CNN iReport

(Photo Credits: CaSimone Aquitaine

18: Serenity & Hinamori; 22: (left to right) Hinamori, Serenity, and CaSimone; 30: (left to right) TigerLily, Hinamori, Serenity, Ina; 40: Serenity & Hinamori dance; 43: ZoeAnastasia; 55: ZoeAnastasia & Casimone; 61: (left to right) Ina, ZoeAnastasia, & Casimone)

Virtual Prom Crowns Raise $USD1500 for American Cancer Society (in less than 1 hour!)

DiS RFL Prom Gym @ Primtings, Second Life: The Designers in Seclusion “DiS” RFL Prom event ended tonight with the delayed auctioning of a pair of limited edition “one of a kind” prom queen and king crowns, a traditional set created by Alienbear Gupte, and also a “prom crasher” set created by Kesseret Steeplechase.

The suspenseful live textchat based auction was set in the DiS RFL Prom Gym and drew a highbrow crowd of over fifty unique avatars, some of whom rezzed in and immediately yelled out L$25,000 prior to seeing the crowns rez! From 4 to 5 PM, Carla Chandrayaan of Bailers led the auction on as a saucy lead auctioner. Tigerlily Koi of Calla and also the DiS RFL Team Captain helped drive the auction while modeling Kesseret’s crowns. Alienbear herself was present at the event, taunting the audience to “steal the crown” from her head.

Relative newcomer to jewelry design on Second Life, but as spirited and lionhearted as any Team DiS RFL member, Kesseret’s crowns sold to ZoeAnastasia Aeon for L$34,000 and L$35,000, male, and female respectively. When asked about her winning bids, ZoeAnastasia answered, “I think all of us are impacted by cancer. Personally, both of my parents have had cancer and I have lost several relatives and friends to it; RFL is such a worthy cause. The effort, creativity and generosity the SL designers have demonstrated with the items they have donated is impressive, and the way we have all come together from all over the world to raise thousands of dollars is even more impressive.”

The legendary Alienbear danced away with the female crown on her head, for the second round as Carla auctioned off the female crown. Hinamori Burleigh, who had already won the male Alienbear crown for L$80,000, drove the bid to L$255,000 to win Alienbear’s female crown to complete the set. Nicky Ree, who was determined to win the female crown, fainted shortly after L$190,000. When asked about his heroic bid, Hinamori Burleigh answered, “Well when you got love backing you up there's no limit :) I was determined to see Serenity be my Queen.”

After coronation as Prom King, Hinamori Burleigh stated, “With the perfect queen by my side I couldn't be happier!” With gravity, Hinamori bestowed the Prom Queen crown to Serenity Semple, who accepted, “Words cannot express how it feels to have your true love place a crown upon your head and grant all the wishes in your heart. ^^”

After being crowned as both prom crasher king and queen, ZoeAnastasia Aeon gave a speech with conciseness worthy of the Webby, “Anarchy!”

True enough, shortly after, random audience members started donating to the RFL donation kiosk (used to both denote highest bidder and to route funds directly to RFL), confusing the prom crown authorities with who won the crowns. Fortunately, Carla kept track of the winners and bids!

Tonight’s historic effort in auctioning off these “one of a kind” virtual prom crowns brought the team’s grand total to L$1,363,107, and the team RFL prom donation-kiosk-only endeavor to nearly L$600,000. All proceeds were donated directly to the Relay for Life event on Second Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. The Designers in Seclusion “DiS” team is now in sixth place and planning more activities in this last month of Relay 2008.