Number of Second Life users?

[SultansK]

What do you think is the number of SL users as of 2021? Your research article or data on this topic?

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, SultansK said:

What do you think is the number of SL users as of 2021? Your research article or data on this topic?

Total Residents:64,687,961 | Residents online:44,833 | Last update:2021-05-23 19:27:53 SLT

[Coffee Pancake]

The number of SL users is a very vague question, the short answer is there is no way to get to a meaningful number without a lot of guesswork (or policy change from LL). We just don't have the data.

What data we do have (or have historically had) has been collated on grid survey (for which we have @Tyche Shepherd to thank).

http://www.gridsurvey.com/

https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/demographics/

[animats]

The only honest number we have is residents online,  which is currently 47,668. Each of those has a name and a location in world. That number ranges from around 35,000 to 55,000.

Anything from the SL web site is inflated by web bots that will sign up for anything, and people who will put in a email address before they really have to. Web signup counts are not really meaningful.

What we'd really like to know is how many new users downloaded the viewer, signed in, got an avatar, finished the tutorial, and left the welcome area to go out into the big world. That's a real "new user". It's far, far smaller than the number of web signups, as you can see by visiting a new user entry point.

One major job of a competent marketing organization is to monitor all the steps of onboarding, and see where people abandon the process.

[Chic Aeon]

2 hours ago, animats said:

 

One major job of a competent marketing organization is to monitor all the steps of onboarding, and see where people abandon the process.

When I did my "make a new alt for zero" series in March I have to say that I was overwhelmed (better put that in caps) with all the information at the Firestorm entry point. I guess you could log off and come back later, but there was just so very much stuff there to take in -- and in theory "I" already knew it so I am not sure how the typical new user copes.  

 

I WILL say that I thought the onboarding with the sci fi bot character at Sansar was very good. You covered the very basics in a fun way like a game tutorial WITH SOMEONE THERE (well a bot but still "someone").  Then you went on quests and learned more over time. That was one thing that was very good about the OLD Realms. New folks came and learned there and made a little money-- very slowly for the folks that were really new but they did have something to show for for their time. 

 

I still think something like that keeps more people interested and if the new folks could earn lindens or TOKENS that could be spent in a special store that would be great.  As it is now I am pretty sure I would have logged off before ever getting inworld (or anyway as it was at the beginning of March).   

[Sid Nagy]

With all the abracadabra you need to know these days to be able to dress like the cool kids, and the fact that you can build you own stuff in SL is more a meme than reality since years, I would never have stayed longer than 1 or 2 visits, if I had signed up in 2021 for the first time.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Sid Nagy

[Daniel Voyager]

You may find this blog post useful for the latest Second Life users and regions. 

Second Life Daily Concurrency Levels - January 2021 to May 2021

The Second Life registered users data stopped working back on 21st October 2020. The last count then was 64, 687, 961 for total resident signups. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Daniel Voyager

[Velk Kerang]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:28 PM, Chic Aeon said:

When I did my "make a new alt for zero" series in March I have to say that I was overwhelmed (better put that in caps) with all the information at the Firestorm entry point. I guess you could log off and come back later, but there was just so very much stuff there to take in -- and in theory "I" already knew it so I am not sure how the typical new user copes.  

 

I WILL say that I thought the onboarding with the sci fi bot character at Sansar was very good. You covered the very basics in a fun way like a game tutorial WITH SOMEONE THERE (well a bot but still "someone").  Then you went on quests and learned more over time. That was one thing that was very good about the OLD Realms. New folks came and learned there and made a little money-- very slowly for the folks that were really new but they did have something to show for for their time. 

 

I still think something like that keeps more people interested and if the new folks could earn lindens or TOKENS that could be spent in a special store that would be great.  As it is now I am pretty sure I would have logged off before ever getting inworld (or anyway as it was at the beginning of March).   

I really wouldn't compare Sansar to SL mate because one sucks and one doesn't. lol It actually bombed due to lack of content options, not to mention zero adult content options and ridiculous high end system requirements at the time of it's release. That's not counting the bug issues and glitches it had. LL sold it due to the fact that it did so poorly. If it was a success they'd still be running the show. You really can't compare a PG VR simulator to a full on virtual world. It's basically like playing an updated version of Garry's Mod the mmo. lol Only Garry's Mod is much much better. lol I mean no offense if you like it then I love it, but it's like comparing apples and oranges is all I am really saying at the end of the day. Have a good one mate.😎

[Chic Aeon]

10 minutes ago, Velk Kerang said:

I really wouldn't compare Sansar to SL mate because one sucks and one doesn't. lol It actually bombed due to lack of content options, not to mention zero adult content options and ridiculous high end system requirements at the time of it's release. That's not counting the bug issues and glitches it had. LL sold it due to the fact that it did so poorly. If it was a success they'd still be running the show. You really can't compare a PG VR simulator to a full on virtual world. It's basically like playing an updated version of Garry's Mod the mmo. lol Only Garry's Mod is much much better. lol I mean no offense if you like it then I love it, but it's like comparing apples and oranges is all I am really saying at the end of the day. Have a good one mate.😎

Were you THERE IN SANSAR?  Creating? Exploring? Partying?  Most of the folks there were on desktops not in VR. Many had VR and still worked  and created in PC mode?   I was there for almost two years, creating and doing fairly well selling; my five "worlds" are still up there.  I made almost everything in them -- in some worlds EVERYTHING. There was tons of great content. You just evidently missed it. 

 

There were issue, granted but honestly no more than SL had when it was that age. Were you here in SL back then?  And over time the entry level PC requirements lowered greatly and the devs DID solve a lot of issues. Some of the tech there was outstanding and "better" than we have in SL even now. Pluses and minuses. 

 

So while I agree that you certainly have a right to your opinion, I can't take it terribly seriously -- unless of course you WERE in Sansar for an extended period of time exploring and creating -- but it really doesn't sound like it .  

And good day to you mate :D.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 5/24/2021 at 4:18 PM, Sid Nagy said:

With all the abracadabra you need to know these days to be able to dress like the cool kids, and the fact that you can build you own stuff in SL is more a meme than reality since years, I would never have stayed longer than 1 or 2 visits, if I had signed up in 2021 for the first time.

I'm not so sure that I would have stayed if I had signed up anytime in the last 5 years.  I find that I have little time & patience for the avatar setup/customization stuff these days. 

[Velk Kerang]

1 hour ago, Chic Aeon said:

Were you THERE IN SANSAR?  Creating? Exploring? Partying?  Most of the folks there were on desktops not in VR. Many had VR and still worked  and created in PC mode?   I was there for almost two years, creating and doing fairly well selling; my five "worlds" are still up there.  I made almost everything in them -- in some worlds EVERYTHING. There was tons of great content. You just evidently missed it. 

 

There were issue, granted but honestly no more than SL had when it was that age. Were you here in SL back then?  And over time the entry level PC requirements lowered greatly and the devs DID solve a lot of issues. Some of the tech there was outstanding and "better" than we have in SL even now. Pluses and minuses. 

 

So while I agree that you certainly have a right to your opinion, I can't take it terribly seriously -- unless of course you WERE in Sansar for an extended period of time exploring and creating -- but it really doesn't sound like it .  

And good day to you mate :D.

 

Well first I want to answer you. I was not in Sansar creating, exploring, or partying. I was snoring. lol Well actually I did explore some. I'm exaggerating on that. lol However there was a lot of snorage action going on though. lol So maybe I missed something in my nap? I don't know. lol So your probably right. I evidently missed it or simply just did not find it. lol Maybe it's the time period in which I tried it. I honestly did not run in to a lot of people on there. So I really wasn't motivated enough to even make an attempt at creating anything on there because it was just that dull and lifeless to me. It was deader then being on the OSGrid. lol😁

Now that having all been said I'm sure it's probably more me because SL does raise the bar pretty high in terms on content creation and indepthness so I was no more impressed with Sansar then I would be with any other cheap SL knock off VR platform world that I've vetted out. It's sort of like comparing Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies an mmo done so well it can be classed as a virtual world in it's own right due to how complexly indepth it was in design compared to an mmo such as World Of Warcraft a generic hack and slash mmo. When the bar is set that high it's extremely hard if not near impossible to be impressed by releases that have less content and options available to you in them.

Which is why I said if you like it then I love it because my opinion is not a reflection on your enjoyment of the game. People like WoW and it can be a fun game, but no SWG will it ever be. It never had the virtual world feel that SWG had. Never will. Same thing with SL vs Sansar. I'm sure people like it, but it's never going to be on the same level as Second Life. Second Life does and probably always will hold that title. In my opinion I feel the younger generation enjoys simplicity over complexity in terms of mmos. If you enjoy Sansar I certainly would want you to continue to enjoying Sansar. I'm just saying I would not personally compare the two because of how massively different they are. For all I know that could have been changed over the years since I first vetted it out.

And you are right SL did have some issues when it first launched and I was around on my original avatar to answer you. However the issues SL had back then were more server side issues and had less to do with the actual client. Where as Sansar it was a bit of both. So that in itself is apples and oranges as well too mate. Even still not to many games have a perfect launch, but I will say this. If you compare the launches on older titles to the launches on newer titles out here we didn't have no where near the amount of issues that newer titles have no days. It has become an acceptable practice for developers to launch unfinished products where as back in the day developers actually completed their products to an acceptable level of performance up on release.

So yes Second Life did have issues, but it was still at a more acceptable level of performance then Sansar was up on release. The negative reviews on Steam alone speak for themselves and Sansar has only recently not so long ago hit mixed review status over all. So that does show there has been some improvements over time. I give it that. However for a company such as LL who I would class as the experts in virtual world design it did not meet the standards of excellence that their original creation set forth. Which is why it would be like comparing apples to oranges mate.

Now if your saying the level of excellence is raised and it's better now then I may be actually inclined to give it a second look. However if I still think it sucks then Ima gonna have to hit you up in world and mess with you. lol It's a moral imperative mate. Lmao!!!!😜😂🤣😁😎

Edited June 4, 2021 by Velk Kerang
Corrections.