Undersexed, Overbuilding: Academic survey of SL user activity belies stereotypes (Updated)

Source: SL Survey

Last April, I linked to a study of SL activity being conducted by Wolkam Winger and Angelyka Klata, two European academics/Residents.  Their results are finally online, and they're fascinating.  Most striking to me is a question which adds another datapoint to the recurring question, "How much activity in Second Life is sexual?"  I've long suspected it was much less than often assumed, even more so after the Lindens claimed that land designated to have Mature-rated activity was less than 18%.  Winger and Klata's survey of 657 Residents is in line with this:

Asked if they engaged in SL cybersex, only 13.6% answered Often/Always.  28.9% answered Sometimes, and 52.2% answered Never.  This fits my anecdotal sense that most SL users try sex a few times for the novelty-- or consider it, and just pass.

Just as striking is how many Residents create content:  36.7% do so Often/Always, 26.9% Sometimes.  This is a much more active ecology of content creation than industry analysts usually assume.  The dynamic is generally described as a pyramid, with a small percent of content creators serving a vast majority of non-creating content consumers.  Instead, only 31.8% of Winger/Klata's respondents fit in this category, making content creation in Second Life a reverse pyramid.

Other interesting factoids: about a third of the respondents gender bend, Sometimes, Often, or Always.  Since the survey was launched while SL gambling was still permitted, that activity was also queried: and only about 11% said they did so Sometimes, Often, or Always.

All told, it's an indispensable resource, and props to Wolkam and Angelyka for making it available. View it all here.

Update, 11/8:  Eric Reuters has a good follow-up with mixed reality interview of Wolkam and Angelyka and others.

Comments

[csven]

wrt content creation, that leaves 36.4% in the "Never" category, yes? That's pretty balanced. So rather than characterizing this as a "reverse pyramid", I think under the circumstances it fits the traditional pyramid relatively well when one considers that SL users are probably somewhere in-between just by virtue of using SL. And I see that as a very good thing since it suggests to me a potential trend (as user numbers increase) toward greater acceptance of niche product produced by those who *aren't* in the top 1%.

As for the cybersex numbers, all I can think is, "What will the poor losers on Valleywag do now in order to deflect attention away from their own failings?" I'm sure we'll know soon enough.

[Ronald Hennessy]

While I have an avatar and I don't do the sexual stuff in SL, don't you think most of those residents are REALLY truthful about their activities? Not everyone likes to admit doing something that might be shameful. I expect those Valleywag tools to spin it in that direction.

[Dirk Singer]

I agree completely that while sex is clearly a big part of Second Life, it is nowhere near as prevalent as the likes of The Register say it is. (Here's a typical comment)

A lot of people think virtual worlds and Second Life are kind of where the Internet itself was ten years ago - lots of potential, but a medium still in its infancy.

So looking back to the early Internet, as with any new technology / medium, porn fans were enthusiastic early adopters. In 1997,the % of total searches related to sex and porn were around 17%, not far off the 18% mature content figure for SL quoted above.

That's a high number...but far below 50%.

Fast forward to 2005, and even though it's a given that the volume of X rated content increased, as an overall proportion of searches it went down to less than one in twenty.

No doubt as Second Life and other virtual worlds grow, the same will happen here.

For the stats I mention (and a fascinating study on web searches have changed), see

[Zoe Compton]

Ronald,

I think it's a given that people are going to lie about their sexual activities in Second Life. But it seems to me that that this element of deception probably isn't that big, and certainly isn't big enough to skew the numbers so much. I think that the numbers reflected in the study are probably pretty accurate. And it's good to know, too.

[hair style]

The most dangerous lyrics search was for Yung Joc and Nitty's song "It's Goin Down," for which 70% of search results were rated red or yellow by McAfee SiteAdvisor. Christina Aguilera's love profession "Ain't No Other Man," came in second with 60% risky results, earning her the title for Most Dangerous Female Video and Most Dangerous Pop Video. Tied with Aguilera for second place overall, Common's "Testify," and Three 6 Mafia's "Stay Fly" also won for Most Dangerous Hip- Hop Video. On average, 36% of lyrics...