TRUEBLOOD –  For this sports writer, it was put up or shut up.  For months now, I’ve been writing about sports around Second Life; many of which are open to new participants.   Now I am one.

Karine Koba, of Averalast gym, challenged me to put on the gloves and try SL boxing first hand.    

The animations and scripting for boxing are all in the gloves themselves. Once the gloves are worn, foot movement is controlled by the arrow keys, with punches thrown by the “a”, “s” and “d” keys.  

We took a few minutes to help me get the basics of movement down for SL boxing (short movements, as opposed to long straightline motions).  That’s when Koba put on a set of gloves and put me through my paces.  

Initially I suffered from moments of moral confusion; after all, I have never hit a female. Karine calmed me down before easily blasting me over the ropes and out of the ring, the equivalent of a knockout.   

The boxing script doesn’t differentiate between male and female boxers; both have equal strength in the scripting, allowing females to be equal to their male counterparts.

Koba showed me a few more pointers:  keep facing your opponent; always be swinging; and keep fighting, even through lag.  That proved valuable as Miss Koba caught a bad dose of lag herself, allowing me to slug her up and over the ropes four consecutive times.   

Once her connection settled down, she put on a clinic… gracefully moving, catching me off guard multiple times, and dispatching me out of the ring time and time again.

After about 90 minutes, I was throwing in the towel.  Now I really understand how difficult SL sports are.  It’s not as simple as it can look.  But after some encouragement and more tips from Koba and boxer Kev Hastings, I’ll be giving it a shot in actual competition on Friday.    

Wonder if this is how George Plimpton felt when writing “Paper Lion”?

AUTO RACING
SNOWPEACH – Jafo Tendaze wrapped up his dominant FormulaSL season with a win in the season finale on Sunday.   The win also cemented the team title for Archer Racing, who had a 1-2 finish on Sunday from Tendaze and Crippy Oh.  Tendaze had sealed the first season championship a week earlier.  

The end of the race opened the chase for teams to sign drivers.   Two of the top free agents are Yamaha Harley and Suzy Cuddihy, both formerly of Codename Denmark Racing.