Second Life's Top 50 Popular Sims for August 2011: Sexy Socialization, Roleplay & Virtual Porn Continue Dominating

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 50 most popular sims in Second Life for August 2011, listed according their average visitor count, the unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month:

As with June 2011's stats, and every month Metaverse Business has tracked SL's most popular sims, the list is overwhelmingly dominated by social, 3D chat hangout areas, with some fantasy/goth/sci-fi roleplay areas in the mix, and nearly 25% of the most popular explicit Adult-rated roleplay porn. Perhaps the most notorious of those, Bukkake Bliss (careful when Googling that term!), went from ranking 43 in June to position 14. I really hesitate to speculate why -- more realistic mesh-based products?

Also striking is how few of these sims represent the best in quality design, excepting the beautiful nature preserve "tempura island" and perhaps a handful of others. I remain convinced that most people do not come to virtual worlds to experience a world per se, but interact with the people in them. Rankings 26-50 after the break:

Comments

[rawst berry]

If sex sims are so undeniably popular, why do some residents push so hard to rebrand SL as "clean and 'normal'"

[Nexii Malthus]

I think it's mostly the effect of the nature of those sims happening to aim towards high density populations.

The rest of SL on the other hand is way more diffuse and spread out, with smaller clusters of people.

Mind that there are also communities which may have a significantly large population but are spread out across dozen sims instead of a single sim, for social, financial, gaming or lag reasons.

[Tatum Lisle]

This makes me sad, although @rawst, I can't see why sex can't be considered clean and normal, I do wish that other forms of creative expression could be celebrated and supported more actively in our virtual world, just as I wish the "real world" would extend its concept of celebrity to include say scientists, classical artists and spiritual leaders as opposed to just sports, film and popular music stars. I would really like to see more diversity of interests robustly represented in Second Life

[foneco zuzu]

What makes me sad is knowing how little it seems the ones posting here really use Sl.
Grumble is a shoping sim i go every single day.
Reason, it gives you vouchers for shoping that can go up to 1000 L (1 MM boards with 750 hits daysly and all filled, got more then 10.000 L in vouchers)
Crossroads is an wonderfull biker sim, with the best Blues any can get on its club.
Gor is one of the reasons for Sl to exist still, a strong community.
And Sex, rolaplying, Socializing? Is that a crime?
What i can say it amazes me is that some still cant realize how Sl is for real, and who go there every day, cause still cant understand that even if Linden LAb is Usa based, SL is Universal!

[foneco zuzu]

And since the end of the teen grid, lots of Pg or Mature sims are changing its rate to Adult and adult verified only allowed to go on them.
And the main reason is not sex, but to avoid spammers, griefers, punchers and looseres that live and breath on the fear and harassment of others!
Those are the real treath to Sl survival, not the Sex lovers, nor roleplayers nor even the misguided ones that come to Sl in hope of finding their Rl love (and Im one of those:))

[Arcadia Codesmith]

In a world where you don't have to eat, drink or breathe, where you have no threat to security nor real need of shelter, sex becomes the sole remaining fundamental base of the hierarchy of needs.

It should neither surprise nor dismay us that it enjoys greater popularity than more artistic and intellectual pursuits.

[shockwave yareach]

Linden Lab should not give a hoot what people want their sims for. If the customer is paying, let the customer enjoy his purchase. If it's not someone elses thing then they don't have to go their and partake of it. But frankly, whoever is paying the bill has the first, last, and only say in what kind of activities the sim will be used for -- just be sure to pick appropriately rated land first.

Whether I want to buy an island for a virtual petting zoo, or a zoophile heavy petting zoo, if I'm paying the bills then LL should be glad of my business. The sad decaying of the world the past 3 years is half due to LL's attempt to "clean up" what is and should remain the wild wild wild west. I can be myself anyplace -- being footloose animal who lives in a spaceship is something I can only do in SL.

[Nyoko Salome]

;0 reminds me of a few anecdotal stories from friends who had worked in and around rl 'adult stores' for some years, where they mention having served, or having seen enter such stores, the mayor, other local politicos, other reputable business owners, etc etc along with most any/every other friend we'd had... ;0

although such rl businesses don't do so well now post-internet and next-day delivery, there's still traffic for those who need to 'size up' whatever they are interested in purchasing.

can't outlaw human nature... for so many reasons other than the obvious, i think the 'side effects' of having this much freedom is better than not. we have a very singular and special place here to create and play in...

[foneco zuzu]

Still if this post helped me was to explore Tempura Island.
And sex is no evil nor a decease.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

There's not a thing in the world wrong with sex. It's great fun. I think most folks would be nicer to their fellow humans if they had sex on a regular basis.

But for educators and business-types, many of whom should also use more sex (based on their often grumpy behavior) imagine having this list pop up (so to speak) at a meeting about funding a 3D project or continuing SL funding.

It becomes much easier to make the case for OpenSim, technological warts and all, than for a place where "Bondage" always appears in most-popular- places lists. I hope Deans and grant officers don't know what "Bukakke" is, but the answer is one Googly-eyed search away.

When I raise this issue, I'm often reminded that "the broader Internet has sex, too, yet the Internet is popular for education." That's called a "questionable analogy" in rhetoric. While ISPs might carry both XXX and edu traffic, educational software providers like Blackboard or Web CT or Mathematica (or, in 3D, Heritage Key) don't also host X-rated content.

With some mild mental backflips, we can make a better analogy: Google.

It hosts adult-content blogs and sites alongside classroom projects using the same technology. And those projects are all hosted out of the same server-farms.

So educators have to play this "tee hee I don't know about that Zindra place" or just remain silent when the subject gets some airplay. Meanwhile, LL knows where their money come from: RP and sex. I don't think that's a sweeping generalization.

Meanwhile, you go #25, Gerontology Ed. Island!!!