These are all great observations about the problems applying one medium’s metrics for activity to another.

That said, the perception that it is an empty space isn’t just an uninformed exaggeration by media and businesses. Anyone going into Second Life for the first time will likely (a) be propositioned or (b) find avatar activity visibly meager. Since they are carrying into the world the idea that it should act like downtown Chicago and not rural Greencastle, that can be a disappointment that creates a barrier to entry.

What would be interesting to study is where those 21,441 residents are at the moment. How do they congregate? What kinds of transactions are being conducted? How much of that is “seedy” like gambling and open sex, or other things that society would frown upon if seen in first life? This, too, is a perception that is probably somewhere in between what is reported and what is in practice.

Other than machinima and group political statements, I have yet to experience anything that Second Life has really contributed as a medium. That isn’t saying it won’t, but SL development has also been constrained by the expectations of the real world. As Marty Siegel would say, where’s the computer imagination here? That, and the continued tech hurdles, are going to keep the perception of SL low.

I’d like to see this post expanded to examine these special SL properties and how we might design something “virtually imaginative” to take advantage of what is special about the medium.

Minor detail correction: You do need to be in-world to receive your goods when you buy them via SL Exchange, though you’re right, your avatar doesn’t need to be in any particular location (i.e., a store).

In my First Life I dodge tourists and gawkers on my way to lunch. I stand cheek to jowl with commuters on the subway. I do not speak to any of them, nor do I wish to. Some days it is almost unbearable.

So, low density? Great! Whatever you want to call it, in most cases if I want to have a conversation in SL I can have it, whether I’m near someone or not. And if I am near someone, they are usually open to polite conversation. Of course, I spend hardly any time on the mainland any more, so I may have a wildly atypical experience.

And on the website purchases, you don’t actually receive them until you’re in-world and can click “accept”, but you don’t have to be in SL at the time you buy it on the website. As long as your IMs haven’t maxed out, your purchase will be there waiting for you to accept it when you log in.

The problem with SL is it currently exists as a gaming environment. Although everyone agrees that it’s not a “game” per se, the fact is, it has gaming attributes whereby you create your character, build things, buy/sell/trade items and services and explore a world that has no boundaries. There is no endgame in mind but it is still very much like a game.

In order for it to become more useful for marketers and other real-world brands, it has to become a technology platform that can be managed along with their other online assets. When Linden Lab distributes the SL server software, companies can begin incorporating virtual world applications into their websites rather than creating an island in Second Life and hoping that people seek it out. Virtual worlds are simply no substitute for web browsing. The experiences are fundamentally different - browsing expects you to quickly navigate through dozens of webpages (out of billions) per day while the virtual world expects to engage you through profound interaction with other users, objects and activities. If there is any long-term hope for Second Life as a marketing tool, it will come when the technology is integrated into websites just like video, gaming, blogging, message boards, animation and many others. When users can access relevant virtual world applications without joining Second Life, the platform will become much more valuable.

Just imagine visiting a website and being able to quickly step into the virtual world to join a group discussion or visit a product demo or join in an interactive role playing game. All of these ideas exist in Second Life today but without simplicity of browser integration it is hard to capture the majority of online users who are unwilling to invest the time to enter SL from a handful of launch points and then find their reason for being there. In a distributed model, the current “game” of Second Life could conceivably coexist along side all of these company run applications but for mass market appeal, virtual worlds will reach a broader audience only when users can access it when they need it and companies can funnel their existing user base into it for more engaging interactive experiences.

Great article. I loved the comparison with Canada! Not that I’ve been there, but I always imagine it as something pretty close to SL — huge availablilty of land, lovely landscape, and here and there one or two big cities, where everything “is happening”. I guess that you have to live on a seriously underpopulated area of the Earth to truly appreciate what “low density” means and how it impacts the overall perception of “emptyness”.

I should add that I totally subscribe to all your points, they’re excellently well taken and quite insightful. Yes, people simply “forget the obvious” when joining SL — they’re possibly imagining 9 millions of people elbowing each other on a hypercrowded street. We’re ages from that — perhaps a decade or more. As a matter of fact, the population density *seems* to be increasing; when I was an utter newbie, you would only see anyone around on sandboxes and here and there when an event was announced (there was at most one per hour — only!). These days, it’s hard to get to a sim that is truly empty — although, on the other hand, it’s also almost impossible to keep track of the ones that are empty, since SL is so huge.

The Web is also empty, too! I rarely “meet” somebody when logging in to a site. For instance, how many people are reading this blog right now, while I type these paragraphs? I have no idea! Nobody, or a million? How can I know? In SL, I could be writing the same thing, and turn my head around, and count the audience. The experience is so vastly different. Yes, we know millions of people are watching YouTube at the same time as we are… but… where are they?

The “game argument” will also always be raised over and over again. This is actually a change of mindset coming from the mid-1990s, when suddenly anything that is 3D “has to be a game”. It’ll be hard to shake out that impression. Just remember that before Doom became popular, games were 2D… things done in 3D on a computer was, well, CAD. If in 1985 you mentioned “computers and 3D” people would immediately think of architects and engineers. Fast-forward a decade, and “computers and 3D” mean invariably “a game”. We need to evolve out of those limitations. In ten years, “computers and 3D” will mean “the metaverse” (where, obviously, some people will naturally be playing games — but not the overall majority). On the other hand, not being particularly a fan of games, the immediate connection between “3D” and “game” does not elicit an immediate response to people like me… I don’t “expect” Second Life to be “more like a game” since I don’t expect games to be 3D at all!

On some thoughts on how web statistics can be really misleading anyway, I’ve written an essay on it: http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2007/08/26/please-get-your-facts-straight/

[...] Second Life Is Not Empty [...]

Fascinating article. I never had that lonliness experience in SL, personally. From the moment I landed, a freshly baked, ginger-bread n00b, I was being greeted and befriended by everyone in sight. It was overwhelming, but maybe my experience was the exception, and not the norm.
Love your writing! Good stuff!