Second Life Sees Significant User Concurrency Growth of Old & Returning Players, Post-Pandemic Declaration

Data courtesy Tyche Shepherd

While newer virtual world usage so far seems to be flat in the wake of recent coronavirus news, legacy world Second Life has indeed seen some growth in usage. As renowned Second Life grid analyst Tyche Shepherd puts it to me today:

"This weekend there seems to have been more activity above expectations -- Median Daily Concurrency was up by 10% on Saturday 14th (45,000) and Sunday 15th (44,000) over expectations. There was also uplifts in Maximum and Average Daily Concurrency."

Notably, the World Health Organization designated the Coronavirus a global pandemic on March 11, while the White House declared a national emergency on March 13th. 

"However," as Tyche cautions, "this effect has only been in the last 4 days of data (13th onwards). We'll see what happens over the weeks to come."

In terms of actual users, ten percent growth in concurrency translates to about 5,000 people; not a lot, but not nothing. And to be sure, correlation does not prove not causality. (Except in the sense that writing about a correlation causes Internet commenters to angrily write, "Correlation does not prove causation!") But common sense suggests at least some of this growth is the result of more people staying indoors longer, looking for new (and classic) social outlets to play in.

Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg did just confirm this growth, and also associated it to the coronavirus:

We are seeing an increase in new registrations and returning residents during this outbreak. Please be kind and welcoming to those who may just need a friendly conversation to escape from this crazy world for a moment or more. If you have a friend or colleague who is looking for a safe place to socialize online during these tough times, we encourage you to help them discover how Second Life can enable them to feel less isolated by connecting them to your favorite communities or experiences.

Some oldbie SLers are updating their viewers, and in Reddit's /SecondLife, putting it as plainly as this:

Hey everyone.

I am looking for a good place to meet people? I have been gone from SL for a few years. Since I can go anywhere and everything is shut down, I figured SL would be a good way to get my social fix. All of the places I used to hang out are dead (Waterhead, Wengen, ect). I am not looking for clubs, but a place where people talk to each other.

u/theamazingtommy

Waterhead! [BenKenobiMeme] Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. [/BenKenobiMeme].

As Tyche says, it's too early to say if this trend will continue. But as the global quarantine does, you have to think it will. And it's likely many people will be looking for old familiar virtual places and avatar faces, rather than searching for new ones.

Comments

[irihapeti]

likes this

[TD Gunner]

Waterhead and Pooley stage are not dead; but, like everything else in SL, is minimally populated. Once the Waterhead griefers were banned the place took a nosedive.

[Anonymous]

Isn't that a smaller bump than the one from your VRChat graph that you said wasn't significant?

[Wagner James Au]

Naw dog, VRChat only saw a 500+ user addition to its peak last week versus the week before.

https://steamdb.info/graph/?compare=390540,407060,438100,457550,471710,586110