Big changes are coming to Hard Alley.
But why?
I've been getting that question a lot lately. That, and things like, "Why do things have to change? Why can't you just leave things as they are? What's going to happen to my favorite spot?"
The basic answer is that we have to change or close, and I'd prefer not to close.
Hard Alley just celebrated its 8th Anniversary in July. What began as something new and different and original in SL is now looking very old and common. When we started, Hard Alley was the first and only dirty urban RP sex sim. Now, you can't swing a dead meeroo without hitting one.
The basic answer is that Hard Alley is not exciting anymore and no one comes to play.
So I had a choice. I could close the sim. After all, 8 years is something to be proud of, right? Very few places in SL have lasted that long. I could close the sim and relax for the first time in 8 years and no longer have the stress of running a sim and trying to keep people entertained.
Or I could change the Alley and try to make it fun and interesting again and give people something they can enjoy.
Honestly... closing was looking like the best option. After all, rebuilding the sim in all-mesh might make it look as good as some other sims, but it wouldn't change the fact that it would just be one of dozens of dirty urban sex sims. I was very much less than enthused about that idea.
I had been thinking about ways I could change things to make it fun and different again, but it was just too much effort and would have been too difficult to make it work.
Then Jaimy Hancroft of Death Row Designs had an idea.
Her suggestion was very similar to what I had in mind, but her idea would work. It wouldn't be as hard to do, and more importantly, she was volunteering to do all the mesh building herself!
I was excited again! For the first time in years, I was excited about the potential that Hard Alley had to offer. If we are able to pull this off, it will bring something new and different and fun back to Second Life and offer people a new reason to come enjoy Hard Alley again.
Of course, there are detractors. The people who don't like change. The ones who don't want me to change one thing or another.
I'm sorry, but things are changing. They have to. It's still going to be Hard Alley, but not like you know it. Not every thing you love about Hard Alley will survive the change.
I will be brutally honest here. The people coming around now and telling me not to change haven't come to play in Hard Alley in years. Maybe if they HAD been here, we wouldn't have to change, but they haven't, and an empty sim doesn't pay the $295 a month in tier that the Linden's extort from me.
The people I am listening to are the ones who have been faithful and stuck with me through thick and thin. The ones who have really shown their love for Hard Alley even in the bad times.
It will still be Hard Alley... kind of. Just changed.
8 comments:
I went there for years, haven't been back in about 2 and the few times I have.. well, it's been empty and disappointing.
Think ... smaller. More compact. Sims get too big, they spread the fun around and even if you've got 15 people on the sim... they're all somewhere else. So much for the "party". Keyhole Club just ruined themselves like this -- one of the busiest sims in SL, now spread over several floors with lots of walls. And the crowds left in drove.
Hard Alley still has awesome people that support and encourage, through thick and thin. Our party nights do extremely well, but it could be so much more than that. That is the goal of the rebuild. The people that have been loyal, still are here and will hopefully continue to be so...and the ones that have moved on, or haven't discovered Hard Alley...well...perhaps they will find us again. It is an exciting time indeed, and and it is a risk worth taking.
Hard Alley Reborn sounds awesome! I haven't been there in a long time now, and its mainly because every time I stopped by it was pretty vacant. I concur with the anonymous poster who said not to get too big... have to try to keep people together. No matter what you make, people come mainly for the other people, not the objects.
I love the alley, even though I only pop in once a week or so, just to see whats happening. Change is not bad, the alley will always be special to me.
Brat Banshee
Awesome!!! i cant wait to see... Change isn't bad.. like you said, its a new beginning.
I discovered Hard Alley on my original avi sometime in mid-2008, and spent a bit of time playing there. Since then, I've been back off and on, on a couple different avis, but only this avi ever found some roleplay. As a serious roleplayer, I found it difficult to wrap my mind around the "cybersex" mentality some seem to have. I'm all about the story, and I look for characters being played, not guys just looking to get off, and that's where I've had some disconnect and why I spend most of my time elsewhere. It really ruins the character immersion for me when the other party asks if I'm touching myself. I'm not, because it's not ME having sex. It's me writing about my character having sex. I don't know what changes may be coming, but I do know I'm actively looking for a place to call "home," as the place I play most often has become little more than the SL version of World of Warcraft and that much combat with no RP tends to bore me to the point of stupor. I'll definitely be paying attention and watching to see what direction the Alley is headed now.
Felicia Farlight
Hey young blood
Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
We're gonna change you like a remix...
Then we'll raise you like a Phoenix!
PUT ON YOUR WAR PAINT!!
Stroker and Mami
I only have one question will there still be dirty rough sex and perverted people? If so then bring on the change cuz to be honest without Change it's just fucking boring after awhile
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