ElbaClub54: Ancient Roman Temple Mall & Romantic Garden
January 27, 2010

Category: Business Reviews

"Romans," I could tell you a lot about "Romans." I could tell you that I, Vazul Neximus, grew up on Asterix comics, but then again, who didn’t? I could also tell you about the tales of horror whispered within the halls of universities, since Roman Law is the first major obstacle a newbie lawyer student has to face on the Old Continent. However, I will just concentrate on the important things for now.

The most important thing about Romans, which enabled them to rule most of the known world of their era, is that they collected and utilized the knowledge of all the people they have met. They did not invent most of the things known today as Roman culture and technology; instead, they simply realized there are common basics behind most human actions. For example; when you want to buy a horse, it is not the important thing what kind of gestures and movements you are required to do to trigger the deal; however, the important thing in a transaction is that the seller wants to sell, the buyer wants to buy, and whenever they come to an agreement about the price as well, the deal is done.

These common principles could be found in the customs of every nation, and all of what the Romans did, consisted of incorporating these in their own knowledge base. During their conquests, they also forced these refined laws on their subjects, thus they created standardized commerce.

The most important scene of this research were the Forums, where citizens met, made deals and even could gather popular support for their political goals. The judges, ("praetors"), also performed their tasks there; so they could get first-hand information about daily matters. All in all, the Forums were places of integration; a life force, that kept the Empire running.

To my surprise, I could find Forums in the world of Second Life too. I do not mean the message boards, but a whole Roman-themed SIM. Curious to find out how the successors of the ancient conquerors fare nowadays, I teleported to ElbaClub54 (http://slurl.com/secondlife/PS%20City/74/68/23 in-world), where Owner, Ricky Wirefly, and Chief Manager, AmazingGrace Galicia, invited me to take a tour around the place.

About ElbaClub54

The place is so vast that I do not even know where to start. At my first glance, I could distinguish two big sections. They have a nice garden for relaxing and recreation, which was built in Roman (or Italian) style, as well. The center of the SIM, bordered by ancient temples, serves as a marketplace, or rather, a Forum. Apart from the shops, a ballroom for events and a section for gaming, also can be found there.

Rome wasn’t built in a day either, so I asked my hosts about the very beginning days of the business first. Ricky told me that they started as a small place a year ago, with less than a quarter of the SIM they have now. One of Ricky’s good friend's, Zussa Ryba, has an Elba colony, and that served as the inspiration for this place. The other part of the name came from the real life profession of Ricky, as he has been a DJ for 34 years, and Studio54 also played an important part in his life.

Interestingly, his founding idea also had strong similarities to the ancient Roman concept that I mentioned in the introduction: he saw the freebie places, shops and services like Xstreet; but at the same time, he also saw romantic, relaxing places. Then he came up with the idea to create a place that mixes romance, dancing, living and shopping, while offering high quality live customer service at the same time.

Services and Support

ElbaClub54, combines the openness of the beach, waterfalls and gardens for romance, inexpensive spots to rent for merchandise, and fun things to do apart from shopping. Outdoor activities include; live fishing, horse shows, gondola rides and games. The shops are arranged in a flea market style, bordered by the Roman-style environment at the sides. Ricky is convinced that this combination is the key that makes his place unique, yet granting it the outlook of the ancient Italian city.

They hold photo contests with linden prizes, raffle contests and various events to keep customers coming back. Such a combination brings many visitors, and also many vendors to peddle their wares. Ricky told me that he considers all his renters his partners, as SL is a voluntary investment, where everything depends on your partners, and his renters make it possible for him to continue what he wants to do.

Such an extensive service is hard to manage; yet they show their devotion by offering 24/7 support, either by email (within 8 hours) or in-world support, when available. They employ AmazingGrace Galicia, a skilled artist, as Chief Manager and Steffanie Jupiter, as daytime help, who also runs club parties and does in-world customer service.

Ricky also develops his own RW Creations and sells the products he creates. One of his inventions is a Get-paid-to-vote box, which sells quite well.

Business Background, Tips and Future Plans

So, let's see what it takes to set up and run a place like this. I was mostly curious about the needed investment and the revenues. Ricky told me that he has spent over 2000 USD on the business, so far. Now, that surely shows dedication! It just made me even more curious about the distribution of all this cash.

One of the needed investments must be land tier, so I inquired about that first. He told me with full rental that they break even with tiers now, but he also spends quite the same amount on advertising. The advertising services of SLBiz2Life helps him to get many of the first time visitors; while he and his staff constantly work on events and auctions to keep them, as well. He admits it is a hard learning process you have to go through, when you start such a large scale business; but in his opinion, with help from your SL friends, it is worth doing.

As for future plans, I found out that despite the vast SIM size, he is more the perfectionist than the expansionist. He likes the current size of the place and thinks that bigger in SL is not always for the better. Instead, he strives to develop more houses, gadgets and furnishings; so the place can run smoothly on its own, even in moments when owners are busy with real life and cannot be online.

For the ones planning to start a business like his own, he gave the advice to start out with a small piece of land, and get familiar with the SL environment first. You should learn how to move and edit prims, turn on the "show in search" option for everything on your land, and be honest, so people will trust you.

After hearing all of this, and looking around once more, the fitting of the Roman saying emerged in my mind: “Per aspera ad astra”, meaning “through hardships to the stars”. I have no idea, if the owners knew this saying when they went through all the hardships to form this virtual city, but surely they are at the stars now!

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