Only a Minority of Second Life Users Are Arguably "Addicted" - But They're Probably a Large Part of SL User Activity

Last weekend came horrible allegations that a real life couple became so obsessed with playing Second Life that they reportedly let their child starve (watch above), and it's the kind of story I generally don't blog on New World Notes for many, complicated reasons. For one thing, there's the sad, underlying tragedy which makes a casual blog post seem sordid; but beyond that, online addiction is a story as old as the Internet itself -- if we define "addiction" as obsessive behavior which negatively impacts a person and their loved ones -- and that particular story has been repeating itself with nominal variations for decades. That said, I didn't want to let this story pass without making a larger point:

Only a very small minority of Second Life users are arguably "addicted" to being in-world -- but in all likelihood, they are also a very large part of the Second Life experience, and that's something we should not ignore.

Here's what I mean:

Based on the most recent available Second Life user behavior numbers from Linden Lab, about 6% of the total userbase is in-world for 200 hours or more a month -- 3% are in-world 201 to 300 hours (making up 19% of total user hours), another 3% are in-world 300 hours or more (making up 34% of total user hours) --chart above. That translates to about 22,000 people who are logged into Second Life for an average of nearly 7 hours a day -- and about 22,000 people who are logged in for over 10 hours a day. Not all or even most of this 6% are necessarily "addicted" in the negative sense, it's important to say. Some of these users create and sell content in SL for a real life living, and are basically in-world to work. (And most white collar workers are online in their offices 7-10 hours a day, too.) Some of these hardcore users have serious physical and mental disabilities, and for them, Second Life is one of the few connections they have to an outside social life. (That's among Second Life's greatest values.)  However, it's also fair to say that many if not most of the users in this 6% bracket have some level of addiction.

And here is an even more crucial point: This 6% of users make up 53% of Second Life's total user hours. (See chart above.) In other words, most SL user activity comes from this small sliver of users. Without them, the SL economy would collapse.

It's an uncomfortable fact to consider, but for that very reason, it's one we shouldn't ignore. But when a Linden Lab executive cited these figures of heavy Second Life usage at an SL user convention, he casually noted, "For these folks, Second Life really is their second life." As if there was nothing potentially wrong with that; as if there was nothing he as a company executive could do about it; as if the Second Life community members listening to him should consider that state of things a positive or neutral thing. However, as last weekend's dark news reminds us, the reality which underlies virtual reality is far more complicated.

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Comments

[Jens]

I would be very careful with reports in American news broadcasts. They are often false or completely made up. The person they are talking about does neither appear in SL search, nor in Google Search.

[Ajax Manatiso]

I totally agree with Jens. Usual methodology for reporters is "let's see what kind of angle can I give this boring story to give it some zing?" "Artistic License" is very common for non-national filler stories like this one.

[Ghosty Kips]

What percentage of th0se heavy-usage avatars are bots?

[Ghosty Kips]

And, oh, here's some links:

Here's the girl's FB page, found via Google:
https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.pester.9

A few moment's poking about revealed her SL avatar name, which I voind via SL Search:
https://my.secondlife.com/syndil000#about_tab

Don't believe everything you read in the comments.

[Tracy RedAngel]

I doubt it's a made up story since anyone can simply check that county's arrest record.
It's a sickening story, but sadly there are some people who do sacrifice their RL for the sake of Second Life. This particular case is one of the worst we've heard, but people have lost jobs and marriages due to their Second Life addiction.
But I don't think Second Life is to blame. If it wasn't Second Life, it would be some other addiction for those people.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Just because they make up 53% of the use-time doesn't mean they are 53% of the economic impact.

Those 6% might be major sellers and shoppers, or might not be.

No real correlation is provable either way with the information shown thus far.

[zzpearlbottom]

Right on the spot Tracy!

[Arcadia Codesmith]

People bandy about the word "addiction" a lot these days to describe behavior complexes that are not addictive. A compulsive golfer is not "addicted" to golf in any clinical sense; he's a compulsive person who happened to fixate on golf instead of stamp collecting or model railroading or playing Second Life.

We need to make that distinction very carefully, because there are any number of ignorant savages in America who like to burn anything they don't understand, and the Internet and virtual worlds are just the most recent entries on a long hit list of censorship, repression and insufferably dull preaching.

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

With regard to the article and others like it, I always find this reaction so so short sighted. Point fingers at the thing people are addicted to and tisk and prostrate instead of looking at why people become addicted to ANYTHING. We seem to do this with everything these days. Looking at the symptom instead of the cause. As others here said, these people would be addicted to something.

Drug and Alchohol abuse is the best example. Someone is messed up on a substance, so it MUST be the fault of the substance, right?

A number of my family members died from alcoholism, and it is widely accepted in my family that we have "addictive personalities" (not very scientific, I know, but we just know it). Thats why when most people are out on Friday and Saturday doing their utmost to enter into an intimate relationship with the floor or a toilet bowl, I am tinkering away in SL ^^ it scratches my addictive itch.

[Iggy]

I'd like to think that those on my friends list who are ALWAYS online are making money or working with their students.

We can quibble all we want (bots and merchants do have understandable reasons for being in-world 7+ hours / day) but there's a pathology for online addiction much bigger than SL.

I see it at Facebook, at the NY Times blogs and comments sections, and yes, in SL.

My question involves what will happen to those addicted to SL when the ship finally sinks? I don't blame Linden Lab for what may become a wave of suicides, but we have a small disaster in the making.

[Edward Starsmith]

I have long believed that all of SL is populated by about 250 people, and all the rest are alts.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Ever notice that the rise of the Internet corresponds almost perfectly with a precipitous drop in violent crime?

That's not necessarily causality, but the case for a link is at least as strong as for a pathological basis for heavy Internet usage.

[Connie Arida]

Could people also be logged in but its just another window much like a tab in a browser? Just a thought

[Hanna]

Sadly I knew too many in the role play sims who would fall into this category. I think that anyone who begins to feel that their virtual life is better than their real life needs to give their head a shake and start doing some real evaluation of the important things in life and how much time we can waste or lose.
I wrote about my experiences here though I do not feel that I am addicted in that sense of the word. I certainly was immersed for awhile.
There is a great deal of creativity there but definitely a psychological danger as well for some.
http://cybeleshineblog.wordpress.com/