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Oversaturation of the Nightclub scene


ThatDutchPerson

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Hey everyone.

 

So recently Ive noticed the trend of a nightclub opening every day. Normally this shouldnt be an issue, however when one company manages them all, it is kind of unfair to the competition.

 

I am not here to start ranting about how unfair that supposedly is. I love a little bit of competition! My problem is, what happens when more than one club opens a day, which counts a total of more than 7 openings per week?

 

Vibe internally already did a great job by reducing their openings to once a day. But with obvious competition and independent clubs/lounges still in play, this still contributes to oversaturation and many people eventually losing interest in visiting a nightclub. Garden and Velvet are already key exemples of this.

 

My proposed solution would be a special business permit for nightclubs, instead of a regular one. And they are handled by the government branch that deals with business registration.

 

I dont want to see the nightclub scene die out because of oversaturation, so I would love some proposed solutions from the competition aswell (and not the usual “then close yours?” which obviously wont happen on either side).

 

let us brainstorm a bit.

Edited by ThatDutchPerson
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This is not a way to sort this problem. GOV doesn't need to be handling "special permits" for nightclubs.

Garden and Velvet would still be visited if their ownership had chosen to keep them running.

 

I've ran multiple nightclubs, bars, lounges, and other businesses successfully as long as I've been on this server.

 

The playerbase is large enough to accommodate more than one business being open at a time. Marketing, building rapport, and providing a superior product by investing effort into what you are doing is the means by which success can be achieved. Artificial, unrealistic, and forced "solutions" will do nothing to combat this non-problem.

 

If people stopped opening nightclubs every other week, then the market would be less saturated. It's that simple. There are clubs that have opened pretty consistently since their inception.

Far as bringing bars or lounges into this discussion? No. It's nightlife as well, but it's a different business model. By running a lounge I am providing a more social, less hyperactive experience for those who wish to RP at my venue.

The pure and simple fact of the matter is this: Of course one club per night opens. Hell, let it be two. See who pulls the better crowd. A superior product - over time - will win out. It takes creativity and commitment to a concept. That's all.

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As much as you think this is an IC problem. It's not. It's not even an OOC problem.

It's market competition.

Do you know what makes people stay at certain places over any of the other ones? Providing an atmosphere that they enjoy.

Example: I know that I enjoy both IC and OOC Harmony, Fish Net, and Vault openings. I don't care if there are 15 other clubs open at once, guess where I'm going? You know why? Because I like it there, and my character likes it there. You go with what you know. Consistent openings, prices that aren't a rake over the coals for entry and drinks, a non-obnoxious environment wins. Every time. 

I'll break this down even further:

Consistent Openings - If I know that around 3 am every day, a place is more than likely going to be open, guess what? Around that time I'm gonna start gearing up to head over there. If you open 3 times every 2 weeks on different days and at different times, I'm probably not going to go there unless I have nothing to do AND I'm RPing with someone who wants to go there.

Pricing - I, as a normal player have zero desire to pay 1000+ dollars to get into a club and then pay 200+ per drink for someone in one of these companies to hit me with a "/me makes an old fashioned and passes it across the counter." But what I will do is give an over the top tip to someone like @ChromaticDeath or @akari to sit and talk about the small things about her business while she pours my character a Topo Chico and doesn't absolutely bend me over the counter for the pricing on it.

Environment - Feeds heavily into the previous two points. All of y'all run the same gimmick. "OHHHH SNAP DJ insert flavor of the week here ON THE DECKS TONIGHT BOIIIII." Why do I need to pay stupid money to go see something that's been done 1000 times with a slightly altered playlist? I don't. Especially not when I can go to a smaller run place and actually have a conversation and RP with someone. These are places that I can go to by myself, and have a conversation at the bar with someone I don't know, probably won't interact with on a regular basis ever again. You can't do that in a bumpity bumping club, at least not usually.

The take away here is this. The places that I mentioned? Unique. Would they be unique in the real world? No. But the fact that the majority of clubs are actually just the same product rebranded a half dozen times with slightly different interiors makes them unique enough to RP in. The attitude that I feel comes out from a lot of the people who own these clubs is "It cost me X amount of money for the property and renovations + Y amount of money per staff per opening. I need that back as quickly as I can so I can start turning a profit. Fat entries and fat drink prices." It doesn't make the club exclusive.

And the argument will come up "Ohh it's not that much money." But if you are like me and you break down the time it takes you to acquire some of this wealth versus the product you get in return, it could just be better spent with people who don't obviously have that same mentality appearance. They might just be really good at hiding it. I don't know.


Does this need any IC or OOC regulation? No.
 

2 hours ago, borhoi said:

A superior product - over time - will win out. It takes creativity and commitment to a concept. That's all.


Perfect summary of how this situation is and should be dealt with.

Edited by SaintBatemanofWallStreet
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Requiring special business permits for nightclubs - Not that I'm supporting the idea to begin with - would require a licensing division that is actually active, which I have yet to see from GOV within the past few months.

 

But pushing that aside, this is all a matter of IC competition. We RP in a city based around Los Angeles - one of the most hustle-and-bustle metropolitan cities in the United States. As such, it provides perfect breeding ground for aggressive capitalism and corporate expansion. And while I don't agree with some of these practices, I can wholeheartedly say that most of the actual business management is perfectly in line with an attempt at industry monopolization, and I strictly keep my gripes about it on in-character platforms.

 

If someone isn't getting the results they want from their part of the industry, the only one at fault is them for not doing more to achieve what they want to get out of their venues. Business management and corporate affairs are a dog-eat-dog world, and I have been having plenty of fun with my character treating it as such. OOC or government intervention isn't necessary unless you're on the losing side.

53 minutes ago, SaintBatemanofWallStreet said:

But what I will do is give an over the top tip to someone like @ChromaticDeath or @akari to sit and talk about the small things about her business while she pours my character a Topo Chico and doesn't absolutely bend me over the counter for the pricing on it.

❤️

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Honestly, let the market sort this out. The club offering the best experience is going to be the successful one, if anything the oversaturation is a GOOD thing. It forces the clubs to work on themselves, improving themselves to stand out from the rest. People will naturally flock to what they like most, if the clubs don't adapt to that it's just bad business management. 

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1 hour ago, SaintBatemanofWallStreet said:

Pricing - I, as a normal player have zero desire to pay 1000+ dollars to get into a club and then pay 200+ per drink for someone in one of these companies to hit me with a "/me makes an old fashioned and passes it across the counter."

As someone who's working on opening a more unique place that's not a nightclub repeat, I've noticed the alcohol prices from the supplier/stores are 130-150 on average for the usual spirits (rum, whiskey, etc.) Wine is a bit more and champagne is pretty ridiculous lol. I'd be completely okay with breaking even or making a /slight/ profit on those regular spirits. Would you consider $150-$175 to be a fair compromise considering the price they are bought for?

 

I do completely agree on the entree fee though. I feel this is /somewhat/ hindered by the minimum $200 threshold to receive the extra bonus per unique customer.

Edited by Kestalas
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1 minute ago, Kestalas said:

As someone who's working on opening a more unique place that's not a nightclub repeat, I've noticed the alcohol prices from the supplier/stores are 130-150 on average for the usual spirits (rum, whiskey, etc.) I'd be completely okay with breaking even or making a /slight/ profit on that. Would you consider $150-$175 to be a fair compromise considering the price they are bought for?

Honestly clubbing ain't cheap IRL so why should it be IG? I'd say fuck it. The club that undercuts the other one wins right? You gotta make a profit too otherwise it's just bad finance. It should sort itself out naturally too shouldn't it? I imagine if a club charges a ridiculous amount for alcohol and the next club over doesn't most business would go to the more attractive club. Or isn't that the case? 

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Just now, Kestalas said:

As someone who's working on opening a more unique place that's not a nightclub repeat, I've noticed the alcohol prices from the supplier/stores are 130-150 on average for the usual spirits (rum, whiskey, etc.) I'd be completely okay with breaking even or making a /slight/ profit on that. Would you consider $150-$175 to be a fair compromise considering the price they are bought for?

Honestly man, I don't care what they cost. What I don't like is when they're charging 200 for a beer. 300 for a mixed drink. Stuff like that. I get it, sometimes it sucks for pricing in terms of your overhead. But I've been in places that charge 200 for a beer and you get nothing in return. And I don't care about getting an item for the transaction. Not even a thing for me, but some do. But that right there? Tells me it's about the money for that club owner. Not the RP. THAT is what I can't abide by. If you can put on a good environment and it just costs a little extra? I'm down with that. But I don't consider a good environment to be one that you just spent a lot of money on to make a cool interior. It's about atmosphere and interaction.

You know Cheers? The TV show? A place where everyone knows your name. Those places I mentioned before? I can go there and they say "Usual?" and I can say sure. It's people who know that my character's name is Ricardo, but he goes by Rick, and they reflect it in their /me's during interaction. It's not robotic and feels like you're waiting in line at an amusement park. Stuff like that adds up. And yeah, it's tedious. I get that. But it makes the difference in whether I'm gonna stay for 15 minutes or until you shut it down.

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Just now, SaintBatemanofWallStreet said:

Honestly man, I don't care what they cost. What I don't like is when they're charging 200 for a beer. 300 for a mixed drink. Stuff like that. I get it, sometimes it sucks for pricing in terms of your overhead. But I've been in places that charge 200 for a beer and you get nothing in return. And I don't care about getting an item for the transaction. Not even a thing for me, but some do. But that right there? Tells me it's about the money for that club owner. Not the RP. THAT is what I can't abide by. If you can put on a good environment and it just costs a little extra? I'm down with that. But I don't consider a good environment to be one that you just spent a lot of money on to make a cool interior. It's about atmosphere and interaction.

You know Cheers? The TV show? A place where everyone knows your name. Those places I mentioned before? I can go there and they say "Usual?" and I can say sure. It's people who know that my character's name is Ricardo, but he goes by Rick, and they reflect it in their /me's during interaction. It's not robotic and feels like you're waiting in line at an amusement park. Stuff like that adds up. And yeah, it's tedious. I get that. But it makes the difference in whether I'm gonna stay for 15 minutes or until you shut it down.

Noted. I appreciate the input.

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