At Least the Virtual Economy Isn't Too Bad Yet

By Chris Crum - Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:58

Second Life Sees Pretty Good Q3 Results

More people might want to start using Second Life, because the economy in that world doesn't seem to be as bad as that in reality. Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, released some data about their third quarter, with user hours reaching their highest ever.

Second Life User Hours

Land mass in Second Life has also seen a fair amount of growth, growing by 23% to just under 2 billion square meters:

Second Life Land Owned

Resident-to-resident transactions matched the previous high of $102 million:

And the volume on the LindeX (virtual currency exchange) was higher than ever as well:

Second Life LindeX

Linden Lab is sadly expecting a slowdown in land growth in the fourth quarter, perhaps as people realize that first life problems might trump those of the virtual world. Or perhaps we should all just start living in virtual worlds.

News Tags: Financial, Economy, Virtual Worlds, Second Life, Money

About the author:
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003.

10 Comments

By resep masakan (WPN reader) - Wed, 03/25/2009 - 11:42

Thats a good news

By Lowongan kerja 2009 (WPN reader) - Wed, 03/25/2009 - 11:41

Good raised

By Thomas Anderson (WPN reader) - Wed, 02/04/2009 - 12:06

'Second Life' faces threat to its virtual economy

I will comment on the actual incident eventually but first i must say... Second Life is ridiculous... I have a friend who participates in the online community and I cannot believe it... I understand the need and desire for an online marketplace. Why does it have to be modeled like and MMORPG and not more like a non-bidding form of ebay (ebay express?) . I do not mean to attack the people who use and enjoy second life but It is such a frivolous, stagnant excercise that does nothing to advance society, in fact, if anything it simply further isolates people from one another! Now, on to the subject at hand.. While I agree Linden Labs should try to prepare for attacks on its economic infrastructure in the form of malware, viruses, hackers whatever.. but on the other hand as a participant in this (or any other marketplace) you have to know the risks involved A similar experience is being felt in the music industry with Limewire, torrents, and the music stealing scene. Stealing of music is nothing new and if someone decides to sell a record it is known that it will be bootlegged. I think there should be a countermeasure or fix of some kind to stop this copyBot but I also say that in any online world this has to be expected!

(a little side note I wonder if any of those people being "fleeced" steal music online... I guess they would know how it feels now!)

By guestmaster (WPN reader) - Mon, 12/08/2008 - 23:04

You forgot about Second Life BOT invasions.

In case you didn't know, which you don't, there is a massive bot problem in SL that accounts for 50% of the concurrent logins:

http://greendots.typepad.com/green_dots/2008/11/index.html

Just go bot hunting yourself sometime and you will realize how far off those concurrent online users are.

By Jonathan (WPN reader) - Fri, 11/21/2008 - 06:24

SL is doing pretty well for us

>> Other worlds such as Open Life Grid and Legend City Online may >> possibly surpass Second Life in the coming years. Are you serious? Speaking as a serious developer in SL (run a business in SL for the last two years full-time), I've looked at "other worlds" and they are, frankly, awful. For all of its faults (and yes, there are plenty), SL is light years ahead of any of the competition. It's not possible right now to even begin *trying* to do business in the other Grids --- in SL, we can turn about US$100,000 a year very successfully.

By Guest (WPN reader) - Wed, 11/19/2008 - 15:05

LL's Propaganda

Statistics can lie and these statistics tell us NOTHING. Linden Labs, a privately held corportation, refuses to release ANY accounting of their books. The number of hours spent inworld by avatars -- which they can do for free -- is no reflection on any economy -- vertual or real. Money moved between avatars is scewed by people shifting Linden Dollars from one avatar to another or any other assorted reasons. Land mass does give a glimps at real revenue to Linden Labs but we're all in the dark as to what their costs to run Second Life are or if they are meeting their cash demands of payroll and other debt. The recent and sudden increase in monthly costs to land which Linden Labs will be charging people -- a full reversal of their drop in prices 7 months ago (along with adding more prims people people could use on certain types of SIMs) is more telling of the health of Second Life and the company behind it. The Public Relations debacal of not coming clean with their customers but actually BALMING THEM, in affect saying, "I'm shocked! I'm socked, I say, that people are actually using these prims" is a horrible PR blunder. Their race to publish these bogus and meaningly figures to imply real financial accounting fools no one. Anyone close to the game understand there is a huge glut of vertial land on the market that people can't sell

By Guest (WPN reader) - Mon, 11/17/2008 - 13:54

It will be interesting to

It will be interesting to see if Linden Labs releases their 4th quarter 2008 stats and their 1st quarter 2009 stats. Or, if they present them in a way that looks more positive. The recent price hike in open space sims and general disregard for land owner input has caused an uproar and total lack of trust in the Linden Labs company. There are many hundreds of open space sims now being abandoned and the price of land in general is in the toilet. Most open space sims will be abandoned Jan 1st when the price increase begins.

Chris Crum did not show much journalistic skill in simply submitting a story without checking more than one source or at least commenting about future impacts due to some bonehead business decisions by the Linden Labs CEO. Yes, there is a bit of a slow down in SL due to the RL recession but LL is also causing much of the grief with atheir disregard for land owners.

3D Virtual Worlds are the future for collaboration and communication online but Linden Labs has damaged their leading role as a platform. Other worlds such as Open Life Grid and Legend City Online may possibly surpass Second Life in the coming years.

By Jonathan (WPN reader) - Fri, 11/21/2008 - 06:30

SL is doing pretty well for us

Other worlds such as Open Life Grid and Legend City Online may possibly surpass Second Life in the coming years.

Are you serious? Speaking as a serious developer in SL (run a business in SL for the last two years full-time), I've looked at "other worlds" and they are, frankly, awful. For all of its faults (and yes, there are plenty), SL is light years ahead of any of the competition. It's not possible right now to even begin *trying* to do business in the other Grids --- in SL, we can turn about US$100,000 a year very successfully.

By Guest (WPN reader) - Sat, 11/15/2008 - 17:07

Slow down in land growth

They are expecting a slow down because of the recent hike in in open sim prices.

By Guest (WPN reader) - Sat, 11/15/2008 - 20:36

Agreed. They raised the cost

Agreed. They raised the cost of some land by 66%! People are abandoning those lands. It is not advisable to invest in Second Life land, and the company, Linden Labs, offers no guarantee that the rate you purchased a product at will be that rate in 2 months time.