Earlier this month
Gachatopia opened and now that things have settled down I would love to take you on a tour! Gachatopia was just an idea a few months back. Luke and I had a sim free and the Trailerpark Yardsale was ready for a makeover. The Trailerpark had been my own personal yard sale for almost a year and while I had no trouble filling it with the overflow of my massive gacha inventory, I was frequently asked, is this open to the public? The idea started to gel as we spoke about the pros and cons of making the Trailerpark a public Yardsale and from there the idea grew to galatic proportions. The result was Gachatopia, a full sim all about gacha, for public use.
Naturally the Trailerpark would have to live on, so it became the first attraction we laid out. It was a guide for the style and vibe we wanted for the overall sim. The
Artilleri trailers and
Schadenfreude flamingos were a must, and of course the old busted billboard. The Trailerpark was set up for two levels of use. One, a table for rent with a 25 prim allowance and the other a 50 prim trailer. Yardsale table and trailer renters would have a few amenities with regard to advertising and auction boards. The other must have for our build was a road system. A way for us to use our gacha wheels like,
The Secret Store roller skates or these awesome bikes from
What Next. As you can imagine, our carbon footprint is fantastic!
Gachatopia isn't all about the Trailerpark however. We wanted some new ideas for gacha, things we had seen work for other genres in Second Life that had not been done for ours, like Live Auctions, rentable Auction Boards and a Gacha Museum. That build was in Lukes capable hands and he came up with the Googieheim, named after the googie style architecture we love so much. The museum and auction house sits center sim with the Atomic Spire, a tall futuristic tower that over looks Gachatopia.
Inside the main building you find auction boards lined up at the right for anyone that rents on the sim to use. Gacha lovers can put their precious rare or retired items out for bidding any day of the week. Anyone can bid on what is offered on the bid boards or at live events. To the left is The Gacha Show, a live auction venue set up like a retro television show. Our first live auction is coming up on August 19th at 6pm slt. Live auctions are prevalent in the breedables community, being both entertainment and a means to buy and sell from each other. It has another bigger purpose as well, auctions help stabilize pricing, something Luke and I felt was a missing component among gacha re-sellers. The wings of the Googieheim showcase a growing collection of displays from past
Arcade rounds, an event that raised the bar for gacha and has produced the most sought after gacha content on the grid. The displays are made using bits, or complete sets from different members of the community, who then receive a nameplate, marking them as a contributor to the museum.
One of the best parts of the Gachatopia sim is the row of premium shopping at the landing point. Yes! I take up one of the large stores but I am flanked by people I have come to know on the yardsale circuit, as good fair traders and re-sellers. We could not ask for a better group of shops to be the anchor of the sim. Inventory is changed regularly in these shops and are a must see!
Visitors will also find gacha machines lining the center of the sim. Creators can rent a parking meter by the month to display and sell their gacha creations. If you are not huge shop or major seller in sl, there are very few places to set machines out that get exposure. The Gachatopia meters provide a place for these small business owners to get big business traffic. Our current selection includes machines by
::A&A::,
Athena Snoring,
Cade,
::ATOW::,
DG Designs,
Mango Cheeks and
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Gachatopia! is open year round and supports all gacha events. If you have an event, we want to know! Free advertising is available. Contact Morbid Templar inworld to have your poster placed on the sim.
