If you thought that the DJ streams of United We Stream, digital drag shows on Twitch, and the Minecraft versions of Berghain and Griesmuehle were the last efforts at bringing Berlin’s nightlife into the virtual space, you should think again. With Rave Space, a cutting-edge project from Berlin, a new virtual club will open its doors this weekend and it’s looking to be quite an impressive experience.
A few weeks ago we had the chance to step into this virtual club already to get a first impression. Of course, with the recent Griesmuehle event inside the Minecraft environment, we expected something rather quirky, but to our surprise, this was quite a different affair.
The Rave Space is a completely independent platform that just works in your browser and requires no extra environments or gaming platforms which helps a much wider audience to gain access to it. The club, even though it’s completely virtual, takes as many elements from the regular nightlife as possible, for instance, the timing, as they host regular parties to similar times as real-life parties and you can only really enter the place if a party is happening. They have a diverse program with different events full of amazing line-ups that include big names such as DJ Hell, Andhim, Nakadia, and Moguai.
When you log on during an event, you’ll pass by a bouncer that is fully dressed in latex and enter a space that actually looks like a typical Berlin club that has everything you need: A bar, a dancefloor, toilets, a darkroom. You’ll move around the space as an avatar among all the other guests that logged on. You have a lot of features to explore, like talking to other guests, choosing your own dance moves, spreading stickers in the clubs, or have a drink at the bar that will change your perception for a short while. There’s a lot to discover in the place, there’s actual art on the walls, and if you’re lucky you might find some people getting it on in the toilet.
We’re quite excited about the quality of the experience and the atmosphere that the virtual club brings. It’s pretty full-on and possibly visually the closest thing to a real club experience. We here there are some really cool collaborations in the making and some interesting events coming up with established Berlin nightlife makers. It seems that Rave Space could actually give us a bit of Berlin nightlife back, which we especially crave for right now with the new lockdown measures and curfews being thrown at us.
Rave Space officially opens tonight at 19h with further events tomorrow and the following weekends. Log on and give it a try!