Big for Your Britches

This afternoon (in SL time), relative newcomer to the trivia scene Aiden Falmer held his first ever trivia event at the Victoria Pub in Eudora sim. He enjoyed a nice-sized turnout with a number of trivia regulars in attendance. Aiden seems very enthusiastic about hosting trivia, and on many levels, his first effort was promising. He seemed to enjoy himself, most of his questions were perfectly competent, and some of them were quite good.

This event was better run and more enjoyable than many off-the-beaten-path events I've attended, such as the one I wrote about in this space last week. Aiden has a lot of room to grow, however, and he'll need to do so if he wishes to continue attracting a competitive group to his games. No one's first time is ever perfect (which of course could be said about a lot of things). If Aiden continues attending other events and taking note of what makes some questions work and others not, and if he pays attention to when his own questions are met with confusion or frustration, I trust he'll be able to iron out some of the wrinkles that were evident in the small number of questions that suffered from vagueness.

A larger number of his questions were rather straightforward, such as, "What tree is used in the cultivation of silkworms?" There were no stumpers; the questions that were not immediately answered could be spammed. A few particularly good ones took a little bit of thought, for example, "Which American President was the first not to have been born in the Thirteen Colonies?" The questions appeared to be written by him, which always deserves credit and, I believe, patience for weaknesses when a host is just starting out.

There was some confusion about the start time for the event, as some attendees had heard that it would start at 2:30 but at 2:45 were told it would begin at 3:00. Aiden was prompt about kicking off at 3:00, however, even running through a few "warmup questions" for L$5 each in the few minutes prior. He kept the event running at a suitably brisk (but not rushed) pace, though he has yet to master the transition time between countdown and question.

All of these minor flaws are the sorts of things sharp hosts can repair as time goes on. There was an additional set of drawbacks, however, that I'm afraid will be more difficult for Aiden to recognize and contend with. In brief, Aiden's approach to hosting trivia is ego-driven in nearly every respect. I cannot know for certain what grounds his understanding of how trivia works or can work in Second Life, but so far he has not displayed a strong grasp on the social workings of the trivia community. Further, he does not seem inclined to put the time into figuring them out before pursuing his goal of becoming an SL trivia host.

Some small examples of Aiden's self-emphasis persisted from the time prior to the event all the way until after it ended. His bonuses were "Falmer Bonuses," he included a question on the topic of "Me" (that is, him), complete with capitalization, in which players were asked to guess his height, and he was conspicuously anxious about receiving tips even before he had given players a reason to tip him.

The crowning example, however, was that after his twenty mostly respectable (but nothing to write home about) questions, he informed us,

[2009/12/21 16:13] Aiden Falmer: I will soon be creating a group

[2009/12/21 16:13] Aiden Falmer: for followers, fans, stalkers etc

...not seeming to realize that in order to have a group for followers, fans, or stalkers, it is generally a good idea to have at least one of those first. This announcement explained a lot, though, about how Aiden perceives.. something. I'm only half-sure about what. It might be trivia hosting, it might be himself, or both. or, less likely, neither. He seems to see trivia hosting as possibly equivalent to a DJ gig. He mentioned later that he manages clubs in SL, so perhaps he was generalizing from his experience in that context.

It means, however, that he has not put in the mileage as a trivia player to notice that trivia hosts -- at least those in the contexts in which he is attempting to advertise -- do not have fan clubs. There are groups associated with events and venues, and most are flexible about allowing others to use the group chat to announce events (if they remain appropriately on-topic).

I asked him after most players had left what his interest in trivia stemmed from, and he answered, "It just seemed like a good way to entertain and so forth." Well, certainly, trivia events are a means of entertaining ourselves, but this response begs the question: why does he seem so confident that others already wish to be entertained by him? That is something he needs to earn, which doesn't happen simply by putting together a game stacked with adequate questions, paying L$10 each for them, and spending more time asking for tips than doing advance research on how to appropriately announce an event in Trivia Fiends.

Aiden is young, and I am optimistic. It's still possible for him to grow into the trivia scene, but he'll need to accept, before anything else, that he doesn't already know what he's doing. He can deliver an event that is stronger than what many non-trivia clubs have to offer, but really, that only counts for so much when you address a room full of seasoned hosts and players as if they ought to be excited when you offer to pay a whole L$20 for a bonus. He may at this point be best off at a venue where traffic is reliable, trivia questions are minimally competitive, and the events are not designed to be personality-driven. I have already suggested to him that he speak to a friendly man at such a place.