The return of Stark!

As you may or may not have noticed, Stark is back. It isn't the same anymore, but it's back.

The first big change is that Stark is no longer that one 4x4 varsim that it used to be which wasted a lot of real estate on lots of ocean with small private islands or event islands on it. It is now split into four 2x2 varsims: Stark, Stark NW, Stark NE and Stark SE.

Altogether, Stark has gained a lot of land area. The tiny private islands are gone, as are the few small islands with only one or two event locations on them. Generally, the number of event locations has been slightly reduced, although new ones have been added since the launch. But I guess these have never been so much of an issue since the Starks have introduced the Clubmistress satellite dance machines. This also means that there should only be one Clubmaster on the Stark Archipelago. There are actually at least two.

By the way, all event locations are on Stark proper which means no Clubmasters on the other three sims. On the other hand, while Stark offers private residential rentals again, they're all on the other three sims; none of them is on Stark itself. This means that scripted furniture in residencies no longer have to share server power with parties. There are two cottages on Stark which look like rentals, but they're public ground, and they were built for those who need a secluded place for sexy times. In average, the rental buildings have grown in size, also thanks to how much more land there is for them to stand on. On old Stark, every other building was a small Shelter Island cottage.

One thing that hasn't changed is that most land in the Stark Archipelago is raised significantly above the usual "sea level + 1 metre". There are several reasons for this. One certainly is that a few bits and pieces from old Stark have survived until this day, and what was remodelled had to be matched to it. Another one is that it makes swimming-pools with their own water possible. Besides, Stark has a literal underground club again. And let's not forget that this form of neatly sculpted landscape is more spectacular than dropping Skye mesh dunes on flat land.

If you loved to walk around old Stark instead of just simply teleporting everywhere, here's good news: New Stark is about as walkable as old Stark. There's a path leading up to Stark NW and through its uphill residential area. If you go down to the beach, you can get to a bridge that takes you further east to Stark NE. From there on, however, some islands can only be reached by teleporting, by boat (if you're privileged enough to have one), by swimming (Stark does have the occasional swim rezzer, but I'm not sure if you can find some there) or by flying (not recommended due to possible ban lines).

Fun fact: All islands in the Stark Archipelago have names now, and there's a map near the landing which shows them.

Another thing has changed, at least for now: Stark isn't as packed anymore as it used to be. For one, this can be contributed to how much more land is available now. This especially goes for the three rental sims, for as far as I can tell, there are also more rentals than before, and this although the rentals don't start almost right outside the landing area anymore.

It may also seem like Mattie and Niki decided not to build new Stark as densely as old Stark. One sign for this is that there's somewhat less public sex furniture. Old Stark was designed for outright sex orgies which probably never occurred. Or if they did, they may rather have involved dance machines.

But I think it's more of a case of Mattie and Niki not having put as much time into building new Stark yet as they've contributed to old Stark. One sign for this is that new structures keep appearing, actually including new event locations. Especially around the landing square, new buildings have been erected (heh-heh) after Stark's relaunch such as a blues club, an American diner and Nice's photo studio. Don't think of new Stark as finished yet.

A few things you may remember from old Stark. As I've already mentioned, part of it was left untouched, including a few event locations. The Roman bath house is back, now with some functional furniture inside and non-phantom water issues removed, as is the meditation circle and the scripted pool (how cool is that).

Other things are new. For example, Stark has finally got a harbour. And that isn't just that all-in-one mesh harbour plopped onto the sim. That wouldn't be Stark style. No, except for the buildings on it, it's hand-crafted or at least heavily modified. The wooden piers make for nice places to take your landmark if you prefer to play immersively. The existence of a seaport makes Stark generally more credible because you have to get there somehow. A wooden walkway takes you straight from the piers to one of the party beaches.

Stark no longer has those urban shop buildings which tended to be vacant anyway. Instead, first of all, there's a much larger freebie store at the harbour. I've done two good deeds concerning this store, by the way: I've had the Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 boxes added, some third-party extras included. And I've advised Niki to remove Athena pre-4, those early performance-murdering onion-style mesh bodies which even the Athena team asked shopkeepers to throw out. (If anyone wants to start an Athena or general mesh body museum, I think I know where you can still find them...) Of course, you can still find some Stark classics there.

Near the northeast corner, there's an area with small, half-open shops that can be rented as easily as residential buildings on the other three sims. They serve as an easier-to-use replacement for most of the urban buildings of old Stark.

There are DJ events again, but Stark doesn't have a regular schedule yet, partly because some DJs have moved to I LOve YOu, partly because others don't have time anymore or have left OpenSim altogether after the end of Stark. Speaking of I LOve YOu, it has also become the new home of many former Stark residents, and especially those who'd regularly go naked at Stark's parties now rather hang around at I LOve YOu's parties which announce "nakie time" at 1 PM grid time. This unfortunately also means that there are fewer avatars going naked at Stark's events now. At least, with Suzan von Otter, they've found a DJ who regularly appears basically naked right away while most other DJs even refuse to strip down during their events.

Last but not least, it may be worth picking up the Stark Magazine issues again because they've been upgraded with new scripts. And new issues are in the making.