SL can't increase user base much right now.

Some people say that SL wants to become like Facebook and its virtual offsprings and other social networking sites, but I don't think that is possible.

I think they will be increasingly looking at the business market which makes sense. In RL, it is the trade in business goods and services that is most profitable, not consumer goods.

As I said in a previous post:

SL will never have the numbers like similar worlds and social networking sites because of the very nature of SL. You have to download a program that makes intensive use of your computer. If you don't have a fast processor, good graphics card, the most memory your computer can handle, and high speed internet, it does not work well enough for you to enjoy. Even then, if 40 people are in one sim, it slows down considerably. What does this mean? Time and money. You have to have the patience with the technology and a good deal of disposable income for your virtual life. SL would have to stop being SL, in order for the numbers to increase.

SL can only appeal to a limited segment of the market, who find the characteristics of SL appealing despite the lag and who can afford the costs.

These are the main reasons why most of the people who I have spoken to about SL are not in SL. They don't want to go through a lengthy registration and orientation process. They don't want to download a program and learn how to use it. Many people's internet speed is not fast enough or use computers with low end graphics.

SL tries to create a real 3D world but the concept is ahead of the technology. Computer hardware and software will have to catch up with the concept and the costs will have to come down for the average person before the numbers can increase. Even then, let's admit it, people who create scripts for fun have a higher level of intelligence than the general population. Most people don't have the will or ability to climb steep learning curves, which SL is.

What will always be most popular is simply using the standard browser to access social networking sites that don't require much from you or your computer. But not necessarily the most profitable.

Sl has an older client base, which research has confirmed, with greater disposable income and a willingness to spend. When I just joined SL, I didn't intend to buy land or spend a dime. I wouldn't tell my partner what I've spent just this year.

You make excellent points.

I would add only that by focusing on these realities, LL COULD be adding to its customer base. Steady growth could be possible, if LL would target those who are fascinated by immersive 3D.

I'm an example. I'm not a gamer; I never played massive multiplayer games. But the look of them interested me. I played a free game on a cable-TV-related site that let me move a character around in a cartoonish 3D environment (without the committment to powerful computer/graphics card that you correctly cite). This experience left me wanting more.

The sight of a scene from Second Life on "The Daily Show" was what pushed me to investigate SL.

I'm saying that buying ads on Facebook pages is scattershot; it would be only by chance that new prospective fans of SL would happen to be there. By contrast, buying a 10-second trailer in front of movies that push 'immersive 3D' as their selling point would pay off with a modest influx of customers who'd be interested enough to purchase Premium memberships. Buying an ad that would appear above a little game such as the one I played on that cable site wouldn't be a bad idea, either.



...Of course, all these speculations depend on the premise that LL actually DOES want to grow. There does seem to be an accumulating body of evidence that the goal is to drive down the price of the company by shrinking its customer base, rather than growing it.