Yay for happy face announcement time!
After a few months of hard work and more than one hiccup, the Blackwater remodel project is complete! Major construction finished on November 6. While a few cleanup items remain, the sim is once again open for playtime!
This was a massive undertaking that involved the rebuilding of three full sims. I know it took a few months, but believe me — that’s actually pretty quick.
Most of our favorite venues remain but have been repositioned or reimagined in an improved format. These are:
- Blackwater Stable (now located on the pony level, reimagined)
- Blackwater Manor (repositioned)
- The Conservatory (repositioned)
- Blackwater Dairy (repositioned, reimagined)
- The Town Square (repositioned, reimagined)
- Blackwater Hall (repositioned)
- Polo Fields, Dressage Fields, Training Fields (not affected)
- Blackwater Stadium (not affected)
- Puppy Playground (repositioned)
The remodel also involved the creation of seven brand new venues:
- Castle Blackwater (meeting space, dungeons, trophy house, event venue)
- FOUR NEW DUNGEONS
- The Black Rose (a new reimagined social bar)
- Temptation Art Gallery
- The Garden Pool
- Blackwater Point
- Blackwater Winery
A complete list of the Blackwater Venues comprising the remodel can be found here.
While increasing the number of venues and activities available at Blackwater, we also managed to decrease our overall land impact and script usage. We now have more content at higher speed.
This is Blackwater 3.0. If you’ve been around since the beginning of Blackwater, you know that we have undergone several large-scale transformations. As we continue to grow and evolve as people, Blackwater has continued to grow and evolve with us. This most recent remodel reflects our growing desire to: (1) engage in more immersive role play, (2) de-emphasize the video gamey nature of pony play, and (3) engage in more explicit BDSM-related sexual content.
This is not just a physical remodel. This is a fundamental change in our approach to BDSM play and kink content in Second Life. You can expect the following changes:
- Scheduled immersion role play scenes. While role play has always been encouraged at Blackwater, we will be scheduling specific scenes/scenarios intended for deep immersion role play.
- Scheduled BDSM play sessions. Impromptu beatings are fun, but better yet, you can now expect scheduled BDSM play scenes at all levels of depravity.
- Revamped D/s hierarchy. Gone are the days of boring old meaningless pony roles like “groom.” The roles at Blackwater have been simplified and revamped to promote kink.
- De-emphasis of pony play. We love pony play and always will, but there are lots of other great flavors of kink. You can expect a more role play-based version of pony play that promotes immersion and de-emphasizes the “pew pew” gamey aspect of pony play that has become all too common in SL (and is not remotely kinky in the first place).
Fair warning: This transition will be bumpy. Please do not expect business as usual. Blackwater should be more than a collection of pixels; it should be an experience that resonates with us and affects us on a level deeper than what we see on our computer screens. This most recent remodel is intended to promote experiences that whisk us away from our RL homes to a place of mystery, romance, intrigue, pain and pleasure.
Don’t worry, we will still hang out. There will be plenty of down time. But our “hang out” vibe will now coexist alongside a new, deeper, role play-based experience.
The work on Blackwater will never be done. It will always be growing, changing and improving. There will always be construction, and this is not the last remodel.
But wait!!! Before you groan and roll your eyes at me, remember this: Blackwater has never been about the place. It has always been about the people. Over the years, we have grown from relative strangers standing on an empty green platform to a merry little band of kinksters who love each other deeply. Blackwater has grown — and will continue to grow — as we explore a shared realm of fantasy. This most recent remodel is the latest — and by far the best — step we have taken toward achieving that shared vision. It’s not the final step; just the most recent.
How do you participate? It is critical that you attend our scheduling meetings. Every few weeks, we will meet together — OOC — to discuss content. Bring your calendar. If you have an idea, speak up. We are open-minded people who will happily do just about any kinky (and non-kinky) thing you can imagine. But we are not psychics and gone are the days of waiting idly for some indefinite, murky, unspoken, unscheduled play time. Go to the meetings. Bring your calendar and your ideas. Welcome to Blackwater 3.0.
I want to thank the following people for their help, time, ideas, and most of all for their patience in helping to finish this giant project: Stephpony, Winnie, Puppy, Layla, Ruddi, Hole and of course, the always curmudgeonly Mule.