SLExperience management: The Renaissance Hunt

--rambling, amateur & preliminary observations--

--actually, while I began with wanting to connect my experiences through TRH1 to ideas for libraries in SL... I realise I don't have enough knowledge at all, so if you've been tempted to visit expecting to learn something useful I apologise, though you might skip the following blather if you're willing to answer some questions--

Today visited the penultimate merchant in The Renaissance Hunt. As some were not ready when I began, I cannot claim to be "finished", but I have at least sorted through *all* of the gifts collected so far (and good heavens that is an undertaking for over 135 gifts!).

Early on we were asked through the in-world group to vote via notecard on a FAVE FIVE of locations (no mention of this in the blog that I can see) when we finish.  Yay: an additional validation for my new (since The Sinister Steampunk Hunt) practice of keeping a Hunt Journal. I figured a Hunt Journal would help me recall what I liked (or not) in case I'm ever asked for recommendations; it could support recall to help others on the hunt; it would help me keep track of where I'm at as a Hunt can be very long; but most importantly I'm under the impression that jotting notes helps me think straight - and wherever I go and whatever I do in Second Life I wonder "what if SL-libraries did things this way"?

Do any Hunts offer prizes for the first to finish? I can't imagine so, because a race would compete with the value for merchants of having hunters take time to browse the stores. Even so, I did want to FINISH the Hunt (I didn't finish SSH) (greed:pretties:free) and so I felt a self-imposed time pressure because time spent on hunt was time away from my projects; and guilt-time at the downloads it consumes.

On the other hand: this Hunt experience provoked thoughts about quality experience management that could give points of comparison to my analyses of SL Libraries, and yet I'm not sure I captured those thoughts adequately. Notecard journalling saves switching in and out of Evernote - however it lacks images because my frugality will not let me upload my snips* as images to inventory. So, I'm going back to the start to see whether, with greed out of the way, I can concentrate on a reasonable analysis.



With snips I tend to focus on things that could be better - but as I can't snip past instants, nor my passing psychological dispositions, nor the things I did not realise I was seeing, identifying the things that made the experience so positive will be harder. Particularly when returning just distracts me with beauty I didn't see first time around (the landscaping, Mike, is ... is ... "perfick" (thank you Pop Larkin)), and the postponed acorn-greed.

Actually I guess the acorn-hunt will be an aspect to consider, but I believe I will try not to take photos of the merchants at the Faire because, although Perryn's careful selection of them (as webspelunker Ghostraven mentioned) is an important contributor to the Hunt experience (and care in setting selection criteria is an important librarian consideration), it will just be too diverting.

OMG it is dawn already, the rest will have to wait

... 

This is one of those posts I will probably edit over time.

*snip refers to my use of Windows Snipping Tool rather than the SL snapshot because even though I can send a snapshot direct from Second Life to Flickr, with Snipping Tool I can be more selective in what I capture, and because I am not an artist I don't need dramatic Meghogging resolution.

However, for the sake of comparison, the first picture above was Snipped, and this one Snapped: