Feel the city breaking and everybody shaking,
And we’re staying alive, staying alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, staying alive, staying alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, staying alive.
Good Magazine have an article that is rather cheery : Second Life is Staying Alive. The article, penned by Mark Hay, takes a rather sensible, for the most part, look at a little known fact about Second Life, it’s staying alive! Hurrah!
The article deserves credit for the good use of Second Life images for a start. The headline photo features Draxtor Despres, Jo Yardley and the one and only Superflufee (AKA Flufee McFluff)!
The article touches upon a point that is oft missed by people when they wonder why platforms stay alive long past what one would consider their sell by date, the power of communities. The article by Mark Hay does not miss this point :
In truth, Second Life remains quite alive, clocking a million active users per month as of 2013 and up to 13,000 new users ever day. The site may actually have a larger, more stable population as of today than it did at its 2006-to-2008 peak of popularity and respectability. Yet we don’t hear about this continued vibrancy in Second Life, mainly because it’s no longer thought of as a space for general populations to enhance their lives. Instead it has generated a second life of its own as a uniquely attractive hub for globally dispersed subcultures to join together. These groups can create whole worlds that unite them, transcending role-playing and turning their ideologies into a comprehensive society.
Those communities are of course, not to everyone’s taste in Second Life and they are an odd mix, as the article points out :
This allowed the early, rapid development of groups and sub-groups ranging from activists and educators to more alternative and niche identities. As of the end of 2014, some of the most active subcultures on Second Life appear to be: cyberpunks, elves, furries, goreans, steampunks, Star Wars enthusiasts, satanists, wiccans, and various fetish groups.
However the common denominator is that they are all groups of people who find fellow like minded people from all over the world to build their virtual 3D space, hopes, ambitions and dreams with and that’s a very powerful tool.
The article also doesn’t shy about some of the reasons for why Second Life hasn’t attracted more communities :
But with no real goal, this open-ended exploration often got a bit dull, depressing, or just weird as it sucked people further down a rabbit hole and demanded more investments of time and money to buy property, develop estates, and otherwise fund casual escapist adventure. Average users were probably destined to flee in the end.
Plenty of people who have tried to build communities in Second Life will recognise the problems in that quote. The tier costs, the issues with finding the right builds, agreeing with other people on the best way forward, they are very challenging concepts, especially the tier part.
However despite this, there are many happy communities in Second Life and they are still here, out of sight of the mainstream media, busily doing their own thing in what is now a virtual world which doesn’t receive hype.
This is why Second Life is very much staying alive and this is why I don’t fear the reaper doing too much damage when Linden Lab’s nextgen world arrives along with other competitors. Second Life has the people and I’ve said many times before, that’s a marvellous advantage.
The article in Good Magazine is most definitely worth a read, I certainly didn’t agree with all of it, but the article certainly makes sensible points as to why Second Life is very much staying alive.
You know it’s all right. It’s OK,
I’ll live to see another day,
We can try to understand,
The Second Life effect on man.
And i did got a picture there:)
Oh yes indeed, I see the sailing pic!