New World Notes is 8 Years Old Today: Some Numbers & Thoughts on Blogging About Second Life Since 2003

Here's the thing: On April 22, 2003, I wrote my first post about being an avatar in Second Life, which had just gone into public Beta. A dozen or so days later, I met a tall and elegant hacker avatar named Catherine Omega, who lived in a glass mansion on the cliffs of Shipley, and she told how she built it: In part, while squatting in an abandoned apartment building, using a coffee can to catch wireless signals, and an exposed power line to keep her laptop running. At that point, I pretty much decided I'd discovered the most fascinating community on the Internet, and found the best subject of my entire writing career. I still believe that. At the time, I was a contract writer and "embedded journalist" for Linden Lab, but ended that role in March 2006, and have been writing about Second Life (and other virtual worlds/games) here on my own blog ever since. At the risk of grotesque self-aggrandizement, here's some estimated* New World Notes stats, since I started writing in April 2003:

• About 7 million pageviews
• About 30,000 total comments (thanks for sharing!)
• About 6000 total posts

Assuming each post is on average 300 words long, that would translate into... 1,800,000 words. Were those words put into book form, the volume would be 7,200 pages long. By comparison, Tolstoy's War and Peace is a mere 425,511, and Remembrance of Things Past, light reading at 1,500,00 words. (Suck it, Proust!) Those words have told a lot of stories about fascinating Second Life residents and the world they've built, and I'm fully aware the relative popularity of this blog is largely a credit to their talent. (And of course, my supertalented contributors Iris Ophelia, ColeMarie Soleil, Sanny Yoshikawa, and many more.)

Just as important is this:

New World Notes' readership has grown with this blog, and at the moment, is the largest on average that it's ever been. I'm utterly grateful for this. I know NWN has sometimes taken turns that have annoyed or perplexed many of you, or featured posts that confounded and enraged some of you, but through it all, a community of smart, engaged readers have stayed around. (If only for the eye rolling.) My fondest wish is to keep writing about Second Life and immersive virtual world culture and innovation for the rest of my career, and as long as you keep reading, I'll do everything I can to keep writing New World Notes. Thanks again.

* I say "estimated", because New World Notes was first launched on Second Life's main site, and a few months later until March 2006, on a Typepad blog owned by Linden Lab (both now defunct.)

Comments

[Leondra]

CONGRATULATIONS!

yes... it's those moments that define us...

"At that point, I pretty much decided I'd discovered the most fascinating community on the Internet, and found the best subject of my entire writing career. "

May you continue to stand on mountains you terraformed, and stare out at the great cities and landscapes that are the dreams and creations of a great civilization of fellow travelers in the metaverse, ...and may you always have a fresh, clean white suit.

Kudos! Hamlet!

[Troy McLuhan]

"... New World Notes' readership has grown with this blog, and at the moment, is the largest on average than it's ever been."

That's good news!

Congrats Hamlet. Goodness knows there were many SL newspapers, blogs, and magazines which came and left during your tenure. Here's to the next 8 years!

[Osprey]

Oh, thank you for eight years of stories! It's hard to imagine an SL with no NWN - it would definitely have been less in many ways if you hadn't been here writing about the community. Thank you for sticking to it :-D

[Gogo]

Happy Birthday NWN! This is one of my favorites SL Blog :)

[Ann Otoole InSL]

happy blirthday hammlet.

[rikomatic]

Congrats, man. Quite an achievement indeed.

[Jean Liberato]

Wagner,

congrats for this great and fantastic work for Virtual Worlds. You are my inspiration in Brazil!!!! I see your work and like very mch, after this I made my blog, in portuguese, and now is the biggest in world about virtual worlds in this language.

Ty for your pionnerism!!!

Greatings from Brazil!!!!

[Daniel Voyager]

Happy 8th NWN Birthday, Hamlet.

Great achievement :)

Congrats!

[kanomi]

Congratulations on the anniversary! Didn't know it was eight years this weekend when we did the interview.

I have posted it now here:

http://kanomi.blogspot.com/2011/04/slings-and-arrows.html

[Stone Semyorka]

Thank you for all those years of hard work!

Your writing here in New World Notes has been instrumental in my virtual life, pulling me along through the numerous times across my last four years when the Linden Lab information drought made it difficult to exist in Second Life. NWN has been my lifeline on many occasions when I wondered what the heck they were thinking.

The fat lady hasn’t approached the stage to sing the final Second Life aria, but if we don’t innovate and reconnect with our base and potential residents, the future could be chirped by an off-key soprano. For that reason, SL news is as important as ever, or even more so as we live through Second Life's maturation. The next generation of SL residents is not going to be composed of clones of the previous generation. They won't be as engaged with virtual life simply as a thrilling new concept as they will be immersed with their affinity groups bringing new forms of escapist entertainment to the metaverse.

Quality always wins in the long run and that's where NWN comes in. We have had an explosion of choice. Among the plethora of SL blogs, yours has provided more and higher-quality coverage of virtual worlds and a more serious critique of Linden Labs. I continue to find NWN the most trusted media source for news of Second Life.

[Todd Borst]

Congratulations indeed. This is no easy feat. This is pretty much the only SL related blog I read regularly (not even the official blog is worth reading much these days). Thank you and your writers for providing insights, humor, and coverage to this unusual home we call metaverse.

Sincerely,
Todd Borst

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Congratulations Hamlet.

I'm looking forward to another eight years of reading about fascinating places and people in this strange world we all share.

[Chestnut Rau]

Congratulations on your success and thank you for being a clear articulate voice in the sea of noise.

[Latok Neumann]

Congratulations on this milestone. I will have my 5th rezday in a few days and during most of these 5 years NWN has been my main source of all things cool/interesting/fun in SL. Keep up the great work.

[Sui Mode]

Congratulations New World Notes.I would appreciate you.
Sui Mode

[Seymore]

Congrats, Hamlet. An Excellent accomplishment.

[DD Ra]

Thanks for 8 years of news !

[RvA Hax]

I love your blog! Congratualations Hamlet!

[Bixyl Shuftan]

Congrats Hamlet, from the competition. ;-)

[FlipperPA Peregrine]

Belated congrats on 8 years, amig0.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Even when I disagree vehemently, NWN is always worth the read. Many happy returns!

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

What Arcadia said. Happy B-Day! You do pretty well for a mere lad of eight years...well, okay, 56 in dog years.

[Canoro Philipp]

Happy 8th Birthday New World Notes!!!
that your next years would be awesome!

[Valentina Kendal]

Congrats Hamlet - you've been an invaluable resource for me and others - thank you !

[Bettina Tizzy]

I'm late to the party - haven't been online much for the past couple of days - but geez, Hamlet, EIGHT YEARS?? I don't know how you do it.

But here's the thing. New World Notes is just one busy aspect of your virtual life. In the four years that I've known you, you've been a beacon and cheerleader for newbies, a deeply-engaged catalyst connecting folks to other folks, artists to artists, artists to patrons and the other way around.

You've been my sounding board, my shoulder to cry on, my conscience, a pain in the ass, and one of the best virtual (and real) friends I've ever had.

Despite your friendships and understandable loyalty to the many Lindens that have crossed your path over these 8 years, you've also helped us residents rant when things got unfair.

You've helped hundreds of bloggers share their stories, you've been generous with your advice on how to grow readership, and you've been a magnet to non-virtual world readers, educating them on all the goodness and possibilities of 3D immersive platforms.

And you literally wrote the book about Second Life's history, helping me to answer questions I hadn't even thought to ask.

You know I don't always agree with you. But that makes us even. Cheers, Hammy. And thank you for everything.