a-hunting we will go

All names and numbers have been fictionalized to protect the guilty.

Dear hunt organizer and store owners,

Thank you so much for your kind notecard explaining what you expect of me as a hunter. Please accept this in a similar spirit.

1. This is meant to be fun, so don’t be a dick when you hide the object.
2. We have wonderful hunters who are doing you the favor of visiting the hunt stores sight-unseen, so please be respectful and do NOT bother them with notecards, viewer dropdowns, dialog boxes, or group joiner spam.
3. Give clever, accurate hints. Make sure your blog is up-to-date. Don’t be a dick.
4. Make sure there is actually something in the hunt object. If there isn’t, drop that store from the hunt immediately.
5. Make sure every store is identified and provides a SLurl on your blog or in a notecard so that difficulty finding a specific object won’t prevent hunters from visiting all the following shops.
6. Do not just throw garbage into the hunt item. Be sure to put an effort into creating an item that will make the hunters want to return to your shop. This goes double if it is a themed hunt.
7. Do not have stores in Adult sims without letting the hunters know before they begin.
8. Please be respectful of the hunters. Yes, you are giving something away for free. It’s called a sample, advertising, or a loss leader. You are getting potential new customers to come to your store sight-unseen, giving you traffic and visibility while they are at it. If they don’t like what you are giving out, then you have picked the wrong audience to try to market your product to. Either that or you make crap or you ignored rule #6.

Dear stores 75 through 91,

I’m sorry, but I have absolutely no idea who you are, what you sell, or what you so carefully created for this hunt, because the owner of store #74 was a dick/I was frustrated by crap prizes/the hunt blog was useless/the organizers didn’t follow rule #5.

Dear store 49,

By putting out a long, twisty path of the hunt emblem, did you really think I’d see what I was passing by? Those emblems rezzed just fine from my cache, but I didn’t see any of your crap as I was walking by. And then having the hunt object swirling around in a cloud of similar objects, so I had to keep right-clicking at random to try to hit it? You are the reason I decided to blog about what dickwads several of the stops on the [insert any hunt name here] are.

Dear store 37,

Everything in your 1/2-sim parcel had alpha textures, rotation, and very high glow. Plus, there was a DJ when I visited who used the word c#nt in open chat. And as if that’s not bad enough, you don’t seem to actually sell anything, anyway. If only this hunt’s organizers followed rule #5.

Dear store owners who belong to 17 hunts,

At least it’s clear up front that you’re only in it for the traffic. I can respect that, but it does make me think the themed hunt organizers aren’t selective enough.

Dear store 52,

I didn’t appreciate going to a sim rated Moderate but then being exposed to sexually violent products, so I ARed you.

Dear stores 8, 11, 13-20, 33, 56-60, and 84,

Your vendor images were taking way too long to load, so I’m not actually sure what you sell, but if I like whatever it was you were giving away, I may go back to shop. I hope you followed rule #6 (as well as putting a LM to your own store in your package and having your store in the picks in your profile).

Dear stores 1-7, 9, 22-27, 35-55, 63, and 70-100,

Your prize was a dress/a man’s outfit/biggie sized, but this avatar is always a man/woman/tiny, so I trashed the whole folder as soon as I opened it. There were too many stores to remember yours specifically, so even if you have menswear/womenswear/tinywear/furniture, I don’t know it.

Dear everyone else,

I can’t wait to open your gifts. I joined a couple of your groups. I sent landmarks to some of my friends who might be interested in your products. I bought a few things while I was in your stores.

Hat contest

Inspired by my friends in the Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach, I wish to announce a CONTEST for best hat. Because, of course, one can never have too many hats.

Two competitive divisions:

Tipjar hats

  • 30 points for ostentation
  • 30 for cleverness of thank you reply
  • 30 for special effects
  • 10 at judges’ discretion
  • Please note that points will be deducted for tipjar hats deemed unusable.

Hats to wear

  • 30 points for ostentation
  • 30 for versatility
  • 30 for special effects
  • 10 at judges’ discretion
  • Please note that points will be deducted for hats deemed easily lost (because, of course, any plan where you lose your hat is a bad plan.)
  • Hats should be gender-role-free
  • Two classes: Tiny and Tall

To enter

Hats should be named “tipjar – contestant name,” “tiny – contestant name,” or “tall – contestant name” and dropped on the judges, Otenth Paderborn, Frau Annechen Lowey, and Baron KlausWulfenbach Outlander, no later than Friday, October 10. Entries should be copiable, and in the case of hats to wear, modifiable, but need not be transferable. Contestants may enter in multiple classes.

Winners

Winners will be announced here and at an event to be held Saturday, October 11 (12-2pm SLT at the Wyre Fairgrounds; winner need not be present to win). Cash prizes will be awarded:

  • L$ 1000 to highest scoring tipjar
  • L$ 1000 to highest scoring wearable hat for tinies
  • L$ 1000 to highest scoring wearable hat for talls
  • L$ 1000 to contestant with highest combined total score
  • L$ 1000 to highest scoring entry