Commentary: So, You Want To Be A Club Owner

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's no shortage of clubs around Second Life. Someone once told me, probably more than one person, that residents in Second Life either had their own club, or dreamed about having one. This is obviously an exaggeration, but perhaps not a very great one as clubs and hangouts are always springing up. And over time, yours truly has seen his share, and friends sighed about a favorite hangout going under. Some last for years. Some just for weeks.

Yours truly has never owned a club, though I've helped with a number. So I know a few things about what goes into a club, and what can help make it last.

The Purpose

Do you want to run a club to be somebody, or do something. I've seen people whom seemed to be dreaming of having a popular club dozens people will flock to. They want to be the next big thing, a big flashy place with lots of lights that will attract so many, they'll have to fight through the lag. Others are less ambitious, perceiving a need among their friends and/or virtual neighbors for a certain type of club. Perhaps the club they've been going is too big, or perhaps they want something a little more laid back and less flashy, or perhaps something different. Those among the latter are usually more realistic than the former as they're not generally out to create an overnight success.

The Time

Do you want a big flashy club with lots of events and people? If so, be prepared to invest a lot of time in your venue to the point it feels like a second job. A tiny beach hangout that has only a few events per week, not so much. But you'll be surprised how much time event a little club can take, especially if you're doing things alone.

The Expense

Very seldom do clubs in Second Life make money. It's very possible none of them do any more. Unless you're a builder, you'll have to buy the building and furnishings or pay someone to make them. More importantly, there's the land which needs to be paid for every month. The radio stream costs more money too. And unless you know how to DJ and have the software, which costs money, you'll need to find someone who can, and probably one ore more hosts/hostesses. While most are willing to work for tips alone, be prepared to take care of that yourself on days when the crowd is reluctant to part with their Lindens. If you want a live musician, prepare to spend even more. And with club after club offering contests, most likely you'll need to offer those too if you want more than a small crowd. More money there.

Getting By With A Little Help From Your Friends

Only the smallest clubs can be operated okay by one person. More commonly, the owner will have someone manage things on an everyday basis. Bigger and more active clubs often have one or more acting as assistant managers. Then there are the hosts and hostesses, who make announcements and greet people as they come in, and occasionally answer questions. Some clubs will also have security to keep out the griefers. While such people can be hired, the best people will be those you already know, possibly people whom have been coming by the club for a while and would like to help out.

One issue is if you hire your friends, it becomes less of a boss and worker relationship and more of a team effort in which those you know will expect to have a say in how things are run. So this kind of arrangement isn't for everyone.


The Drama

Sadly where there are people, there is the potential for Drama. The contests alone can be a source of it as people can be surprisingly possessive when even a tiny amount of Lindens are on the line, and complaining of "cheating" when they don't get it. And when one or more persons seem to win a lot, people will complain about the contest being rigged or by alts stacking the vote. And then there's "(S)he shouldn't have won, I fit the theme much better than (s)he did."

Politics (I haven't noticed religion be an issue, but it can happen) can also be a problem as some people can be upset by something in the news. Many clubs have rules discouraging political talk, especially when the crowd is more than a tiny few. There's a reason for this: many people come to Second Life to escape the pressures of reality, and political talk can result in several people TPing out of the place.

Then there are people who seem to always find something to complain about. Sometimes they're under pressure from their real life jobs, or friends and family. But other times, the reasons are clear only to them. And then there are the horndogs who will pester women for sex, the bullies who seem to like pushing people around, the griefers whom love disrupting club events for the joy of making others miserable.

Being a "people person" is a must for a club manager. If a club owner has problems relating to people or with his or her temper, a manager with people skills will be a must for keeping the club healthy.

I have seen a few people lose heart with their clubs after a heated drama incident, wanting to shut down the place or leave the staff if they're a part of the team, feeling the "taint" has permanently crippled the club's ability to attract people. But it's my impression most visitors, while not wanting to deal with the hassle of drama, aren't especially phobic. If they don't see a problem there and then, most will show up as usual, and those that are wary will come again after an event or two when it's obvious the problem is gone.

Another problem I've noticed are people who make trouble, then use having Aspergers or some other mental condition as an excuse, saying they don't mean to cause it. But many of my friends don't believe this, one saying, "I know a number of people who have Aspergers, and they do not act like that." One club owner stated in his rules, "If we have to tell you how to act, don't bother coming here."

The Griefers

Most Second Life residents are familiar with those whose sole purpose of their virtual lives is to make others miserable.  We're all familiar with the "grief and run," someone rezzing a particle emitter nearby that floods the place with dozens of images of Mario or some other image. Or they may just be trying to create drama, by insulting the DJ, or talking about how great or how bad a certain political faction is. Often, they're brand new avatars with little attention paid to detail, or seem to be deliberately deformed a bit. Because of the stereotype, many clubs will throw out such avatars on the spot, or simply automatically not allow any avatar under 30 days.

As true as this stereotype often is, it's not always the case. There are some people who are simply bad at designing themselves (http://slnewserpeople.blogspot.com/2017/10/slime-and-times-banned-for-looking-odd.html) and continue to have this attempt at an appearance long into their virtual life. And club after club with a "not welcome" sign for newcomers isn't exactly encouraging to keep new people interested in the Grid. And of course some griefers are properly dressed. Or perhaps they have a way of knowing the "fine line" before the club owners give them the boot. These people are truly aggravating for patrons and club owners alike, especially for those who feel without procedure, people will be reluctant to come out of fear for being banned for no reason.

Some years into Second Life history, a new kind of griefing came into play: extortion. Instead of just trying to annoy, these people would employ things like "sim crashers" repeatedly at a club and then demand money in order for it to stop. Otherwise they would keep it up until they either got their money or the club closed. There has been at least one case in which the Lab wasn't much help, and the club and it's community had to hunker down for a while until they felt the coast was clear (http://slnewserextra.blogspot.com/2013/01/news-and-commentary-graphics-card.html), a nightmare scenario for a club owner.

May The Best Man Win, Or Maybe Not

Going back to those who gripe about losing a contest to someone not dressed as good, while more often than not it's someone venting after not winning, on occasion things do look like they have a case. One complaint I've heard is that of people TPing friends or alts in at the last minute to vote for them. It's my experience this doesn't happen often, but it does on occasion. And a club owner being paranoid of alts for voting can easily end up throwing out people who were simply curious newcomers who happened to hear about the club.

But vote-stacking isn't the only issue. One person I know who works meticulously on her outfits complained about being "jellydolled," saying people who couldn't be bothered to adjust their settings in order to see her avatar and therefore didn't vote for her. Some people may also be using old viewers that show some avatars as scrambled or otherwise deformed. So a more detailed outfit could end up costing someone votes.

And then there's the human factor, someone not voting for someone because they feel they've already won a lot, of voting for a newcomer to the club to make them feel more welcome, not voting for someone because they didn't like they way the person was acting earlier, etc.Talking to one club owner, the person felt while they can always discipline someone for cheating, in the end things come down to the voters and they have a right to chose a simple outfit over a detailed one if that's their wish.

Other Clubs

With so many clubs out there, you'll often find people going to more than one. Sometimes clubs with much the same crowd will cooperate, especially if they're in the same community. One example is the relationship between Club Cutlass and the Happy Vixen, the events of the two clubs never overlapping and have usually been on different days.

But often, there are rivalries. One example was that of two disco clubs which were similar in structure as they were built by the same builder, and one invited it's patrons to make out in the open while the other told visitors that anything more than a kiss was "get a room." Then one day, someone with the latter found the online forum of the former, and invited people if they were uneasy with a sexual environment, they could check out their club. The owner of the first club reacted badly, saying only his club had the right to the design and kept demanding that the other shut down. The rivalry got to the point when one of the second club's workers was threatened, saying if the venue was sued anyone affiliated would be among those targeted.

While one club can hire DJs and/or hosts from another, there are a few dos and don'ts. Club owners can be angered if they feel someone is trying to "poach" their DJs. So it's best to meet up with the DJs between events and don't try to take them away from the club they're already at.

The Unexpected

Sometimes those who are prepared to handle a busy club when they start out end up having to face unexpected surprises down the road. Your landlord may go out of business and you'll have to relocate, and the new place may charge a lot more than where you were. Your star DJ may end up not being able to play any more due to real life. And your own real-life situation may change, such as your Internet connection becoming bad, marriage and children, financial hardship, a death in the family, and others. It's possible you may need to step back from running your club for a few weeks or months. Could your managers and staff handle things without your direction, possibly your money, for a while?

And there's always the possibility you may need to depart Second Life indefinitely. When the owner has to leave the Grid, it usually means the end of the club. But a few have survived their founder. In these cases, the original owner made plans with certain people he or she could trust to keep the place going.

In Conclusion

Running a club is almost always a lot more complicated than one expects it to. The expenses can be high, the hassles many, and the rewards often far less than anticipated. But it's not mission impossible for an amateur. You could have a club that will last for many years. But it takes thought, planning, help, a lot of patience, and more than a little luck won't hurt.

If you're not sure you can run a club after reading this, maybe you're better off keeping one going. There are hundreds in Second Life, and many will be glad to have more help. If you decide to build a club and this article has helped you prepare for the road ahead, then happy to have helped and I hope your venue continues to entertain people for many years to come.

Bixyl Shuftan

Interview With Australia Sim Owner Whelan Ferraris

Last month on May 25th, it was announced that the Australia sim would be closing. The decision was made by its owner, Whelan Ferraris. When I dropped by the sim that day, he was there and greeted me with a polite, "G'day." Asking him about the sim closing, he explained money was part of the reason, having spent 12,000 Australian dollars. He handed me a copy of the statement he made for the sim's group.

 Well folks, I hope you have enjoyed the little that we've been able to offer at Dingo Bay, it has been a pleasure to put it all together and make a little slice of 'Australian' fun available for friends to meet and relax. You may or may not be aware that another six Australian or Aus-related sims have ceased in the last month. Sadly, we must follow that path. Gem and I have enjoyed seven years in SL and the last couple of years have been part of a dream to keep Australian presence in SecondLife. We have viewed this sim set as an iconic representation of real life Australia and have continued to extend an ambassadorial face to the rest of the world. Unfortunately the private purse is now empty and our desire to have these sims at least meet us halfway has not come through. After tonight, Australia and Dingo Bay will dissolve. Gem, Whelan and Raven extend our wishes of continued health and good humour to yourselves, friends and family.

He explained to me he was presently busy explaining the bad news to people, and would be available later for an interview. So later on, we met again. This time, the once filled sim was now close to empty, with Whelan sitting on a chair on a beach. "Still taking down things?" I asked him. "All done," he answered, "its pretty desolate with exception of couple of locals putting structures up. I'll need to revoke rights soon and clear it up." He then expressed his willingness to talk more, and passed me a chair.

"Did you know I also ran a newspaper?" Whelan asked me. I told him I hadn't, and he went on, saying it was an Australian-centered Second Life publication, and passed me a copy, "Was in its sixth year this year, unfortunately several of my advertisers went down too, otherwise would have a new issue right now. I'm an old hand at this, in real-life I had my own urban/rural weekly for 17 years on the fringe of Melbourne in Victoria." "Sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with print media," I told him, "what did these two papers generally cover?" "Fairly typical of most suburban or small community weeklies, faces and places, local government activity, local sporting etc etc. I am a printer by trade with extensive experience in advanced print technology (although that aspect has changed so much) and several years in management of all areas of print and publishing. I sold out back about 1999 then went back to the trade operating and supervising a small factory near where I live. (I) Retired about 18 months ago."

"How did you find out about Second Life?" I asked.

Whelan answered, "My internet service provider was BigPond, a trading name of Australia's major telcom, Telstra. They were advertising low cost entry into this SecondLife realm and that caught my interest. Like many other Australians at the time we took the bait and arrived by the truckload! (laughing out loud)"

"Heh heh, how did your first days go?" I asked.

Whelan Ferraris told me, "I was like a kid in a candy shop. Like everybody else, had to try everything. Of course most of us reverted to our teen years and performed as though we were bullet proof. Its been a fascinating trip, so much one can learn and if keen enough can keep on learning in Second Life. Of course, like everyone else, went through a period of maturing. We wre pretty brash and got away with so many things one would not consider in real life. But I guess the same applies now too, Most of we older SLers frown on the antics of the newbies."

"When did you first hear about this sim?" I asked.

Whelan answered, "It came to my notice just a couple of months before 'The Pond' went down. The Pond was the simset established by Telstra's BigPond I mentioned before and was the gateway through which many of us early arrivals entered. I arrived March 2007, The Pond was abandoned by BigPond in November 2009. So I came to Australia and built a large house on one of the three sims that comprised the set, Top End."

"There were three here then?" I asked

Whelan nodded, "I shifted around a bit after that, had probably four or five other locations before returning to Australia for good. I leased the Top Dingo sim and shifted it from the Eastern to West side of Australia and renamed it Dingo Bay. Was about 12 months later I bought Australia from Pants and Mahala. So its about 3 years now since I came back here permanently."

"Where they having trouble keeping it up?" I asked.

Whelan Ferraris answered, "Pants and Mahala were very attached to their 'baby' so to speak, but their creative talents won them a lot of sim development work, particularly for tertiary educators. This took them away from the sims quite a lot but it was a need they had to fulfill after all, this was earning more reward than the sims."
 
"Were there many changes here after you began running the sims?" I asked him.

"Considerable change," Whelan answered, "I went about systematically replacing many of the old 10m x 10m prims and reducing prim count thus enabling me to become very familiar with the layout and everwatchfull for ways to 'value add'. in the long run I had doubled the commercial floor space and added more small features as one would expect a developing city to go. The Opera House became more effective as a potential entertainment centre. In the Northern end I developed a large auditorium capable of seating 200 avs."

"What was it's biggest event?" I asked.

"It never really got to do anything," Whelan explained, "we had appointed Sammy (Fairlady) Diaggio as our Entertainment Manager and she had her plans for bringing us up to disco style entertainment six days a week and a monthly live event in the town square or up on the Uluru platform. The largest events brought in consistent 40 to 60 avs through the duration of performance. We just fell victim to diminishing crowds and also ran out of time and money. Didn't get a chance to use all the development."

"What were some of the more memorable events here?" I asked him.

"Australia Day was good," Whelan answered, "couple of charity events, always when live entertainment was in the offing, we could attract fair crowds. We were getting used to all the small detail one had to attend to, we still had a little to learn but we could see the possibilities. Better operators than us have gone down so not too ashamed of our efforts."

I then asked, "What was the most hilarious thing that happened here, either deliberate or accidental?"

Whelan chuckled, "Crikey! There are many! One never tires of the spontaneous mirth emitting from many of the regulars. Some have been critical of the ribaldry to be found in much of the Aussie humour but thats all part of the atmosphere. One can get a bit too tight over people being coarse in conversation but really, what does it matter when it brings a good belly chuckle?"

"Heh, true."

"I get a bit cranky when some of the guys are making over the top sexual remarks or derogatory comments to the girls, there's no need for that! We are all made equal and when a guy believes his appendage proves him superior, I have a tendency to reach for the ban/eject button. I have banned a few, but it has been following a warning generally. However, if somebody was blatantly disgusting or abusive, there was little or no warning, I believe there is give and take but if you cannot act decently among others you are anti-social, thats psychotic behaviour in my book for we are social animals in the highest order."

My next question, "About the sim closing, was there anyone coming forward to keep them going?"

Whelan had this answer, "I didn't give too much warning, I think I had proven beyond doubt the current climate is impractical to run sims of that nature on a small loss or break-even basis. I also didn't want Aussies who had already gone through a doubtful period before I took over to be placed in that situation again whilst I was paying for it. I could not afford the time.  It was a strictly commercial decision and such decisions are acted without fear or favour."

"Mind you though, I'm bleeding over it now after making so many good friends and putting so much work into the sims, I really enjoyed it."

"Yes," I told him, "I've seen people talking about the sim, pictures on Facebook, there was even a video of the sim that was done as a tribute."

Whelan rsponded, "Yes, a nice bit of footage by a well known Aussie Mudslinger Ning, that guy had his heart in Australia too!"

"So you feel the sim will live on in peoples' memories for years to come?" I asked.

Whelan answered, "Yes, particularly among the Australians, like me, many of us regarded the sim set as the closest iconic representation of our homeland and we felt our role as ambassadors for RL Australia. We are a diverse nation like the USA, built on the talents and aspirations of people from many other origins but united under one flag."

"So now what are your plans for the future?" I asked him.

"At this point, my real life needs some concentration," he told me, "I have exhausted considerable real life savings on the SL venture so I must realign. I have also real life commitments this coming year as my membership of Rotary organisation has me taking Presidency of my local club and there are considerable challenges ahead."
 
"I can't see me coming back to re-establish Australia again in Second Life. However, I may consider doing the same again on another grid but that is a dream that may not be fulfilled, few of us can predict the future. SecondLife still holds so much of me. I will keep a presence but to what extent is yet to be seen."

I nodded, "Was there anything else that you thought should be mentioned?"

Whelan spoke once more, "I would extend my thanks to all who's path I have crossed or who have crossed mine, this has been a unique experience that has not flagged since I arrived in 2007. As everyone knows, inhibitions are lifted, restraints are cast aside and the real personality is freed. It takes some time to get used to that but those who do go on to enjoy the company of some very precious souls. My thanks and good wishes to all of you."

It was about this time we bade each other goodbye, and we went our separate ways.

 Bixyl Shuftan