I’m sure many people have often wondered what distinguishes one place from another. In Second Life there is a plethora of clubs; what makes one place stand out from all the rest? Is it is the decor, the build, the themes or does it come down to the people who go there?

Regular readers of Rez will remember I tracked the demise of Durell Celts Lava Pit; a club originally devised by Lord Leafblower and Aava Jeego. The original Lava Pit closed early 2007 and Durell, one of the many members attempted to reintroduce the club. In my controversial and scathing article I noted that the reincarnation of this formerly successful club was rather disappointing.

Since that article was posted, Durell’s version of the club has gone, leaving no trace on the Second Life network. However, Lord and Aava’s Lava Pit has still left its mark even with its suspended absence. That was until September 2008 when The Lava Pit once more opened its doors under the careful wings of the original owners.

The new Lava Pit has a completely different build, different decor and somewhat different themed events. However, whilst the club itself has had a complete makeover the experience remains and same and the new prims have recaptured that genuine family feel. Clearly in answer to my original question, this club stands out from the others because of the people; particularly because of its owners.

I caught up with Lord Leafblower and asked him to explain The Lava Pits journey to date.

Trinity: What did you think of the resurrection club provided by Durell Celt

Lord: It is unfortunate that I agreed to hand over the name and legacy of the club at that time. Contrary to the hype and promises made by the new owner, the resulting place added nothing to the earlier successes and popularity of the original. The Lava Pit was about Lord Leafblower, Aava Jeegoo and all the friends, without those personalities there, it wasn't The Lava Pit.


Trinity: The Lava Pit on Kiva Island closed early 2007, why have you decided to bring the Lava Pit back to SecondLife now?



Lord: Well, to understand why we brought it back, you need to understand why we closed it.


By March 2007, working and personal life for both of us was getting extremely busy. At that time we had already started to think about the forthcoming Boxapixels company and Lava Inside products were just starting to be produced. We were no longer able to commit as much personal time to being in SL as we previously had been.

Secondly The Lava Pit had gotten away from its original small, friends-based hang-out. It had become another overloaded club in SL with gambling, contests, virtual-sex and all the trimmings that come with those aspects. It was totally out of control! And that's entirely my doing as I got carried away with the success of the place.


Another reason was purely personal. The Lava Pit had become too well known. As a result I was the target of constant abuse in IM, notecard drops and whatever other mechanisms from complete strangers. There are quite an extraordinary amount of people that want to be pissed off at anybody seemly ”doing well” out of Second Life. The constant stream of abuse grinds you down eventually even if you try to ignore it. A lot of misinformed people seem to think that so-called ”clubs” in SL are making money for the owners. They couldn't be more wrong :D establishing, promoting, maintaining a successful club or hang-out in Second Life can cost a fortune.


Anyway, those are the major reasons that we closed it down. It went out with a bang, at a popularity high-point and I was happy with the decision.


So 1.5 years later, I felt like I wanted to re-open The Lava Pit, but bring it back in the style of the ”original” small Lava Pit that started on mainland in September 2006. That was small, a low membership count, some mad friends, randomly having events and so on... it didn't need to be occupied 24/7 and was a no pressure situation for us. I had originally started the place in 2006 as I got frustrated at the ”rules” of The Shelter. I couldn't find a place that was a friendly hang-out without being analy retentive. So, true to the nature of Second Life, I figured I would make one.


Now I hope that the new place will become that thing once again.



Trinity: How has the response been to the new Lava Pit?



Lord: When I sent out the invitations to the ”opening” to the people I wanted to know about it, the up-take was practically 100%. So that was kind of fun. 
The response to the ”change” of the place is mixed, but generally people like the place, the new style, the new look and the original idea.
 There is no active promoting for The Lava Pit going on, and the events are not regularly timed, so it's difficult to compare it's attendance and acceptance with the previous place. The objective is totally different, and there is no camping, so... =)



Trinity: The design of the club has changed significantly can you tell me why?



Lord: The original Lava Pit on mainland was built in ignorance. I didn't really know my way about building in Second Life so well. So the result was basically a box with stuff in it. It grew of course.


Then by the time I bought Kiva Island and put the new Lava Pit there I was in such a rush to get the place moved, that I just built a Bigger Box :D If you remember, the place was constantly evolving, but I never really liked the build as it was so ad-hoc.


The new Lava Pit today is how I would have liked it before. It's round (ish), small enough to not be intimidating, but large enough to cope with 20+ people.


If you make a big club place, you need to fill the spaces to allow it have any kind of "atmosphere". That invariably leads to a large place full of unrelated crap that follows no theme or style =) So it was good to avoid that.


The newly opened Lava Pit has set out with very different themed events. Opening night was “Worst in whatever” and one of the most notable events since then was “Big Fat Av”. I wanted to know Lords inspiration for these events and what some of the feedback had been to the particularly non PC themes.



Lord: I'm not sure there is any inspiration other than "be controversial", but I will explain a little about why they are as they are.


Well the place has one rule, ”don't piss each other off, everything else is OK!”.


That rule is a bit subjective, what pisses one person off, makes another laugh.
So I thought, the owner should at least be able to piss everybody off! =)


No but really, the main reason was being utterly bored with the mundane ”Best In ” contests that are done to death in Second Life. Best In Black, Best In Leather, Best In Blaaaaa and so on. So I vowed never to have a ”Best In” contest, and that lead to some unconventional and controversial events like ”Big Fat Av” and so on. The funny thing is, the people that attend those events have split their sides laughing at themselves and their friends. And *that* is what it should be about. Anybody getting on their high-horse about ”immoral event themes” needs to take a deep breath and worry about something serious in life =)



Lava Inside, club products range, was born on Kiva Island alongside the Lava Pit. Even after Kiva Island closed, Lava Inside continued to grow. Lord added a Lava Inside main store to his estate which also includes The Lava Pit sim, Boxapixels Sandbox and Mall and the under development Leafside Heights weapons area. I asked Lord about the growth of these sims and the creations born from the original Lava Pit.


Lord: Lava Inside grew out of two things. Firstly my programming skills in RL and secondly the need for devices and gadgets for the Lava Pit as it was growing. Lava Inside started to take over my SL time away from The Lava Pit. It was nice to see some revenue coming from efforts in Second Life rather than just being a money ”pit”. Then it just kept growing as I thought of other things to create and sell. Now, Lava Inside is a thriving supplier of items in Second Life.

Leafside Heights is a new project and still under work. It is a free-for-all weapons area with damage and push enabled. But rather than just be a weapons sandbox I wanted it to have some theme and atmosphere. So I thought it would be fun to build it as a run-down urban place. It's a fun playground =)


The Lava Pit was certainly held sacred in the hearts of its many members in SecondLife. It is responsible for my personal development here. Like so many, the reincarnation of the club under new ownership, clouded the wonderful memories of THE Lava Pit. I certainly believe this particular club owes its success to the people and I for one am very happy to see it back where it belongs. Here ends The Lava Pits happy ending.