Hunt - a group of merchants that choose to join in an organized (usually themed) event, where they create a gift that fits the theme. These merchants then hide the object somewhere in their inworld shop, most times providing hints as to the location of said gift. Many hunts are grid-wide; meaning you'll have to teleport around Second Life to various shops to get the items. Some hunts are store wide; meaning they are contained to one particular shop on a sim. Both types of hunts provide traffic, sales, and recognition to the merchants. Both provide gifts to hunters - sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee of 1, 2, 5 or 10 Lindens.
Hunter - anyone that goes looking for the gifts at the shops taking part in any number of hunts.
Hunt Organizer - someone that dedicates time and energy to bring you an awesome hunt. A lot of work goes into organizing a hunt.
Merchant/Vendor - someone that designs clothing, furniture, trinkets, sculpts, pretty much anything you see or buy in Second Life.
Gift/Prize - an item that has been lovingly crafted and presented to you, the Hunter.
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Basic Steps of a Hunt
- Pick a hunt - there are several ways to find a hunt:
- Websites, such as SL Hunts, Hunting SL, One Stop Hunt Spot, All SL Hunts, and Hunt SL provide a listing of current and upcoming hunts. This is one way for both Merchants and Hunters to find hunts in which they might like to participate.
- Inworld shops will usually have signs rezzed to indicate they are a vendor in that hunt. SL Hunts has created an inworld Hunt Resource Center that lists most of the hunts, even categorized by month.
- Word of Mouth. You see one of your SL friends wearing an awesome outfit, trinket or sitting on furniture and ask "Where did you get that?! I love it!" They tell you about the awesome hunt (that hopefully didn't just end LOL)
- Once you find a hunt you like:
- Grab the starting location from one of the sites listed above, by clicking an inworld sign, or begging your friend for the LM.
- Find out if there is an inworld group for the hunt and join it. If the store hints don't point you towards the prize, there's a good chance someone in the group (another Hunter) can provide a better hint for you. No space for another group? Look for a hunt blog. Most Hunt Organizers will provide store SLurls and hints on the blog.
- How to hunt:
- Check the hunt sign or blog for the item you are searching for. All hunts will have you searching for some theme related object (think hearts for Valentine's Day, eggs for Easter, or evil little boxes as featured in the Twisted Hunt)
- Not all hunt objects are hidden! Some are in plain view. But once you find the item, either right click and buy it, or simply touch the item to get the gift.
- Check the Recent Items tab in your inventory for the prize and a landmark to the next store. If you don't see the gift, wait a few moments.. it could be delayed due to the infamous SL lag.
- If the gift is not presented to you in a folder, find a rezzing area in the shop (or some other place that allows you to rez) and open your boxed gift and Copy to Inventory. Make sure you pick up your box if you've opened it in the shop.
- Go to the next shop and repeat :)
- Go home and try out all your wonderful gifts from the hunt!
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Hunter's Etiquette - a general 'guideline' about how to behave while you are on a hunt. Hunts are supposed to be FUN!
- Dress 'down' a bit. It's highly likely that there are quite a few other Second Lifers out hunting as well. There's really no need for that fancy radar that spams local chat, or anything else that's highly scripted. You want to keep lag to a minimum since you are going to be teleporting all over the place, rezzing each store and other residents.
- When you arrive at the starting point, take a few steps away from the landing point. This will help ensure someone doesn't land on your head!
- Look for signs. Hunt signs and shop signs. Sometimes shops move and you land at the wrong shop. Sometimes shops are in malls and cannot provide direct landing points, so you might have to travel a wee bit to get to the shop.
- Be polite.
- Be polite.
- Be polite. I can't repeat this one enough. Being a Hunter, Hunt Organizer and Merchant myself, I cannot stress how much more smoothly things run when everyone is polite to each other.
- If you can't find the item, ask in group chat for a better hint. Or move to the next shop in the hunt and come back to the one giving you trouble.Or take a break and grab a cup of coffee. Unless you're starting the hunt on the very last day of it, the prize will still be there.
- Don't complain in group chat, harass the shop owners, hunt organizers or other hunters. Everyone is supposed to be having FUN!
- If you don't like a fellow hunter, either ignore them or mute them.
- If you don't like a shop, skip it and move to the next one.
- If you don't like the hunt, simply stop hunting and pick a new hunt. Hunt Organizers work very hard to make sure things run smoothly, and anything you can do to help keep their stress levels down is always greatly appreciated.
- If you don't like the gift, simply delete it. Merchants put a lot of themselves into each creation and while you may not like what they have offered as a gift, just remember they worked hard to create it.
- Once you find the item, don't shout the location in local chat. You'll ruin it for everyone else. Half the fun of the hunt is actually trying to figure out the hint and looking for the gift.
- Also, refrain from posting pics of the object's location on your blog. This happened to me recently, and is the same as shouting the location of the object.
- Say hello to the shop owner if they are in the shop. Yes, sometimes you get flooded with group join requests, landmark offers, sales pitches, etc.. but it's still nice to acknowledge the shop owner :)
- Have FUN!
- Have FUN!
- Have FUN! Make new friends, see new sims, find new places to shop or hang out!
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