In Survey, 1 in 3 Second Life Users Report Feeling Social Pressure To Purchase Virtual Content

Last week I asked readers if they felt in-world social pressure to purchase Second Life content, and here's the results of the survey: 30% report that they do, at least sometimes. If we were to count the Residents who feel such pressure "Rarely" (19%), the pressure to spend Linden Dollars is a factor for at least half the community. As it happens, only 60% of active users spend any L$. So it's not surprising that half the respondents in this survey would report feeling no pressure.

This poll, by the way, was inspired by an essay on the Virtual Economy Network, "Does Pressure Play Into Second Life Purchasing?" On first reading that, I was skeptical that consumerist pressure was a significant factor in-world, but judging by my admittedly unscientific survey, it does seem to be a factor among those who spend any amount of virtual currency. I'd welcome a more rigorous study, especially if it broke down how much Linden Dollars were spent by individual Residents, and on what kinds of products, in relation to the pressure they felt. Until then, we're left with this intriguing anecdotal data point. Or as Alicia Chenaux astutely put it in a Plurk thread on this topic, "I can't tell you how many times I've been told 'You HAVE to go to the skin fair and buy stuff!' this past weekend. As if I didn't, I'd be an outcast or something."

Comments

[Noreen Strehlow]

I have a feeling that the same people who succumb to salesmen in real life are the ones who feel that pressure to buy. There are so many really good freebies to be had in Second Life that most people could get by with those, but if keeping up with the Joneses is in your blood, you may very well feel that in Second Life also. I think the only must have would be decent hair and there are lots of places that have reasonable prices.

[radar]

What the heck. I buy stuff when I want, and don't when I don't want to. There's a lot of great content creators, and buying their stuff can be fun. But pressure to buy? No, it's always fully my own decision. No one's making me do anything.

Next we'll find out all those people didn't really want to climb on those poseballs, they just felt pressured.

[epredator]

The trends and social pressure that exist for fashionable goods probably fits with RL. Some people will go out and get the latest shirt/shoes/coat/phone.... because it makes them fit with their group or tribe. Some people resent that but still go along with it.
Others simply do their own thing.
There is also the extra elements of choosing certain experiences and needing to kit up for those, versus the casual experience of just hanging out. Places such as Deadwood, with a rich roleplay element, or having to have a halloween costume for a party or a dinner suit for a prom/ball.
They all have real world analogies of social pressure, of pursuit of belonging. It would be, as you say, very interesting to see research on this, if nothing else to prove that this is exactly the same as any other luxury we treat ourselves too as humans.