Come Into The Garden: Spotlight On The Sacred Gardens Mackenzie Abbot Reporting

It’s always made we wonder why anyone would want to start a club in Second Life.  It tends to be the occupation of choice for anyone who wants to start a quick business here, but doesn’t tend to last very long in a market flooded with clubs and venues that offer DJ’s and live music.  So what’s so different about The Sacred Gardens?  I took a stroll around to see what was different here.  Among the flowers and walkways there’s a boating lake, bridges and swans. All very idyllic.  Heading back to the club area, I meet with Bluey and Cshelle, the owners for a chat.

M: So why did you start Sacred Gardens? Aren’t there enough clubs in SL?

B: Well basically, we wanted to be different.  Most clubs tend to either have little cliques or are just “us and them” when it comes to management and staff.  We wanted to be a family.  We’re not interested in making money we just want people to come here and feel welcomed

S: Like they’re in their home.

B: Exactly, we have an open door policy and anyone is welcome.  You don’t have to come here and listen to the music, or splash your cash around.  You’ll notice we don’t have any stores in the area, purely because we want the place to not be about spending money.  We have 1 tip jar for the sim, that’s it.  We don’t want your money, we want your company and friendship.

M: So what’s so different about SG compared to other clubs?

B: I think it’s a friendlier atmosphere.  We like to think we have a better standard of people here.  By that we mean friendly people who don’t just say hello and then leave you alone.  Everyone here tries to welcome you in and make you feel like you’re part of the family.  We don’t have a list of rules.  Just come here, do your own thing, relax and be yourself.

S: Well, we don’t call them rules per se, more guidelines.  Key is communication.  Keep it simple, smart…that’s the way we do things

M: What the unique selling point in the eyes of VIPs? What can you offer that others can’t?

The difference is we want to make people feel welcome and part of the family.  We don’t own it, they do in a way.  Just an escape where they can be who they want to be.  Don’t get us wrong we limit things but that’s more common sense things.  We’re freelance if you like.

M: How would you describe Sacred Gardens in 5 words?

B: Great place to come and relax

M: That’s 6 words

B: Oh sorry

S: friendly, romantic

B: errr

S: games

B: relaxing, great bosses!

S: Easy going!

M: ok that’s actually 8 words but I’ll work my magic when I come to edit this later. (Note, gentle reader, I didn't) What else does the club have to offer?

B: Well we have nice gardens to walk around.  There’s also a beach area for those quiet moments.

S: There’s also a lake area with a boat you can use, it’s not just about the music and dj’s, there are places where you can sit with loved ones, friends and play game or just sit and chat.  As we said, you don’t have to come and listen to any entertainment we have, you can just chill and hang out

B: I’m glad you’re writing this down Mack, I’d be lost after three words

M: Where do the club going? Where do you see SG in a years’ time?

B: Hopefully still going. Don’t know if we want to make the club bigger as that might be impersonal

S: Obviously we would like a bigger footfall, a lot can happen in a year and a lot of clubs get closed down for the wrong reasons.  We wouldn't close SG down even if there were only 2 people here, this is our home.  You can go bigger but it’s not always better.  It’s far more manageable as it is, we’re not greedy for money or people, we just want a happy fun loving place for us, our staff and our vips of course.

M: Let’s try this again in a different way, what would be the top three reasons for someone reading this to come here?

Both: Great music, friendly environment, beautiful surroundings

As I thanked them for their time and wandered off to take some photos for this article, I realized that not every club owner had attitudes or were hungry for power/money/VIPs.  It was refreshing to find a breed of club owner who actually gave a damn about their patrons and didn’t just try and fill schedules with DJ’s and hosts so that whoever decided to show up would have something to listen to.  They make no apologies for trying to be different and that’s refreshing to see on grids chock full of clubs full of bots or as empty as the inside of a reality show contestants head.

The Sacred Gardens can be found at

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phlegethon/246/108/495