Second Life is growing

I stared stupidly at these graphs for approximately 30 minutes and i finally came to a definite conclusion. Second Life is growing at a steady pace and in all the right places. The numbers are rising, from the number of Premium Residents to Economic Activity.

According to the first one (just click on the graphs to view ’em in their full glory), the number of Premium Residents has steadily increased from 5,000 at the start of 2005 to over 36,000 by the end of November 2006. Net growth in Premium accounts is up from 10 to 30% each month since 2005. Also, 90,000 unique Residents have been reported to have bought currency from the exchange, so basically, Premium Residents aren’t the sole contributors to the economy.

Another thing shooting up is the regions of land owned by Residents. First, to be able to own virtual land, Residents need a Premium Account. Second, Residents, who already own land, pay a monthly maintenance fee. Landowners increase, therefore Linden Lab‘s revenues increase. Do the math. According to zeelinden, “In 2006, I expect that 70% of Linden LabÂ’s revenue will come from land sales and maintenance fees.”

User hours and concurrent users in-world have also increased dramatically. In November 2006 alone, Residents collectively spent more than 6.4 million hours in-world. Users used up around 30% of user hours building and scripting content in-world. Women are estimated to make up about half of the total user hours each month. User hours contributed by new sign ups from outside the U.S. and by non-U.S. Residents show the fastest growth.

The LindeX is the in game virtual currency market. Residents can buy and sell Linden Dollars (L$) in exchange for real cash, virtual or real goods and services. They can even sell their Lindens on the exchange and use the resulting profit to pay the maintenance fees on their land. Since its launch in October 2005, more than US$ 15 million dollars worth of Lindens have been traded. Reportedly, many Residents earn enough money from in-game businesses and trading that Second Life becomes their sole source income.

The last graph is for those who monitor the economic activity of the Second Life. As far as I can tell, it shows that the in-game economy is steady despite growth; as a result, predictions regarding growth is accurate since the numbers are consistent.

I stared stupidly at these graphs for approximately 30 minutes and i finally came to a definite conclusion. Second Life is growing at a steady pace and in all the right places. The numbers are rising, from the number of Premium Residents to Economic Activity.

According to the first one (just click on the graphs to view ’em in their full glory), the number of Premium Residents has steadily increased from 5,000 at the start of 2005 to over 36,000 by the end of November 2006. Net growth in Premium accounts is up from 10 to 30% each month since 2005. Also, 90,000 unique Residents have been reported to have bought currency from the exchange, so basically, Premium Residents aren’t the sole contributors to the economy.

Another thing shooting up is the regions of land owned by Residents. First, to be able to own virtual land, Residents need a Premium Account. Second, Residents, who already own land, pay a monthly maintenance fee. Landowners increase, therefore Linden Lab‘s revenues increase. Do the math. According to zeelinden, “In 2006, I expect that 70% of Linden LabÂ’s revenue will come from land sales and maintenance fees.”

User hours and concurrent users in-world have also increased dramatically. In November 2006 alone, Residents collectively spent more than 6.4 million hours in-world. Users used up around 30% of user hours building and scripting content in-world. Women are estimated to make up about half of the total user hours each month. User hours contributed by new sign ups from outside the U.S. and by non-U.S. Residents show the fastest growth.

The LindeX is the in game virtual currency market. Residents can buy and sell Linden Dollars (L$) in exchange for real cash, virtual or real goods and services. They can even sell their Lindens on the exchange and use the resulting profit to pay the maintenance fees on their land. Since its launch in October 2005, more than US$ 15 million dollars worth of Lindens have been traded. Reportedly, many Residents earn enough money from in-game businesses and trading that Second Life becomes their sole source income.

The last graph is for those who monitor the economic activity of the Second Life. As far as I can tell, it shows that the in-game economy is steady despite growth; as a result, predictions regarding growth is accurate since the numbers are consistent.