"I've got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lad. A whale of a tale it's true..."
--Sung in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

When I called up the Events page, I had to read the entry twice. "Fishing tournament?" I said aloud. Fishing in Second Life? Being a fisherman since the age of five, well, fisherkid, I had to see this one. So, I teleported over to Heart's Enchanted to see what it was all about. As I rezzed into the area, there they were, a handful of avatars lit by the light of the moon, all with fishing poles, standing along several docks. Some were even sitting on the local mushrooms as Fletcher Meadowbrook was doing here.




I grabbed what they call a tournament pole, walked to the edge of the peer, and typed in the code for it fling my virtual bait out into the virtual ocean. At the same time, I quickly worked my way through the notepad of instructions. What? No stinky worm fingers? No oily fish? No on-target casts and hesitant yet skillful retrieves with an underwater bait? No. A window popped up after about thirty seconds and informed me that I had not caught anything. Well, at least that part was on target with my real-life fishing experiences. Once again, I cast out for a lunker.

Around me, the announcementof fish being caught filled the chat box. Along with the names of the fish were points they were worth and the amount of XP (experience points) the pole was acquiring after each cast. Thinking I was perhaps in a bad spot (it happens in fishing it might just happen here as well!), I tried to manuever around on the dock.

And fell in the water.

As you know, in SL, its not that big of a deal. Except for the whole embarrassment factor...

Eventually, as I dried off and started catching fish, I also started figuring it all out. Send line into water, wait for fish, get fish, tally up points, and then do it again. Do it as often as you can in an hour period and the person with the most points wins the tournament. At first glance, it sounds rather boring. There does not appear to be much going on above the surface. But, fortunately, there is alot going on under the waves. The folks over at Neorealms.com have designed a rather clever and addictive way to spend an hour of your SL time by taking a very simple game and immersing it with hidden structures and scripts.

You can go fishing anytime you want at the various fish camps so, like real fishing, it can be a solitaire event as well. There are different kinds of poles and bait which controls the type of fish you are likely to catch. The pole is a program which records the XP it has acquired from different fish and it, itself, levels up thus improving its ability. You also get reward points which can be cashed in like tickets at an arcade for fun things like charms for you pole or, on the high end, better poles and clothing.

Of those fish, there are over 150 different kinds, some of which are rare and collectible. There are fishing quests where you try and catch certain fish which hold certain things which are needed to complete various "Quests." To top it all off, sometimes the fish and items will contain random surprises. With fish names like "Your Momfish", " DINNER W. BUTTER", and " Bulbous Broohaha" the sense of humor that this is a lighthearted recreation to what some real life folk take very seriously is evident. And yes, unless you want to rack up the reward points, you have to pay cash Linden to get the bigger and better pole and bait packages.

The fish themselves, as a magical SL type of taxidermy, are gifted as objects you can keep in your Inventory. What better way to prove that you did, in fact, catch that super rare fish! From there you could hang it on your wall. Make a sign! Make a table!



I'm not even going to get into the fishing tours and tournaments they have.

I mean it as a compliment when I say that Neo-Realms have taken a persistant trait among human beings and turned it to their favor to power their game. Hope and expectation. Its used in casinos around the world, in marketing campaigns for breakfast cereals, and collectible card games. Maybe that next pull of the slot machine will bring the riches, maybe the next booster pack will have that much needed rare, and, of course, maybe that next catch will land me the uber-rare RED GYRADOS!

And the thing is, with the added levels, its much more enjoyable then pulling the handle on a slot machine over and over and over and over.

There is another element there as well which can easily be overlooked, the social one. Much like when folks hang out and play Tringo, GreedyGreedy, or any of the others, you can hang out on the dock and chat a bit while you wait for the next fish to hit your hook. Being a real fisherman, I can appreciate that quite a bit. What else is there to do when you are standing on a dock or sitting in a boat for several hours? Chat, have a soda, catch some fish. Even as the tournament was under full swing, a few folks chatted about all the 911 tributes happening in-world and some offered some of their opinions. When the tournament was over I struck up a conversation with the fisherwoman next to me, Sarah Braess. This was her first time trying out the game. Liking the variety of the fish and the experience was on her way to pick up a beginner pole and try the non-tournament fishing scene.

And, yes, I spent nearly the last of my meager funds to pick up a $L16 beginner set myself. I called it "journalistic investigation." I caught the fish shown above, thank you. And a sea-monkey! I'll let you know when I catch the fierce Red Gyrados.