"Why is Second Life Still a Thing" is an article by Emanuel Maiberg on the influential site Vice, and while I'm extremely biased, I think he answers that question quite well:
“It's all user-generated content so it generates a steady stream of screenshots/videos/etc, posted across social media, it's free so it still attracts constant waves of fresh visitors, and lately, it's a reference point (or cautionary tale) for the new wave of VR platforms,” Au told me in an email.
...Second Life is still a thing because despite its age and the easy jokes, it owns an entire market it invented itself... Indeed, the most surprising thing about Second Life is not that it’s still a thing, but that 13 years after its inception, it is still way ahead of its time.
My only quibble is the article saying the graphics look "incredibly dated", because SL's graphics now look quite good and up to date... if you have a high-end desktop PC and/or a powerful third party SL viewer which take advantage of those graphics updates. But like I said, that's a quibble, because relatively few people have high-end desktop PCs, let alone know how to install a third party viewer.
Interestingly, this reappraisal of Second Life from Vice, one of the top media sites in the US, happens just as Le Monde, the top news outlet in France, is also reappraising SL:
The article by journalist has now appeared on the website of the famous French Newspaper Le Monde :Absurde, créatif et débauché : dix ans après, « Second Life » est toujours bien vivant, or to put it another way, “Absurd, creative and debauched: ten years later, “Second Life” is still alive“.
More from Ciaran on the Le Monde article. As I suggested to Vice, I think it's likely we'll see more and more reappraisals of Second Life happen as the VR industry prepares to launch the second life of Second Life. (Sorry, hard to resist.)
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Yep.
https://huckleberryhax.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/the-second-life-of-second-life/
Posted by: Huck | Friday, April 29, 2016 at 05:02 PM
Feel exactly the same.
On the graphics. I hope the lab learn something when working on Sansar and get a shader system to SL. For everyone to use. Will up the graphics even more.
Posted by: cyberserenity | Friday, April 29, 2016 at 11:15 PM
"Le Monde" article was quite well seen in France, I think, but was not possible to write all the sl world offers, as usual, it needs more and more , because we have all our own perception...
Posted by: Patty Tisane | Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 04:17 AM
Minecraft is a big thing. No one faults its graphics.
Community made SL what it has been, jokes all all. Community could keep it vital still. It runs fine and looks good on my laptop, too, with Firestorm.
Posted by: Iggy | Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 04:17 AM
Honestly now, who gives a flying wet towel about what some journos scribble? They know nothing, they have no insight, they are even more confused as the SL residency is. SL is a different animal for every user. And that's ok.
Posted by: Orca Flotta | Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 09:32 AM
I don't understand the whole "SL has outdated graphics" thing. I have a decent, not even close to top of the line computer, and run Firestorm and the graphics are pretty awesome, and the avatars are much prettier than any other game I've ever seen. None of the new "VR platforms" like High Fidelity, etc. have even come close as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Tamar Luminos | Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 11:06 AM
Unfortunately, people are influenced by journalists, however insightless or ignorant. How many Chris Pirillos can we stand?
Posted by: Melissa Yeuxdoux | Sunday, May 01, 2016 at 06:36 AM
"How many Chris Pirillos can we stand?"
Um, none?
Posted by: Iggy | Sunday, May 01, 2016 at 06:56 PM
This question again? It's very simple "because no rival has come around to give us something better - Second Life is alone in the niche it fills, and will never go away so long as there is nothing sutable as a replacement"
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Sunday, May 01, 2016 at 08:46 PM
There is open sim, as a rival, but sadly lacking what it could make it much bigger then SL, fashion quality content.
Or any doubts that if Slink or Matreya would open their shops on kitely, we would see a lot more users there?
Posted by: zz bottom | Monday, May 02, 2016 at 06:40 AM
SL is only still 'a thing' in the minds of LindenLab management.
It's a dead place, a ghost town, barren and desolate - although LL continues to deny it, all you have to do is log in any time of the day or night and see for yourself.
No matter where you go, you're almost guaranteed to be the only one there.
Kitely looks much better and I'd rather pay a monthly membership fee and know that things are being done properly, than continue to be stuffed around by LL.
Besides, Kitely prices for entire regions (with 100,000 prim allowances) are far, FAR, cheaper than anything LL tries to rip us off with.
Posted by: Jason | Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 09:54 PM