Check out our latest wing of the Virtual Worlds Museum (tm), this one devoted to Blockchain Worlds, i.e. virtual worlds integrated on some significant level with crypto/blockchain, or what's often called web3. This is very much a work in progress, and we're looking to add other web3 virtual worlds beyond the twenty or so we're tracking, and as we work with marketing partners to expand the exhibit. Here's just some of the worlds I've covered on New World Notes:
Decentraland: Browser‑based, Ethereum‑powered 3D virtual realm where users truly own their creations—from parcels of digital land to wearable NFTs—and shape the world through community governance. (Read some NWN coverage here)
Sandbox: Decentralized virtual world built on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to create, own, and monetize interactive experiences using NFTs and the native SAND token. (Read some NWN coverage here)
Somnium Space: VR‑centric metaverse built on Ethereum, accessible via PC, mobile, and major VR headsets. (Read some NWN coverage here)
Last week's open forum where readers recommended new-ish, small-ish brands for me to feature went so well, I'd like to make it a regular series.* So I ask once again:
What new-ish, smaller, lesser known SL merchants/brands deserve more attention and publicity?
To nominate your favorites, please go to Comments and post:
Name of the brand
Marketplace page
Main social media channel
Short description of why they deserve more attention/publicity.
There's no hard set guidelines for what brands qualify as "new" or "small", but here's some flexible ones:
Start promoting and supporting smaller/newer/lesser-known brands - not just "top" designers.
The suggestion was directed at Linden Lab, but that's also something that I'd love to do on this blog as well. But I need reader's help with recommendations!
Specifically:
What new-ish, smaller, lesser known SL merchants/brands deserve more attention and publicity?
To set some rough/flexible criteria: by "new-ish", I mean founded in 2020 or later, by "smaller" I mean less than 50 total ratings of items in their Marketplace, and by "lesser known", I mean "main social media channel has less than 500 followers".
To nominate your favorites in that criterion, please go to Comments and post:
I'm starting to prepare my much-anticipated report on the state of the Second Life economy for 2025 -- a follow-up to this report from last year -- and it will include an anonymous survey sent to SL merchants.
Below are the questions I'm planning to ask. Are there other burning queries I should include?
Last week's post on Second Life's huge geographic size as a unique selling point brought up some interesting points. Technically SL is probably not the "largest" if we're only talking about geographic size, but I think the apples to apples comparison question is precisely this:
What is the Geographically Largest, Contiguous, Multi-User, Fully Explorable, Online Virtual World?
By "contiguous", I mean there are no load screens in between areas, and by "fully explorable" I mean just that: Some online worlds like Eve Online, MS Flight Simulator, or even single-player worlds like Starfield are extremely large, yes, if judged only by map size. But the actual user explorable part of the map size is much less than that. I.E., MSFS basically models the entire world, but you can't, say, land your plane and walk into a nearby diner.
Video (also) via @brainthink.bsky.social, who has also happened to explore Second Life, and found it technically wanting: "The SL mainland is geographically large," they explain, "but the rendering times of structures and objects is absurdly slow. As a real life sailor, I tried sailing in SL once on a rezzed sailboat and quickly gave up. It wasn’t enjoyable at all, sadly."
That has at least somewhat improved since the SL grid moved to the Amazon Cloud in 2020. And while there are thousands of private sims that are not generally accessible, or require a load screen when teleporting there, the major mainland areas, as reader Kaylee West argues, makes for some sprawling, serendipitous adventures -- notwithstanding property owner ban lines:
Post your own predictions for highlighting here and on New World Notes, the more concrete and easier to validate, the better!*
I'll start with two of my own:
Thanks to the launch of Linden Lab's mobile app and cloud streaming, Second Life increases peak concurrent users by at least 20%. I predicted something like this would happen last year, but muffed it. But I'm still bullish on this happening in 2025!
A leading metaverse platform start-up is acquired or goes on an IPO track. This is another prediction I missed in 2024, but I actually think VRChat's painful layoffs last year better position them for this happening (if they want) in 2025.
I'll think of more predictions over the weekend, but want to read yours first!
I usually post an open forum for New Year predictions in late December, by the way, but this time, when I got the sense something big was coming in early January, had to move it to this week.
Last month, New World Notes readers selected Aardvark and The Discord Experts as favorite new-ish SL brands. For November, I'd like to profile one or two other brands!
If you'd like to nominate one, please post details in Comments. Here's info/criteria to include:
SL brand must be 5 years old or younger
Include brand's Marketplace listing and/or mainstore SLurl
Include brand's social media feed (Flickr, X/Twitter, FB, etc.)
Include a short explanation about why the brand is unique/interesting/worthwhile
Please post nominations by this week! And yes, self-promotion is fine.
I'm compiling a finalist list of new-ish Second Life brands to feature next month but still have some openings for consideration! If you'd like to nominate some personal favorites in Comments below, here's the info/criteria to include:
SL brand must be 5 years old or less
Brand's Marketplace listing
Brand's social media feed (Flickr, X/Twitter, FB, etc.)
Must be innovative, high quality, and graphically well-optimized
Include a short explanation about why the brand is unique/interesting/worthwhile
Please post details/links in Comments by Thursday! And yes, self-promotion is fine. (See previous nominations here and here.)
After covering hundreds and hundreds of the very best, most artistic Second Life image creators on Flickr for nearly 10 years, Cajsa Lilliehook is looking for new creators to feature on her regular New World Notes column. (New, or new to her!)
Question is, who? Ideally we're looking for creators who haven't been featured in Cajsa's Choices over the last year or so (if at all) and who have created new images in recent months. We're definitely not looking for images which fit somewhere on this SL Cliché Bingo card.
Please recommend and link to your favorite Flickr creators in Comments below! And yes, your favorites can include yourself. Also take a look at Cajsa's favorites on Flickr for a sense of what she's looking for (some featured below):
I'm preparing to write an in-depth report on the internal user-driven Second Life economy, which remains one of the most thriving in the entire industry. (And arguably better than even Roblox.) As part of that, I'll be conducting an anonymous survey of SL-based content creators, trying to capture the overall state of the market, while offering some useful takeaways for creators.
What questions should I ask? Here's some I have in my notepad:
How long have you been creating and selling content in SL?
How much in USD do you gross per year?
What price is your best selling item?
What percent of your sales are from the Marketplace?
How has your income from Second Life creations/merchandise evolved over the past few years?
Are you actively preparing to sell your content to mobile users?
Are you also selling your content on other platforms, and if so which ones?
Please post more in Comments below, and share this open forum post with the SL content creator in your life!
