlass. I wasn't disappointed. 

 

 Cutlass had been made pink before for April Fool. But now, the whole place had been done into what she later called a "pink bunny slipper" as a poke at community leader Rita Mariner whom is less than happy about being the color. 

 

 The inside was pinkish as well. I just happened to see Rita as I stepped aboard, but she logged off right away. When I asked her for comment later on, she would only say, "Booooooooo!"

 

 No, these weren't the actual contest winners. Sadly real-life would keep me away from the event that night.

 

 My time in SL was short that day, but I did recall one yearly April Fool's related event: Ever's Night in Bay City which started out a way to honor a chaotic fun-loving local resident and has continued every year. 

 

 Dropping by, I noticed flames at a couple spots, one of the banks and a post office were aflame. 

 

By T.J. Hooker

 Real life would take me away, but as the night went on, so did the fires to more of Bay City, which T.J. Hooker would post pictures of in the community Discord. 

 

By T.J. Hooker

 "... the spirit of Ever Dreamscape is alive and well." 

 

By the following day though, the fires were out and all damage repaired, and life for the virtual world's largest urban area went on.  

 

While there was almost certainly more April Foolery in Second Life worth mentioning, I wasn't able to see any. There were some in gaming though. According to PC Gamer, the makers of Witcher announced they were doing a horse controller that looked like a kid's toy horsie. Palworld's makers earlier joked it was making a dating simulator based on the game, and this year the joke had a steam page (with the taglines "horror" and "sexual conrent"). And Blizzard announced they would be giving the players of dwarf characters in World of Warcraft the option of having tails. 

 

April Fools Day is not popular with everyone, and indeed there are some who have commented the world has been so crazy for years the unofficial holiday needs to be done away with. Yours truly begs to differ. I've always found humor to be important, and April Fools day is the perfect opportunity for a good joke. Yes, there are rules and some things shouldn't be joked about, and those in the media should make sure it's a joke nobody gets hurt over and later informs the audience it was made in jest. But this we've done.  And so we'll continue our April Foolery for as long as there's a Newser. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan