Goodbye Stark Islands

https://opensimworld.com/hop/82322

Yes, a farewell. For those of you who haven't read it yet, Stark Islands will cease to exist after the end of this month, June 2021. Mattie and Niki cannot continue its operation anymore. Read here: https://opensimworld.com/post/75168

I'll seize the opportunity to leave my impression. And impressed I was and still am.First of all, Stark has got nearly everything. It's one of the most meticulously designed sims, especially in this category. Just look at the landscape. You may not notice it, but except for the beaches and the smaller islands, Stark's terrain is raised which allows for things like swimming-pools or the Roman bathhouse (hop://hg.zetaworlds.com:80/Stark/569/323/46).

Granted, Stark has obviously never been finished. The green tents have always remained empty, as has the 'brothel' (hop://hg.zetaworlds.com:80/Stark/577/412/46), and the Roman bathhouse has always been a basically non-functional prop. And I would have loved to give swim rezzers to the Starks so that the beaches could be used accordingly.

But otherwise, look at this place. It's not just props dropped on the ground. It seems like every last square centimetre has been taken care of. There's a large variety of plants, there are those many buildings, there is other decoration beyond the usual with functions beyond the usual. I'll get to that later.

There is the landing area with the actual landing pad that offers just about everything you need to know about Stark, with its own event location including a stage, with a news stand where you can get the Stark Magazine, with café-like outside seating and with a number of shops ranging from essential freebies to creator-run shops to galleries (one by Nice Minik, one by Mattie herself) and more.

There are countless event locations with different characters all over the place, some on the main islands, some on smaller islands. They are so many that some haven't been used in quite a long time because Stark's seven DJs mostly seem to have their regular locations.

There are the other buildings beyond the landing area. Some have special purposes like the medical center (with a working gyn chair; hop://hg.zetaworlds.com:80/Stark/404/301/46), the photo studio (hop://hg.zetaworlds.com:80/Stark/542/405/46) or the aforementioned Roman bathhouse. Most buildings, however, are residential and for rent to residents of ZetaWorlds and members of the Stark group. They don't come furnished, you have to do that yourself, and you should stay within reasonable prim counts. But having these residential buildings on such a sim is a big plus, especially considering the sim's nature. Again, I'll get to that later.

There is also a network of paths that leads all over the main islands. Even the few beach locations on the main islands have pathways down the cliff. Some of you may never have known this, but as long as you can stay on the main islands, you can actually walk everywhere. And I really recommend walking over both flying and teleporting because there's just so much to see and do. I really recommend you to take the opportunity of Stark's last days and explore the islands by foot.

And, now it comes, I recommend you to do that in the nude.

Which takes us to one of the things that give Stark its identity, its character, that make it so special amongst the many sims on the Hypergrid. The one thing that gave Stark its name. And that's its dress code. Yes, Stark has a dress code for the entire sim. It basically goes like this:

Please be nude if you can. Feel free to be nude everywhere. Be nude whenever and wherever you want to.

So Stark doesn't only allow nudity, it encourages nudity. Mattie and Niki really want Stark visitors to go naked. I mean, you may see them both in the buff at regular events, Mattie not that often, but still sometimes, and Niki strips down entirely pretty much always.

And you won't embarrass yourself if you're naked at Stark. Not even if you take all your clothes off at one of Stark's well-attended events or go there naked right away. Because chances that you'll stay the only one naked over the entire event are nil. There will be other naked avatars, and yes, even from the very beginning on. In fact, I've been at events which ended with absolutely everyone naked including the DJ.

In combination with the residential houses on Stark Islands, this means that you can not only be naked at home, but you can leave your home naked and walk around everywhere naked in a very large area as you please. If you live at Stark, and you only ever attend events at Stark, chances are you barely ever have to wear clothes, if at all. You can literally walk from your home to an event or elsewhere and back without ever wearing anything. This brings me back to the bathhouse which doesn't have any dressing areas because the ancient Romans went to the bathhouse and back naked. You can do the same.

The amount of almost or full nudity at Stark's events is so staggering that it's sometimes the fully clothed avatars who end up being the ones standing out. In fact, if you've followed the events at Stark for a while, you may have noticed people who used to spend the events fully clothed, and after some time, they started undressing or coming naked right away.

Still, there are enough people who keep coming back fully clothed, often even in 'inappropriate' clothes, i.e. technically too much for the climate (e.g. black leather jacket in a place that's warm enough for no clothes at all), and who never take anything off, not even their shoes. One starts to wonder: Are they too shy to go naked? Do they believe they don't look good enough naked? Do they define themselves through their clothes? Do they consider themselves too badass to change anything on their outfit, also because they don't want Mattie and Niki or anyone else to tell them what they have to do? Do they only come to gawk at naked women (or naked men) while refusing to expose themselves?

Or, worse yet, are we dealing with predators who are looking for sexy naked women to get horny from and have sex with, but who want to take them home with themselves and only undress themselves (or even only get their dick out) right before the act when the woman is already lying on their bed? In my opinion, this is disrespectful, this is not acting at eye level.

I mean, I must admit that the first few times I went to Stark, I stayed fully dressed myself. I didn't even dance. In fact, I barely interacted with anyone. I must have come over as some Peeping Tom. The first one or two times, I dressed like I was going to a summer party before I opted for more casual summer outfits or going commando under a kilt. I've stripped down to only the kilt once, but no further because that was a time when there were no naked men at Stark's parties at all, and I would have been the only naked guy. I think I've only ever worn swim trunks once, and even then I came in a bathrobe. The bathrobe became my standard garment for Stark in late April when I started considering going all the way because I can wear it with no alpha layers and go naked easily. One day, still in late April, I did just that: I took the bathrobe off. Nobody made a fuss about my sudden full nudity, nor about my 'equipment'.

I've never worn any clothes at Stark ever since (at least not for long because my viewer crashed whenever I went there in a suit and tie). Nowadays, I always undress before going to Stark. Those of you who know me may also know that I'm far from being one of those super-sized, pumped-up, deep-tanned, badass demi-gods with foot-long limp dongs. Nobody complains. As I said, Stark doesn't have beauty standards and especially not this. Maybe some guys who always came fully clothed have secretly judged and ridiculed me for revealing this 'sub-standard' body. But I don't care. Nobody else cares.

For let me reveal something else to you: After I've started going naked myself, I've gotten lucky with several naked ladies via Stark's parties, 'even' with this look.

And this leads me to another strong aspect of Stark: how it deals with sexuality.

For one, it is of course worth mentioning that Stark welcomes people of all genders and all sexual orientations (paedophile ageplayers explicitly excluded). A big shout-out to Mattie and Niki for this! Sure, us guys get to see couples of sexy naked lesbians through this. But it means that everyone (with the aforementioned exception) can and shall feel free to live out their romantic passions. And their sexual passions.

And if you dare, you can do just that out in the open. Yes, in the big, popular place that is Stark. But hey, you're probably naked already, so for one, the sight of naked members of your preferred sex are likely to arouse you anyway, maybe you arouse them, too, and without clothes, there's one fewer thing that stands in mutual passion's way. In fact, at Stark, pretty much nothing stands in mutual passion's way.

While it is being hinted at by warning about not only nudity but also 'explicit content', this is not openly advertised. Nonetheless, it is possible. It is rather easily possible, it is possible in many places, and it is possible in many ways. And I've got the feeling that this is secretly encouraged, too.

Unlike other 'nude beach with sex' sims, Stark is not littered with the usual furniture for fucking on a beach. There are no Corfu loungers or Purple Swan towels every 20 metres. There are no beach huts with naughty furniture in them. Stark does all this more subtly and with much more credibility. At the same time, places for sexy times are always kept close to popular locations, so unlike yet other 'nude beach with sex' sims that try to be subtle by having only a few hidden pieces of sex furniture, you and your partner don't have to walk half the sim before you can finally do it.

Some of you may know all this already, but I believe there are many who never play with what sims have to offer them. They never sit down on any furniture, they may not even know that certain furniture has a control HUD because it doesn't automatically pop open when sitting down, and when using a dance machine, they pick the next best dance on the first page and leave it on until they log off instead of wandering through the HUD's menus. To these people, the options for love-making at Stark aren't obvious enough to the point of being completely concealed. So here come a few 'spoilers'.

All the outdoor café seating in the landing area is scripted and equipped with animations. While interestingly most benches at Stark don't have adult animations, the café benches with tables are essentially outdoor sex couches. The two chairs plus table are even more sophisticated and come with so many animations that it's possible to play out an entire romantic meeting from waiting for the partner to meeting to having dinner to finally having sex. This set can also be used by lesbians, by the way.

There is one interesting swimming-pool right in the middle of the main island (hop://hg.zetaworlds.com:80/Stark/376/319/46). There are two adult floaties on the water and two adult beach towels next to the pool, but they distract from the fact that the pool itself is chock-full of animations like you've never seen. Unfortunately, as big as the pool is, it is only designed to accommodate one couple.

You may discover even more if you look around such as outdoor showers (not all of them are fit for more than one avatar, though).

And then there are the dance machines. You may have wondered why the Clubmasters at Stark are red instead of golden. Well, they are special editions. They all have additional sexy dances. And about half of them are the so-called 'Sex Edition' which have actual sex animations built in. Yes, this means you can have sex right at events. Or you can cam to the nearest 'Sex Edition' dance ball from where you're standing and and have sex right wherever you currently are. That said, either the 'Sex Edition' in general is buggy, or something makes it malfunction at Stark. The only animation for pleasuring the woman is broken on the man's side, rendering the whole thing useless for lesbians and foreplay in general man-centred. Still, the 'Sex Editions' provide you with additional sex options.

So on the one hand, if you really want to get it on with someone (and since chances are good that you're both naked which can easily be a turn-on for both sides, this isn't too unlikely), and you don't need total privacy, you usually don't have to walk far to do it, much less teleport. And then you won't do something forbidden. On the other hand, Stark does an amazing job at not looking like a sex sim.

What's left to say now? Well, according to the announcement, Stark has less than a week to live. So let's make the best of it. And I hereby encourage you to do the same.

Go visit Stark if you can. And if it's possible anyhow, go naked. This has always been part of Mattie and Niki's vision, and you'll do them and other visitors a favour. Don't be shy. Stark is not the place to be uptight. Stark is the place to throw your prudery overboard and do what you may not even have dared to dream of.

Don't be ashamed. Going to Stark doesn't make you a pervert, and being naked at Stark doesn't make you a pervert either. Many people have gone there and still go there. I mean, Stark is the second-most popular sim on the Hypergrid.

Explore the islands. Just stay out of private property which includes the residential houses as well as private islands (essentially all without teleport targets) unless you're invited, but otherwise, go around and look at everything, the landscape, the flora, the architecture. Don't teleport. Don't fly. Walk. Take your time. It's worth it.

Meet people. Maybe you get to know someone nice and sympathetic. Maybe you make new friends. Maybe even someone to still be naked together with when Stark is gone? And if you both want 'it' to happen, well, let it happen. It can be fun, and it'll do you good, no matter where it happens. Just remember that there has to be mutual consent, and 'no' means 'no'. Be nice. Don't be an arrogant arsehole and try to force your way. This doesn't turn anyone on here. Stark is known for nice and friendly people.

There's only one weekend between now and Stark's closure. Take your chance as long as you still can.

One last thing: If there'll be a big farewell party at Stark, and you want to go there, I think I speak for Mattie and Niki and many others if I ask you to dress your best for the occasion. Namely not at all. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance.