Hard Alley: A Retrospective, Part 3

Okay so now I've started something and response is much greater than I expected, and my little Alley was too small to handle the traffic.  After all, it kind of ruins the mood if there's a bunch of people standing around when you're supposed to be scared and alone.

I bite the bullet and buy some land adjacent to mine.  Now I am paying a monthly land fee.  It's not much, but I became very much aware that I am shelling out RL money so other people's pixels can fuck.  The Alley grows to about 3 times its original size and I add a sleazy hotel and more alleys.  Then I stop thinking two-dimensionally and build down, adding a subway tunnel (that goes absolutely nowhere, of course).  Now the Alley has begun to include "themed" areas that add to the fun.

Now the Alley is about a month old, and copy-cat "alleys" are starting to appear.  I don't believe any of them lasted for more than a month or two.  Once again, traffic increases to the point where I have to buy more land and expand the Alley.  I add a filthy Restroom (because we all know that it's every girl's fantasy to be raped in a dirty restroom), and begin to build the Hard Alley Sewer System.  These latest additions prove to be extremely popular.

It's not long before I have to expand again, but unfortunately there is no more land for sale in the sim.  I search around and find some land in Yulmu near the middle of the sim (to give me room to grow on all sides if needed).  I pick up the existing Alley (which is small but still no easy task), and move it to the new sim and begin work on expanding it once again, adding the Hard Core Sex & Strip Club, and a Mall to rent space and help offset the money I'm paying each month.

Hard Core quickly becomes popular and I am forced to learn quickly how to run a club, dealing with hiring dancers and setting up tip jars and realizing that clubs don't run themselves.  The Mall starts to fill up and my wallet feels much better and I'm free now to concentrate on building and adding more themed areas.

About this time, several people have become regulars at the Alley, many of whom help out around the place.  Jessica becomes my first Cop, patrolling the Alley in a hot little outfit and helping keep griefers at bay (oh yes, griefers had discovered the Alley, which was climbing the Popular Places list higher each day).  Susanna, a friend from my previous avatar, was one of my first renters, selling her vampire teeth.  And Lil'Bit, who spent most of her time sitting on a dumpster with her friends.

I mention these three people in particular, because they all took inspiration from their time at Hard Alley and went on to create their own sims, Midian City, City of Lost Angels, and Crack Den, respectively.  Each of these sims took their inspiration from Hard Alley, but added their own original ideas and today each of them is highly successful.

After several more land purchaces and several other expansions, Hard Alley grew to about 1/4 of a sim, although it seemed much larger.  The Alley hit the top of the Popular Places list with just over 50K in traffic (this was before traffic calculations were changed and 50K was about as high as it went).  Unfortunately, being on the Popular Places list brought lots of noobs and lots of griefers, neither of which was good for business.  My refusal to prohibit noobs was the reason Lil'Bit left to create Crack Den.  I still believe that today's noob can be tomorrow's RPer, and they will remember who was nice to them when they were starting, and indeed I have people tell me all the time that they started their SL lives in Hard Alley and we were one of the few places that treated them well.

Hard Alley kept growing and expanding slowly over the next year.  During that time I also created the School Girls Gone Bad Detention Facility.  I wanted to prove to myself that the Alley's popularity wasn't just a fluke and that I could repeat my success.  It took a while to come up with the idea, but eventually I fell back to my own fantasy about my boss's sexy daughter who was in the D-Home being traded for cigarettes.  That was all I needed and the School was built and became a hit very quickly.  At times it has even been more popular than Hard Alley and is still a hot place to play.

Is that it?  Am I done now?  Do I really need to write another long boring post about the history of Hard Alley?

Hard Alley: A Retrospective, Part 2

So here I was, on my third avatar, ready to escape the world of drama and settle into a nice cozy skybox. With no job or relationship, I had plenty of free time to wander SL looking for booty calls. And that is what I did for the first few weeks. I just drifted from free sex site to free sex site fucking as I went. I returned a few times to old familiar places, but big rooms full of pose balls eventually grew boring and I began to look for other avenues of excitement.

That was when I stumbled across a group called Forced Fantasy. It sounded fun, so joined it. For about a week, the group chat stayed silent, but my curiosity grew, so one day I popped into group chat and asked where the group played. That is when I found out that the group had no place to play, which explained why no one was playing.

That's when I started to think about where I would have like to have played, if the group had indeed had a place to play. A dark, secluded alleyway in a dirty, run-down city. The kind of place where no one cares if they hear a cry for help. It had to be an alley. No one ever drags their victim into a shopping mall or a shoe store. They drag them into an alley.

I booted up Photoshop and started working on textures. Starting off with Bricks and adding graffiti and torn posters and locked doors and shattered windows... In an hour, I had enough textures to line the walls of my skybox (which was small and fit onto a 512m First Land parcel). After adding concrete to the floor and stars to the ceiling (you can't have a good forced fantasy in the sunny afternoon), I set out a few of my favorite sex pose sets in strategic places.

Now the alley was all done. I set the land for public access and started to turn on its ability to be found in Search when I realised it needed a name.

This was pretty easy. I had chosen the name Hard Rust just because I liked the sound of it, but now it lent itself to my new creation... Hard Alley. Another few minutes in Photoshop to create a street sign/logo and I was all set to open it to the public!

The first thing I did was send a message to the owner of the Forced Fantasy group. I offered them my skybox alley as a free play area for the group. No strings attached.

They turned me down. I still have no idea why.

Even without the official endorsement of the Forced Fantasy group, I figured 2-3 people a week might pop in and use the place. Needless to say I was surprised when I was getting 2-3 people an hour. What was even more surprising was that 90% of my guests were women! There weren't enough men to keep them satisfied! I knew I had to do something to lure more men to the site or it was all going to go bust. Out of sheer luck, one of the women that came to the site, Cathy, offered to help me out. Cathy stayed in Hard Alley every minute she could, fucking any man that teleported in. Within a week, the site had a steady balance of men and women playing, and I was beset with my next problem...

Hard Alley was too small.

Megz Ling Looking Hot!

Megz
Originally uploaded by Hard Alley

Pic taken during Fetish Fridays. I'm just testing out the linking between Flickr and the Blog, but if I gotta pick a pic to test with, it might as well be a hot one. :)

Hard Alley: A Retrospective, Part 1

Someone got me thinking tonight about Hard Alley and how it all started. For those of you who are interested, keep reading. The rest of you should go surf for some porn or something.

Hard Rust was actually the third avie for me. The first avie, Adrian, had found his way into SL by way of a friend who quit SL two days later, but not before showing me how to get to The Sex Club, one of the more popular hangouts at the time. Even though I was a complete noob (noob hair, noob clothes, noob skin), the dancers there were nice and welcomed me in. Within a week I was dating the Club Manager. She bought me a nice 3000L skin and made me a stripper at the club. Thus began my long association with strip clubs and sex sites in SL.

Within 6 months, I had to abandon Adrian due to numerous indiscretions. It was time to start fresh without a dozen women hunting me down to rip my nuts off.

So I created Zoom. I always loved the name Zoom. Zoom started off with nice clothes and nice skin and prim hair. And what was the first thing Zoom did? He went back to The Sex Club. Upon teleporting in, he was approached by two women, a brunette and a blonde. The brunette offered him a job stripping and told him that all employees were allowed to fuck the blonde as a job benefit. Seeing as I had no means of income at the time, and that the blonde was completely hot, I accepted. Over the next 2 months, the roles reversed and the blonde too the reins of the operation and set up a large house as a brothel/club. I personally helped her place every sex pose ball set in the house. During that time, she and I began a relationship and became partners and co-managers of this sex club. I met a lot of people during this time, including our next door neighbor Suzanna, who would go on to create City of Lost Angels (inspired by Hard Alley).

The club was a critical success but a business failure. People loved it but it could not support itself financially. After a brief (5 day) marriage, we parted and I left the club and she left SL.

The Sex Club was virtually dead so I spent several weeks at Heaven Above the Clouds where I met my next lady. Together we created a very classy strip club that did quite well. I actually built this one. It turned out really nice and it got me interested in building more.

Unfortunately, that relationship ended, and once again I decided to abandon my avie Zoom and start life anew. This time, I would avoid relationships. This time, I would avoid any noteriety. This time, I would quietly remain anonymous and all would be well.

So I created Hard Rust.

End of Part 1.

Hard Rust: Social Butterfly

So I finally started a Flickr page. Now I have a blog, Facebook, and Flickr. Ain't I just social! The only question now is, being the rat bastard that I am, do I post the really naughty pics for all to see, or keep some things private (and save the reputation of several girls in SL)!

And since no one would come to my defense when Megz called me a manwhore, I think I'll post naughty pics of each of you in compromising positions!

Hard Rust: Manwhore

Megz called me a manwhore today.

Anyone want to defend my honor?

All about my Cock.

I had planned to write a lengthy blog sharing my insights and wisdom concerning life and love and relationships in Second Life, but erased it all and decided to just talk about something we all know and love...

My Cock.

First off, its a Dark Desires brand. I have a Midnight Lotus and an XCite and a SexGen and a Play Sexy, but nothing quite feels as good dangling between my legs as the one from Dark Desires.

Second, its big. Really big. But not the biggest. The set included a massive one that I felt was just a bit too much. Maybe if I'm in need of a club to beat griefers with someday, I'll put it on and try the huge one out. In the meantime, I'm getting along just fine with the "just big" one.

And lastly, its just fun. I enjoy wearing it and showing it off, but just to share the joy with others, not to say "look at me! I have a huge cock!"

My ego doesn't need stroking, but my cock is always "up" for some. *grins*

...

Mary Baphomet is required by law to wear a tattoo reading "The user bears sole responsibility for any bodily injury incurred".

Ruler of All I Survey

I bought an island.

Hard Alley is fast approaching its 3rd anniversary and in that time it has grown from a 10x30 meter skybox to an entire sim of decadance and perversion. Nearly all my sick fantasies can be played out in one area of the Alley or another, and I am slowly running out of ideas for new ones.

For me, Hard Alley has always been more about having fun than anything else. I've tried to make a place where people can play and enjoy hanging out. I want the people that visit the Alley to feel welcome and free to explore their fantasies without fear of harassment or judgement.

Most of all, I want Hard Alley to be a place where friends come together and talk and laugh and enjoy each other's company. I want it to be their home as much as it is mine.

Moving into our fourth year, we face several challenges. The Lindens are not going to make it easy on adult sites. Restricting the ability for people to find us in Search, along with strictly enforcing age verification (I am against under-age sexual play, but this will kill many of the alt characters that people use in Hard Alley because their mains are too "respectable). The increased cost of a full sim is a challenge, but for now we're doing okay. Only time will tell if we are able to sustain enough revenue to keep going.

The biggest challenge, though, is keeping things fresh. I have done my best over the last three years to keep changing and adding to the Alley enough that it always has something new to offer. I am fortunate to be surrounded by the best bunch of perverts in Second Life, and they are always inspiring me to do better.

A large part of Hard Alley's continued success lies with my Club Manager and best friend, Megz Ling. She is the heart of Hard Core and keeps the place rocking and full of life. She is the magnet that draws the zany cast of characters that populate my bar stools each night. I can't express how much I appreciate all she does for me and the Alley.

Did I mention the zany cast of characters? Skat, Taka, Calie, Zach, Mega, Mal, Biancajade, Sarajane, Viv, Allie, Calvin, Yulia, and so many others keep me cracking up with their wild antics and distrubing humor.

My beautiful dancers. Without them there would be no Hard Core Sex and Strip Club. They are my girls. :)

Hard Alley is my home. These people are my family.

Oh yes (for tradition sake), Mary Baphomet wants to have my illegitimate children.

Hard Rust: Man or Myth?

I know you are asking yourself, "Just how long can Hard write about himself?"

The answer is, "Not this long."

So this blog is up to you. Talk about me. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Be kind. I cry easy.

And now a word about Education...

The School Girls Gone Bad Detention Facility celebrates its 2 year anniversary this month. It's hard to believe that its been that long but it has. And in that time its been re-built four times (original build, build in new sim, re-build after Ana accidently deleted it all, and re-build into its current design). For over a year it was more popular than Hard Alley, and is still registering students every day. Those students are learning their three r's... reading, 'riting, and rough sex.

Of course, the School has evolved much differently than I had envisioned. I expected it to be a "women in chains" kind of place where girls would be traded for cigarettes and the guards would have their way with the "students". While some of this goes on daily, the majority of role play at the school has been less sexual. Oh well, as long as they are having fun. :)

I don't spend as much time at the School as I do the Alley, but that's only because the School doesn't need me there as much. But occasionally I do enjoy popping over and being the perverted janitor that touches the girls in innappropriate places (All the girls are 18 and over. Hard Alley sites to NOT support ageplay).

I haven't mentioned Mary Baphomet in a couple of blogs, so this is for her: Mary Baphomet + Cheerleader outfit = Instant boner. There. I did some Math. Isn't this educational?

Anyway, Happy Anniversary to the School!