Happy birthday Necronom VI

Today, the 16th of October, not only marks my birthday, but also the earliest time I can actively remember running Necronom VI in a somewhat stable condition, which is why I have decided to also make it the birthday of this project.
It's really hard to say exactly, because, as few of you may know, I never officially opened Necronom VI to this day, because it stays unfinished and will probably remain so for a long time. I just pulled it out of my inventory somewhere and everything else almost happened by itself.
I must say, it's been an interesting experience to say the least, on a lot of levels. Every time I think of what made me start all this is when I remember that way back when, when I started to investigate SL as a new medium, I first concluded that it was a complete waste of time. On a first superficial view SL was merely a mirrorimage of the somewhat lacking cultural society of the USA, being full of casinos, brothels and reseller stores of people who merely wanted to make a quick buck, one looking like the exact replica of another. Considering the possibilities were endless, what a truly pathetic image SL had presented...
It was only some time later when I was working on a documentation for TV that I realized that even though the surface of SL was truly pathetic, the variety of people roaming around was much bigger then that of the provided locations. And it was no wonder really, let's say you spend a month building up your inventory of landmarks, it will be just weeks before almost all of them will be rendered useless because the locations will have disapeared. Interpersonal drama, misguided financial expectations or just a completely unreasonable understanding of the format are all factors contributing towards that and looking at these problems I was convinced I could do better.
What I wanted to create was not just another random place, it was my goal to make one that truly lasts. A place that you discover, forget and revisit months later without having to worry about where it went.
Considering that as my primary objective I think it's safe to say that now, after one year, I have accomplished that, because unless the internal rules of SL are completely turned upside down by Linden Labs, it would appear that the future of this place is safe for a long time to come, even when most of you have already moved on to something new.
That being said, what can you expect from the future? Well as far as I'm concerned, I'm far from being done. I still find the possibilities of SL fascinating and as a gamedesigner, there's a lot of ideas left just screaming to be tried out. They have been from the start and yet, I still haven't even finished putting together all the basic locations. So for the next few months I will still be busy building, before I can finally attend to the general structures of the place.
You all have seen the NeMit system being introduced, which is a first attempt on introducing some more general ways of gameplay to the project and still features only a fraction of the content I imagined. During the coming months I will also work on providing additional material for that, because the feedback has been very positive and I feel that it is a very fun way to waste some time in between the daily dramaqueen elections.
During this year I have put a lot of work into the place, but it would be shamefull not to mention all those people that have joined in to form a community and that have contributed their own part to the project. Be it group organization, or content, Necronom by now is filled with ideas and work of various people and even though many of them have already moved on over time, I still want to thank each and everyone of you for contributing how ever small your part may be, looking at everything together I think it's justified for all of you to be proud.