Has the SL population declined?

My sales are up and progressively, the time of SL'ers online at any one time has increased.

I like palm trees, Ray. Xi and I have them on our group land, and we even have temp-rezz crabs that won't escape. However, none of that really helps you.

I think the number of palm tree-lovin' Floridians in SL is quite small compared to the number of people who live in places where palm trees are foreign alien-looking objects to be avoided at all costs. Or maybe they're just jealous.

Saw my first RL palm tree this summer.........here in Quebec Canada. They planted about 100 giant ones in the city for the summer. Didn't look too nice since they had to brace them to keep them from tipping over. I hope the businesses they sold them too for the winter have tall ceilings.

well, not for me... 75f & Clear... oh wait.. sorry that is winter for us.. burrrrrrrrrrrrr

What I did not realize is that tropical paradise themes have a ton more similar sims to compete with than more unique themes like Victorian Steampunk or space station. Still, I built the sim I was attracted to myself and have added a bunch of features that makes it not so typical, so I don't regret my choice (except once a month when my tier fee comes due ).

There are sure lots of newbies checking in at OI. I haven't talked to any of them who said they're looking to buy some $L and spend it, though...

That's only 4 US Dollars. Less than I spend on lunch.

Yes but also remember many noobs believe $1L = $1US

I just checked the recent Lindex numbers and today for the second day in a row the Lindex will be over 80,000,000 Lindens for Volume on the day. I believe that is just about the highest ever. The concurrency now is over 50,000 Max a day too. I think I saw 55,000 today. Still I think VAT did hurt what could've been even better.

Could you please clarify how you see these two as being compatible?

Regarding the slowdown. I think there's a number of factors involved. One is the gambling ban. Gambling, I think, had a side benefit which the Lindens not have noticed - it introduced variability in how much you got for your US$. To buy that nice L$3000 skin, maybe you'd have to pay US$12, but maybe you could pay US$5 and win several times. Or maybe if you did pay US$12 you could double up your money so you could buy your skin plus other things.

I think also that the problem people have with putting money into SL isn't that they don't like the idea of paying at all, it's that putting in money doesn't provide any sense of "growth". You buy some L$, you buy the items you wanted, then the money is gone. You perhaps have a new look for your avatar or a new gadget, but next time you want to change you'll have to put in money again. There's no sense of expanding, or settling, or becoming integrated in the economic side - you paid for items, you get them, and that's all. Gambling provided a little of that potential "growth", and now it is gone.

Now of course you can become integrated in the _social_ side of SL, that's what a lot of people like to do, but the odd truth is that the social side can actually injure the economic side. The reason for this is that the more an avatar's desires are covered by the pure social community of SL, the more they are essentially just using SL as a textual chatroom and the less they need any of the graphics or any of the similar features that make SL unique and that are the core of the economy.

There's two factors about IMVU that I find notable. First, it has a "derivation" system which essentially makes it _much_ easier to become a content creator - essentially, it has a hard-wired, automated system for buying a modify-ok object from someone and selling your modified version with a commission to them. This makes it much more likely that a person will integrate themselves with the economy. Also, IMVU makes it harder to "escape" from graphical chat - I don't think you can just start up a text-only IM session. Nor can you just meet up on a random land parcel, because there is no continuous land, you have to be in a room provided by someone who's actually there in the chat. These might sound inferior, but in fact, they have the effect of "pushing" people into creating their own spaces and getting into the economy, instead of feeling that there's no point because they can just use one that already exists and is probably better than theirs would be anyway.

More Campers then escorts hehehehhe

Well from what I seen a clubs lately $3 per 10min on a campchair is more than a dancer earns from enteracting with customers from a dance pole, unless she is lucky enough to score a escorting customer.
Most of the popultion can't afford or are too tight arsed to tip a dancer 7cents

Landbots, casino bans, empty clubs...

Wonder if people will have to resort to earning money by creating something of value for other residents. I know I'm not talented or patient enough to do it. Kudos to those budding content creators who can someday live the dream of covering their tier.

How is it any different for any other (entertainment) consumption good?

The "socializing masses" *are* the actual core of the economy. You need a giant mass of unskilled people with disposable RL income who have to buy the goods they can't create themselves (or don't want to bother to).

If everyone could build something of value to trade with others, the only economy left is the in-world economy which is inherently meaningless because it has no tangible value in the real world without people willing to trade actual money for L$.

And personally, I just don't see how content creators and escorts differ. Both have a "skill" that's up for sale and in demand and both try to hide behind the "it's not about the money" excuse.

do people these days create to stay on sl these days? I though there more afk then anything else

The pricing of sims has always been extortionate and the fact that the mainland areas have always looked horrible does not help things. There needs to be a great emphasis on what SL is good for, where can people go to improve themselves, to learn new things, have fun etc...

What are some key points of interest?

The international space flight museum has 0 design sense and makes me cringe whenever I look at it. The Sky News presence is great but it only deals with aesthetics, even so it's still a lot of fun to walk around the recreation of their newsroom. LL should try to help justify the investment that these companies make in establishing an SL presence, whether that's by advertising it or offering advice. It's, partly, because of the interest that major companies have in SL that it's gained so much media attention.

When people first enter Second Life, they're always very confused. If I was in charge of handling it I'd make it so that before logging in for the first time, they'd all be able to go through a client-side tutorial of how to navigate the 3D world and use the search functions effectively.

It might even be worth holding a competition to see who can make the best tutorial(s) for newcomers. SL has loads of account holders but it's very likely that they consist mostly of people who log in once, get scared/confused/intimidated/bored and never log in again.

I personally think that the whole idea of the mainland needs to change. When you put thousands of people together who have no intention of cooperating or establishing any sort of standardization, what did you think would happen?

Yes, expression is a wonderful thing, just not when you live in something akin to a battery farm.

Stop it with all the "pretend space" and give us instances where we can keep to ourselves. You'll find that people/groups who choose to expose themselves will often be working together to produce something of quality.

The social side ain't hurtin any of the million$ in Facebook......isn't that what makes it work?

Except that some content creators have their noses stuck in the air somewhere, feeling they have a more justified station here, while escorts have their noses stuck in places I don't even want to think about this early.

I disagree. Would you have sat through a tutuorial? I wouldn't have. I just wanted to explore and play, and barely had the attention span to get through the original Orientation Island, much less the new one that takes at least an hour.


This sort of competition is a fun idea!


Are you kidding me? Who wants a dang society by committee on the mainland? You want a homeowners' association, go rent land.


Soooo...we're talking about individuality on the mainland, here, right?

Just playing devil's advocate, but it's hard to have your cake and eat it too.

Sadly, this is true. Amazing how many times people panic or haggle over spending L$250...less than one US dollar.

Would you go without lunch in order to have an outfit that doesn't really exist though?

Oh really? wel if they do its a whole 10 mins before some tells them the facts.......Not really as many try to believe

Nope. I'd just beat you up and steal your lunch money.

I bring sandwiches.

Then I'd beat you up and sell your sandwiches.

Anyone know how to beat someone up? I need some help on this quickly. I was always the one beaten up at school becaue I was ... different.