Linden Lab have released their metrics up until September 2008, and in the Australian context there’s been a slight drop in activity – 686,872.48 hours, which is nearly eight thousand hours less than last month. Across 10-15 thousand active users, that’s not a big drop and Australia maintains the 11th spot worldwide.
Overall:
– user hours dropped from 34.8 million to 33.2 million
– the number of islands owned jumped from 1,610 to 1,723
– in-world accounts with positive cashflows grew from 60,788 to 62,633
– premium accounts (those that people pay a monthly fee for) continued their decline to 83,23, down from 84,883 last month and December 2007 highs of 93,219.
It’s a mixed picture and I’ve had a lot of people ask me in recent weeks how the real-world economic issues is impacting Second Life. These metrics don’t point to a significant decline related to the worldwide economic downturn and I’m not seeing any erosion of confidence. That said, the worst of that downturn occurred in October from a public perception viewpoint, so next month’s metrics should make for fascinating reading.
What are your thoughts? Are you seeing people spend less in-world? Have your spending habits changed in recent months?
As we're going through spring right now in Australia and have had some gorgeous weekends, I'm thinking the drop in hours here is more related to great beach and bushwaking weather than to macroeconomics.
I also think more people are renting in SL now because the opportunities to do so have grown and been better advertised and because of the obvious benefits such as landlords who'll keep the bad 'uns away. I rent because by doing so I'm part of a community of like-minded people on an island where I don't have to worry about a red light district springing up next door.
Again, there, over time, has been a 95% loss in residents since SL came to play.
With the advent of OpenSim, the decline will soon be greater.
Again, there, over time, has been a 95% loss in residents since SL came to play.
With the advent of OpenSim, the decline will soon be greater.