Youthful Opportunity: Most Who Visit SL's Site Are Under 34

According to Google's Ad Planner stats, the majority of people now visiting Second Life's homepage are under 34, with 46% of them 24 and younger, and 33% of them 17 and and younger. This is interesting for at least a couple reasons: The existing userbase of SL strongly skews to Generation X and Boomers (mid 30s and older), so these traffic patterns suggest a much younger cohort is hitting SL's site, apparently interested in getting in. (Likely as a result of Second Life ads featuring vampires, clubbing, etc.) At the same time, new user retention remains extremely poor, which further suggests to me that all these young potential users are not getting the seamless, easy-to-use experience from SL that they're accustomed to from such younger-skewing worlds like IMVU and Habbo Hotel. But the desire is there, and so is the opportunity -- a new market that could revive and grow SL's aging population. I hope Linden Lab is concentrating their first time user experience on them.

Comments

[Adeon Writer]

I'm 25 (Joined SL at 20) and I have plenty of friends my age. I can tell your firsthand their reasoning for passing on SL:

Performance.

They know what a virtual world is.
They know it's not a game in the traditional sence.
They all have high-end gaming computers that should run SL fine.

They pass SL up because of the low-end graphics and poor framerate.

The ones that stay are the ones who came to create their own content or find the social outlet pleasant.

[shockwave yareach]

*shrugs* Clearly these whippersnappers aren't buying land though. Perhaps the people they are reaching are people without the deep pockets necessary for land purchases at current prices? And that maybe lowered prices would drive more of them to buy land and stick around SL longer?

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

I think Adeon nails it...it's making your own stuff that is SL's killer app. In gaming up SL, I hope our former-EA game-gods don't forget that bit of the magic.

The frame rate and load-times for SL do often suck, but not the look of SL's content these days...just compare a 2012 avatar to one from 2007.

The "starters" today look better than the premium ones then.

[Riisu]

The avatars changed for the better... but they still walk and run like ducks from the last decade and use these stand anims which scream "noob" all around... Hmmm...

[Ezra]

How many different angles does Second Life's issues have to be viewed from? A good view of its retention problems aren't foggy.

Here's some near 100% guarantees from installing Second Life:

1. It's going to be the laggiest most crash prone and erratic piece of software on my system.

2. While other 3D applications, games and MMOs, typically having nigh-identical control schemes, there's going to be absolutely no chance I will already know how to fully control my avatar and camera in a way I'd expect.

WASD will work, after that I'm forced to discover controls more reminiscent of a 3D modelling program than 3D games.

3. My avatar will animate like crap and nothing like the avatar I chose on the new registration screen.

Maybe I'm bugged, maybe relogging will fix it, maybe I should ask someone. Oh I was given a freebie AO. What in the hell is an animation override? Ok I've equipped it, there's a box attached to my hand and I still move like crap. Well at least I clicked that disco ball and I'm dancing now. How do I stop dancing? I quit.

Second Life's new user issues are entirely replicable. Everytime I introduce a new friend to it, the issues come up like clockwork. It's gotten to the point I've become a rehearsed expert in every guaranteed common problem that pops up, as I'm sure many of us feel like.

The issue is, of the 16k or however many new sign-ups a day, there isn't 1 of me for each new user that's willing to devote days to answering questions, demonstrating things and talking down frustrations. To lend land to rez first purchases and give privacy to tweak avatars.

It shouldn't be a mystery to anyone at Linden Lab why new users quit. If it really is, then Rod should implore all his employees to once a month or quarter or so, bring a friend or relative into Second Life and watch them closely. Instant revelations.

[Valentina Kendal]

Yeah, I agree, I think Adeon got it exactly right. Except really, those are the reasons that *anyone* stays or leaves SL. In my 4+ years experience the people who stay are the ones who will tolerate the software and lag because they a) like to make stuff, or b) they participate heavily in the SL social scene, be it just hanging with friends, DJing or dancing, sex, etc. Ignatius is right, the ability to actually MAKE stuff in a virtual world is what sets SL apart - Your World, Your Imagination.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

Fine Adeon. Mesh should fix that issue you and so very few others have. But it won't. Your generation wants to be hand fed goals and be told what to do because you are submissives. You need to check out the BDSM lifestyle in SL and take your place sucking the toes of a Dom/me in SL to find your way.

[Dale Innis]

Yes! Another speculative future market that we can recommend SL cater to rather than its current users! Great idea!

[foneco zuzu]

Well unless they got the info about Sl from a well organized Adult forum (but then there it goes the teeens way to know;)!
When i joined i just had to read a few posts on that forum, to get all i needded, link to emerrals, how to set it, link to a lot of freebees, and most importnat of all, how to set up emerald to run Sl good form start!
Still it took me 2 weeks to get fully ready to interact.
But i wonder how many still can't realize that SL is only an amazing tool???
Do any starts using blender after 5min???
Is any ready for Poser after 1day?
So stop thinking and promoting Sl to retards that don't even know how to play farm ville or whatever, and keep focused on the 1 that know or will want to try the amazing tool that Sl is in the end!

[foneco zuzu]

Hooo and Sl is full of subs, pls bring new domms cause it really needs those!

[shockwave yareach]

@Foneco - yes, but Blender and Poser and Povray and Reaper are hardly what anyone would call programs for the common man. They are quite advanced programs for advanced computer users who are wanting to create advanced stuff -- only people well versed in computers and their fields play with them.

SL on the other hand strives to be a virtual world that anyone can enter and enjoy without having to know anything more than how to press the on button. And here is the fundamental flaw of the past 4 years direction in SL. While you can get people who know how to play games to grasp the controls easily, ma and pa Kettle will never comprehend it no matter what you do. For the average American, if it's more complicated to use than a website, they cannot handle it. For the gamers, SL offers no games so they quit too.

So the quandry of the UI is that it's never going to be dumbed down enough for the mass populace, and those who can handle the UI get bored quickly with "game" instead of realizing that they can create their OWN future WoW within SL. This is one of the biggest problems, and one which I believe can be solved in the same way videogames teach the controls -- you have instructions and a game at startup which teaches you to use the controls as you play an entertaining and fun game to learn how to do things.

[Dirk]

Wow... tell that to all the 50+ ladies trolling Sweethearts...

[Pussycat Catnap]

"Second Life's new user issues are entirely replicable. Everytime I introduce a new friend to it, the issues come up like clockwork."

Yep.

I wrote a blog about getting started in SL, and my content for it was very similar to one I myself used that was written in 2006 - only updated for the modern viewer, and suggested locations changed up a bit.

Its that predictable... what problems people will face...

That said framerates and crash prone - I find SL more reliable than some major MMOs, and often with better framerates.

But the poor animations, and the user controls for moving around that are, as you say; akin to 3D modelling and not a 3D world... that's just not acceptable...

They finally added click to move... but they did it in a way that if enabled, locked out being able to mouse turn your avatar...

Sometimes I want to tell the SL devs not to 'eat your own dog food', but to swipe some from the other dog's bowl for a bit...

There is now, in 2012, an almost universal 'GUI' in MMOs for how to walk around, choose objects to interact with, choose people or NPCs, bring up help menus, and other very basics.

Like it or not, SL is a form of MMO. It is to MMO what MUSH was to MUD. Its an MMO without the elves to kill - but those are coming soon.

But sometimes SL feels like the AutoCAD of the MMO world. Where every other graphics tool fro photoshop to gimp to poser to maya to etc has certain basic things in common at the 'extreme basic level', AutoCAD is on plant-X with the moon monsters... SL is standing right next to it... Maybe SL is the moon monster... ;)

If the basic controls just worked like any other 3D environment, retention might skyrocket. Make the basic animations look ok. They don't have to be great, they just need to not look like the guys in the far left background of the Thriller video...

And proportions... I hate to say it... but we all know the SL avatars have monstrously bad proportions. Fix the default avatars to be 'Vitruvian Man' proportionate, and looking at them won't be so alienating. This is not about realism or even scale. WoW's avatars are proportionate, but cartoony - and that's led to 11 million players.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"While you can get people who know how to play games to grasp the controls easily, ma and pa Kettle will never comprehend it no matter what you do. For the average American, if it's more complicated to use than a website, they cannot handle it. For the gamers, SL offers no games so they quit too."

I agree in part.

But today's average person -is- a gamer. You need to be able to be usable as quickly as your average person can install an MMO and go kill an elf.

Hopefully with the tools coming for NPCs, we'll at least be able to hunt elves soon. But we've still got to get a noob over to the elf to wack it, in under 5 minutes.

[Pussycat Catnap]

On to the main point of the actual blog:

Changing demographic of SL.

Does this mean LLs choice to merge in the teen grid was the right call?

It would seem so, but if that was true, why was the actual teen grid so dead? It seems like it should have been a merger to save a near dead adult grid, but actually ended up a merger to save a near dead teen grid.

Anyone who went to the land of the former teen grid within hours of the merger has some sense of that - the land was in a ruinous state. Mostly abandoned or owned by dead accounts. Naturally the teens were absent because they had a whole new grid to explore - but most of them never seemed to have made it home again.

So its curious that they're finally showing up now, post merger.

Not sure how this teen to 20s demographic will change SL. Maybe all those '80s rock clubs' will finally start giving up ground to something rooted in the post-bronze-age. ;)

Furry forums not a part of SL seem to be a younger set. Oddly a lot of gamers and heavy metal / punk types. A set I'd have never thought to link to furry - but that's what they are. Gamers tend to be younger. Metal is -so 80s-, but forms of post-metal music are younger... So this demographic might come with a boost in the furry population of SL.

They'll probably be more alt-friendly too. The younger set is used to having online identities, and playing video games with dozens of 'toons' - so they're probably going to just assume that its normal to have multiple characters in SL too.

Will be interesting to see what they make of all the 'alt-lifestyle' adult communities...

[Ann Otoole InSL]

I forgot to add /sarcasm on my previous comment. Sorry about that.

These demographics look like a radical change from the circa 2007 demographics back when SL was enjoying excellent growth and presenting a huge opportunity for many. If SL is to remain viable then it is clear the UI and operation will have to be dumbed down for younger users that are accustomed to short attention span easy rewards games. Maybe the "new tools" rodvik spoke of might help if that can happen before SL totally erodes away.

[Adeon Writer]

LL doesn't need to, and shouldn't, add game-like things to SL. What they need to do is give US the ability to create things like that, and reopen the community gateways so WE can create our own new-user experiences. That way, they can also be monitored - LL just doesn't have the moderation hours needed to keep starting areas free from trolls/griefers. Users DO.