ˈmadnəs/ - noun - a state of frenzied or chaotic activity
"from about midnight to three in the morning it's absolute madness in here"
That definition will be the best way to describe my Second Life in less than 8 hours.
Another round of Monthly Midnight Madness will kick off at midnight SLT and each one gets better and better from the generosity of the designers, quality of gifts, participation of the populace to the ease of navigating the chaos. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this event or new to it entirely I have put together some helpful tips for making your experience fun and enjoyable.
Each board will have a gift limit of 1500 and runs for 12 hours. They lock when either 1500 gifts have been given out or the 12 hours are up.
Join the free in-world group Monthly Midnight Madness if you have a spare group slot. In the notices you'll find a survival kit with a full body alpha, teleport hud and notecard listing the stores and LMs. The group is also helpful during the event for announcing the status of the boards, be it technical issues or just how many gifts are left.
Visit http://www.applemaydesigns.com/p/midnight-madness-september.html for detailed information about this month's round. This page lists the gifts each store is offering, the sizes available, if additional color huds will be available for purchase, last chance prices and if you need to join the free store group. There is also a countdown timer at the top of the page and on the teleport hud for the first round.
About an hour or so before the event kicks off I like to visit all the places I'm interested in so I know where the boards will be and to help the textures load at game time.
Be sure you are wearing your full body alpha at midnight SLT. Right click the Midnight Madness - Survival Kit folder (if you were able to join the group and get it from notices) and choose "Replace Current Outfit" to remove all attachments quickly and easily. Some stores will be using security orbs set to 50,000 ARC so wearing only the full body alpha keeps you from being teleported home before you can get the gift.
De-rendering (ctrl+alt+shift+4) other avatars can decrease lag and help locations load faster.
Some boards I have been able to see and click from the landing zone, others I need to get closer to and a few I have needed to right click and select touch. The last may be the best option in case you are clicking on another invisible avatar instead of the board.
Try to click the board only once, gifts are delivered in order so you may need to wait just a bit for yours to arrive. Be sure to click accept once it does arrive!
After you get your gift, teleport home before trying to get to the next location. This allows someone else a chance to get that gift, decreases the chance your TP will fail and lets you unpack the gift if your next location happens to be full.
Be sure to thank the creators for the awesome gifts you manage to pick up. Many are in the MMM group during the event making sure things go smoothly and a show of appreciation goes a long way.
Now all we have to do is wait for midnight...
I like to spend this time stalking lucky letter boards and Apple May Designs has two currently in the store for group members. There is a one time fee of 25L to join and with the group tag and a little patience you can win the Ivanka gown I am wearing in the picture above. It comes in 3 standard sizes plus sizes for Maitreya, Slink and Belleza. The other group lucky board is the Vive lingerie with appliers. If lucky letters aren't your thing, the Aiko gown to the right of the boards is available in purple and sky for group members.
Another way to pass the time is playing with Strawberry Singh's Simple Photo Studio. It is available for free on the marketplace, 100% mesh and comes with a pose stand you can load with your own poses. The background has four color choices, works great with wind lights and did I mention it is free?
Dress ~ Apple May Designs ~ Ivanka Gown - Seafoam ~ group lucky letter board (25L join fee)
Backdrop ~ StrawberrySingh.com ~ Simple Photo Studio ~ 0L
~Other Stuff~
Avatar Complexity ~ 30,623
Head ~ Catwa Annie Vampire
Body, hands and feet ~ Maitreya
Hair ~ Truth
Ears ~ Altair
Skin ~ Lumae
Tattoo ~ Plastik
Necklace ~ Phedora
Bracelet ~ Finesmith
Tail ~ Imouto
Pose ~ Eternal Dream