Welcome to HILLVALE

One of the opening scenes of 1982’s Blade Runner is a crowded street in futuristic Los Angeles. A loudspeaker optimistically announces, “A new life awaits you in the offworld colonies! The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!” It’s a statement that very quickly could be talking about Second Life, too, since many have found adventure and opportunity while logged in. It also could have been speaking directly to Lauren Bentham, who doesn’t just explore worlds; she creates them.

Her adventure began on a rainy March day in 2006. She logged into Second Life for the first time just to “see what it was about” and recalls, “I had no clue what I was doing, and to start with, I just explored other sims and places.” It wasn’t long before she bought her first parcel of land where she could “mess around with prims.” Her first official build was one of Second Life’s first haunted houses, and she was soon creating whole sims. Now, she has three active builds SL residents can visit.

One is called Everwinter – a decaying amusement park reminiscent of Pripyat and filled with the dead (and not so dead). The other two have a beach theme called Baja Coast and Baja Coast

2. Both sims offer visitors a laid-back, relaxing experience with sun, sand, and surf. Some beach houses are also available for those thinking of making their stay in either of these communities more permanent. Regardless of which sim you visit, one thing remains the same: Each one was meticulously planned out and built with both care and attention to detail.

For her latest build, Hillvale, which opened in March 2023, she was “working 10 to 14 hours per day on it with the occasional day off”. Even with that amount of dedication, the project took about six weeks, from the drawing board to her opening it to the public. Even more incredible? The final build is not the result of a collaborative effort with others: “I build all my sims alone and always have done since the very first one.”

For Hillvale, she chose to go in a different creative direction from her previous builds. She is a “big fan of the movies Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049” and a fan of Cyberpunk-themed places in Second Life. Those influences are seen from the minute one rezzes onto the sim.

From the towering skyscrapers to the flying vehicles, the street vendors and Japanese signs and billboards, brand names emblazoned everywhere, and neon ticker-tape sign, it’s like stepping onto a Blade Runner set. But if you walk further on, you will almost step into a time warp that takes you to the 1940s and 50s with vintage cars, a drive-in, and Art Deco architecture. When in this part of the sim, depending on the time of day one visits, it could just be another retro sim where you would expect greasers and bobby soxer hanging out having burgers and milkshakes. It could also be a nod to the original Blade Runner’s film noir elements, as that genre had its golden age in that era.

Therein lies the genius of the sim’s design. It has a little bit of something for everyone, and like Baja Coast, it offers rentals for those who want to immerse themselves further. When asked if there is regular roleplay, she states there is “no particular roleplay system, but people are more than welcome to roleplay while at the sim.”

People are also more than welcome to come and take pictures and post them to the official Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/groups/hillvale_ official/pool/. If one chooses, they can also make blog posts simultaneously on-site (Lauren only requests that Hillvale is credited as the location in the blog post). To make blogging/photography easier, joining the group (175L Fee) will allow visitors to rez objects temporarily.

For her part, Lauren’s work is finished – except for minor tweaks here and there as new items become available that would fit the theme. Now all that’s left is for us to come and enjoy the ambiance and setting she has created. Hope to see you there!