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Developer Focus

Dublin: Creating Community One Pint at a Time

John Mahon, known as Ham Rambler in Second Life, created the popular city of Dublin. His company, PickSL.net [pronounced pixel.net], builds community-based businesses in Second Life.

So This Irishman Walks Into a Bar ...

Dublin, as John explains, started with an Irish bar, some great barmen, and plenty of good-spirited conversation. Since then, it has become a destination location in Second Life.

"I joined Second Life more than two years ago," John says. "I felt what was missing was a comfortable, easy-going place to meet, talk, and interact. In other words: a good Irish bar. Everyone knows what a good Irish bar is. It needs no marketing. So I built the bar, and it was incredibly successful. I streamed in Irish music. There were lots of friendly people. I didn't start Dublin as a commercial project. It started as a bar where people could gather, hang out, and bring their friends. And then it became clear that people wanted more and that I should build a city around the bar. Build a larger context, in other words. That's where Dublin came from. It's a place people will go," John says. And while there, they'll find: "Here's Trinity College. Oh! Here's Guinness. And, and look: here's a bar. People assimilate that very easily. Again, it's context. You don't drive 300 miles into the desert to open a store. It's far more interesting if people turn a street corner and see a shop."

"It's a philosophy I use a lot in my development projects: I look at things in a greater context. Companies will call me and say they'd like to be in Second Life. And I'll say: 'I could build you a big, fancy island that would get a big newspaper to profile you ... but then, after that, no one would know you. When Second Life residents visited your island, there'd be no community element. No interaction. There'd be no context.' It just doesn't work long-term. Context really drives what I do in Second Life." And it works: Dublin receives more than 20,000 visitors each day.

The Measure of Success: Creating Community

"My measure of success in Second Life - both commercially and personally - was to build something that's fully engaged with the basic premises and building blocks of Second Life. Second Life is about people. It's not about buildings. It's not about scripted objects that are very fancy. It's ultimately about people. So I built a successful site around people- and community-focused areas. It's has to do with: how can I bring people here and then bring them back? Companies who want to come into Second Life are recognizing they can't have a bang-flash presence that doesn't engage with the community and that just sits there as a relic for their marketing department. Success comes when you engage with the community and make them want to come to your place."

Ham Rambler's Advice

"Know and understand your customers. Your customers are not the big businesses. They are the people who are going to bring success to you. Understand what drives and motivates people before you do anything. You might think you have a real wizard of an idea. But if it's not something that's going to turn a Second Lifer on, they won't know about it. Or, if they do know about it, they won't care."

"In Dublin, for example, we have live music events, and we also stream in music. People dance in the bar. They walk around the city. They come to Dublin to hang out and have fun, and they bring their friends. Now, they're renting houses, having weddings, and vacationing there. And it all started as a simple bar. So, if businesses want to engage with the Second Life community, I'd say: go to them. Don't expect them to come to you."

"Also, if you don't take the time, genuinely take the time, to understand what motivates people to be in Second Life, you're just going to end up with failures. You wouldn't go building a snow-making machine and then put it out in the Arizona desert. You could say: 'This would be great there. They need this. This is just the place.' But if no one in that part of the world wants snow, it's not the thing to do."