I can trace the decline of Second Life as a virtual world to the establishment of the ghetto known as Zindra, aka "the Naughty Place". Like it or not--and many people clearly don't like it--naughty people's activities are one of the driving forces of the Second Life economy.
What happened when LL instituted age verification and an "adults only" holding pen? Several things:
First, a lot of thriving escort clubs disappeared overnight. Approximately two-thirds of all escort clubs did not survive the move to the adult continent. Of those that did survive, almost all are struggling, with their traffic down to 20%-25% of pre-Zindra levels.
The withering of the escort clubs means that a lot less money circulates in the SL economy. Escorts are known as free spenders: if an escort gets 2000L, she will spend it all (usually on dressing up her avatar one way or the other). Therefore, money put into the hands of escorts has a strong multiplier effect. I personally know several clothing retailers who have sharply curtailed their activities in-world or gone out of business entirely because there are no longer escorts to buy their merchandise.
Second, a lot of Europeans have dropped out of Second Life PZ (Post-Zindra), probably because they couldn't get past the US-centric age verification requirements. You can witness this during the hours when the North Americans are in bed; the Europeans used to take over, and now Second Life overall is a ghost town during European daylight hours.
Third, there has been a growing mistrust and disenchantment with Linden Labs. Everything critics predicted would happen as a result of the move to Zindra came true with a vengeance, and yet to date we've not seen Linden Labs make any effort to ameliorate their self-created disaster. One way of ameliorating would be to lower tiers on adult lands for clubs and other businesses, Linden Lab's own version of a "stimulus package". A lot of people have either quit Second Life in disgust (or despair) or, like me, have sharply curtailed their activities in-world.
Fourth, a sense of community has been broken by the mass exodus of "naughty people". What's that? Naughty people had a community? Yes, we did, and there was an amazingly tight-knit circle among Second Life escorts (believe it or not) that has been irretrievably dissolved. After we moved to Zindra, I lost friends (especially my European friends) right and left, and took a seven-month break from Second Life because I found my friends list looking more like a list of obituaries.
Rod, you missed the glory days of Second Life, and they are not coming back. The best you can hope to do now is have the courage and insight necessary to partially repair the enormous damage done to Second Life by your predecessor. Repairing that damage means healing the economy, giving people a reason to visit Second Life, and above all, rebuilding a sense of trust and communication with the Second Life residents. Most of us don't trust anything Linden Labs says or does; not your fault, but it's the mess you have inherited.
I genuinely wish you luck and success in the task set before you. One of the commentators has already made this suggestion, but I will reiterate:
Go incognito into Second Life and experience all it has to offer as an ordinary, non-premium Resident. Do this not just at first but as often as you can manage it. I guarantee your eyes will be opened.
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I can trace the decline of Second Life as a virtual world to the establishment of the ghetto known as Zindra, aka "the Naughty Place". Like it or not--and many people clearly don't like it--naughty people's activities are one of the driving forces of the Second Life economy.
What happened when LL instituted age verification and an "adults only" holding pen? Several things:
First, a lot of thriving escort clubs disappeared overnight. Approximately two-thirds of all escort clubs did not survive the move to the adult continent. Of those that did survive, almost all are struggling, with their traffic down to 20%-25% of pre-Zindra levels.
The withering of the escort clubs means that a lot less money circulates in the SL economy. Escorts are known as free spenders: if an escort gets 2000L, she will spend it all (usually on dressing up her avatar one way or the other). Therefore, money put into the hands of escorts has a strong multiplier effect. I personally know several clothing retailers who have sharply curtailed their activities in-world or gone out of business entirely because there are no longer escorts to buy their merchandise.
Second, a lot of Europeans have dropped out of Second Life PZ (Post-Zindra), probably because they couldn't get past the US-centric age verification requirements. You can witness this during the hours when the North Americans are in bed; the Europeans used to take over, and now Second Life overall is a ghost town during European daylight hours.
Third, there has been a growing mistrust and disenchantment with Linden Labs. Everything critics predicted would happen as a result of the move to Zindra came true with a vengeance, and yet to date we've not seen Linden Labs make any effort to ameliorate their self-created disaster. One way of ameliorating would be to lower tiers on adult lands for clubs and other businesses, Linden Lab's own version of a "stimulus package". A lot of people have either quit Second Life in disgust (or despair) or, like me, have sharply curtailed their activities in-world.
Fourth, a sense of community has been broken by the mass exodus of "naughty people". What's that? Naughty people had a community? Yes, we did, and there was an amazingly tight-knit circle among Second Life escorts (believe it or not) that has been irretrievably dissolved. After we moved to Zindra, I lost friends (especially my European friends) right and left, and took a seven-month break from Second Life because I found my friends list looking more like a list of obituaries.
Rod, you missed the glory days of Second Life, and they are not coming back. The best you can hope to do now is have the courage and insight necessary to partially repair the enormous damage done to Second Life by your predecessor. Repairing that damage means healing the economy, giving people a reason to visit Second Life, and above all, rebuilding a sense of trust and communication with the Second Life residents. Most of us don't trust anything Linden Labs says or does; not your fault, but it's the mess you have inherited.
I genuinely wish you luck and success in the task set before you. One of the commentators has already made this suggestion, but I will reiterate:
Go incognito into Second Life and experience all it has to offer as an ordinary, non-premium Resident. Do this not just at first but as often as you can manage it. I guarantee your eyes will be opened.