Second Life Concurrency Represented in Real Time on 3D Globe; So WTF's Happening Off Madagascar? (UPDATED)

On my visit last Friday to Linden Lab's foyer, I noticed a spinning 3D globe on the wall, and I asked Peter Linden what it was, while I got a better look:

What it is, he told me, is a real time representation of Second Life concurrency throughout the globe. It's one of the coolest ways I've ever seen to show the truly global nature of SL's virtual community, and I suggested to Pete that they should release a version of it to the userbase. (He non-noncommittally said maybe, someday.) As you can see, you not only see Second Life's current concurrency (updated every hour), but the relative number of users logging in from various parts of the globe, with the blue dots represented as some users, and 3D lines of various size, as those numbers increase.

And then I noticed something odd, and said so:

"Why are there so many users off the coast of Madagascar?"

Because indeed there are, more than a few blue dots floating a few hundred miles (I would estimate) off the large African island. Peter punted on the question, suggesting that's just an anomaly of how Internet connectivity is represented. Which didn't seem convincing to me. So I imagined a large merchant marine vessel out on the lonely sea with a dozen or so salty Belgian sailors scrupulously taking care of their Meeroos. And I also imagined Residents a secret floating island lab, like in Lost but geekier. Whoever they are, however they are, the mystery of the Madagascar metaverse meeting remains.

UPDATE, 11:50am: NWN readers braunpau, Suella Ember, and Callum Linden believe these logins are coming from the island nation of Maurtius. This is very likely correct, though I totally looked at this globe from a foot away and didn't see any landmass where those blue dots were.

Comments

[brownpau]

Mauritius and Reunion Islands. They do have DSL and cable there.

[Squeebee Wakawaka]

That's a secret lab where people are jacked directly into SL to see what it does to their brains.

[Nyoko Salome]

oh noozz mah secret spy undersea lair has been found out!! ;0

[Hamlet Au]

"Mauritius and Reunion Islands"

How now, braunpau? Those dots were displayed in the middle of sea near no islands I can see. See?

[Suella Ember]

Well, it's hard to see without being next to that globe, and perhaps Mauritius and Reunion Islands aren't displayed on that globe.

Those blue dots though are pretty much exactly where Mauritius and Reunion Islands are - check a map :D

As to why there are so many logons from Mauritius and Reunion Islands? Your guess is as good as mine! I'm guessing the display would be based on something like IP address, so I suppose it's possible that Madagascar and maybe even parts of Africa might have IPs registered there? I'm completely guessing though!

[Deep Semaphore]

Darn it, I have relatives in Maurtius who access Second Life.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

Shhhh It is SLatlantis.

[TomasG]

There are several cities and towns on each of the Mauritius and Reunion Islands. Beautiful sandy beaches, deluxe hotels, the usual things you might find at a vacation destination. Why not SL users among the local populations and even visitors. They are not just empty islands in the middle of nowhere.

[Ramesh Ramloll]

yes there is Mauritius and Reunion, and Rodrigues and many other small islands over there ... Mauritius is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. I am a Mauritian, and I have accessed SL since 2005 when I go over there on holidays.

[Savoree LeDesir]

Proxy server.

[Pete Linden]

SL is amazingly international, and thanks to a colleague, I've got a bit more info on this to share: at a given time, there are more than 150 different countries represented inworld! The spikes on that visualization are actually drawn on a scale relative to one another, and while there may not be 'so many' logins from Mauritius, there are indeed some - as evidenced by the earlier commenter.

[Leondra]

Good DJ and beach?
LOL, poke in the funny bone.

[Tateru Nino]

Some of the geolocation information that is associated with certain ranges of IP addresses are wildly wrong. Most of the IP addresses that my ISP has allocated to us have a latitude and longitude set in common geolocation databases that positions them in the ocean, off the coast of India.

[manx]

That's absolutely Reunion and Mauritius. Defos. Plenty of people and infrastructure there. Also a huge French vacationer scene - kind of like the French version of the Maldives.

[Nyoko Salome]

;0 peruses google earth's photo galleries along there - def looks like a beautious bahamas of the indian ocean!! :)

[Nyoko Salome]

;0 seriously - click around some of the neighboring islands photographs too... omg that area looks - unreal; more polynesian and heaven-like than most anything pacific i've seen... i'm not a jet-setter, so i can only go on the pictures i see. but seriously... omg look around the pics of those isles in google earth - jaw-dropping!!!!!

[Jjccc]

i spoke to a girl from mauritus in the welcome area the other day she said it was hot and sunny and was a way better place to live than london were she used to live

[coco]

Hi , this globe is available somewhere ?