Where I've Been
I've been struggling to write Koré in New York and haven't had time for the blog. The reasons I've been
away are largely good. I can't share them, but in a way it's good. I miss
this blog and now feel compelled to return. I am going to try to write more
often. The fact, is I am a person with something to say.
Shadenfreude with a Cherry on Top
Second Life can bring out the worst in people. Currently, I am waiting patiently in line for some Shadenfreude with a cherry on top. I'd add whipped cream if I liked whipped cream, but I loathe it. Here is the back story. A certain not-to-responsible landlord who is a capable DJ and who has a sense of adventure stole 600L from me. I rented a store from him, paid him a month's rent, and found that the mall in which I rented vanished within forty-eight hours. I rebuilt the store as a kiosk, took pictures, laughed, and then of course, Mr. DJ got in touch with me and promised everyone in the rental group replacement stores when he rented his new island.
The first problem was he had nothing to offer me of comparable size. The second problem was that the new sim was zoned adult and I was offering freebies. You need payment info on file or used to access an adult sim. Saying a sim is adult as a political statement or because you have fantasies as in wishful thinking, is bad business. Third, the new sim was zoned homestead which meant the club could hold only twenty to thirty avatars depending on whom you believe. Homestead sims are not the places for malls or for that matter clubs. Fourth, and yes, there's a fourth, the new sim only lasted a week anyway. Mr. DJ then tried to sell me an island. I ended up renting a 2048. That is plenty of land.
Meanwhile, I kept an eye on Mr. DJ. As a DJ he is extremely competent. If he would stick to playing music though, he'd be just one more DJ. I might still be a fan of his. I'm not sure. I've kept tabs on him due to the theft and my anger. I even tried to accuse him of content theft. He can't and doesn't build. He legitimately owns the prefabs he and his friends buy. Put another way, Mr. DJ doesn't even have brains to steal. Stupidity though is dangerous. It is also fun to watch.
Mr. DJ's newest adventure is a combination, club, shopping mall, and rental of furnished prefabs. I won't say what it's called or where it is. The club is out of doors. It runs 24/7 with endless group teleport requests. It is multi-lingual. The music is house which I find agreeable. Iyoba visits a lot and goes dancing there every chance she gets.
Most of the guests at the club are other DJ's either at the club or elsewehere. A few of them may be bots or alts. The place, however, had close to thirty avatarim in it around one in the morning when I went to bed. Nobody ever seems to sleep in Second Life.
Now, I could be wrong. The DJ's, the ones who are not alts or bots, may be in a position to network socially and may bring their fans and friends. These in turn may bring folks to rent the retail stores, and the prefabs may be a big hit. Fancy, boxy prefabs with their furniture installed, and lots of scripts and built on a beach, may prove a hot item. If I am wrong, I deserve to be.
Yet, I don't think I'll be wrong. It is only a question of when Mr. DJ's sim is going to fail. Here are the reasons: The club is the only original part of the build. Remember Mr. DJ can't build. Neither can his friends. Builds out of a box are boring. The mall is charcoal metal. The houses are all alike and the only vegetation is grass and palm trees. There are a hundred builds like this and the prices are about average so they aren't competing on price.
Second, Mr. DJ and colleagues have all the business sense of a sodden litter pan sponge. The sim is always in darkness. They have frozen estate time. This means any one who goes shopping shops in the dark and any one who rents a house rents one in perpetual night. Now if the sim had an arctic theme or a lunar theme, the darkness might work. Darkness is great for the club, but who wants to shop in the dark or live in the dark? What goes for shoppers goes doubly for perspective tennants. Who wants to rent property that they can't see unless they mess with the environment settings? Remember this unoriginal build feature no lanterns, glowing trees, or other lighting to brighten up the malls or residential areas.
Third, no one ever sleeps in Second Life, but it takes real life people to power Second Life avatarim. In short, no one can keep up the 24/7 schedule for long. And DJ's and club hosts fight. No one makes money running a club. A club is a public utility. People have fantasies about DJing just like they have about growing plants or having sex or playing sports. Expecting other people to pay for your pleasure adds to the tension.
Don't ask me how long I think Mr. DJ's sim will last. I am still reeling from the disapearance of Hedonism Island home of Club XxesS. The club was an exciting innovative build that was part of an equally innovative group of islands. If you build it they don't always come, but at least you've tried. DJ fighting and lack of either rentals or commercial rentals drove Club XxesS out of business.
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Now you can ask me what I'd do differently. First, I might start with a quarter sim. If I wanted to play music and ask everyone to chip in so we could rent it for six months. I'd have my club and place to DJ and there would be enough fun to go around.
Second if I wanted to try to make a go of a larger space, a half or a whole sim, I'd do an original build. If I had a mall, I'd try to make it visuall interesting with buildings clustered in a circle facing outward or with openings on alternate sides of the bay and the rear sides of structures and flat roofs used perhaps as green roofs or for additional retailing. This gets rid of the ugly backside of the building problem.
The landscaping would be interesting, especially the species of trees I chose. I might go with a temperate rather than a tropical build. I've done both. There are advantages to both.
If I had residential rentals, I'd rent quonset huts or trailers. They're not as plentiful as boxes.
Though I'd really like to emphasize the third place aspect. Second Life needs third places. Third places are neither home, nor work, nor high intensity retailing. Sandboxes in Second Life might be third places. Clubs that are not overrun with chat spam qualify. The greenhouse behind Info Island International's main library is a third place.
The problem with third place builds in Second Life is that they are NOT profitable and land is expensive. The one functioning Third Place that I frequent is Arare Cafe in Akiba. It is Japanese and always busy when people are available. It is not even a quarter of a sim in size which makes the rent manageable for the long haul. Japanese are far more financially conservative than Americans, Brasilians, or Arabs. Arare Cafe also does not include a disco and no DJ's. They are, however, the successful model.
Meanwhile, I'll probably be heading to Mr. DJ's club though I should be working on my own builld. I'd love to help him with some plants or maybe even design work. He knows enough not to ask me. That is probably just as well. If I work for him, I get sucked in. Not in my wildest dreams, do I imagine that he can succeed. And yes, I deserve to be proven wrong.
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