“In this world of change, nothing which comes stays, and nothing which goes is lost.”

A few years ago, almost every man I met in SL inevitably said, "Let me take you somewhere amazing!" And if we didn't land at Inspire Space Park, we landed at the Lost Gardens of Apollo. And every time, I acted like it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

But, the last time I was dragged to either of those places was probably in 2008 [maybe 2009 for Inspire], and I'd pretty much put the places out of my mind as newer places took over the grid. When I read that the Lost Gardens of Apollo is scheduled to shut down this month, I was surprised but not surprised. I decided to go over one last time.




When I saw how very much the same it still was, I was surprised but not surprised.

The dance floor where someone once took me to proclaim his feelings towards me was still the same. The floating tubs where a friend would take me to float in the water when I was stressed were exactly the same. Newbies doing tai chi or relaxing on pose balls were still there. I even took a picture of myself laying on the same chair, in the same position, as I am in another picture I have from years before. Old flowers by Fallingwater Cellardoor are around, along with old chairs by Baron Grayson and old statues by Starax Statosky.

Some people are upset over this. They shake their fists at Linden Lab and yell, "Why are your tier fees so high that people can no longer afford sims? Why aren't you listening to us when we tell you that we're angry?" And I get it. As a sim owner, every month I have that little fear that I may not be able to pay, even after all the rents are collected. It's a pricy hobby. I'd love to have a sim to myself one day, but that is a dream and I can think of other things to do with the money that would cost.

But at the same time - when these sims close, most of the time there is a great group of people who have never heard of these places at all. Considering the lack of advertising most of the sim owners do, there are people who have no idea what these places are. And if they go, they wonder why the sims are not as well kept, as updated, as other places that they may venture.

Someone mentioned that there should be an SL Historical Society for the preservation of these old sims. Would that even be financially doable? Think about other historical places in the real world. How many times is a person going to actually go to the Alamo, or Stonehenge, or even Graceland? How many people go to old sims when there are so many other places to go to? Tell me the last time that you actually went to Apollo before the story of their closing came out?

I suggest you go visit, though, either for the first time or for the last time.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”