Club Libre: SL Nightclub Rebuilt Every Week on New Theme

Drama Libre on the sim of Ravenswood (SLurl here) is a Second Life club that operates on a very clever premise: "We rebuild a set every week to match a theme," as co-owner Peachy Sassoon explains. This week, as you can probably guess from the above, the theme is Escher (or as they're calling it, "Art! For Escher's Sake!"), but next week, just in time for Valentine's, the place will be totally changed:

"The following week theme build is called Cirque du Amore, this will be a very surreal build. We wanted to do something for Valentine's Day and we enjoy doing surreal sets, so we combine the idea with the Cirque and Valentine's." The club has seven builders, who get compensated via a tip jar which sits alongside the tip jar for the DJ." Hit the site to get more info.

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[Pussycat Catnap]

But the real questions are:

1. What style(s) of music do they cater to?
2. What kinds of avatars are -not- allowed, if any?
3. Clothing optional or not?
4. Is there a scripted automated greeter bot to annoy and drive away visitors?
5. What is the policy on gesturbation?
6. Will our dance huds work there?
7. What's the local lag like?
8. Is the dance floor actually used for dancing, or just posing as Capt. Amazing?
9. Do people -chat- in local, or are they all silently standing around looking tough while dramabating in IM and voice?

:P

[Dagmar Klaar]

Hi,I'm Dagmar I'm one of the senior designer/ builders for Drama Libre, and I'm a tiny :).I have been working with this group for over 5 + years. Please allow me to answer some of your questions.

1. What style(s) of music do they cater to?
We have a set of dj's that rotate weekly, each of them has a favorite genre they'll weave in to the evening but mainly it's request driven. The music ranges from obscure to popular rock,pop,country, hip hop, mashups, and bootlegs. If you want to hear it , they'll do their best to get it for you.

2. What kinds of avatars are -not- allowed, if any?
Anyone looking to have a good time and hear some great music is welcome.The only caveat would be an avatar that you might not want to show your grandmother ...ie (something very offensive)

3. Clothing optional or not?
Being as we are a themed club encourage our guests to dress in costume. Clothing is not optional we don't ask that you be covered from the neck down but as long as the (naughty bits) are covered you're ok .

4. Is there a scripted automated greeter bot to annoy and drive away visitors?
No bots, or scripted greeters for events , though sometimes I wonder about Xerxes one of the co-owners, he tend to be fairly thorough about greeting each guest personally.
When there is no event there is a quick greeter letting you know who to talk to should you need anything.

5. What is the policy on gesturbation?
Excessive gesturbation is not encouraged, we just ask that everyone use common sense with gesturing. We encourage new people to mingle and chat with the rest of the group, and usually that's pretty much what happens.

6. Will our dance huds work there?
Of course they will, but Drama Libre
(Xerxes) has an obsession with animation and dancing in SL and likes to stock the dance machine with new and unusual dances, mocap especially.

7. What's the local lag like?
Not bad actually, we don't tend to build the club at less than 1000 meters and that's pretty much the only thing the sim is used for, so it is fairly light unless there are general issues with LL.

8. Is the dance floor actually used for dancing, or just posing as Capt. Amazing?
Dancing, Dancing, and more Dancing. If you're sensing a theme here ( we really like dancing ) :)

9. Do people -chat- in local, or are they all silently standing around looking tough while dramabating in IM and voice?
Local, voice is not used during events except for the DJ. I can't say what happens in im's as I am a tiny and no one has tried to dramabate me in ims in a long time.

I hope I was able to help clear up some issues and look forward to seeing you at one of our events :)

:P
Daggy - Destroyer of Worlds

[Nanu]

We did that back in 2007 at Fey's (to around 2009) and it worked very well. That's how i got into building and from there into content creation (and some other today known designers too). The problem was just that we did it more or less only for ourselves, because people came to socialize, and in fact didn't care so much about the environment they were socializing in. So its just a small part of a larger marketing effort. Most important though is the DJ-communication with the crowd (not even the music) to "animate" people.

[Dagmar Klaar]

I have to in all humility disagree with it only being a small part of anything. I see it more like when they polled the people who listened to Howard Stern: The people who like Howard said " I want to hear what he's going to say next", the people who do not like Howard said " I want to hear what he says next". There are a million clubs in Second Life and 95% of them are exactly the same they live they die, new ones pop up in their place. Drama Libre has been successfully operating as an anomaly in a cookie cutter industry for 6+ years and will continue to do so till people stop coming and our minds finally wander off in to the sunset. Because, honestly people do want to see what we come up with next. :)
Daggy- Destroyer of Worlds

[Nanu]

That's my point: people come because of what the DJ Howard Stern has to say, not because of how his studio is themed. So i guess you are around since 6+ years because of your DJ choices, not because of the theme-park you build.

[Dagmar Klaar]

I'm sorry but you've totally missed the the crux of the matter.
You might have a valid point if the DJ Howard invited every one of his listeners into his booth and interacted with all of them on a personal level. He does not. He does however provide stimulating and provocative content that keeps people wondering whats next.

There's not really one thing that stands out about most clubs in sl it's pretty much all the same. Week in week out chairs, dance poles are in the same spot, the same dj plays the same music on the same days to the same crowd. Oh another best in black contest! How thrilling.

Drama Libre does not just whip out a western set and call it a best in cowboy event. We put plenty of consideration in to everything we do right down to the environment. Our DJ's are great and they do interact some with the guests. But, if the guests just come for the DJ and nothing else we'd have a club full of guests not chatting just gesturbating and dry humping each other in instant messaging corners all night long.(I see that plenty in other clubs) That does not happen, sure there are lulls in the chatter and off nights. But, the average event is primarily people talking, laughing and joking about the music, what each other came as, about whats going on in the world,or even(GASP)about the theme. Same as any real life event. Drama Libre provides a quality and variety that others do not.
So, why not join us some Saturday evening so that you might see what I'm talking about, and grab the chance to personally explain to me just what sort of cretin I really am . :)

Daggy - Destroyer of Worlds

[Nanu]

No need to get passive aggressive. You brought up the Stern analogy. And i don't have to come by "to explain to [you] just what sort of cretin [you] really [are]"; as I mentioned, we did that concept for 3 years, and it was successful. All i said is that its just a small/minor part of what it takes to fill a club.
(Looking forward to you next "marketing" comment, where you might call yourself even worse than a cretin)