Interview With Aldaris (Bawnty Resident) About RFL Team Scorn

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Relay for Life in Second Life this year has been a big success, with over 462 thousand US dollars worth of Lindens raised. Behind it were over 180 teams. Some have been around for a number of years, such as Team ACTS, the Relay Rockers, The SL Cheerleading Squad, The Sunbeamers, and others. But there were also some new teams. Among them was Team Scorn, the team organized by the staff of the Scorn Rock club. I recently had a chance to interview their team captain, Aldaris (Bawnty Resident).

Bixyl : "To begin with, how did you hear about the Relay for Life, and how did the idea for the team come about?"

Aldaris : "Well, it was you! Or at least it was the close association of the Happy Vixen and the Sunbeamers team. I had no surrounding information other than the fact that there was a link to an inworld location to something called a 'campsite.' It wasn't the first I'd heard of "Relay Weekend" in the week leading up to that moment, but it was the first tangible lead I had to whatever was going on. So I followed it and there you were, at the Sunbeamers site. You told me people would be running by I might recognise and that you were going to bed for the time being. So I went and stood by the trackside and heckled/encouraged everyone and anyone I did recognise! So I took my time, looked around the Sunbeamers camp. I got to appreciate so many people's reasons for running, but still didn't have the greater picture of what Relay was, until Charlee rounded the corner, dashed to the next checkpoint, came back and told me to get running. So I did! I pretty mindlessly followed the track until I saw some eye catching campsites further along. I was taken in by how 'big' the event was - how many people were running by, how much effort had been put into camp builds. Then I slowed down, got to reading. I got to see what it was all for and why. I loved it. I kept on running. I got a little trophy at the end just for taking part. Bear in mind that this was the single biggest 'thing' I'd never come across in SL in terms of scale, participation, and general excitement about it in the run up.

"So I was too late to partake in it that year. But in the time between then and Relay 2024, I got made a manager of the still recently reformed Scorn (Rock Club). Thing is, we're almost entirely new faces except for the owners who've been there since forever. There's nothing particularly binding us as a 'team' except for the shared responsibility to the venue. I thought then that the conditions were right to do multiple things at once. I could unite everyone toward a noble, common cause to give us all a shared history we could be proud of. A galvanising moment to get us all working towards something good, togethe, be an inspiration of hope. 

 

"I fear that Relay is mostly attended by those - unfortuantely - most affected. I wasn't content to wait to be affected, so I was only happy to bring the message of Relay to those who might not have even known about it before now. I certainly didn't before a year ago ... and, give back. Because despite the overarching theme, despite the sad circumstances that lead to Relay being a necessary event, I very much enjoyed myself. Going around the track, seeing what everyone had built and all of the themed outfits being worn, was a hoot for me. I really wanted to come back and do it again, and what better way than by making my own team?"

Bixyl : "Very good reasons to Relay. About how many are in Team Scorn, and who are among the more active people on the team?

Aldaris : "I think I can safely say there were a core team of five. Of those the most active members we had were; I myself - co-ordinating efforts, performing the kiosk management and dispersal of information pertaining to the weekend. Gwen, who was very heavily into the fundraising side of activities, and the primary builder for our team campsite. And Charlee, who was very greatly involved on the Relay day itself in participation and provision of extra materials. Despite this, we absolutely would not have enjoyed the campaign we had without all members being involved, as well as all of those who donated towards making our team gold on our first ever outing."

Bixyl : "The team made Gold level this year, over 125,000 or $500 USD.  How much did you expect to raise?"
 

Aldaris : "Silver, at best. And I'd have been satisfied. For our first outing and for being a small team, I thought that was not just realistic but a challenge and one that wasn't entirely unattainable. Especially given the level of support I wasn't expecting. I thought this may well be me, on my own doing it all myself. That didn't happen, people fell in love with what we were doing. We were on pace for silver until we weren't and things hugely ramped up in the last third of fundraising season. We kept climbing. Gold was no longer a distant vision but very much in reach. With only days to go until relay weekend I was delighted to announce we'd surpassed the threshold. It was a wonderful symbol of how united we all were for a good cause and how far we could all go together."

Bixyl : "The team also had it's own campsite. Did anything in particular inspire the design?"

Aldaris : "We modeled it after a narrow slice of one of Scorn's own venues. Our beach stage is a popular one, and so we decided to bring forth a wedge of that with us to the track. Being that Scorn is what brought us all together, it felt only right that we brought a bit of it with us. Having seen other campsites before, I decided to roll in the theme with a grounded twist. 'Decades of Hope' became 'Decades of Research' and the information on display became mainly focused on the tangible efforts worldwide to identify, prevent and eradicate cancer in all of its' forms. An effort we're proud to have been part of."

Bixyl : "The team also sponsored one of the themed hours on Relay Weekend as well."

Aldaris : "We did! As relay drew closer there were five themes yet available to be sponsored: Rainbow of Ribbons, Ride For Research, Music Is Hope, Coffee and Pajamas, (and) Toga Party. Well I thought 'Ride for Research' was an immediately great fit with our camp theme so I went ahead and asked to sponsor it. Unfortunately it must've taken so long to finalise that we wound up sponsoring rainbow of ribbons instead. Not that it was a problem, everyone looked beautiful during that hour!"

Bixyl : "So you were aiming with Research?"

Aldaris : "Me myself, at least in my memory, could not think of anyone I'd lost to cancer. Overwhelmingly that seems to be what a great many campsites tend to do. It's a nice way to remember people, but didn't feel as appropriate for us, so I steered us in the direction of a more hopeful message - that there are very real efforts happening in the world to destroy cancer right now and the participation of the very people operating teams and running the track are the reason that effort is ongoing. A big thank you to everyone who takes the time to make relay happen, whether they're staffing it or participating. It couldn't happen without all of us."

Bixyl : "Which of the events by the other teams during the course of the Relay got your attention? Any other campsites get your attention as well?"

Aldaris : "Will I get laughed at if I say my jaw was on the floor when I passed The Adult Partnership's campsite? They had these two massive bunny girl silhouettes flanking their central stage. I think it was the scale of those that was very striking as well as that they'd offset their campsite from the track by quite a way onto the grass, so it wasn't right beside the track itself. Our campsite was right across from the 'Seekers of Hope,' they had quite a sprawling area as well which was a cityscape and an adjacent pool. I was glad to walk across the track and be at their pool party. On the Relay day itself I was glad to visit friends at other campsites; Sunbeamers, Roos with a Dream, Kitsunes for A  Cure.

"For outright events I might've been glimpsed at all kinds of places! Relaystock, Sunbeamer's Moon Party, Captains' Roundtable, Sailing.sl's Summer Sailstice, Road Warriors' 12-hour ride. I'm sure there were others too but those are the big ones that come to mind. It's been a long season!


Bixyl : "Sounds like you saw quite a bit."

Aldaris : "Things were pretty high octane from the word 'go'. The very same day I registered a team I was being contacted with everything I needed to know, and there were more events than I knew what to do with weekly ...even daily! Some days had more than one and I had to make some tough decisions about where I was going to be, when I wanted to be at everything! Not that it's a bad thing, it's great to see SL so lively."

Bixyl : "So what do you usually do in Second Life when not Relaying, both on and off season?

Aldaris : "Well on-season provides a deluge of events to attend and so I try to make as many of those as I can while still running our own campaign and club. But when the season closes up I'm quite in love with the expansiveness of the grid. I have a fondness for bike rezzers and cycling my way across continents, or at least as far as I can get until the bike despawns and I'm left hovering in the air on a sim boundary. In fact I love all manner of vehicles - hang gliders, sail boats. They usually all end up the same way but it's a wonderful mode of experiencing the vastness of Second Life. I adore Blake Sea especially for the open water to sail on there. I'm a big fan of interactive art installations too, the kind of art that allows you to walk in or through it, or have a tactile experience. I can't get enough of the works by Regi Yifu. I think some people's first exposure to him has been at SL21B this year in the house made out of tubes and rainbows. But really, anything that plays with perspective will draw me right in. Optical illusion exhibits are right up my street too, there's not many but I'm glad when I can find them. If I'm not in the mood to concentrate on steering, many places across Second Life offer hands-free tours you can take across a variety of mediums and vessels.  Trains, Submarines, Boats, Hot air balloons, Scuba Diving.. it's not an exhaustive list but there's a serenity to just hopping on a mode of transport and letting myself be taken around a space to be shown what a designer wanted me to see. Even if those aren't there, I appreciate any beautiful place and there's no particular genre for me, I love them all!"


Bixyl : "Sounds like you take the time to experience a lot here. What were your plans for next year's Relay for Team Scorn?"

Aldaris : "There weren't! The rush of relay weekend still feels fresh. Doing Team Scorn has highly experimental and we haven't had an earnest discussion about how the experience was for us yet. There's been some talk about what we could do differently so the interest is there. Now that we've had the experience of doing it once we'll be able to look at what we did, what we enjoyed doing and hopefully what we want to do with ourselves next season, knowing what we know now."

Bixyl : "Was there anything else you wanted to add?"
 

Aldaris : "I don't think so, that was a comprehensive look into the perspective and history of a first year Relay team."

 

 

 

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