Cyberspace big-city cruising more forlorn than real thing

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Supposedly on-to-it gig guides list long-gone acts and a Desperate and Dateless chat room is silent for hours ...

The time is 1:30 am. I am sitting, alone, in the Desperate and Dateless virtual bar.

Desperate and Dateless is the web-based chat room attached to the Empire Hotel, on a corner of Nelson St and Victoria St, in Auckland's CBD. Chat rooms aren't usually my thing, but I visited this one as part of a mission to discover what's hot and what's not in internet guides to Auckland's holiday attractions and nightlife.

The designers, Power Box Media, say hits on the Empire's website leapt twenty-fold when the virtual bar was opened, and the pub began running get-togethers on the real world premises for people who had met on the net.

I thought these online visitors would be good sources of advice on other happening sites but, alas, they seemed to have long since departed.

I turned up at around 2 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm, 11 pm and, finally, at 1.30 am, only to find the chat room empty. Each time upon arrival at the Main Bar I had signed in and clicked a button curiously labelled View Occupants, only to find that I was the only person listed.

To while away the boredom, I visited the Empire's gig guide as well as a page outlining the vibrant history of the establishment.

The gig guide faithfully recorded the Empire's November entertainment but was urging visitors - a few days before Christmas - to stay tuned for the December edition.

Surprisingly, the history page was the most interesting part of the site, and also provided an unexpected clue as to why the chat room was deserted.

It's difficult to imagine Auckland when the pub was built in 1870. The Empire was one of 91 hotels serving the city's 13,000 residents. Clearly their proprietors had to be showmen to attract custom, organising, among other things, boxing matches, cock fighting and a ready supply of willing ladies.

Auckland's population has swelled since then, but the Empire's web site, like many entertainment portals, is facing a problem similar to that which bedevilled the original hotel.

Too many small, under-resourced sites are chasing a limited online public and any internet research firm will tell you that the digital equivalents of the boxing matches are to be found on overseas servers.

In some ways, it is a chicken and egg situation. Sites need visitors to keep their content fresh and alive. Site visitors need up-to-date content to maintain their interest.

It is a problem that seems to be faced by local entertainment portals large and small.

Take Xtra's Auckland Live for example. This offers one of the best all-round guides to entertainment in the city, especially since Xtra acquired and incorporated its former rival, Out & About, six months ago.

The excellent Out & About restaurant guide allows you to search for restaurants by name, cuisine, style, location, price and licence. Searching for Malaysian restaurants for example, yielded 13 promising establishments all over the city.

A further section under development will feature user reviews of establishments much like. Amazon.com reader book reviews.

But when I visited the gigs of the week area of the Out & About what's hot section I found it listed gigs that had taken place the week before. Like the Empire's gig guide it was a what-was-hot page.

On a smaller scale, the sedate Armadillo site which covers events in Newmarket, Parnell and Remuera areas, does not seem to have been updated since around the time of the Parnell Rose Festival in November.

At least Lava the online version of the popular youth lifestyle magazine, has the courage to admit its failings in this regard.

"Lava site to be overhauled - why all this content is out of date," its front-page lead feature boldly proclaims.

Nevertheless, Lava is one of the best-maintained sites for information on DJs, bands, theatre and comedy, at least for the under-30s.

Unlike many of its peers it looks ahead - last Thursday it listed no fewer than 25 events for that day and for each of the five days that followed.

Most people would agree Auckland's nightlife has perked up in the past few years, especially since the America's Cup transformed the waterfront. Unfortunately this has yet to be reflected in cyberspace.

Links:

Desperate and Dateless

Power Box Media

Empire gig guide

History of the Empire

Auckland Live

Armadillo

Lava