Comments on: Second life for Second Life

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:33:26 +0000

I’ve been bouncing around Second Life for a while and even when the statistics showed otherwise, participation by residents was strong.

The social community seems stronger to me than it is on facebook, myspace, twitter, plurk, etc. Indeed interestingly the social networks within Secondlife extend themselves and I’ve seen them replicated on the other platforms. (I’ve yet to see it work the other way around)

I agree with Robert’s hypothesis that heavy users are mostly the drivers of usage stats (since when is this unusual?). From my personal observation I’ve seen plenty of 30-40 somethings gainfully employed doing this as a social thing with their evenings INSTEAD OF TELEVISION, as much as I’ve seen the disabled, homemakers, and caregivers. So, in the case of Second Life TV advertisers seem to be the ones losing out.

Anyway, I detect I’m rambling, and I have some non-virtual leaves to rake.

By: Robert Frolick

Robert Frolick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:46:01 +0000

Like any good researcher, we always want to ask more questions.

How does the increase in members and usage correlate with unemployement? Are those on the fringes of employment and Second Life colliding? Are these people looking for an escape from their everyday lives to find something that they imagine can be better controlled?

With greater access and bandwidth to getting online via all the usual locations, devices, connections, are users just too lazy to log off?

What’s the median log ins (is this right still) and time spent per session? My guess/hypothesis is that time is driven driven by the hard core users and the lazy (see above).

Thoughts?

By: Alessia Kranfel

Alessia Kranfel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:04:09 +0000

Here u may find your answer: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22Avatar.html?ref=fashion

By: Holycow

Holycow — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:51:06 +0000

Great and timely post Grant. I predict that Second Life will get its Second Wind in the next 12 months. It fell off the radar because the early adopters got bored and so moved on – no blog posts – no signal – no noise. But, it is still there and growing and will become a destination when it goes multi-platform i.e. A Facebook Connect style component that automatically generates a personalised avatar which connects you to your friends in that world.

On a separate note the person you need to speak to is a mate of mine: Justin Bovington who helped monetize the whole thing with Linden – he works at Rivers Run Red so he’s your man if you want to know anything about it. Not only is the most charming and knowledgeable chap but he was also the source of inspiration for the protagonist in Gibson’s Pattern Recognition novel. Do give him my regards

best

Mark

By: Grant McCracken

Grant McCracken — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:51:56 +0000

Colleen, thanks for this glimpse of how it works and for the link to Joyce…and for the link to Mr. McBarton. We met in Berkeley and had a wonderfully lively conversation. Thanks for the intro! Best, Grant

By: zigadena gabardini

zigadena gabardini — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:48:14 +0000

Population vary in 19-60 years I would say.
And yes , many “log in and die” after a week, they never even get off welcome-island ..
But some gets in.. and deeper and then they are online.Instead of Tv.. Chat or some other hobby..they lead a second life and they love it.
But If your last visit was some years ago .. gosh you have a lot to see…

Welcome to contact me inworld for some great landmarks
Zigadena Gabardini

By: Charles Edward Frith

Charles Edward Frith — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:39:04 +0000

I don’t get it. The numbers say Second Life is here to stay and so it exists. Why the dysphoria?

Nobody sniffs at World of Warcraft being bigger than the population of Greece (BBC World Service about half an hour ago). Second Life exists and the only way to eliminate the cognitive dissonance is to embrace that a lot of people are happy to hang out there rather than an alternative reality of war.

Either way they’re probably in better shape to survive a nuclear winter or some such cocooned like existence (Matrix?) that I’m certainly not able to as I’ve failed to get the hang of my first life yet. That doesn’t mean I don’t get it.

I owe you a mail Grant. Just juggling things but I’m getting there.

By: debbie millman

debbie millman — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:30:57 +0000

Hey Grant. Great post. I also doubted SL, and frankly, I still do. No matter the numbers, I still feel it lacks broad, mainstream appeal. But maybe I am just too old. : )

By: Colleen Wainwright

Colleen Wainwright — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:41:31 +0000

I dipped into Second Life myself a few years ago, and couldn’t wrap my head around it. There’s a steep learning curve, from what I was told, which might have contributed: since there are so many sites with great UI (like Twitter), I’m inclined to ditch the tricky ones quickly, unless I really, really need access to the tools that they offer.

A new client who works in education and is NOT social media-savvy has me reconsidering SL again. They use it as a collaborative tool, and it works well for them. It’s not their sole means of communication, but with campuses spread out across the U.S., it made sense to try it.

If you’re really interested in exploring more, I know a wonderful woman who might be a Sherpa of sorts. Her name is Joyce Bettencourt, and she’s @RhiannonSL on Twitter. Super-smart, very much gets the SL community but is a good bridge for those of us who don’t (yet).

By: Jorgen

Jorgen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:16:47 +0000

I would be interested to know what age group the participants of Second Life falls into. I think they would be mostly Gen X’ers, that still ‘need’ a direct translation of the real into the virtual. I think a younger generation sees the virtual copy cat merely as hassle and will not be present there. Their ‘second life’ takes place in FB or on MSN. If that were to be true, then the next question will be: will those Gen X’ers be ‘forced’ to migrate (due to Digital Demographic Revolution) to other platforms and has this been there entry point into the virtual?

I’ve got to disclose that I have left Second Life a long time ago as well. So perhaps something has changed there…?