We hear lots of accounts of people leaving Second Life. I suppose they are. They always have. According to Metaverse stats the average player retention is two years. But, we also have new people signing up and new regions coming online. It is hard to know if Second Life is gaining or losing ground. So, may be region loss does mean SL is shrinking. Region loss has been a trend. We have been measuring SL success by concurrent users. That is decreasing, but seems to have reached a plateau. The Lab says in general more people joining and playing but spending less time in Second Life. There are reasons for that, so it may be true. And there are some interesting reasons that The Old Globe Theater in Second Life is closing.

Metaverse still provides some statistics on Second Life. Their closing and new regions graph shows a little surge in regions opening. I certainly would not call it a new trend. It may only be from this weekend’s sale on regions, US$1,000 off. Only time will tell if the trend is changing. But it is a change.

Metaverse's Closing and New Regions

Customer Service

The story behind Ina Centaur leaving and allowing the four regions the Old Globe Theater occupies to close is described in a blog post and letter to the patrons of SL Globe Theater and Primtings. You’ll find it here: Our Magic and Our Passing – Goodbye from the SL Shakespeare Company, Primtings, and sLiterary [SIC].

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New World Notes has an interesting article on new user sign up rates since the release of the Basic Mode Viewer. Hamlet has marked up an image from Tateru’s Second Life Stats to show what has been happening. I’ve marked up a copy here. The blue vertical grid lines are mine.

Second Life Sign Ups

There does seem to be an upward trend. It is very early to be able to say. Notice the data in Nov-Dec. This could just be a phenomena similar to that. We don’t even have 3 weeks of data yet. Let’s give it a couple of months before we decide this is a trend. It’s ok to be hopeful. While this is a good indicator, this isn’t evidence yet.

I took the chart below from the stats at Metaverse Business. Tateru has a similar chart at the link above.

Concurrent Users

The concurrency numbers are in a definite trend down. We will need 2 to 4 months or more to be able to see if the downward trend has changed. The last year’s concurrency numbers are graphed at Metaverse.  The trend is generally easing down.

It is nice to be hopeful. But, let’s keep it real.

The Dwell On It blog provides lots of great statistical information about Second Life and what residents are doing. Today Tateru has an article about whether or not there are more users in Winter than in Summer, which is the intuitive idea most Americans, I think, have about SL residents. I certainly thought so. Here is Tateru’s chart of the data. I’ve added my coloring and year numbers.

Second Life Usage Stats - See Dwell On It

I’ve added the light blue line and the red stuff. The blue vertical bars are the usage numbers. The red shows the LACK of users in the winters of 2006, 2007, and 2008. They pretty much shoot down the idea that Summer has fewer users.

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I see today that AM Radio’s regions are going to close in 6 months. (See: AM Radio Regions Closing Down In 6 Months – by Daniel Voyager)  It seems every week or so some region is closing. I have to wonder how many regions are closing and if the closings are a Second Problem or just the natural evolution of the grid.

Live Regions in SL Grid - Statistics @ Metaverse

Metaverse publishes stats on the number of live regions available on SL. Since December 2010 the number is static. Growth can be said to have reached plateau… or stopped depending on how one wants to spin it.

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In some circles I have a reputation for long posts, no… really. Whatever, I do look forward to Gwyneth’s posts on Second Life issues. Today (well… as I write, yesterday as you see this) she posts an interesting 5 page article on the integration of Second Life and Facebook. We have all heard the people complaining about SL adopting more of a social network style and fears it will be another Facebook. I have my reservations about Facebook, in spite of being somewhat addicted to Facebook’s Backyard Monsters. Gwyneth presents the integration in a new light. So, if you are interesting in reading a more positive spin about Facebook (in just 2 pages) and what may improve SL, read on.

My post here is a short and incomplete summary of Gwyneth’s ideas. I’ve touched on those things that interested me and added my thoughts. For her full article see: Facebook integration

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