Lots of interesting conversation around Linden Lab's new (and still active) job search for a senior product manager to help grow Second Life into "millions of customers" as the virtual world expands to mobile. Kaylee West understandably worries if this growth will impact the long-term existing community and the rates they pay for premium subscriptions:
My concern is that as they grow they are going to start charging more for premium and premium plus (and whatever the next new tier will be). SL has always been the "every-person's" VR platform. As much as I would love to see and welcome newcomers, I'd hate to see those of us that have been in SL nearly two decades squeezed out (not even sure what I mean by that)...
Historically the high end for virtual world premium subscriptions tops out at around $15/month, and I don't see average SL Premium rates ever getting higher than that -- though platinum Premium plans will probably start including larger and larger land allotments, or even whole sims.
The real thing for long term creators to think about is planning for a virtual world economy that has millions of users, most of them coming in via mobile. As Ryann Palianta comments:
Continue reading "Second Life Mass Growth Won't Raise Premium Prices (Probably)" »
How Second Life's "Broadly Uncanny" Avatars Hurt New User Retention (Comment of the Week)
Lots of interesting reader discussion to last week's post about how ultra-realistic mesh avatars haven't helped Second Life user growth. Veteran SLer 0xC0FFEA (a host of Reddit's largest Second Life-themed subreddit) delves deeper into this problem, and relates it to the Uncanny Valley problem that impacts even big budget Hollywood movies with digital characters based on real life actors:
Here's how:
Continue reading "How Second Life's "Broadly Uncanny" Avatars Hurt New User Retention (Comment of the Week)" »
Posted on Monday, October 16, 2023 at 02:40 PM in Avatars and Identity, Comment of the Week | Permalink | Comments (8)
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