New World Notes

Top 50 Most Active Second Life Sims for July 2015

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 50 most active Second Life sims, listed by their average avatar visitor count at any given period, visitor range, and previous position last month (July in this case):

As is usually the case, most of these sims have been about this popular for years. (Note the considerable overlap in this January 2013 chart), with the possible exception of "woops" and "DSB".

Top 26-50 after the break:

Twitch is Technically Correct to Ban Second Life for Adult Content Focus & Graphically Nude Avatar Feature

Twitch's policy prohibiting Second Life streaming has caused a lot of outrage among some SLers, but that annoyance overlooks an inconvenient fact: It's technically correct. Twitch's statement says Second Life content "is sexually explicit, which is content we do not allow on our services". And in fact, the majority of Second Life's most popular sims are Adult-rated for extreme sexual and violent content -- look:

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, these are the top 25 most active Second Life sims this month, listed by average avatar visitor count at any given period, visitor range, and previous position -- 13 of which are Adult-rated. So that's already a problem for Twitch.

Now let's look at the full statement from Twitch:

Content in [Second Life] is unrated and often sexually explicit, which is content we do not allow on our services. We also do not permit Adults-Only rated games and games where nudity is the core focus, feature, or goal.

Second Life is not rated by the ESRB, but if it was, it'd be rated Adults-only.

But what about the idea that nudity in Second Life is "the core focus, feature, or goal?" The fact that most popular Second Life sims are Adult-rated definitely suggests nudity is a core focus/feature/goal.

But here's an even more pressing point:

Top 50 Most Active Second Life Sims, November 2014

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 50 most active Second Life sims, starting with 26-50, listed by their average avatar visitor count at any given period, visitor range, and previous position last month (October in this case):

Click here to use SL's map function on the web to search and directly teleport to any of these sims. Unless I missed my count, 24 of the 50 are Adult-rated, a slight drop-off from the rate in September and October.

Just about anytime I post these charts, readers say, "How come I've hardly heard of any of these? And there's a very good reason for that:

Here's Second Life's 25 Most Popular Sims This Month -- But Should I Revive This as a Regular Feature on NWN?

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 25 most popular sims in Second Life for this month so far, listed according their average visitor count, the unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month. I haven't blogged this chart in awhile -- not since last March, actually -- and there's two related reasons for that:

Top 25 Most Popular SL Sims for February 2013 - Vienna Rises, Fangtasia a New Hot Spot (Don't Tell Eric Northman)

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 25 most popular sims in Second Life for February 2013, listed according their average visitor count, the unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month. I haven't blogged these in awhile, but noticed there's at least a couple interesting new entries:

SL's Adult-Rated Sims Grow in Number -- and Popularity, Too

Last week I noted that the number of Adult-rated sims in Second Life enjoyed a significant increase last year, while Moderate and General-rated sims declined -- but does that mean popularity in terms of user activity has become more Adult, too? On an initial review of top Second Life sims by user visits, that seems to be the case: In recent months, there are somewhat more Adult-rated sims in Second Life's Top 50 most popular sims by traffic.

Take a look at the chart below, courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, listed according to their average visitor count, their unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month. First, the top 25:

The rest of the 50 after the break. 19 of this top 50, i.e. 38%, are Adult-rated. That's somewhat more than the count typically has been in 2010 and 2011, before Adult sims saw an increase. For instance:

Top 50 Second Life Sims for April 2012, Excluding Porn... But Should I Exclude Porn from These Lists?

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life/OpenSim analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 50 most popular General and Moderate rated sims (i.e. excluding Adult-rated porn sims) in Second Life for April 2012  listed according to their average visitor count at any given period:

Click here to use SL's map function on the web to search and directly teleport to any of these sims.

Question for readers before checking out 26-50: Do you prefer to see the absolute most popular Top 50, including the porn sims, or do you prefer listings this way? All or almost all of top Adult-rated sims seem to be strictly virtual porn/prostitution/BDSM-themed, so I don't know how interesting they are to a general readership. If even some of the big Adult-rated sites were, say, roleplaying regions which include graphic sexual and violent content, but were not necessarily their main purpose (like the ambitious and story-heavy Midian), that would be different. But I don't know how many NWN readers wake up wondering, "Gosh how popular is Bukkake Bliss Island nowadays?" Mabye I'm wrong there.

Let me know your thoughts in Comments, because NWN is here for you, whether I come bearing Bukkake, or I'm Bukkake-free.

Top 26-50 sims after the break:

Top 50 Most Popular Second Life Sims - March 2011

[Click here to teleport to GOL 7]

Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, a Second Life analytics company that gathers publicly accessible in-world data for its clients, here's the top 50 most popular sims in Second Life for March, listed according their average visitor count, the unique visitor range at any given period, and the sim's rank the previous month:

Among the very top (as it often is): GOL 7, an impressively-designed dance club founded by Dakota Neumann that seems half-submerged beneath a desert, sprawling, womb-like, and cavernous, making great use of light, color, and texture. It's a club you'd actually want to hit in real life (if you could travel to, say, Dubai.) The club's official website (part of a larger design and shopping experience) is quite slick too. You should visit, though when you do, prepare to endure long rez times, due to the packed house.

See the rest of the 50 after the break: