DJ Dave Live... A climax to the soul

First of all, when we speak of venue failure, it relates to those attempting to establish a true, 'production' entertainment offering -not those who are operating as a 'hobbyist' sim. What you may observe in many cases is someone who launches an entertainment offering in hopes of drawing traffic and generating enough revenue to at very least… Cover tier and basic operational costs. They run the sim for 90 days or more… Can't capture a consistent following… Can't generate revenue… And pretty soon find their sim becoming one big money trap, so they abandon it. The most common reasons for these failures is as follows:

A lack of concept and defined product offering

We've all seen these… You enter this new sim, only to find yourself posing the question… What the hell is this place? It lacks a logical theme… Lacks environmental consistency, and your first 5 minutes is spent trying to figure out what it is, or what you're supposed to do here. In all likelihood, the environment was premised on a wild dream someone had. The only problem is… 95% of the inbound guests are utterly confused with respects to what its purpose is. They ain't getting it…

From a social comfort perspective, people need to GET your concept and its purpose within 30 seconds of arrival. If not… You're already off on the wrong foot. Now they need to invest 5 to 10 minutes panning around the sim, while they attempt to make some sense of what it is you're offering here. Most people will not do that. At this point, your first impression is rather convoluted, and most people will likely exit out within 7 minutes of arrival and… Won't be returning.

A failure to establish a sense of 'initial' social comfort

When people visit a social entertainment venue in RL or SL… There is always an inherent element of shyness and apprehension. As a venue operator, it's up to you to warm them up to the environment within 40 seconds of arrival. This is accomplished by a host of things, but generally you need to satisfy the following objectives in under 60 seconds:

• Establish a sense of comfort through environmental layout and décor

• Ensure guests are greeted and welcomed immediately upon arrival

• Ensure music is something 80% of your arrivals identify with

• Get your guests engaged in the party A.S.A.P!

If you fail or take too long to accommodate the above objectives, you risk the possibility of guests feeling intimidated, or that they simply don't belong at your venue, and… You'll lose them within 10-minutes, likely to never see them again.

Major entertainment venue design flaws

Dance floors the size of a football field.

If you really want to intimidate your guests, there is no better way to accomplish this than having them land into a HUGE open space. These environments are considered cold and intimidating by most, as you stand out like a sore thumb upon arrival. Moreover, unless the main area encompasses more than 70 AV's, you're going to look like a graveyard 90% of the time. Not a great mood setter…

Hideous color schemes

In this case, someone decided to encompass the looks of psychedelic 70's, while painting the sim as an Easter egg. Colors schemes play a significant role in setting the mood of an environment, so unless you want you guests feeling as if they're on an acid trip, you may want to give some thought into 'sane' color coordination.

Erratic lighting, moving dance floors, and extraneous stimuli

Unless your target demographic is 21 years of age and under, you may want to give serious thought to blinding and dizzying your guests with every affect under the sky. Not only does this make many people noxious, it creates substantial amounts of 'client side' lag. It's distracting, annoying, and generally does little in terms of creating a comfortable atmosphere.

Vendor mazes

This is perhaps the dumbest thing you see venue operators engaging in. You invite someone to your venue, but when they arrive… Where the hell is the venue? First they need to rez… Now they need to pan… Then they need to check the mini map in an attempt to figure out where everyone is… Ok.. I'll fly there.. Nope, flying is disabled on this sim. So what you're greeted with is up to a 5-minute walk to the actual venue, while you are forced into vendor hell on the way. If the sim is a lag monster.. Add another 5 to 7 minutes onto your journey.

This is a terrific way to piss people off before they so much as enter the venue and many won't even bother.. They'll simply leave. This was fine 4-years ago, but a number of operators appear trapped in this past time. Most of the entertainment public will no longer tolerate this. Granted, entertainment venues do indeed need to generate some type of revenue, but forcing inbound guests to travel through a vendor maze is not the way to do it.

Moreover, why anyone opening an entertainment venue would so much as consider vendors at a time when they're over saturating the grid to no end is anyone's guess. The SL population is immersed in vendors everywhere they go. The last thing they want is a forced trip through… You guessed it… Another vendor farm when all they came for is a little entertainment.

In addition, entertainment venues are one of the most simulator and client-side intensive environments. If you're struggling for maximum AV capacity and minimal lag, why in God's name would you thrash the sim to its knees with a vendor farm? With 155-million USD being spent on the grid in "virtual goods and services" monthly… There are far better ways to generate revenue than consuming as much as 60% of your resources with vendor farms.

If you have yet to figure out how this is possible, I suggest all of you begin thinking out of the box, and stop following each other like a heard of sheep. Of course there are better ways to make money in SL entertainment -at least three. Keep pondering this… Some of you may figure it out eventually.

Poor music content choices

You got them in… Now you scare them off with the likes of a basement class DJ playing his personal rock collection, or everything and anything anyone asks for. Remember what I keep telling you people… You can't be EVERYTHING TO EVERYBODY! You can't micro manage a room by playing to 'one person at a time'. You will ultimately end up pleasing nobody, and or boring your audience to a point of distress. Pick your battles…

A lack of trained or skilled floor staff

It's no different than RL venues… People like to be greeted and they like to feel welcomed. Your floor staff (hostesses, managers, dance staff, etc) are responsible for observing, reading, and accommodating the needs of the audience at all times. If they're asleep at the wheel, afk, or engaged in im's with friends, they not watching the floor and your guests are being ignored. Expect your retention rates to be low, while many visit once, never to return.

A lack of focused, professional, and disciplined management

This is perhaps one of the largest reasons for failures of Second Life entertainment venues. Second Life is a universe of people who… You guessed it, want to exist in here in a way they can often not in the real world. No big secret… Many of the residents here bring a myriad of personal issues into the Metaverse, and or often view the Metaverse as a means to engage in behavioral conduct that would never be tolerated in the RL social structure.

Some appear to suffer from various types of personality disorders, while others are socially unbalanced in some way or another. And yet, others view the Metaverse as a stage to vent their anger over everything from failed social relationships in RL, to a general lack of accomplishment in their lives. Some are ADD, ADHD, PPD, bipolar and so on… This is not necessarily a bad thing and in general, we all try to accept each other here, even if that is more difficult for some than others.

The real problems begin when an attempt is made to integrate people who suffer from a personality disorder into a hierarchal command structure. It's simple… The base prerequisites for being able to coexist in this structure is a basic knowledge of 'good social behavior'. As rudimentary as that may sound to some, there are a sizeable number of residents in SL who either don't know what this is, or refuse to behave within these boundaries.

In addition, some believe that poor social conduct is acceptable in the Metaverse because it's a game of sorts. One way or the other, you can't build a solid and dedicated management structure with problem souls. Your offering is only as good as the team behind it. You may have the best concept in the world, but it will continue to collapse on itself in the absence of management that is sane and balanced.

Consequently, those considering a production entertainment offering need to exercise diligence in seeking out participants who at very least… Are able to function within the boundaries of the 'social norm'. If not, you'll find yourself spending 90% of your time trying to deal with someone's social issues, and about 10% in anything business related. This observation is not intended as a blanket statement… It is merely pointing out what "will not work" in a business structure of ANY kind.

Again… There is a very good reason why demand for quality SL entertainment venues continues to sear, while 2% of the players continue to captivate 98% of the traffic. No matter how great your ambitions, either you are able to understand the demands of the social entertainment consumer, or you do not. You can't fake it, although many will continue to try.