The End of a Legand

A truly sad day in Second Life history as Dirk announces the closure of Stonehaven, one of the oldest and best BDSM friendly sims in the grid.

It was because of Dirk that I got my start, he gave me the capital; out of sheer generosity, to buy a vendor system and pay the first months rent. From there I expanded and shrank with the market but have kept a steady shop rented at Stonehaven for about two years now.

I'd like to say that it's closure will hurt my business but honestly Stonehaven has been dying for a long time. Thanks to the persistent memory leeks that LL has refused to fix, and a few other issues with the sim; including some hostile encounters that hurt popularity, and just the slow march of time it's just reached that point where the population isn't there: and hasn't been for some time. While I've maintained a shop there I haven't gotten many sales at all there for some time.

It's sad because there's a lot of memories there, I met my first (SL) Master and a very good friend, Veritas Gothly there, as well as many good friends; some who have already left SL for good. I enjoyed my time there and I wish SL could feel that way for me again, I wish SH could be the place that we go and sit around in chairs or on cushions and chat and have fun rather then the tired ghost town it is now.

I'm sure we'd all like to find something to blame for it but at the end of the day, accounting for all the factors as to why people left, the responsibility lays on the shoulders of LL for hurting all of SL with their antics. Stonehaven isn't the first, and sadly it won't be the last, sim to fall from glory or obscurity because of the high tier prices and lack of decent support along with a penchant for doing the exact opposite of what everyone wants.

I guess some of the sad truth behind this is that my business has been following the same path as Stonehaven, business has been slow and it's been that way for a long time. I just can't compete with the market anymore. I don't have the equity to rent dozens of locations around the grid and while I like to think that my products are good and worth buying, they just don't have the exposure and advertising they need.

Some day the post will come that my last store is closing, I don't know when it will be and I'll try to hold it off best I can but in the end it's up to you, the consumer, to decide how long I last.