Eventually, everything goes away.
Elizabeth
Gilbert
Recently,
I read a story in
James Wagner Au’s blog
about the large number of sims that have closed in Second Life (SL) over the
last several years. (If you don’t read
this his blog, you should. It’s a great
source of information on both SL and virtual worlds in general.)
This got
me thinking about my own experiences inworld since I began blogging
almost two years ago. I went back and
revisited several of the sims that I had first blogged about when I began. I was shocked to find that many were gone.
Not only
were they gone but the communities around them are gone too. Not just the prims and the scripts but the
people who congregated there and the sense of belonging that formed around
them. To return to a place where there
were once buildings, crowds, noise, and who knew what going on and to find just
an empty field is a bit disconcerting. I
realize this may sound a little silly but there is a sense of loss when
something one is accustomed to is gone.
For
example, some of my first stories about different lifestyles in SL were about
the vampire community, a family called Nulli Secundus in
particular. They had a wonderful castle
(What else would vampires have?) with great recreational facilities. I went to my first SL wedding
there. It’s gone now and the family
seems to have broken up and gone its separate ways.
Another
sad story, when I first began blogging, I wanted to use freebies. (OK, I’m
cheap. Get over it! I also wanted to demonstrate that residents
need not spend a lot of money to have a good time inworld.) I wandered into a sim called the Hyles Info Center
which had many freebies which my original avatar. (Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about my
makeover!) I dropped by recently to find
only a small remnant of what used to be there and few, if any, freebies. This is a great loss for noobies.
One sim
which has recently closed was the Island of Bare Naked Angels, a nude beach
resort which was non-membership. I had
hoped to do a story about it for my Sex and the Single Avatar in SL
series. It was a well laid out facility
with friendly guests. I made several
good friends there. I TP’d in a short
while ago to find it undergoing a change into a members only site. Recently,
someone told me that even that has closed.
I’d
blogged about breedable
meeros in SL and visited several sims for research and
background. Mystic Bay Breedables, Blue
Fusion Estate, Red Barn Meeros, and Lil Egypt Meeros Market are now gone. (Although, Lil Egypt itself is still
open.) Maybe there was an oversupply of
meeros. Another old haunt of mine in the
early days, Lollygaggas, Creative Junk is closed too.
Phideaux Mayo’s
sim Esoterica where I interviewed her last year is now gone. Flying Tigers, site of stories about air
shows and V-E
Day celebrations is now gone too. Virtual Haarlem where I met Artemesia Sandgrain and
Tom Bukowski for
an interview has
recently closed too. (Maybe I should
stop writing stories about places in SL?)
Why have all
these sims closed? (Besides my writing
about them.) Finances could be part of
it. Many of these sims depended on
voluntary donations from visitors to help cover costs and, well, we all know
how that works. There may still be
lingering effects from the Great Recession.
The
overall community of SL loses when these sims close. SL is a mosaic of people, their meeting
places, lifestyles, and all the other things that happen when people come
together. While some loss is always
expected, this steady deterioration is concerning. Yes, new sims and communities may replace
them but there always a loss when this institutional memory disappears
suddenly.
Individual
friends may disappear without warning and as hard as this may be, this is just
one person. When many people either go
away or can’t come together again there is a greater sense of loss.
As I tend
to move around a lot inworld, I sometimes don’t get back to folks once I
leave. (Even in Real Life (RL), I’m very
bad at staying in touch with friends.
Significant Other is amazed that I haven’t wandered off yet.) So, going back and finding nothing comes as a
bit of a shock. I took too much for
granted.
I’ll
continue to check back on earlier stories and see where others have gone. If I’ve predicted anyplace’s demise
prematurely, please let me know and I’ll get the correct information out.
Below
are links to a few pictures I’d taken of these lost sims. Unfortunately, I can’t tell anyone to go see
them anymore.
I’d
be very interested in others’ thoughts and experiences about loss in SL. Please use my contact info below to reach
me.
As
always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk
with a stranger who was passing through their lives.
I welcome feedback from
readers, please either comment on my blog or
e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com
. If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Photo No. 1 Downtown Esoterica
Photo No. 2 Nulli
Secundus Wedding Party
Photo No. 3 Hyles
Info Center
Photo No. 4 Lil
Egypt Meeros Market
Photo No. 5 Blue
Fusion Estates
Photo No. 6 Red
Barn Meeros
Photo No. 7 Nulli
Secundus Home
Photo No. 8 Flying
Tigers Sim
Photo No. 9 Island
of Bare Naked Angels
