Sad news – Parkade is closing

Just heard from Amanda Shinji that the Parkade, one of the longest clubs in Second Life (nearly 3 years!!! That’s several lifetimes in SL) and the club I had a part in running and designing after Andy Asylum decided to stop running it is closing at the end of this month closed, gone, no more (see EDIT below for rant).

Here’s what she said:

As some of you know, I took over Parkade from Andy Asylum back in March 2007 and with the graphical assistance of the erstwhile DJNoNo Ulysses, we reopened the facelifted club in May 2007, on the now long gone Pontiac Motorati Island.

Pontiac left SL and the United Spinal Association took over the 7 sim complex, Parkade grew, with the slightly smaller replica of the Golden Gate Bridge out front and the small chill out area around the back… Same amazing crowd, same fun…

Last year, around June time, I moved Parkade to what was Kara Zor Isle and we had a giggle there, but the sim being sold forced me to move the club to it’s current location, Parkade Island. As you know, full sims aren’t cheap and I couldn’t afford to buy or rent one, so I rented a light use sim, which was adequate but then the delightful LL decided to stick their noses into what we did with these ‘buffer’ sims and called time on our antics, creating the Homestead sims, which then drastically limited the number of people who could use the places to 20. Not ideal for a club.

However, this wasn’t an issue, because with the decline in SL clubbing culture, only the diehard faithful hung around. We’d already lost a few DJs by then and what with the receeding crowds, we lost long time resident DJNoNo. However, we keep going and push on. Saturdays are still busy, with Walt’s Boot Camp nights and of course me n’ Diva taking it in turns before BootieSL, then there are Walt’s Sunday sessions and me on Thursdays… However, things aren’t picking up and it’s not just this club that is affected, others are too… Once great names like Republik are also suffering. Republik are in the same situation as Parkade too and thats a shame.

Anyway, enough about Republik. This is about Parkade here and this is where it gets tricky. I’ve taken the hard decision to close one of SL’s longest running clubs. What was started in 2006 is ending in 2009, by the end of this month. I’ve informed the company who I rent the sim from that I’ll not need it come the end of March and I’ll be removing the build permanently then. Parkade will cease to exist. It’s been one helluva rollercoaster ride, but the LL decision to limit numbers has been a huge factor in this, as well as cost too… I’m paying a lot for this sim and frankly, it’s not worth it any more.

So, this is it…

Well, so you’d think, no?

What if there was a “But…”?

But… this isn’t the end. Oh no. Parkade might be closing, but this isn’t the end.

I mentioned Republik earlier on. Republik on their class 5 sim, with a 100 person limit and the threat of closure due to financial issues and dwindling attendance… Well, guess what grrrls n’ bois? I’m moving to Republik!!

I’m going to be investing in keeping the sim afloat, along with the other owners, I too will be an owner of the club and between us and the management team, we’re going to relaunch the place, complete with a brand new club build that is almost finished and stunningly gorgeous. Even though I’m paying into the tier, I’m still saving money on what I pay now for this cut down excuse for a sim, so I win there, and I know that BootieSL and my sets will continue there and I’m hoping that Walt will come with me and bring his Saturday night and Sunday sets with him too, so if you lot come along, it’ll be like home, only darker and posher. Slightly 😉

This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. The beginning of something pretty damned cool. Myself, Sable, Lina and Jo are going to really push Republik in 2009 with some different strategies and ideas, plus I’m hoping to bring a live band from RL to perform in SL too and I’m not talking about some kids in a garage, this lot have supported Depeche Mode on tour 😉

So, don’t be sad that Parkade is closing, be happy that the music, atmosphere and fun live on.

I am planning to sort out a farewell party soon, and I’ll post details of that when I’ve got it arranged.

Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough. I wanted to let you all know what is happening and I hope you realise this is for the best.

Thanks, and see you on the other side soon… Amanda xXx

I have to say I’m not surprised – as Amanda says the club culture and audience in SL has been tailing off for a while now – not to say there aren’t well attended clubs as I expect the new Republik will be, but certainly the tier-changes killed or consolidated a lot of smaller clubs and places in SL where I stayed (and meant a lot of my friends left), hence my decision earlier this year to stop DJing at the Parkade.

I wish Amanda all the best at the Republik, where Amanda’s night and BootieSL will continue, and a few more of the Parkade nights maybe, and I’ll definitely try to be at the last events at the Parkade for a tearful farewell. Thanks to Amanda and Andy for running a great club, it’ll definitely be missed.

EDIT: Due to the what I can only describe as what sounds like the SL version of a slum landlord (I can shorten it even further: C**ts) the Parkade is no more – Amanda thought she had until the end of the month and they foreclosed this morning…so I never got to say goodbye and the place is an empty island. This makes me very sad.

Really I have to say this is one of the major problems of SL – the fact that Linden Labs itself doesn’t really show a good example means that the place is full of shady and dodgy people – but it hurts Second Life as a whole – people don’t want to turn up to a club and find a stinking hole, or be messed around, or have the whole openspace debacle…they just leave annoyed and don’t come back. So what might be a quick buck for the landlords of SL and Linden Labs eventually damages the whole thing, and creative people leave, and it all just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.

This impermanence – the loss of popular areas like Fat Tiger for example, should be something Linden Labs is worried about – if you don’t have cool places for people to visit, then people will go away. And these places may be virtual but people do have real connection to them over years – so to just pull the plug immediately with no warning is callous and just shows you what kind of people rent land in Second Life, somewhere below pond scum.