Lost Dreams and Aspirations Guest Editorial: Jason...

Almost 2 years ago now since I joined Second Life, I met somebody who became a very good friend to me for the ensuing journey I spent here in Second Life. His name is Othon Weiland. We both talked about and discussed how much we loved the Spanish owned island of Gran Canaria, which is a small tropical island just off the northwest coast of Morocco which thousands of European gay tourists flock to each year in RL to visit a famous gay shopping mall and nightclub complex called Yumbo. Instantly, Othon and I hit it off and both shared how we both would love to see Yumbo come to life in Second Life.

So the small concept of re-enacting Yumbo in Second Life started off in a small way and progressively the ideas and reality of the concept grew bigger and expanded rapidly. From what started on a small corner of a sim, evolved nearly 2 years later to something spread across 10 sims. Yes our vision of Yumbo came alive from its infancy stages to something which we have today discovered, went beyond its boundaries. The old adage, don't run before you can walk served true today as many people who jumped on the Yumbo bandwagon soon learned today to the disappointment of many.

The journey of Yumbo coming to life started originally between a simple discussion between Othon and I. Then a newcomer called Temepete Bellman arrived on the scene and became a truly devoted friend to Othon. He joined the quest to bring Yumbo to life in Second Life. Then a fellow land barron/entrepreneur by the name of Freddy Pimpernell hooked up with the boys and learned of their vision of Yumbo. Freddy at that time owned various parcels and land in the gay quarters of Second Life at that time.

Eventually, the three, Freddy, Othon and Temp decided to buy a sim together and share the tier fees 3 ways. They entitled it the Yumbo Park Hotel sim. Together, the 3 agreed to bring the reality of the very popular Yumbo to life in Second Life. That journey had its ups and downs, but together, the 3 worked well with their own collective expertise and skills. However, last year, Freddy unveiled the acquisition of a new sim to the surprise of many before the first sim was even finished being built or even generating any revenue.

Over the next several months, Yumbo grew into an empire of multiplying sims. One sim was reserved for a 5 star luxury class hotel, another for land sales, rentals and eventually a shopping mall and nightclub complex. Yumbo was growing and many people in the gay community in Second Life soon begun to sit up and take notice. I was asked by the boys to help them setup regular parties at the Yumbo sims to attract new visitors and drive up new business for their intended shopping mall. They hired me as their head of Entertainments Manager at Yumbo. I spent the next 6 months building partnerships and attracting some of the very best DJ's in the business to help make Yumbo a "must" destination to visit in Second Life.

The parties were rocking, the top brands in Second Life setup shop at the mall and Yumbo was flourishing. inV magazine begun sponsoring regular events and Yumbo rapidly made its mark. Then before we knew it, there was a 6th sim, 7th, 8th, 9th and eventually a 10th sim. To outsiders, it would seem Yumbo was propsering very successfully. However, only 2 of the sims were managing to break even and there were several events, which called into question Freddy's state of mind.

I won't go into the specifics of those, but I recall at one point mentioned to Othon and Tempete as to whether Freddy could be in financial trouble at the end of last year. I was assured that was not the case and we moved forward and although there were always doubts at the back of my mind because of numerous things which happened behind the scenes, Freddy's extravagant spending and continuous acquisition of new sims convinced me, his partners and those who entrusted him with their own money by buying land from him that all was above board.

Today, we learned that was clearly not the case. For the past 10 days, Freddy Pimpernell had been absent from Second Life without any explanation and the failure to inform anybody as to why. This had actually occurred several times in the past, but Freddy would conjure up convincing excuses, which would assure us all was well. However, several hours after Othon and Temp had sent Freddy approximately 200 US dollars earlier today in order to cover their share of the tier fees, Freddy finally logged on and left the following message to the Yumbo group: "Second Life - Group notice: Pimpernel is BROKE: I'm so sorry to tell but of some persenal happenings in rl, loosing my job I'm not able to continue the sl sorry!

"Freddy hadn't bothered to inform his business partners, Othon & Temp privately and even failed to contact them directly. They are frantically attempting to contact Freddy now by telephone and email to try and salvage what they can and save as much financial loss to their land owners and renters as possible. They are depending on Freddy's co-operation and if he is reading this, then for the sake of everybody who placed their trust in him, Freddy do the right thing and help Othon and Temp salvage the situation as much as they possibly can. As it stands right now, the future of Yumbo is all up in the air.

It's a shame that such wasted dreams and aspirations are wasted like this. It serves as a lesson learned that if you are intending to buy a sim, it's always best to buy that sim on your own as difficulties arise when ownership for more than one person occurs as Linden Labs only recognize the one name that is listed as estate manager. Also, it's a lesson learned that continually buying sims for the sake of it and to float and gloat before being established and generating a profit has consequences on those that place their trust in you and invest their own hard earned cash in you.

Hopefully, Freddy will co-operate with Othon and Freddy and help them try and salvage as much of Yumbo as possible. If so, then Yumbo is without a doubt likely to diminish in the number of sims and perhaps also diminish in its reputation stakes it once carried. Without that co-operation, then Yumbo will fade into none-existence and many people who have invested in Yumbo will all lose out financially including the 2 remaining owners, Othon and Temp who also invested heavily and are left in the mire having to pickup the pieces and facing the flack in very difficult circumstances through no fault of their own.Yumbo can be salvaged and the damage limitation can be kept to an absolute minimum or it can die a slow and agonizing death that could potentially affect people's trust in future decisions when considering whether to invest in the Second Life community with us all. The fate that Yumbo will face depends on whether Freddy Pimpernell now does the right thing. I for one hope he does and I'm sure the rest of the inV Magazine community will join me in encouraging Freddy Pimpernell to do the right thing.

We at the daily & inV monthly wish them the best and the brightest futures.