What has happen to nightclubs in SL?

[VooDoo Bamboo]

Good morning!

Wow.... Been a long time since I have done this :-) I have been in SL for years. I still even have pictures dating way back and NO, I will not show them, lol. Oh how things have changed. There are 2 things that will just never leave SL and that is sex and nightclubs. I have watched from the days of Area54 where the club was open and really no detail to Bad Girls where it was taken to a new level and then GOL. None of these clubs exist today but, were the top clubs in SL for many years. What I also enjoyed about the nightclubs in SL outside of the music and people was the fact that some of these owners went to a level of detail to make it feel as real as possible. This was done through the talent they hired (DJ, Managers, etc.) and through the build itself for the club. Today just like sex, clubs are everywhere. As I said, they are not going anywhere as long as SL is online. What I have noticed though is there are really no good clubs anymore in terms of design. I have found maybe 3 and that was with allot of searches, visits, etc. It's very strange to me that with mesh and all the advances that the nightclubs have gone from really great detail and lighting to wood floors in an open box with a bunch of crap on the walls and some tables to pose drunk at. I can't be the only one who has noticed this, am I? 

I am not saying that a club needs to be mesh to be highly detailed because frankly, if you use your imagination and are creative, you can do just as much with prims if you are a master at texturing and yes of course this is just my opinion but, back to the topic at hand - Why are there no really nice clubs anymore?

First this is NOT an advertisement for any club. Just pointing out what I have found. So you have clubs like Wet Willies. They play classic rock and are busy most of the time and the music is good but the sight... Boring as all hell. I mean to the point I find myself searching for new places. Then there is I think it's called Big Daddies or something like that. They do all 80's and again, just a big open dance floor thats... bla. 

Now I have found a few where it's not bad. Places like FogBounds where they play blues and are packed 24/7. This is small but the setup is well done to the point that when you are there, it's easy to get the feel that your in a real bar someplace. Another place I found that really blew me away is Hydra which plays house, trance, etc. The lighting and texturing done to this club is amazing but the layout has much to be desired. You can actually get lost in there, lol. Each time I have visited, I think the grand total of people there including the DJ has been around 4. Now this could be because of the type of music or maybe I am even visiting at bad times for my timezone. There are some clubs from way back in the day that are still going but the builds are so bad. Blackhearts is still rocking. I believe they are under new ownership though. Music is classic rock with great DJ's but again you walk in and it's like the place puts off no energy at all in terms of visuals.

Another thing I have also noticed is that it's extremely hard to find any club playing any R&B from the early 90's on. Just a strange fact I noticed one day when I was in the mood for some classics but not 80's typical pop or rock. I could really not find a single place. Yes I know, my age :-) But still... 

SL has advanced in many ways with the visual experience and for a long time this was something that people really enjoyed about nightclubs outside of the music and people there.

• Why do you think this has been lost (only if you have noticed)?
• If you go to nightclubs to dance and be with friends or meet people, outside of the music taste, do you care what the club looks like?
• Is the design of the club even something you notice? Does it play any part in if you continue to visit or not?

Just curious to hear what other think of the SL nightlife scene these days. Could be I am just missing out! 

 

 

[Tari Landar]

TLDR; Cost=fewer clubs, and pretty/awesome/cool builds don't make a club, people do  

Yes people can do amazing things, but a build is still only a build-it doesn't make it "a great place", and it comes at a cost. Fewer people willing to invest in a money sink=less places(and that's generally speaking, not just club related). Clubs, good, bad, indifferent, are a money sink. Even those that *seem to make a profit, or at least pay for their tier, are still a money sink, they really aren't profitable and haven't been for years(even when they were, it was a rarity). I can't say I blame folks for not wanting to keep the places around, or create new ones. Clubs come and go so frequently, it's a veritable revolving door...a very expensive revolving door. One needs to go into it with the desire, and ability, to cover all expenses and simply offer an experience versus a business. 

As for design, if I am in a club, it's not to look at the pretty, or ugly as the case may be, space. It will be to A-listen to music I enjoy and/or B-hang out with people I enjoy being around, usually it's both. Unless the place is so horribly designed that it's causing me some kind of client side issues, the design matters not to me, and I can derender if it's that bad, lol (I actually prefer open places, and more, primitive shall we say, builds, with very few exceptions). I can find pretty buildings loads of places, if that's what I want to look for. You won't find many places that play the R&B you're looking for, because that genre isn't a hot commodity. I wouldn't even call it a niche in sl, as when one does find it, it's nearly always in a place that mixes genres rather than catering to one specific(nothing wrong with that, of course). Rock, very much is a hot commodity/crowd pleaser, as are country and blues. There are other genres which have their following as well, and of course some niche genres that pop up now and then, but the vast majority of more popular places play those genres, because that's what folks want to listen to.

Most of the more successful, or rather, longer lasting, places exist primarily due to the audience to which they cater. That is to say, even if they have down times in attendance, which they all do(provided they don't have staff keep multiple alts logged on for "traffic" lol), they have a very big following, a large crowd of supporters, and they have an audience which pretty much keeps people coming back(ie, regulars, good people, conversation, groups of friends that frequent and tend to bring other friends, etc..) I guess that's my way of saying...the build isn't what interests most people, or draws them/keeps them in, but rather..the people. Whether it's staff or other patrons, it's the people, not the space. I don't think most people give a rat's toe about the space itself. In fact one of the clubs you mentioned is one of those places, it's been around for ages, doesn't have the greatest build in the world-certainly not by today's "ooo pretty mesh" standards, but even though it has slow times, it has a massive following. Even I visit there now and again(used to more in 2008-2010-ish, when I had more time to do so), because it has more of a, familiar, almost home-like feeling, even for new folks. Not many places can say that unless one has been going there for a while. 

For the record, I seriously dislike most clubs, it has little to nothing to do with the music or staff. I dislike most clubs *because of the people that go there, and my aversion...well, allergy really, to gesturbation-which drives me batty. I can't really stand spending much time in the vast majority of clubs *because the gesturbation is overwhelmingly obnoxious to me in those atmospheres. 

[KanryDrago]

39 minutes ago, VooDoo Bamboo said:

 

• Why do you think this has been lost (only if you have noticed)?
• If you go to nightclubs to dance and be with friends or meet people, outside of the music taste, do you care what the club looks like?
• Is the design of the club even something you notice? Does it play any part in if you continue to visit or not?

 

 

 

As far as I am concerned the visuals dont matter at all it is the people and the atmosphere that matters. I go to clubs where people like to talk in local as that creates atmosphere (as long as its not damn gestures) rather than a silent crowd all lost in im boxes. Music played is also important. Visuals I really couldnt care about

[Rhonda Huntress]

I go to music venues to listen to music.  While I do appreciate a nice build it is the same with a store, park or any other place I visit in SL.  That said, the nicer the build the more I tip the venue.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I'm at a club mostly to either dance or listen to the music (or both). Given that, the build is only important if it is so poorly made that the build itself creates lag - really bad textures, lots of blinging/spinning/flashing crap, etc...

[NevaehHeartstrings]

Good clubs can be hard to find

Edited December 14, 2017 by NevaehHeartstrings

[Klytyna]

People go to a club for the music and the people...

RL Example...

In the city I live in was a venue, the main area upstairs was a large classic rock club, and usually rammed 6 nights a week.

The basement bar was hired out to different promoters in a nightly basis, friday nights was the Goth Night. It was always crowded until... The DJ started refusing requests for Goth tracks, and insisted on playng more and more germanic techno-industrial that most of the Goth crowd didn't actually like.

I remember bumping into the DJ at a party held by friends, and hearing the arrogant little buffoon whining that "the Gothic Community didn't deserve a weekly club event because they refused to support it", so I told him to his face that the reason the Goths weren't going to his night was that he wasn't playing Goth music.

He looked at me as if I were insane, then retreated from the room when every other Goth at the Goth party echoed their agreement.

That club... We didn't go for the visuals, it was a cramped cellar, it smelt odd, the floor was STICKY with years of spilled 'Cider n Black', and MD 20/20, to the point where it sucked at your shoes, and the women gladly shared their toilet with the guys, because they knew how disgusting the gents was.

We went for the music and the company, when the music went, the company went, and the club-night  closed.