The Fade

If I chanced upon a place like The Fade in real life, I'd probably hurry out as quickly as possible, and wouldn't use the word "beauty" to describe it, but curiously in a virtual environment such scenes evoke, for me at least, a sort of wistful nostalgia. Sim designer Monday (a.k.a. Storm Septimus) remarked to me, "I think it's because you can set the sky to light it all so it shows a hidden beauty, sort of the faded glory side...That's what I try and aim for, a big crappy mess on the outside, but it still has its former beauty shining through."

In this respect she succeeds admirably, as the most popular interior space, Reira Fang's club re:noize, "a distorted eargasm for noize-minded souls," invites us with its high-tech look and bright, warm colors. But elsewhere all is chaos: a city with cars, trucks and trains derailed, bridges collapsing, buildings in ruins, a condemned hotel, smoldering fires and hazardous weather. (I was swept clear across the sim by a tornado while taking a photo.) You'll also discover a bar, The Last Stop. Now, Monday and friends are at work building a sister sim to the north, already linked by land and roads to The Fade, visible not but not yet accessible. "We spend more time just stood looking at it than doing it," she quipped, but one can see plenty of structures anchored into place. If you enjoy the sim, please consider leaving a contribution. (Click on any image to zoom in.)