Second Life Residents logged nearly 400 million hours in 2008, growing 61% over 2007

Great question. As I mentioned in an early comment, I was here when our peak concurrency was less than 10,000 (I think it was all bots back then too - KIDDING ) Along the way from 10k to 80k we've hit a number of technical limits. Some of which we could foresee and some of which we couldn't. I think FJ mentioned 3 main systems that we need to make some improvements to for the next level of scaling: our network, our asset server & our database system. We have projects in each of these areas that will give us significant headroom.

I also have reviewed the longer term designs for much broader scalability. In looking at our growth in peak concurrency - its been surprisingly linear. Its been relatively easy to predict where it will be in a few months, just by laying a piece of paper across our daily concurrency chart and continuing the trend. Because of that trend, I don't think we need to be ready for 10x the number of residents in the next few months. That will give us time to implement all near term improvements and longer term architectural required to scale.

I'm even more optimistic with the new technical leaders we have on board. Its a pleasure to sit in the executive team meetings with them and to hear how they're thinking about improving the system and building their teams.

At the end of the day, I think that's the main reason. We've been able to attract some great people including M & all the new leaders he's added to the team.

I'm referring to the new Homestead offering, not the newly revised Openspace product. The original Openspace "contract" has been voided by the lab and is no longer available for discussion in the context of future enhancement or enforcement.

Blog text copied below from original post:
... The rollout of our Homestead product proceeded as we planned...

There's a note about an issue with those particular statistics on that page. Sorry for the confusion. The numbers that I'm quoting come directly from our billing system & take into account numbers through about last Monday. Because they come from the billing system they only count regions that are active and being billed/paid. I don't think the stats page pulls them that way.

I've never been told I'm good at spin - so this is a new one for me. Thanks! ?

I don't think they should. People violated the contract issued for openspaces on a large scale. Simply because a percentage didn't doesn't mean you should reward those who did.

There is a business opportunity for LL between now and July: Offer standalone Homesteads to Premium members--no other Estate ownership necessary--at the US$125/mo fee rate, and retain the US$95/mo rate for Estate owners. This will create more new private island Concierge customers while protecting the existing Estate customers, and will offer an ongoing path for customers to move into Estate ownership with a lower barrier to entry. Many of those new, non-Estate Homestead buyers will like the experience and move on to pay full sim Estate fees. And existing Estate owners will still have a US$30/mo pricing advantage with which to make margin on a product that, at US$125/mo, is nearly unmarketable by Estates.

Sorry for my misinterpretation. What kinds of improvements would you make other than reducing the price?

And another 10 years and imagine what we will have!

...Certainly the the 1200 openspaces that were canceled to represent unhappy customers and I am sorry that we didn't have a product that met their needs. I'd love to have a better product at the $75 price point and I believe that we will be able to do that. As I said in last quarter's post, I'm sorry we launched the openspaces the way we did originally. Homesteads are a start and hopefully we'll see a better balance of usage of grid resources and our costs.

Definitely a correction. Well said. I believe we have held the mainland supply quite constant for some time and we do watch that price per sqm before releasing it. We've tested different approaches at times, but I think we've figured out (by trial and error) that your suggest is very close to what we do now.

I can see why you think it was disingenuous. As one of the people who helped to make the decision, I can tell you it wasn't done intentionally, but I know that sounds thin. I learned a lot and I know others on the team would say the same thing.

Ohh bot owners getting S****y.... lol

Some people just cant handle the heat when they get found to be abusing Lindens resources, as the owner of one sim filled a abuse report because and they seemed to react in a suspicious manner.

Not bothered about the banning from the sim, or report.

Ohh dear have I upset someone who maybe violating the TOS?!?!

I'm very sorry, but I really don't understand a thing that you said.

The bot problem is a problem. However, don't even waste your time getting into sticky IMs with bot owners. If they are unscrupulous enough to use bots to fake their traffic, they are not going to be reasonable enough to converse with.

We just need to keep LL aware of our deep disgust at all the bad practices, the fraud, the illegal/immoral activities that mar the positive experiences of SL.

But I do agree with Les White... "where will we be in 10 years time" - he's right... SL will just be a history page on Wiki, and half of the SL users/"residents" (haha residents!!!) will be in padded cells!!!!

We already had a product that met our needs in the previous Open Space definition i have had one for going on 2 years now before and after you doubled prim levels and opened up the flood gates by making them oh so tempting.. Then suddenly over use was "unexpected" but anyway weve all been over this many many times and its become clear LL simply are not listening no matter how many times they claim they are.

I still have my "homestead" and after putting months of work into building it id like to be able to justify keeping it please. Converting to Open Space is not an option this is a ridiculous product and even though its at the lowest end price wise i think it is considered a luxury item in hard economic terms as the resources you get for your money is so pitiful.

So now im paying the slightly higher rate for my Homestead and actually i think this new price introduced in January is a fair one for me and for LL.

Its this extra price jump looming in July i believe? or June that has me worried when this time comes around it will be a lot harder for me to justify keeping my Homestead as again in hard economic terms it makes no sense to me.

I am ofcourse always looking to maximise prim count / costs this is how the majority of residents percieve value in SL.
Currently the new Open Space SIM no longer works within this context and come the summer your Homestead product will be yet another that simply falls off the radar of all but the few that can afford such a "luxury".
So what would make me comfortable and happy would be that the next price rise in tier levels on Homesteads does not come to pass. If you think you have seen SIMs being abandoned currently wait for then because i think youll see an even greater number of yet again dissapointed customers left with no choice but to leave the Homesteads and ofcourse the knock on effect to the landlords.

This sort of trend in any economy is nothing but bad. Downsizing and or the upheavel caused for many residents will yet again put a dampener on real growth. Also about growth id like to add that wether or not your stats are accurate etc i do believe SL is growing but that this growth has and will be stunted by poor decisions.

Now i use my Homestead as a Mainstore for my shop id like to add that at no point over the 2 years that i have had this SIM has my script usage been anything much over 0.05ms and visitors to my store have numbered maybe 10 at 1 time at the most. I did hold an occasional event sure but that was very rarely anyway i digress.

Id like to help you help me by explaining to you how the price hike in July (or june) will affect my activities in SL. It wont be just be a hit to my profits making all my economic activity in SL that bit less if i chose to stay. If i feel i must leave then its like a step backwards possibly to 1/4 of a SIM thus damaging my overall momentum towards growth.
Upsizing to a Full SIM i doubt would be an option but i will admit its a possiblity but again it will make my activities so much the harder to justify carrying on. Ofcourse moving yet again means my energies are pointed toward developing and building yet another Mainstore and not on new products and content or other economic activity id rather be involved in.

So in short the next price jump is going to leave with no options that actually encourage me to grow and motivate me to keep putting in the time and effort to the platform although i am stubborn and motivated in general theres only so much we can all take before wondering when LL will actually make a REAL move to encourage and nurture the micro business that breath so much life into SL.

Work with us not against us and we will all reap the rewards.

I dont envy you Zee all alone dealing with us lot but we do it because we care and we want SL to succeed and we believe it will.

ps. Plz stop the marketing spin its insulting.

Hern - thanks for your message. I hear you on the July price jump. SL will succeed. We all do it because we care even if sometimes our own message and intentions get muddled. On the marketing spin - well, there are a lot of good signs. Certainly there are some points of risk. But overall, I remain optimistic. How could I not? Second Life is amazing.

Hern - thanks for your message. I hear you on the July price jump. SL will succeed. We all do it because we care even if sometimes our own message and intentions get muddled. On the marketing spin - well, there are a lot of good signs. Certainly there are some points of risk. But overall, I remain optimistic. How could I not? Second Life is amazing.