There is more than nine millions registered users of second life but less than million and a half who logged-in in the last 60 days. We all know that the retention rate is somewhat low. Usually, that is considered as a consequence of steep learning curve and time needed to get a grip on the interface. Frankly, I don't believe in that. One, without previous gaming and virtual worlds experience, needs about an hour to get used to second life. That hour is covered by the thrill of discovering the new world. There is something else causing those numbers.
If you pay some attention on the people you meet on the grid, you might see that most of them really love second life. Translated to numbers, they spend a hell lot of time there. Myself guilty as charged. Yourself, too. If one live second life, one loves it. But, for this world to evolve, to become something like "the next web" (though it won't for the reasons stated in another post) it needs not only hard-core lovers but also regular part-time users. And Linden Lab knows that. Thus all the things they do to approach regular web user who will spend less than one hour per day in-world. Problem is, Linden Lab is, despite their efforts, missing those people.
Let's see what happens after one regular user (the one that doesn't dream of getting plugged-in in the matrix simulator directly via spinal cortex or whatever), register and go its way through orientation and help islands. Let's suppose those steps went ok, that new resident has a minimum of intelligence to learn how to do basic things and to teleport to the mainland.
And there e is, another noob on the mainland. Whatever we think and say, noobs are noobs and this is a social game. It is hard to hide that you are a noob. It is written all over your skin. It blinks from your hair. It is much harder for a noob to be interesting, noticed and to get friends. They are all the same. It is somewhat hard to communicate with an avatar that looks the same as hundreds of other avatars we saw already. Not to mention that so many people avoid them because they look like griefers. Or like those that will ask you for sex before knowing your name. It is not a problem to make friends or whatever you want if you wear that photo-realistic skin worth thousand lindens and enough attachments to break the sim. Life can be nice and easy while your hair is flowing with the second life's wind.
So, our noob needs money to get a new look. Where to get it? Camping? While we can say thousand words against camping, none of those things affects our noob. If our noob is regular "less than an hour a day" user, camping is not an option. In an hour of doing nothing one can get, let's say L$10-15. Hardly that you will invest your precious time that way. And hardly that you can buy anything for that money, especially if you don't know where to shop. And you don't in those days.
Getting a job? Yeah, right. Which job you can get with noobish look and being younger than a week or two? That's right, no job. And no, you have no friends who will take care of your appearance or who will give you some money until you find a decent job.
The last option is buying lindens. That can work, and is the most effective way of getting into second life clean and quickly. You can make a fresh new decent look for about US$10. But, how many people will do that? That means that second life is not free to try anymore. You have to give some money for something you're not sure you want to use, something that you know nothing about and something you're going to use less than an hour a day. And yes, something that is laggy and crashes from time to time, especially because you are still unaware of Nicholaz' edition of the client.
Very soon, the initial thrill will pass and our noob will loose the interest. E sees the interesting technology, but not much stuff to do with it. Mentors and passers-by will tell that one needs no money to explore and enjoy the world, but that is just partially true. That is true for those who are willing to play this game and/or to live this life full time. What about those that just want to socialize a bit and have a bit of fun? They go to MySpace or get a regular game. What about those that are thinking about using second life for their first life business? They, usually, go back to old, verified tools like instant messengers and power-point. All of them become just one more in the count of registered users.
“Life can be nice and easy while your hair is flowing with the second life’s wind”…
I wonder who you’re talking about… :P
Anyway, I think you really got the point. I agree with you. Maybe the Lindens shall provide a free pack of “upgraded-freebies”? Or maybe link to your blog so that ppl can see how much appealing SL can be ;)
There’s a lot of freebie places these days. Not like those really hard to find lil stores a year ago, at present you have whole sims of freebies, including hairs and skins and outfits and shoes. Yeahhh, I know, they don’t totally solve that problem but surely do help. I agree with Eidur, maybe it was about time that noobs would get a pack of goo landmarks along with all the other staff their getting currently… Or maybe a tp point over the welcoming areas saying “These way to a total makeover” ?
From personal experience, we have an office of 35 people, the average age of which is 26. All of them have Facebook pages and spend an inordinate amount of time on there updating their profile. Only two of us can be considered regular SL users and to be honest, initially signed up for work reasons. The rest haven’t bothered or, like most new residents, gave up after their first day.
Personally I think that part of that is due to too much emphasis being put by Linden Labs into promoting how this or that celebrity is holding a performance / giving an interview / talking about a film etc instead of showing how real people use it and interact.
The ‘me’ generation is all about self expression after all. And we know that SL provides the perfect platform to do that and offers a much richer environment to tell the world about yourself than the static Bebo, Facebook etc. So rather than talking up how a here today, gone tomorrow celeb has given a concert, better to spend time on examples of how real people, who other social network users can relate to, are using SL.
And yes, people do give up. I know four colleagues who tried SL and after a few hours couldn’t be bothered anymore. The reasons seem to be a combination of a lack of patience with the av creation process, meeting a few people post sign up whose, shall we say, social skills were perhaps lacking a bit, and then not really knowing what to do once the av was there and in-world – kind of the wrong combination of too much detail and then being left to it.
Personally that’s why I am a fan of the shorter ‘five and out’ sign up process introduced by the likes of Electric Sheep in their virtual Sweden sim. The minimum amount of time is spent trying to get to grips with your av and the maximum amount of time with trying out the new world.
Should AV retention matter to regular SL users? I think it should. Linden Labs is a commercial outfit and a constant upward curve is important when it comes to investment in SL and a better user experience. Also, surely more residents adds more variety, colour and interest. As they say, the more the merrier!
I have a folder which I often hand out to noobs – and if time and mood allows I also get them a 30/60min crashcourse. The folder contains two of the better freebie skins, landmarks to GNUbie, Free Dove and Sirena Hair & Fashion (for the free Steve outfit) as well as – in the male edition – one of the better free cocks. This welcome gift got me enthusiastic reactions already, but freindship offers I usually decline (when do we finally get categories for the friends list?). If the noob in question is very likeable or if I’m in a spending mood, I also give them 50/100 cash sometimes.
9 million registered users ! i wonder if it are that many in RL considering the fact of multiple accounts used by one person only. Its easy to have as many accounts as you like.
So SL is maybe not as crowded as everyone thinks. I have only one account now and
You could say ” hey does it really matter ? 9 million is 9 million but as long as you don’t have multiple laptops at home its impossible to “play this game ” ,as you seem to experience it , with all your accounts.
Leroy, it is true that those 9 million is a count of accounts. That includes all the alts and all the different accounts one human can have. But, even with that in mind the number of people who come to SL just once is too high. Actually, I started thinking about this not because of registered/avctive ratio but because I meet so many people who are confused and clueless in their first days, and also inspired by words of some of my RL friends. Many times they asked me “OK, that’s all nice and interesting, but it takes too much time. What about people who would be interested in SL but not as a full time activity?”
Peter and Sand, I am thinking of making a set of notecards, too. I got one of those in my noob days, but even then, a year ago, it was a bit outdated. maybe it is time for a revision. Connected to that….
Eidur, there is a freebie shop on each Help Island. I didn’t check all the stuff that is there, but what I saw is mostly freebie in the worst meaning of the word. Horrible surprise was a pack that contains just a landmark to a shop. Time for another update, I guess. Gotta find Mia or Lexie Linden to talk a bit.
Dirk, thanks for the detailed comment. Interesting thing is that SL s a (at least partly) social platform, but it is not always easy to get into social life of SL. One thing that is very thought provoking is SL as a mean of self-expression. We, older residents, are very aware of posibilities, but, again, it is not always easy to catch them in a first glimpse. Also, one can, at least in some measure get some skills before getting into self-expression. It is not just building and other content creation. I believe that one can be very expressive while having only the skll of shopping. But, shopping is a skill too.
I think a lot of it is the money. Oddly, the biggest “plus” of SL — user-generated content — is taxed. I.e. the economics dis-incentivise the emotional investment required to build and maintain a sim. The money piece might also skew the age demographics. Capitalism is shitty enough in RL; why build a fantasy world around it? Ideally, the SL economy would reward creators and builders, not tax them!
Esteban, I agree. But, I cannot think about business model that would motivate creativity and won’t ruin the world. I am not saying that current economy system of SL is good, cause it is not. But I don’t have the alternative thought out.
I’ll work on it. :)
[...] was talking to dandellion about economics. Money is another one of those things, like a smell, right? What is it again? [...]
business model that would motivate creativity and won’t ruin the world
I don’t have any original thoughts on this one, although it is exciting. Here’s a couple links I’ve been turning over in my head…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whuffie
http://daltonic.blogspot.com/2007/10/ip-money-content-and-all.html
Some sort of reputation-based economy maybe? Say when I want to buy an item, I have to give the maker some of my (limited) social credit in return. Maybe add in something where social credit is worth more when it comes from people who are only distantly connected to you…in order to avoid the “rating parties” people used to do when SL still had reputation.
Anyway, much to think about.
–Argent
Hmmm…. I thought you just want to do something inside economics not a complete socio-economic revolution. Whuffie is an interesting idea, one that can be examined for months.
It is interesting to see myself in the new position. Before meeting some people in SL I was considered oh-so-leftist. Now, I sometimes have to defend capitalism LOL
I’ve never seen so many people worrying about how a game they don’ t even like is doing financially and predicting it’s demise. What’s the point if you don t like it.
Of course I love Second Life. I have malls, beachouse, give partys and contests and have fun, fun, fun, with people I meet from all over the world. It is a virtual world where some peoples game is to bum around for free to see how well they can do with nothing and others spend a few bucks to do whatever they wish and buy what they want. I like to buy land and fix it up. My money, who cares?
Awaken Yoshikawa
Come see my Sci-Fi Show at The Cheetah in Hazeldean Dec 14 at 3pm 1000L prize money for each contestant.
Yes, it is interesting how a virtual world (or game or whatever) can have so many enemies. It might be media initiated, but still, those people hate SL.
But, who cares. I have to go with one of the main priciples of second life… if that floats your boat, go for it. Even if that means that you stay out of the grid. Even better then. :)
I agree wit h dandellion. I also have never head some many criticisms from people who say they don’t play the game. I think I know why they don’t play. If they come to people with that kind of cynicism, it comes right through in sl.
Well, for those who do like it, I am doing it again and giving away more money. On December 29, 12PM, time and date SL time, I will be giving away 1000L each to who is voted best male and female in red and black.
Thanks for the comment.
And it would greatly help if you provide us a slurl of the place where you are giving lindens. :)
Our Club is Called The Cheetah, it is located in Hazeldean. We will be having a Best IN Latex party on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 11am second life time.
I try to help those who I can and give people who work in the club a small salary, a free place to live and a few nice outfits. It is my experiment in Treating Others as I want to be treated. I do it in real life, now lI will see if it works in Second Life
well being a noob myself (Nov.13, 2008, 11 days) I feel I have to defend my newly acquired shameful status.
True, I look stupid (well not really. babes should stay).
I guess I’ll have to remind MYSELF I’m actually rili hot (yes you are) and somehow drag myself through the next couple of weeks whilst my paypal account is being verified (strangely enough, I can use it to buy the world on ebay (and I do), but it’s still not good enough for those precious lindens…)
And, yes, I’m still excited about being tp here and there, I like the swhooooooooshing sounds it makes, swhoosh. And everything is still ooo-first-time and I still don’t care, and probably never will, about all the groups and clans and types of people (actually I like the females most, but that’s just a thing I have…), and gadgets and toys and whatever.
Yeah, I just hang around and I’m into people more than anything else, talk to anyone I see (except noobies, yuck!) and my friends/groups/inv. are getting longer by the hour. And I’m really not looking forward to that day when I stare at my gorgeous av, in my snazzy apartment….you know the rest, been-there, done-that.
I have a decent shape and skin now. They were a freebie I got from someone (*thanks Drew1) on Boogie Beach (*clothing optional) and I love it this way.
Somehow I get by (’cause you’re hot anyway hun). And it’s working out great and I’m not sure I’ll enjoy SL more a year from now. I rili hop I wil.
If anyone wants to take me out, call me, drinks are on you :)
later, swhooosh
Well, I used to be a noob on second life. The first time I started, was fenomenal. I mean, you could see so much such as stucture, fashion, people, etc. However, I had such a hard time since clothing was expensive and I looked like an ass. A friend of mine on SL helped me out…..only taking me to funky freebie shops (and to be honest…I hate freebies). I couldn’t take being around noobs or being called one. So, one day I met a lot of new people whom now is my best friend and also my husband on SL, I got a job and started making money, and yeah lol! So, y’know, SL is hard when you first start, but if your a noob and you really want to be in Second Life, I suggest trying to make it happen if you want to see progress. Otherwise, camping, money chairs, and begging won’t do….believe me….I’ve tried it, but now my ava is sooo cute =^.~=
Seen from that point, SL is a kind of game. You have a task to go after in your first days. Sure, there are many ways to do it, and it can be done in different time periods, from 15 minutes to several months… but still… there is a task.