People tend to talk about Second Life as a game. I would argue that as an assessment, there are some fairly major flaws in Second Life's game-like qualities. When you look at games, and more specifically computer games, they all have several things in common, which SL tends to lack. There are rules (which even though the occasional law is made, there are not strictly in SL) and directions. There are challenges (whereas the big challenge in SL is not ripping your hair out when the lag takes home) and objectives, and if anyone inworld thinks there is an objective to the "game" they are likely to wildly differ (everything from being a celebrity, to making money, or just getting laid). There are tasks to undertake, and items to collect. However, I must stop on this point, as there are items that you can collect in SL. There are items that many residents thirst for, whether they be furry, gorean, businessman, escort, builder, performer or even just a casual wanderer. An item that you can only get by speaking to one of our Linden parliament, and asking them really nicely. The Linden Bear.



Recently I attended Djai Skellerup's superb 2 hour set at the SL5B sims, and whilst there, who should turn up but Kate and Tofu Linden. As everyone, Djai included, was getting excited about such celebrities in our midst, I thought it would be a good idea to shout out, "Everyone! Get bears!". Two minutes later, and without any further word from me, Kate Linden dropped a bear into my inventory. I was so chuffed that I kept going on about it until my significant other asked Tofu very politely for his, and kindly received it, I think partly to show that it's not that tough to get a Linden bear, and shut me up. However, it was only when we got these bears home and rezzed them, that I noticed something a little strange....

You see, the point of the Linden Bear is that it is a piece of individual expression, encapsulating the spirit of that particular Linden, in bear form. The thing that was weird about both of our bears, was that both of them had not been built by the Linden who gave them to us. Kate's hadn't even been built by a Linden at all! With this in mind, I decided to check out if this was a widespread phenomenon. So I headed over to the Linden Bear Museum

Upon arrival, I started to right hand click all the bears on display, and check who was listed as creator. I am sorry to report, that while Torley, Spike, Plexus, Niko, Cogsworth, Trinity, Ekim, Mia, Nicole, Catherine, Ethan, Michael, Teagan, Colton, Dee, Rowan, Garry, Alexa and Dusty Linden all made their own bears; Kate, Tofu, Twilight. Data, Everett, Robin, Lexie, Colton, Amber, Lawrence, Wilder, Kona, George, Sally, Sabin, Babbage, Cyan, Benjamin, Lotte, Izzy, Zee, Belinda, Zero, Bunny, Liana, BigPapi, Jeska, Echo, Jeremy, Jello, Jack, Prospero, Bub, Charlie, Governor, Philip, Pathfinder, Coco, Aric, Sidewinder, JP, Cupid, Kosmo, Liana and Glen are not listed as the creators of their own bears. This means that out of the bears checked, only 30% of them appear to be made by the Linden who's name they bear, and that number can go down a little more, since Teagan appears to have gotten someone else to make her new 2008 bear for her. I also hear on the grapevine that even the enigmatic M Linden is having someone else make his bear for him. It should also be noted that quite a few of the bears were created by either Nicolle or Mia Linden, which at first gave me the image of these two having "Linden Bear Maker" somewhere in their job description. It was then suggested to me by my lovely voice of reason that maybe Nicolle and Mia make a basic bear, and then give it to the other Lindens to customise, and maybe I am being a little unfair about how many of them might not put the effort in to make their own. Which is a fair point, except for one minor detail... WHY? What is so hard about making a bear from scratch???

I am not an expert builder. My personal constructions have perhaps most kindly been described as "Old School". And yet, even someone with my basic abilities can manage to make a bear, entirely from fresh prims, and a few choice textures found in my overfull inventory. Like so:

Notice if you will, that my little Voodoo Bear is similarly bespectacled with a pair of funky goggles, has a similarly omnipresent cigarette in it's mouth, and I even managed to make little recreations of the tentacles that I so often wear. To add a little bit more Voodoo to the Voodoo Bear, I even stuck some bloody pins into his tummy. So, there you go. One Voodoo Bear, made entirely by me, personalised, and all complete in under an hour. So, not that hard then.

Which brings me to my challenge, dear readers! Let's show them that making a unique, and interesting bear is achievable by anyone. When you have a spare few minutes, put together your very own bear, and send me, Voodoo Buwan, a copy inworld. In exchange, I will send you a Voodoo Bear of your very own, and if we get enough, we will showcase some of the best in this very magazine. Who knows, I may even bestow a prize for the best resident bear I receive. So come on, bring on the bears!