Comments on Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total PopularityTypePad2009-05-18T19:10:55ZSLHamlethttps://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/05/nielsen-correction/comments/atom.xml/Henri Beauchamp commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef0115709bc2fe970b2009-05-21T09:03:12Z2009-05-21T09:03:12ZHenri Beauchamphttp://sldev.free.fr/Making comparisons between a game such as Wow and a virtual world such as SL is like comparing a Porsche...<p>Making comparisons between a game such as Wow and a virtual world such as SL is like comparing a Porsche (or Ferrari: I'm not partial to a given brand) with a commercial vehicle that your boss provides you with for free:</p>
<p>- Not everyone can afford playing on paying online games sites, while everyone can register and log in SL for free. It means that, for a start, only SL users with "Payment info on file" (i.e. paying customers) should be counted.</p>
<p>- Also, you don't use a Porsche to transport stuff, but only to transport yourself (and possibly your girl friend) when you use the commercial vehicle to transport anything and anyone. Wow is a purely role-playing game. SL is anything you want it to be (from a role-playing platform to a meeting place for corporate users)... You just can't compare.</p>Arcadia Codesmith commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef011570997d20970b2009-05-20T13:53:34Z2009-05-20T13:53:34ZArcadia Codesmith"Second Life would rocket to number one." No. The average age of a World of Warcraft player is 28.3 (interestingly,...<p>"Second Life would rocket to number one."</p>
<p>No. The average age of a World of Warcraft player is 28.3 (interestingly, the average for female players is 32.5). This compares to an average age of about 26 for all virtual worlds/MMOs -- including SL. Only a quarter are under 18. If you subtract that from the WoW numbers, it still pulverizes SL in share. And for a fair comparison, you'd have to subtract the population of the Teen Grid and an unknown number of underage residents who access the main grid against the TOS.</p>
<p>While I advocate that MMOs study Second Life for features that could improve their virtual environments, it wouldn't hurt Second Life to learn from leading MMOs the keys of their success: shallow learning curves, comprehensive in-game tutorials tied to an engaging storyline, non-monetary rewards for individual advancement, ease of finding appropriate content of interest, and rock-solid game engines with a minimum of bugs (the current build of SL, by contrast, consistently locks up my entire system within ten minutes of launch).</p>
<p>Stats courtesy of the Daedalus Project (<a href="http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus)." rel="nofollow">http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus).</a></p>Ann Otoole commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01156fa2f142970c2009-05-20T01:39:12Z2009-05-20T01:39:13ZAnn Otoolehttp://annotoole.wordpress.com/So what would happen if you cut off the people under 18 from those statistics? Yea that's right. Second Life...<p>So what would happen if you cut off the people under 18 from those statistics?</p>
<p>Yea that's right. Second Life would rocket to number one. I mean come on we are adults. Nielsen needs to deal with the bogosity of that stats and list by age group.</p>
<p>Is everyone that stupified by poorly designed stats engineered to drive advertising revenue? Linden Lab doesn't advertise Second Life and despite their massive advertising efforts where is IMVU?</p>
<p>Nobody looks at stuff with a critical eye seeking truth anymore.</p>
<p>So Second Life is number 8 with no advertising. What a gigantic tremendously huge statement that is. Congratulations Phillip. You are really jabbing a well deserved sword in the eye of the advertising industry.</p>Hamlet Au commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01156fa2c057970c2009-05-20T00:11:15Z2009-05-20T00:11:16ZHamlet AuHmm, interesting point. I suppose that's possible for some casual PC games which have much smaller TMP but are very...<p>Hmm, interesting point. I suppose that's possible for some casual PC games which have much smaller TMP but are very popular; then again, I see two casual games up there in the top 10. I think the more qualification is that these are top *PC* games. Nielsen tells me they're measuring web games now, I bet you those numbers are gonna be way huger.</p>cala commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01157097f788970b2009-05-19T23:46:15Z2009-05-19T23:46:15ZcalaSorry but "8th in popularity (actually Share)" also is a likely incorrect analysis. It is 8th out of the Publicly-released...<p>Sorry but "8th in popularity (actually Share)" also is a likely incorrect analysis. It is 8th out of the Publicly-released Top 10 out of the Top 100 that were analyzed. To get the real ranking you need to buy the Nielsen report and compare the share figures from the full list. SL is clearly ranked 2nd in terms of TMP% (the sort-order for the list) but I'd predict that some of the lower-tmp% games in the remaining 90 might have a higher Share rating than 0.996.</p>Veeyawn Spoonhammer commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01156fa24261970c2009-05-19T21:03:05Z2009-05-19T21:03:05ZVeeyawn Spoonhammerhttp://www.vaughnhannon.comIs anyone else surprised that Starcraft is still in the top 10? I know it's awesome, but I wouldn't have...<p>Is anyone else surprised that Starcraft is still in the top 10? I know it's awesome, but I wouldn't have put it in the top 10 games played today.</p>Arcadia Codesmith commented on 'Nielsen Correction: Last March, Second Life Played More Than WoW, But Eighth In Total Popularity'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01157097808d970b2009-05-19T21:02:56Z2009-05-19T21:02:56ZArcadia CodesmithEighth among all (non-casual)PC games, including single-player games, is astounding. I'm very surprised and rather pleased to be wrong, having...<p>Eighth among all (non-casual)PC games, including single-player games, is astounding. I'm very surprised and rather pleased to be wrong, having discounted the stats in the previous thread.</p>
<p>I hope other virtual world/game developers are taking note. Want to topple WoW? Consider the power of user-created and -owned content, a currency that can be traded for real-world dough, and a robust set of community/social tools.</p>