ExtremeTech has a geek-heavy analysis of Internet usage which crunches numbers in a highly granular way, to plausibly argue that online porn constitutes nearly a third of all total Internet data usage:
At peak time, YouPorn serves 4000 pages per second, equating to burst traffic in the region of 100 gigabytes per second, or 800Gbps... in other words, a single porn site accounts for almost 2% of the Internet’s total traffic. There are dozens of porn sites on the scale of YouPorn, and hundreds that are the size of ExtremeTech or your favorite news site. It’s probably not unrealistic to say that porn makes up 30% of the total data transferred across the Internet.
I point this out mainly in comparison to Second Life traffic to the most popular places on the grid, which according to Metaverse Business, consistently counts about 30% of Adult-rated regions among the Top 50. (Hello, Bukkake Bliss.) But that doesn't necessarily mean SL activity as a whole is 30% porn:
It's more likely it isn't, since unlike porn videos, virtual porn generally requires two or more people -- so fans, customers, and content creators of that kind of entertainment will probably cluster together (so to speak) in more populated spots. But even on the high end, it's worth noting that porn activity in SL does not exceed that of the Internet at large.
Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.
Rod gave insight into what the top 3 activities in Second Life were in that gameindustry.biz interview a month back:
"At present, creation is the third most popular activity behind socialising and listening to music in the various bars and nightclubs - contrary to popular belief, Second Life isn't just one big virtual orgy."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-15-linden-lab-the-weirder-the-better
Well, those weren't Rod's words, but presumably that's what he told them. Sounds right to me that chatting, music listening and creating things are ahead of bumping pose balls.
Posted by: Ezra | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 11:24 AM
SL is:
29% Porn
30% Hair
20% Snark
20% Drama
01% Bukkake Bliss
And what DO we talk about, kids?
Posted by: Iggy | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 11:24 AM
B Bliss is one spot among the many pron spots. The top one though, so likely notably more than 1%.
And I guess Ham's just cleared himself of being accused of being a visitor to the SL pron sites - if he still thinks it takes more than 1 person. :D
I did a stint in that scene when I was newer to SL and thought it was funny as heck. You can go and just observe - which is always a sizeable portion of the folks in a place. Or you can just hit a random poseball and wait for someone to hit the matching set(s)...
- Much of it is tailored up to require as little communication between the participants as possible.
As long as one set of poses are getting use in a public spot somewhere in the place - the entertainment for the rest of the visitors is being provided. And anyone on the poses with IM'd not disabled quickly learns that 'observing', with commentary, is exactly all many there desire.
My problem with the scene came about when I realized others were not there for cartoon comedy (see note about IMs above). So I got out. And its not exactly in line with how I see myself these days.
A quick look at green dots on the grid implies to me that the 30% more than likely does hold for SL. But 30% is still less than a third.
Now that I reside on Zindra again, I can see anytime I open the map that this stuff is VERY popular.
Its a very big scene, but that doesn't mean its the only scene. But I'm not going to start making calls on how popular I think this or that other scene might be.
In SL's search system, A-rated content is by far the easiest to find, and one you land in it, its the most well interconnected. You can easily go from place to place through a variety of scenes and themes, and not have trouble finding something new that still has people in it.
- Other themes are often more self-contained and isolated within a more narrow subset of their theme.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 12:40 PM
i came across a porn shot in Second Life while doing some uhhh research
Posted by: Metacam Oh | Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 01:48 PM
Hey People - Porn sells. If the lab is ignoring a big and enthusiastic market like porn, then they must have rocks in their proverbials. Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of marketing aimed below the waistline, if it just might pay 30% of your bills. Bet it pays better than vampires anyhow.
Posted by: Unguent | Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 06:40 AM
One person's "porn" is another's performance art or collaborative erotic poetry.
I think it's a waste of breath to deny or minimize Second Life's "adult" side. Accept it, embrace it, celebrate it, and work to improve it -- if we're going to have virtual "porn", we should have top-quality virtual "porn".
The broader culture may fixate on our pixel kink, but that's what the broader culture does in almost any context. It's drawn in by the scandalous because, frankly, the broader culture isn't getting enough in real life and it's frustrated as hell.
At any rate, it's not a fully-realized "world" unless you can have a symposium on modern trends in philosophical thought competing on the schedule with the mixed doubles freestyle erotic improvisation quarterfinals.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 06:48 AM
The other thing is that some "adult" areas are little to do with porn. I know of one dance club which is in an adult-rated region, and I would guess you get about an hour's worth of AV nudity in a week.
Posted by: Dave Bell | Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 07:09 AM
I doubt any that uses internet does not use at least 30 pct of its time surfing around Porn content!
Posted by: foneco zuzu | Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 08:47 AM