Freebie Friday!

Hello folks, Nath here again. Merrick and I were talking about forthcoming columns and it occurred to us that, what with the stereotyped perception of gay men being clothes horses, it might be useful to help our readers find good clothing. There's a lot of bad freebies out there, it bears note- some of the worst being what we're handed by Linden Lab when we first rez.

Yes, we all have these outfits. No, nobody really likes them.

But because of how advertisment and promotions work in SL, there are several ways to get nicer freebies than these, with very little effort. Several clothing designers have a section of clothing they deliberately offer for free, to let you see what you think of their offerings. Others have lucky chairs, midnight mania boards- all ways to get more avatars into their shops to look around, and while some shops treat their freebie boards/chairs as a place to offer something substandard for free, there're plenty of shops who offer nice things for free on their lucky chairs- simply things that are a bit dated, or no longer selling as they once did.

However, on this Freebie Friday, we're going to focus on another means by which designers give away their goods for free: the hunt. In a hunt, one person gets several vendors together (sometimes more than a hundred), and gets them each to donate an item. They place the item and the LM for the next shop in the hunt in an Easter egg, which is then hidden in the shop. A lot of hunts will have a web page where hints or updates about the status of the hidden prize can be posted- as well as SLURLs so you can go to a specific shop if you want. Some bloggers put together a page where photographs of the items they've found can be shared, too.

This week, we're going to talk about the Jack or Jill hunt. This hunt is organized by Depraved Nation. It started with 50 shops in it, and the male path (this is a hunt with a gift for the ladies, and a separate gift for the men) currently has 48 vendors. There are a lot of very talented folks offering things for the hunters- including a full shape and skin! The 'easter egg' you're looking for is a small gray disc with a male symbol (♂) on it, and there are hints at http://depravednation.com/jack-or-jill for the various locations in the hunt.

Everything in this picture is from the hunt:

What, doesn't everyone put on a mohawk to go skiing?

Skin & shape: Michael, from Ispachi
Hair: Destroyer w/ Razored Hairbase, from Raw House
Sunglasses: Sofian Mesh, from Kumaki Glasses Style
Jacket: Down Jacket, from Gabriel
Shirt: Drape Shirt (brown), from Gabriel
Scarf: Scarf Be Men, from *** Just You Jewels ***
Pants: Solemn Jeans, from Travisty
Belt: Belt-Duality *MESH*, from [ JP ]:dsg.
Shoes: Fulham Riding Boots, from LOORDES OF LONDON

The hunt starts at Razorblade Jacket's shop, and continues through several others- Gabriel, Nikita Fride, Ispachi, to name some of my favorites. You can get to Razorblade Jacket to start the hunt by clicking on this SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Depraved%20Nation/140/157/70 There are a wide variety of designers in the hunt, and quite a lot of terrific gifts they're sharing with the hunters. If you're looking for a new skin, new shape, new eyes, or winter clothes- and especially if you're looking for free ones- I really recommend participating in this hunt!