Rough notes from an Observation....

A note on the text that follows in this entry: This is all rough scratch notes created from an observation that took place on 1/17/09. Due to a few separate things (the note-taker's general inexperience and a preemptive entrance to the event taking place that day(and a departure and reentry to the event)) they are jumbled, and rambling. 

The enterance to the club is through a teleporter in the mall, a big two-story mall in a large brick building. There is a teleporter right next to the  stairs on the rooftop as well, that can take people from the mall to the castle or club.  Wether regular or newcomer to the club, they are welcomed in by the club's staff, the three heads of the club usually being the loudest.   As I came in, I was greeted by the owners after I had left for awhile. 1 and her husband were slow dancing on the floor while 3 was out dancing on the floor alone. even though it was a half hour into the club's hours, very few people were there aside from the staff.  the dj was lounging in a stone chair near the raised dais in the front.  2  was a few chairs over.   The crowd was nonexsistant for the beginning of the event. the ghouls continually floating around the club floor alternated between sarcastic comments and advertisements for different venues in the mall. The stripper poles that were placed in front of the DJ's booth in a half-circle were all vacant for the weekend. The poles sat on a raised dias so that they were easily in view of people dancing on the floor as well. 2 was lounging in one of the chairs immediately in front of the stripper poles.  The conversation was sparse, mostly about the music that the DJ had put on.   The large romanesque pillars made the whole club look like a large gothic cathedral. The dance orb was a giant bloody red orb with continual swirling aether.   Right above the poles on the dais hung a demoness figure with a long tail holding a sword. This was the sploder that the owners were really proud of. 1 told be before that it was the only sploder of its kind. at the foot of the dias in the center was a donation torch for the club, to keep it going.  the windows above were all stained glass as well. In the front were the club boards for contests and the board for the DJ that showed what songs were being played in case one wanted to request a song.  

 

The majority of activity took place in what could be considered the front of the club, with further back being reserved if people wanted to get away from the main noise. There was no contest today, though they usually have something going on.

There was a large blood fountain in the center of the floor near the entrance of the club, which were two gigantic doors about five times the size of anyone there. One could take a drink from there if they wanted to.  A red pentagram encircled with candles cast an eerie glow on the blood fountain and the pillars nearby. The DJ’s picture was on the right pillar in front of the dias, right above a speaker that served as the DJ’s tip jar. 

Preliminary Map

Second Life Interview

SL Interview 1/15/09

            I interviewed the owner of the club that I was interested in studying. It turned out to be much more than your general run-of-the-mill goth club and group, instead taking a much more in-depth appearance as I talked with her on the dance floor. The general premise of the group that I found out before I sat down to interview with her was based on a clan of vampires from a popular tabletop game. There’s more to the club and her than meets the eye.

 

[18:19]  Axel Kimagawa: What prompted you to start your club?

[18:20]  1: We started a vampire clan, bought the sim to build a clan castle on, and needed a way to bring people that we could meet and maybe add to our family...

[18:21]  1: That's how it started. Goth for vampire, plus 2, who lives with me had always wanted to run a SL club.

[18:21]  1: And she's very goth.

[18:22]  Axel Kimagawa: I can tell. -smiles-

[18:22]  Axel Kimagawa: Next question.....What does the group do? I've seen the events here, but is there anything else?

[18:23]  1: The family has gatherings for turnings and joinings.

[18:23]  1: We built the sim with the idea that all the facilities would be available to the family.

[18:24]  Axel Kimagawa: Aha.....and how often do the turnings and joinings happen?

[18:25]  1: We used to have them like every other day, but there was a huge drama event and we lost half the clan. It hasn't been the same since.

[18:25]  1: So, we only have one when someone wants to bring in a new member of the family.

[18:26]  Axel Kimagawa: I can sympathize with that. I've had similar things happen.

[18:27]  Axel Kimagawa: So how do you choose your staff that help maintain and organize the group and your events?

[18:27]  1: SL seems to bring out the drama in people.

[18:27]  1: Hoo boy, that's a question with a long answer

[18:28]  Axel Kimagawa: If you want to generalize it, feel free. -smirks-

[18:28]  1: In a nutshell, I trust only my immediate family with the rights to the sim

[18:28]  1: I am 2 and 3’s Mistress...

[18:28]  1: 2 in RL as well as SL...

[18:29]  1: 3 in SL only, but I've known her for many months.

[18:29]  1: I refer to them as "Royals."

[18:29]  1: Only the Royals can serve me directly and run the sim/club.

[18:30]  1: And I have my own hand in all this. I could never let someone run this autonomously.

[18:31]  Axel Kimagawa: it seems like a small group usually works better than a single person.

[18:31]  1: Absolutely. I could not do all this alone.

[18:32]  1: I delagate.

[18:32]  Axel Kimagawa: It would get too crazy.

[18:33]  Axel Kimagawa: When are the more active times for the club? (When during the day)

[18:33]  1: We have events every day 6-8 pm slt, and Fri - Sun 12 noon - 2 pm slt as well...

[18:34]  1: The mall has people coming in and out all day every day

[18:35]  Axel Kimagawa: I've noticed a small stream of people coming in and out of there a lot.

[18:35]  Axel Kimagawa: What goals do you have for the club?

[18:37]  1: I'd like it to become popular, to fill the sim with bodies every time we hold an event and draw customers in for the shopping mall. I'd like the club to pay for itself and the mall to pay for the sim.

[18:38]  1: I would love to earn enough with the club to literally pay for top DJ's and acts.

[18:39]  Axel Kimagawa: Do they charge a lot?

[18:40]  1: Some DJ's ask 3,000+ L$ per hour

[18:41]  1: Right now, there are plenty of hungry DJs willing to work for full tips.

[18:42]  Axel Kimagawa: I can imagine...live streaming music runs rampant in SL if you know what you're doing.

[18:42]  1: I end up DJing now and then myself.

[18:42]  1: When the DJ is a no-show and there are no others available.

[18:43]  Axel Kimagawa: Cool, cool.

[18:43]  Axel Kimagawa: How do you come up with names for the contests?  

[18:49]  1: 3, 2 and I brainstormed.

[18:50]  1: We all came up with ideas and they sent me their lists, I compiled and created a list.

[18:50]  Axel Kimagawa: Cool. Was it difficult to design the layout of the club?

[18:52]  1: Again we brainstormed. Knew what we needed and just figured out the best way to lay it out. And it has evolved from the start.

[18:53]  1: This used to be on the ground.

[18:53]  1: But omg it was laggy as hell.

[18:53]  Axel Kimagawa: What better way to reduce lag then place it where there'd be very few other objects in the sim rezzing?

[18:54]  1: And I couldn't say it was hard, it was fun however:)

[18:54]  1: yep, when yoour compy doesn't have to deal with as much, you experience less lag.

[18:54]  1: You'll notice the mall is laggy.

[18:55]  Axel Kimagawa: Yup. Very much.

[18:55]  1: We have recently taken measures to lighten up that too

[18:56]  1: Took out over 3,000 prim

[18:56]  Axel Kimagawa: Yeeeoowww

[18:56]  1: Leaves us over 5,000 prim

[18:56]  1: Available

[18:57]  Axel Kimagawa: cool.

[18:57]  1: We're also thinking to sell half the sim, so things may change for the worse on the ground.

[18:57]  Axel Kimagawa: You gotta cover costs somehow.

[18:58]  Axel Kimagawa: Can you tell me a little bit more about the BDSM castle that's across from the mall?

[19:03]  Axel Kimagawa: or is it pretty much self-explainatory.....

[19:04]  1: The Sex Castle?

[19:04]  1: Ohhhh

[19:05]  1: You mean the Clan Castle

[19:05]  Axel Kimagawa: I believe so.

[19:05]  1: That's where I supposedly live:)

[19:05]  1: The clan has full access to the furniture there

[19:06]  1: Plus there is blood in a cask for emergencies

[19:06]  1: It's where I hold turnings and joinings

[19:07]  1: And invite sex partners and or orgy parties.

[19:07]  Axel Kimagawa: Aha. Last question - and I thank you so much for allowing me to interview you.

[19:08]  1: You're very welcome.

[19:08]  Axel Kimagawa: What other groups or affiliates do you interact with?

[19:10]  1: I have been gorean and I'm still a member of my homestone groups, tho they aren't much for headstrong women so I haven't been as involved lately...

[19:11]  1: I belong to a weapons group as we all enjoy being laden with weapons here...

[19:11]  1: the vampire RPG too of course...

[19:12]  1: A couple of groups where I bought the equipment to run the club, but mostly I don't have time to do anything but run this club and sim.

[19:13]  Axel Kimagawa: I can understand where this would take up a lot of your time.

[19:14]  1: Did you see what happened witht he sploder a bit ago?

[19:14]  1: Whew

[19:14]  Axel Kimagawa: yeah

[19:14]  1: I woulda felt aweful

[19:15]  Axel Kimagawa: likewise. Those kind of things can backfire and you're the one that has to delegate them or fix it before it blows up.

[19:16]  1: I run my family on the hope that we can avoid drama, but drama always slips in. All you can do is minimize it.

[19:16]  Axel Kimagawa: yep.

[19:16]  1: And be ready to cut drama queens out.

 

 

Practice Human Protection Protocol

My name is __Axel_Kimagawa___________/_Jes_Schroeder_______.

I am an undergraduate student enrolled in an introduction to research methods class (Multimedia 333:Introcution to Field Research In  Virtual Worlds) at Bradley University in Peoria Il, USA,  that is being conducted in Second Life winter/January term, 2009.

We are learning to do field research/ethnography and will not complete formal reasearch this term. But next semester, if we decide to do a project, our projects feature observation of a “community of practice,” that is, a group of people doing similar things in a cultural setting. I am observing this area at this time as I consider what work I might do next term and I am practicing getting the permission of landowners, research subjects, and/or informants.

My observations are merely descriptive: I’ll take notes about what I see and I may summarize those notes in my paper, in class presentations to my classmates, or on my web-blog about this research. The blog is found at: <>. 

I will not record or publish either the SL or RL name of any avatar/person. Any observations about avatars or recording of their talk transcripts would take place only after having obtained the explicit permission of that avatar/person and would only happen after the name of the avatar had been changed via secret coding scheme. 

I do need to remind you that in the case of text chat, others beside myself have copies of text chat (perhaps interviews or general conversations) within their computing systems; likewise, Linden Labs servers have copies. I cannot "control" those copies; I can only promise to control/protect data that is in my possession. 

If I observe you as a subject, I ask if I can have your permission to observe you in general. Any pictures taken in SL, that serve as explanatory data and which might include avatars, will be modified so that avatar names and identifying characteristics are blurred/blocked.

We will also interview subjects and  informants about the communities of practice that we are studying.  These conversations are, again, voluntary and only with the informed permission of the avatar/person/informant. I may copy out the chat transcript from those conversations/interviews. When we do, we will change/code  names so that there is no recorded connection between you/your avatar and the data.

If you agree to serve as subject of observation, interview, or as an information, you may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty by simply telling me you wish to stop. 

You may follow the progress of all of the studies in the class, including this one at: . Presentation of the activities from the class serve as our gift to the communities of practice who share time and knowledge with us; perhaps our perspectives will help residents to more fully understand and appreciate their activities.

If you have questions regarding the class or its activities, you can contact me, in world or our of world via email at , or my teacher, Professor Beliveau in world or out of world as Ed Lamoureux at ell@bradley.edu, 309-677-2378.

Do you have any questions?

If you are a land owner/venue owner, may I practice observing and interviewing avatars on your land/at your venue? [I may, later, return and ask your permission to do an actual research project here]

land owner/venue operator sign and date here:

You have my permission as requested above.

1

Club Owner

Vampire Family Queen Mother

01-12-2009

_______________________________________________

Community of Interest

I plan to study a Gothic group, one of the largest dark-minded clubs in SecondLife and their main clubhouse. 

An Evening In Dublin - the Nightclub Scene

This event took place entirely in a nightclub in the Dublin region for
a whole hour, I stuck around for the first fifteen minutes. There
seemed to be a lot of ridiculously varied people there, from very
gothically dressed people to a girl up front dressed in highwater
jeans and a cutoff shirt with bleached hair. There was a person at the
far end of the stage with a video camera taping the whole thing. The
room was packed, people sitting on the counters and dancers packing
the floor. The actual nightclub looked like a decent sized irish pub
with several booths to the one side and a bar on the opposite side.
The place seemed to be a venue mainly for the guitarist/singer combo,
as the music playing was one artist with a backing track behind him
played on a podcast/live radio. He stood up on the stage in a Bob
Marley t-shirt and flare jeans with an Iron Maiden poster behind him
on the wall.
The attendance was mostly female, with a lot of blonde skimply
dressed, dancing to the blues and jazz music. There were a few male
avatars there – mostly dancing with girls. The musician who went on
before the act was also there, urging people to donate lindens to the
performance. A lot of Spanish was spoken, but mostly gibberish that
you'd expect at a show – "Oh my god I love this guitarist!!!!!!!!" that sort
of thing.

Five Different Communities of Interest

Community 1) The Pagan community - While I haven't been able to observe many members, I've been around to several different stores and group gathering spots. Mostly very "earthy" gathering places with "natural" areas set up for stores, communication (I saw a cafe at one of the spots I visited) and small-ish shrines for meditation. I would like to observe these people and see what kind of things their SecondLife characters do in these areas: if a great deal of the things commonly associated with Pagan rites and whatnot are done here, or if it's just a place to "talk shop."

Community 2) - Furry Communes - Probably one of the more bizarre groups in SecondLife. As far as I can understand, these people create "fursonas" that they use to interact with in SecondLife. Some seem to be here mostly for the sexual behavior they can get their characters to do, but some just seem to be "normal" people with the exception of having anthropomorphic looking avatars. When I came into one area there was a couple standing around. It appeared that the one person was helping the other (who was new to SL) to work out their newly-bought extras. I'd like to see what attracts them to having these Furry avatars, and what the undercurrent communities are therein.

Community 3) Goth - Goth I know from firsthand experience can be an extremely multifaceted bunch. Interested in the dark and macabre, they get together for just about any reason: roleplaying, music, art and literature, as well as political discussion and for general camaraderie. There are ridiculous amounts of different groups in RL, and I would like to do more digging to see which ones are represented in SL. 

Community 4) Live Music - I haven't been able to see any shows yet, but this group intrigues me a lot. In order for people to want to perform (not just throw out a podcast of whatever songs they have on their iPods), there's got to be a market/desire for it. Internet jam sessions with other musicians and exchanging tips and tricks is what I can only assume goes on, but I can only fathom at this point. I can see the potential here for bands to reach their fans though. 

Community 5) RolePlay Communities - wether it be an addition to a separate game or a game within SL, There are a LOT of different areas where I've seen "weapons for sale" and different RP groups. While SL can be considered roleplay in and of itself, these communities and their surrounding areas are dedicated to specific genres - like a recreation of one of the towns in the game. These groups have modified areas where they have input combat rules into the game - what kind of people can do that? I'd like to know.