Spotlight - Amsterdam

Filed under: Entertainment, Shopping, Exploration

Created by Stroker Serpentine, and his able partner Fyre Raine, sim Amsterdam started out as a single sim, that has since grown into a network of 11 sims, with no apparent end in sight. One of the first things that really stands out about Amsterdam is the attention-to-detail. It feels very much like a real place, with signage, advertising, imperfections and litter.

Benja Soon said it made him miss the real Amsterdam, and lauded the accuracy of the design, "If the map went two more blocks to my right, I could visit my old apartment."

Within a week of it opening the stores were already beginning to fill up with hopeful sellers, and the streets and skies started to fill up with visiting avatars. Throughout 2006 the inhabitants, visitors and vendors of Amsterdam have refit and reinvented themselves again, and again. Amsterdam is always busy. In fact it is one of the busiest places in Second Life. Not just because of the realistic feel, but because of the undeniably mature atmosphere.
(Mature content below the fold)

Second Lifers are all over Amsterdam, walking, shopping, chatting, dancing, clubbing. They're dressed, half-dressed and undressed by turns. Amsterdam is unashamed, yet curiously calm. Armed assault is certainly less common here than (for example) a quick knee-trembler in a side-alley. Sex happens in Second Life. Sex happens everywhere that people gather, like gambling, sex is an activity that humanity brings to every place it inhabits.

Metaverse prostitutes (or am I supposed to call them escorts this decade?) of either gender, no gender, or more than one gender calmly negotiate with potential clientele, the discussion is practical, businesslike, and unhurried. You've walked past this conversation a hundred times in a hundred cities in the real world, there's not much difference here in the online world.

For mature entertainment, Amsterdam and it's adjacent regions seem to have the lot. From luxurious, elegant clothing and jewelry, all the way down to the gritty and seamy. Sex sells, and Second Life's Amsterdam sells it very well indeed, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

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