Coastal Club Shocker

So I log in today to my beautiful mainland plot on the coast to find a new club has popped up nearby while I was asleep.

Now I know there are no zoning laws on the mainland...yet. But this sim has been a quiet residential sim for at least 10 months. A series of 4096 sqm private coastal homes spread evenly around the edge of a Linden protected sea.

The reason I became aware of the place to start with (as I usually have my draw distance down at 92) was the shouting bingo machine.

Turns out it's the usual set-up. Games machines with pay-outs, camping chairs, low quality affiliate vendors, Zyngo, Slingo, and Bingo. So I'm thinking at this point, 'Ah, a newbie business.' Not something I'm overjoyed to see here, but not very surprising or unusual when you live on the mainland.

The thing that confused, dumbfounded, and flabbergasted me was in the owner's profile.

She's a SL mentor.

Yeah, I know. I shouldn't expect long-term residents who are mentors to automatically think the same way I do.

But I mean really?

Reeeeally?

I would have expected perhaps a newbie help kind of place. Or even a quality freebie place. Or a socialising club. Or a nice store perhaps.

Not the nearest thing you can get to a casino without breaking the new gambling laws.

So, are my expectations for SL mentors too high? Is this kind of place actually worthwhile and profitable? Is it right for me to be concerned about newbies that this mentor helps? ("Come over to my club to win L$s!" Why am I surprised that SL mentors don't necessarily follow the new thinking over at the Lab about making the mainland more appealing?

Being a mentor doesn't automatically guarantee good taste. Nor am I convinced that LL actually knows what "more appealing" might mean. I've seen some pretty tacky stuff perpetrated by long-time residents - it's not always a noob thing.

I do think there'd be a conflict of interest here if, in her position of trust, this mentor herded newbies to her place with the promise of easy money.

Like the Major League Baseball players - perhaps the Mentor agreement should include a 'morality clause'. But what in SL is considered moral? It is a 'different strokes for different folks' community. What SL activities should be on the ban list for Mentors?

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Well, you should at least speak to the owner about the shouting.

As far as Mentors luring newbies to their businesses...first, it's against the Tao of Volunteers. Second, it's not very smart...how many newbies have L$ to spend? I wouldn't worry about it unless/until it happens.

Mentors gotta make a living, too. I run a rental village. Your neighbor runs a club. My friend and fellow Mentor runs a store. So what? (No, seriously...I know what you are getting at, and somewhere deep down I agree with you...but there's no REQUIREMENT that a Mentor follow nonexistent mainland zoning laws or good taste, or even common sense.)

I'm sorry to hear that, Min. Even though we all know anything could spring up on mainland, it is still a shock when something pops up after along time of stability.

I, too, think you should talk to the owner about keeping the shouting machines on her land - use the spatial partial sound option (I think that's what it's called.)

Hopefully this too shall go away and your sim can return to its peaceful state.

I think that few realise the incredible depth and breadth regarding how other people think about, or use the grid.

I don't think that most creators of clubs are evil. Just on a very, very different wavelength and have few places they can go. Private estates tend to promote either their own clubs, or expect a club owner to pay 295/month + overhead, renting.

Best I can figure, the club creator faces these options:

a) get a private region themselves, 295/month + 1000 down
b) rent a region from a private estate, likely well over 300/mo
c) start a private estate and use rental on the side to fund it
d) forget the whole idea
e) get some mainland.

One thing a mentor might appreciate is someone else's point of view. I'd recommend opening a conversation with them; one might be surprised at the decency of humankind sometimes. Also they may not realise they have done something that is bothering you - assume mistake before malice, even if it's blatant. 95% of people on the grid are pretty decent. If you are dealing with that last 5%, well... might be time to reconsider uncovenanted land.

Best of luck, and I hope everyone gets along.

You can at least take comfort in the fact that the average lifespan of a SL club is three to four months unless the owner really loves spending their own RL money to keep it going.

kind of a bad sign saying how cheap land is in SL now when people will use waterfront for a traditional SL club.

Yes your expectations are too high. Besides the shouting issue I don't see a lot wrong with what the mentor is doing. Do you have evidence they are plugging their club via their mentor role? Something about that would be tacky but having a club is fair game.

If they start hogging the sim resources with camping pads and such like it's a whole different kettle of fish.

I would patronize the club and see what goes on there. A lot of what goes on in Second Life varies not by what is being run but on how it is being run. I camp to clean my inventory. Camaptoria vary tremendously in quality. The good ones require group membership, have bot detection software that is fairly sophisticated, and even have group officials actually supervising the pads. Good campatoria also pay 300% more than poorly run ones.

One can say the same thing about stores, dance venues, sandboxes etc... I don't do much gaming but gaming can also probably be well and poorly run. There may be ways to detect bots. I would look at the odds of winning a small prize. I think lots of small prizes are better than long odds at a larger prize. Do the games require skill? Are there other activities such as dancing, water slide, swimming, trampolines? And I'd look at general considerations. Is someone watching the property to deal with griefers.

The mentor may be doing her part to provide a "clean well lighted place." If the newbies and gaming enthusiasts don't visit her club, they'll go to some rip off parlor that's infested with bots.

one question
how is bingo considered legal?

what skill is there in playing bingo?

I would think a mentor would know better than to use a bingo game (unless it is not paying out lindens then it might be legal)

if it is a linden paying regular type bingo game, I would AR it as it is obviously against the rules.
(bolding is mine to highlight the word bingo)

Although the area surrounding my home isn't too bad at the moment it's had some horrible stuff there in the past and probably will in the future. I'm afraid that's the way of SL mainland at the moment. For a lot of people, big, bright and bold is best, even if it's badly designed and badly built.

I do sympathise...its not nice when a place doesnt go according to your set of values or style...

However...i REALLY hope Im not judged on my choices of anything just because im a mentor. Im human..i choose rubbish clothes sometimes..bad hair probably..and on hormonal day I might toss up a not so fine rental home..but do people secretly think "omg and shes a MENTOR???" i doubt it...

I agree
I left the mentor thing for awhile (or so I thought, when I spoke to a linden regarding my change of heart and to get back into the group, I found out I had never actually left, yes I left the group, but was still a mentor in their system) I was told that this would be changing, if a mentor leaves the group it will remove all ties of being a mentor

that being said... I too hope I am not judged on being a mentor
after all, I was working on a skin, and forgot I still had it on, and was walking around with a cut, bruised face (oops)
I suppose I could have jokingly said this is what the lindens do to mentors who step out of line LOL

I can understand you not wanting this place near you, but it is mainland, so...that's how it goes. That said, just because she is running a gaming place, it doesn't have to be an eyesore. She can choose a high-quality building with a tasteful sign and landscape the outside nicely. It can blend in to the existing surroundings and be low-impact. If I were you I would talk to her about the shouting objects (that NEEDS to stop) and the quiet, calm nature of the area. Don't demand that she move, just ask that she be respectful.