Desiree Halderman and friends groove to 80s hits at Blackhearts (plz disregard breakdancing writer kthxbye)
In Blackheart's Cafe high above Mythago (direct teleport at this link), the 80's never ended, so when you enter the club, you'll see the walls are papered over with posters featuring The Blues Brothers and Risky Business and other era classics, and you are likely to do so to the sounds of New Wave era David Bowie, or maybe Jefferson Starship, while dancers pound the crowded floor. Blackheart's is one of the top twenty sites in NWN's true community search for Second Life's true community sites, free from camping and excessive freebies. When I visited last Friday, it was Hat Night, and so the energetic hostess handed me a 12 gallon chapeau. "I like the music and the people are so friendly," Desiree Halderman told me. "Most of my friends I have met here." A new Resident, Desiree doesn't quite remember exactly how she found Blackheart's, which she now calls "a second home", but thinks it was from browsing other people's profiles. "You find amazing places reading where others go."
Full top twenty after the break. And as always, if you know of a camper-free popular site that isn't mentioned here, contact Tateru Nino or me, to make sure it's included in future counts.
Site | Est avg hourly visits | Est avg hourly visits (peak hrs) | Estimated total weekly visits |
|---|---|---|---|
| NORSIM MultiSIM (Goth RPG) | 298 | 361 | 50,160 (up 5.66%) |
| Avilion Grove (Fantasy Roleplaying) | 149 | 172 | 25,072 (stable) |
| Phat Cat's Jazzy Blue Lounge (PG Social/Shopping) | 140 | 156 | 23,556 (up 15.54%) |
| Blackheart's Cafe (PG Social) | 93 | 105 | 15,760 (up 3.47%) |
| Nude Island (Mature Social) | 92 | 69 | 15,600 (down 34.25%) |
| Laguna Nude Beach (Mature Social) | 91 | 111 | 15,344 (up 15.13%) |
| Bound and Determined (BDSM Social) | 90 | 104 | 15,248 (stable) |
| Heavenly Rose Gardens (PG Social) | 85 | 132 | 14,400 (up 11.52%) |
| Lost Gardens of Apollo (PG Social) | 82 | 108 | 13,860 (stable) |
| Independent State of Caledon (Steampunk Roleplay) | 81 | 92 | 13,740 (down 3.13%) |
| Toxian City (Goth RPG) | 80 | 112 | 13,584 (up 42.69%) |
| Hedonistic Isle (Mature Social) | 80 | 93 | 13,584 (stable) |
| Midian City (Goth RPG) | 79 | 97 | 13,344 (up 2.21%) |
| Capture Roleplay HQ (BDSM Social) | 78 | 90 | 13,216 (stable) |
| Bare Rose (PG Social) | 78 | 82 | 13,168 (stable) |
| City of Lost Angels (Goth RPG) | 75 | 80 | 12,684 (up 5.07%) |
| New Citizens Incorporated (Noob Resident Welcome/Education) | 71 | 90 | 11,988 (up 4.17%) |
| Icedragon's Playpen (Casual Gaming/Social) | 67 | 80 | 11,312 (up 4.43%) |
| City of Midgaard (BDSM Social) | 58 | 69 | 9,888 (up 5.28%) |
| The Shelter (Noob Resident Welcome/Education) | 54 | 67 | 9,084 (up 2.02%) |
In the coming days, look for the full True Community list at Tateru's site.
* * *
DON'T SEE A POPULAR TRUE COMMUNITY SITE YOU LIKE IN THIS SEARCH?
If you know of sites not listed here which consistently generate 25,000 or more in Traffic daily, please post the name and location in Comments for future consideration.
DISCLAIMERS TO THIS SEARCH
- Due to SL's poor search function, this list doesn't necessarily reflect all the most popular places in SL. In fact, some omissions are quite likely.
- All effort is made to check sites for camping chairs and other excessive freebie/free money giveaways. If any on this list include those, please IM me (Hamlet Au).
- If you're the owner of a site on this list and would prefer not being on future listings, please contact me with that request. (Related note: future updates may include SLURLs.)
- Shopping-only areas excluded.
TRUE COMMUNITY SEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sites in this headcount are selected for their prominence, either from publicity or real world name recognition. Sites with consistent low traffic (500 or less weekly) may be dropped in future counts in favor of other sites. We do not count sites with camping chairs, or visitors in the orientation sims, as there seems to be little evidence to suggest that they will become visitors to the parent site - and if they do, we catch them when we headcount the site anyway.
We collect data four times per day for each site at 2am, 8am, 2pm and 8pm (times in SLT/US Pacific) plus/minus 1 hour. For each sample we count the number of people at the site at the time. We average those samples across the week, and then assume that average to hold constant, with each visitor spending a half hour on-site. This methodology does not necessarily include one-time events that generate high traffic missed by our sampling, which we'll make note of whenever possible. Headcounts do not factor in returning visitors, so assume that the total number of unique Residents are likely to be significantly less than the estimated total visits.
After reading last week's list, I visited Blackheart's Cafe, curious to see what makes it tick.
Do they have gorgeous architecture? A line-up of live musicians? Games? Was it built by Millions of Sheep, Electric Bus, or Flamey Pepper? Nope.
It's a skybox with a DJ spinning tunes. You dance. Simple, but fun. Before I knew it, someone IMmed me and we chatted away. Then a Cartman avatar (from South Park) came out and "sang" a song. It was hillarious. I'll be going back.
Posted by: Troy McLuhan | Friday, October 26, 2007 at 09:14 AM
It's hard to find locations with true numbers and not inflated by campers. Since I've been in world, Sanctuary Rock has consistently maintained good numbers, holding a great crowd of "partiers".
Posted by: June | Monday, October 29, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Wow.. thanks for the positive report. we really do appreciate it..and strive to welcome everyone new and old for a good time in a clean atmosphere..If you see me in either Blackhearts or it's sister club Crimson and Clover.. be sure to say Hi..and if you have any questions please feel free to ask the staff and they will help you.
Robert Giacomin
Owner Blackhearts and Crimson & Clover
Posted by: Robert Giacomin | Friday, November 09, 2007 at 01:01 PM