Personal Profile: Honey Potez

In addition to event profiles and news, I would also like to use this blog to shine a spotlight on various individuals who make positive contributions to trivia games in Second Life. Honey Potez has been part of my trivia experience for a year now, both as a host (and now manager) at club Shiraz and as a friend. And so, for VirtualTrivia’s first profile, I invited her to Da Vinci Gardens for a chat and a few pictures. We ended up gabbing about trivia bots, club Shiraz, and ancient trivia history (that is, 2007).

Lette Ponnier: For starters, could you talk about how you got started in trivia in SL?

Honey Potez: I started with Gogomodo in a place called Trivia Monkeys. It was the best place to meet people. I have really great memories. It’s where I met Thorn, Circe, Josh, etc. I tried to play seriously for money. I ended up at Shiraz one night because I was the only one at trivia monkeys and I wanted company. I searched events for trivia and found Shiraz. At that point Shiraz had been open a little over 5 months. I started as a player. I started greeting there a week or so later. My first night of hosting trivia was 12/03/07.

LP: So nearly your entire time in SL, really.

HP: It didnt take long at all -- my rez day was 10/25/07. I was asked because at that time Coco was only hosting Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Trivia was getting popular.

LP: Oh... so was Shiraz one of the first regular events for money? Besides MP [Marine Park], that is?

HP: I believe it was. I could be mistaken, but every time I would query trivia in events, that is all that would come up. A lot of the other trivia places were Gogomodo.

LP: Ok, so you were part of creating SL trivia history :)

HP: Lol, I dont know about all that.

Honey, lounging beside a pool at the Gardens of Da Vinci.

LP: As a player, what other games do you enjoy attending?

HP: I like to play Name that Tune, Greedy Greedy. As far as trivia goes, I really liked Mako's new trivia setting and the new club that Sinn is hosting at. I had a lot of fun there.

LP: I have a question that might be a bit controversial. Club Shiraz is unique in that it's the only trivia club I know of -- with the possible exception of MP -- that does not allow staff to host elsewhere simultaneously. While it seems like this is geared toward remaining competitive, it risks the counter-effect of insulating Shiraz from the larger trivia community. How do you see each of those possible results -- is one truer than the other -- as a staff host who also attends events elsewhere?

HP: Well, the problem with having hosts work at other places is that two places in particular overlap our events, meaning that our staff, which we consider a family, competes against each other.

LP: Some trivia hosts end up with followings, people who host in multiple places and who have players who like to go to their trivia no matter where they are. It could be in Shiraz's interest to have a host who can pick up people who get introduced to them elsewhere. Do you think that sort of thing would be possible, and could it ever fit into Shiraz's practices?

HP: This is true also. For instance, if Reke [Rekeorb Wezzog, a trivia host at Shiraz] wanted to do an event elsewhere, say "name that tune," he could do it at other venues as long as they were not opposite our staff events. We don’t want to take customers away from our fellow staff, especially if they are new.

LP: So the trouble is only due to the time conflict?

HP: Exactly.

Honey and Reke, stealing a dance at Shiraz while I steal a picture on Reke's birthday this week.

LP: Let's talk about hosting. You've mentioned that when you write trivia, you don't use Wikipedia. what else can you say about your trivia-writing process?

HP: Well, Shiraz trivia. :) Ummmm, it isn't to the scale of say, MP. I like to look at Shiraz as "Beginners Trivia 101," where people new to SL are introduced to trivia and then eventually graduate to MP. A lot of my trivia is silly, or easy. I have written harder in the past and lose some new people with it. Some of the newer people need to work their way up to the MP level trivia and the speed needed to compete

LP: You try to be a training ground?

HP: I play online trivia and get ideas from that. Learned early on not to use trivia sites like "funtrivia.com" that can be googled easily. Yes, training ground is a good term. To me a good trivia question (for Shiraz) would be general knowledge. Like the other night, Trin did ice cream.

LP: What would you say has been the most frustrating moment you've experienced while hosting trivia?

HP: Lol, I can think of one: a customer saying, "This trivia bot sucks." I was so embarrassed at first, thinking to myself, do I really suck that bad? But then, out of nowhere, the majority of the customers stood up for me and made me feel better. That is one thing about Shiraz: everyone is family, close friends.

LP: What has been a particularly positive moment while hosting?

HP: Well, at the time, it was just another thing I tried to make the trivia a little easier to follow within the chat. Now, every time I see another host using a countdown, I smile. ;)

LP: Yours was the first one I remember seeing as well. Certainly the first at Shiraz. So we've covered all the questions I had planned. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?

HP: I cant think of anything else. You are very thorough. Lette Ponnier: The Barbara Walters of SL.

Specs:
=> Host: Honey Potez
=> Times: During the coming week (May 9 through May 15), Honey will be hosting from 6:00 to 8:00pm SLT on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
=> Location: club Shiraz, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cicero/225/33/254

Except where otherwise noted, all photos were shot at the Gardens of Da Vinci, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kalepa/223/214/37