All Good Sims Must Come To An End

The departure of Rod Humble and the imminent closure of Cloud Party had me reminiscing about my old days in Extropia. But when I tried to teleport to the main Extropia Core sim on Saturday, I was shocked to find that it had disappeared from the face of the grid. The once thriving community and its lovingly crafted futuristic builds had vanished. I posted a hasty "WTF?" to the still functioning Second Life group and learned that it was shut down in December. This is the announcement from founder Galatea Gynoid:

Extropia Core & Extropia Odyssey Sims Closing in December 2013

Dear friends, 

Both of the current Extropia sims will be leaving the grid by the end of the year. The Tieromatic is offline and will remain so; do not worry about any tier due, everyone is welcome to continue using their current parcels until the sims go offline. Deebs and I and possibly one or two other current residents will be moving to a new homestead sim that should be online before the end of the year. Alas, this sim will not have as many prims as a full sim, so we will not be able to move everyone or everything from the current sims there, but if you are interested in continuing in Second Life with us, contact me with your prim requirements and we'll see if we can fit you in. 

I want to thank everyone who has lived in Extropia and helped our community over the years. Your support has helped us to keep Extropia online and functioning for as many years as it has. Our community will continue, albeit in a smaller, less expensive sim, but you will always be welcome there. Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing you in our new sim once we're all moved in. We'll announce further details next month. 

Sincerely,
Galatea

My move to Extropia in 2008 was the spark that fueled the most transformative period of my nascent virtual life. It was the first and only time I experienced day-to-day life as an active member of a Second Life community. Seeing it gone was the emotional equivalent of driving to my RL childhood neighborhood and finding my home town bulldozed to the ground.

If the Second Life private estate count continues to decline over the next few years, it's conceivable that Linden Lab might one day shut down Second Life and extinguish the entire virtual world. I imagine ten thousand virtual life boats sailing for Open Sim grids or whatever other alternatives are available. On that fanciful, but sobering image, I'll leave you with a video slide show I put together a few years ago, featuring photos of Extropia in its prime.