The Rise and Fall of Phat Cat's...the TRUTH

Most would be surprised at the time and effort that really goes in to running a top ten venue. Dilbert and I spent more time online than either of us cares to admit, but it was a labor of love for us and our time was spent together. We hired people to work with us that we hoped shared the same vision of what Second Life could and should be. Some did, some did not, and some joined us just to sabotage us. While we still like to think most people are good and honest by nature, there are also those people out there that resent success, get pissed at a good love story, and would like to do nothing more than see you crash and burn. We ran into some stinkers that went to great lengths to destroy not only Phat Cat’s, but our relationship with each other as well. There were also the Phat Cat’s copyCATS…but that is a whole OTHER story.

When the time finally came that Dilbert and I were ready and able to be with each other in our real lives we had a lot to consider besides just the mundane, like where to live and work. We had built a virtual world that people had come to love and respect and we took that responsibility to Second Life very seriously. We knew we needed time to get settled together in our new home and we desperately wanted time to spend together to make up for a lot of lost time in our lives. It was daunting that we were finally going to have each other to hold and not just to type to, but we did not want to let down our friends who had come to love Phat Cat’s either.

We decided we needed to sell “our baby”, but that we would have to find the right buyer, someone we felt would uphold the standards we had tried to instill in our staff and that we ourselves had lived up to. The word got out that we were looking for someone to take over Phat Cat’s and a long time patron of ours, Alix Abruzzo, approached us. Alix had always gotten along well with us, seemed nice enough, and through our conversations with her we became convinced she might be up to the challenge.

Prior to the decision for us to sell the club, Dil had made a trip to come and visit me in South Carolina. I was very concerned about having enough management to handle the club while he was away with me. We had a few who were excellent, but for a sim that needs to be monitored twenty-four hours a day it’s never enough. I convinced Dil that we should hire back a manager, who had previously left us, to help out while he was away, and even though he was against it, I convinced him we needed to. I should have trusted his instincts.

When the sale of Phat Cat’s finally went down it was painfully difficult for both Dilbert and I. The club was a part of our love story and us. We had built it…prim by prim…together. We had promised Alix that we would stay on as a management team for a time and make sure the patrons at Phat Cat’s didn’t feel too much of a change and make a mass exodus. The manager we had rehired, Brianna Talbot, stayed on too and promised to help Alix settle in and help manage the staff. The week of the final sale, Brianna disappeared as we hired two new assistant managers to help Alix. When Dilbert observed this he asked one of the new assistant managers, Melah Carter, if Brianna had actually been around and assisting with the management of Phat Cat’s. Melah Carter then violated the terms of service and Dilbert’s trust by copying and pasting his questions to Brianna. Dilbert had every right to ask questions as we were still paying all the salaries. Brianna came to me and tried to cause problems…claiming she had never been paid. We showed through transaction histories that she had. Dilbert tried to speak to Brianna about it and she went berserk. She started attacking him…then me…and began telling insane stories about us that were completely untrue and the most bizarre lies I have ever come up against. It wasn’t until then that I found out she had been working on Dil for a while and apparently had a crush. She had also been working the new owner Alix, and had developed a close friendship with her. Alix bought every single one of the lies being told. The most disturbing attack on us, that we never anticipated, is that Brianna actually BANNED us from the sim that we created, built, and developed…and Alix supported her. We were completely devastated and still are.

We saw huge problems happening. We would show up and there would be no hostesses or a manager anywhere. (Even though they were online) Marketing and events were being ignored. We were getting complaints constantly from long time friends that there were attacks and security issues at the sim. New hostesses were being hired and not being trained. The music stream would go down and no one would notice for hours. When we tried to talk to the managers we were flat out told we were no longer in charge and they didn’t give a flying fig what we had to say. Dilbert was getting messages from long time visitors that for no good reason were being kicked off the sim and banned…and when he relayed these issues to the current management he was accused of backstabbing the employees when he was just trying to assess the situation and correct it for a long time Phat Cat’s fans.

Phat Cat’s was an amazing venue and perhaps the most amazing part of it all is that it was the first truly clean and camp free venue in the #1 spot in Second Life. It is no longer #1 and it falls farther down in traffic everyday. Current management will give you a multitude of lame reasons for it, but the fact remains that even if people have great intentions and are good people…. it does NOT make them good business people…and make no mistake…Second Life IS a business. Phat Cat’s exists today because of strong branding and amazing romance. Any marketing done now for Phat Cat’s is ego motivated and not good commerce. We are embarrassed by most of it as well as the new atmosphere.
We have wonderful friends that know the truth of our abilities and of our hearts. We love so many in Second Life and we are blessed to have met such great human beings. Our reputations have been attacked and perhaps can never be repaired, but we remain content with the truth, with each other, our love, and the knowledge that it built a great Second Life institution…and we can again ;)