RAGE against the machine

I've been meaning to check out the other aspects of the fight game in SL for some time now. The mess we had at our own event on Friday prompted me to "take some air", as Karine later put it, and I went to check out Royce Boa's RAGE fighting promotion.

In the interest of full disclosure I feel compelled to point out that Averlast has a few vendors there, selling our gear, and that I get a cut of those sales. Even so, beyond it being within my own personal interest that RAGE does well, Royce has created something here that very much deserves to do well.

The fighting style is martial arts, using Abranimations' Combat Evolution system. Trying it out later myself, I found the footwork very much recalling Averlast, but with the added feature of a panel of buttons for me to hit with my mouse, triggering one of any number of moves. So fighting with CE had me working the keyboard's directional buttons with my left hand, while working the button panel with my right. It certainly adds a dimension of challenge, that's for sure.

The day I popped in to check out an event happened to be RAGE's North American Women's Championship tournament. Royce had an automated tournament board set up, and contenders would enter as they arrived. The board sets up the matches automatically, randomly pairing entrants but not revealing the matchups until the owner sees fit to do so. At least, that's my understanding of it.

Ivory Perfferle stands over Darling Bomse at the end of the final match

The matches were one round apiece, the round lasting for five minutes. None of them made it that far. One aspect of the CE system is that it regenerates health if the fighter is not actively taking hits, so there's no percentage in not going right in and trying to do as much damage as you can.

Needless to say, this made for some fast and brutal fighting, enhanced by the addition of kiais and blood-spatter particle effects included in the combat system.

Ivory accepts the North American Women's belt from RAGE President Royce Boa

Next week, I understand, is the men's event, which I plan on taking in as well. Events are each Sunday at noon SLT. For now, if you're interested, just put in a search for RAGE fighting, but later I'll be updating with a proper SLurl.

UPDATE: Agh, it never fails. I remembered that I wanted to add a description of the place only after I was well away from any computer. Royce describes her arena as having a "punk rock" aesthetic, with a sort of rough-and-tumble practicality. It certainly fits that vision, especially the ring area. Small enough to have all announcements made without resorting to using shout, but still not giving one any sense of claustrophobia, the ring area is surrounded by hurricane fencing topped with barbed wire. The rest of the area matches this aesthetic, with discarded barrels lying around, some pieces of gym equipment, and a couple of sofas with the cushions half off. Definitely full marks for atmosphere.