It's quite bemusing that Rodvick Linden has reached out to SL Universe forum users and asked for feedback and thoughts on what would be necessary to convert casual signups in to long term users
Rod Humble, Secondlife CEO says :
'Right now after performance our biggest issue is not getting new signups or even people to experience SL for a bit, it's turning them into long term users. Any thoughts on what you would do? We have some ideas but before pulling the trigger I would be curious what folks thoughts are here. The more varied the better.'
The responses are the usual mix -
Fix the viewer
Fix the bugs
Fight the lag
Better first user experience
Better this, that the other
Kill the Marketplace because it takes people away from the product, which is land (unfortunately true)
We've all heard the above a thousand times. Fix the bugs and fight the lag etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, that's Linden Lab's job. That's every company's remit. To make their product better. I'm kind of fed up of of people saying fix this that and the other.
HERE'S THE REAL FACT
Linden Lab can fix the viewer, fix the bugs, kill the lag, create an awesome first user experience, better everything. Cake and flying ponies for everybody ! None of the above will make any difference to the bottom line or conversion rates. Concurrency will continue to sink, sims will continue to be abandoned (see previous blog).
THE ONLY THING LINDEN LAB CAN DO TO STOP THE ROT AND CONVERT PROSPECTS IN TO LONG TERM USERS IS TO DROP SET UP FEES AND LOWER TIER
We can not have a grown up discussion about converting signups in to long term customers without addressing the incredibly painful and onerous tier costs - THE SECONDLIFE PRODUCT, LAND, IS TOO EXPENSIVE. Right now, core, passionate, true believing users are leaving Secondlife life, abandoning their land because they can't take it any more. It's TOO EXPENSIVE.
$1000 USD set up fee. $300USD per month, EVERY month, for a full sim. That's a destructive outdated pricing model.
And not being able to buy a Homestead without first buying a full sim is utter nonsense. Way to go Linden Lab, block your passionate users from getting the product they want.
Secondlife is on the cliff edge, a precipice, we are a stones throw away from a massive landslide of abandoned sims.
497 sims lost in the last 4 weeks. Forget converting new users, how about retaining the already converted. And if you really do want growth you have to CUT TIER IN HALF.
There is no clever solution to this problem. The problem is, LAND IS WAY TOO EXPENSIVE and without the removal of setup fees and a substantial reduction in tier we're going to see an avalanche of sims abandoned
The decline will continue until Linden Lab understands that to FULLY experience Secondlife it's essential to own your own sim. If Linden Lab wants to make more money, the solution is simple, believe in your product, lower tier and you'll get more customers. 30 million people have tried to sign up - Good grief, that shows there are a ton of people out there interested in virtual worlds ?
So in answer to Rod Humble's question - Any thoughts on what you would do to create and retain long term users ?
LOWER TIER. There is no trigger to pull other than lowering tier. All the other triggers will shoot blanks.
Linden Lab appear to have so little faith in their own technology, they think if they lower the price they will make less money. WOW how short sighted that is. This is a sad story of lost visions and lost dreams
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Monday, 9 July 2012
SECONDLIFE IN DECLINE - 396 SIMS LOST IN 2 WEEKS
The astounding virtual world Secondlife is in decline. The world itself, the islands of Secondlife are slowly disappearing
The current high tier costs are obviously too much to bare for the user base. Nearly 400 private sims lost in the last 2 weeks. That is a very large loss for such a short period of time. And we're going to see bigger and greater dips unless Linden lab addresses the over pricing of it's main product - virtual land.
Cloudparty a new virtual world on the horizon has made an interesting play with its low cost entry point for an island of your own at $14.99 USD and has the potential to gut Linden Lab's residential users/players from Secondlife. We could see massive losses of land and mass migration if good content creators set up in Cloudparty.
Within 12 months SL content creators could fill the Cloudparty Marketplace with an vast array of quality content to entice away Secondlife residential players and socialisers.
Right now Secondlife life is more reliant on the constant flow of content created by the virtual fashion industry and creators than they would like to admit. If these creators turn their attention to Cloudparty there will be nothing to stop a sudden and dramatic migration away from Secondlife.
I'm talking about the migration of content creators to Cloudparty. If creators go to Cloudparty, everyone will follow. It's not what Linden Lab are doing that keeps people in Secondlife, it's the content that the creator community develops that is maintaining interest in Secondlife.
Linden Lab are utterly and completely reliant on the creator community to keep creating and keep interest up, since they themselves appear to be doing nothing. Infact they are working on other projects and of course fighting the war on lag which they've been losing for 9 years.
The Lag is NOT the problem with Secondlife. It's the oppressive and onerous monthly tier costs that are driving customers away.
It's the failure to make Secondlife islands affordable that will be the death of Secondlife
Thursday, 7 June 2012
LAND BARONS - THE REAL VAMPIRES OF SECONDLIFE ?
ARE LAND BARONS SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF SECONDLIFE ? YES
Reality check - The Secondlife grid is slowing dying, having it's life force drained by land barons and excessively high tier costs.
Secondlife estates at their best provide community, support, themed environments and good real estate development. But unfortunately some of the biggest estates are nothing more than middlemen, land flippers, parasites sucking the system dry and being rewarded for destroying an emerging and important human technology aided by Linden Lab's antiquated, frigid, pricing model.
DOES THE ATLAS PROGRAM HELP SUPPORT THE WORLD ? NO
Atlas, the Greek Titan was supposed to hold the Heavens up to stop the sky from falling. But it's not the sky that's falling in Secondlife, it's the land that's disappearing. As the grid shrinks, the virtual economy shrinks, concurrency slips, user hours contracts, less to do, less to see, less people to meet, LESS, LESS, LESS. This LESSENING is the death spiral of any social network.
DOES THE ATLAS PROGRAM HELP GROW THE SECONDLIFE GRID ? NO
The virtual world Secondlife is in a downward spiral because Linden Lab are giving the wrong people large discounts on land.
Linden Lab gives discounts to the few (Atlas program members) at the expense of the MANY - their real customers. The REAL customers who actually pay the tier costs. Land Barons are not LL's customers, they are resellers, middlemen, it's the residents that pay the high monthly tier.
Gather too much tier now and you will not be able to gather appropriate tier later, it's like over-fishing the sea.
It's time to drop the set up fees, reduce tier and let anyone buy a Homestead, Be Radical, Be Bold
Secondlife has never recovered from the October 2008 price rise and Linden Lab's current relationship with large estate owners is dysfunctional and bad for Linden Lab's bottom line and the survival and success of Secondlife.
As we can clearly see from the decay in the graph below, the Atlas program and current pricing model do nothing to support the world or encourage growth
' CONFESSIONS OF A VAMPIRE '
Consider the above the 'Confessions of a Vampire' as I make good money from estate rentals. But I am also a content creator, so I see the world through two sets of eyes.
What other estate owner would say lower tier ? Most estate owners 'Want It Now'.
But it's not working, it's a failing business model. I can't grow my estate with these current tier costs. Nobody can. I'm not just interested in making it work today, holding on in a declining market. What of tomorrow ?
You can hold a few more renters, get a minecraft server - which takes people away from the SL product btw, you can chop up your sims in to even smaller plots - go 'Slum Lord'. Get the money now while you can. But come on, this is not the dream of virtual worlds. Tiny plots, expensive land, broken dreams, no wonder it's failing. We really are near tipping point. 10% of the grid lost this year, will it be 20% /30% next year ?
New World Notes Post - SL Forecast to Lose 10% of World's Private Sims This Year
It's a great and terrible shame that an important human technology like shared multi-user spaces, Virtual Worlds, is being cannibalised, eaten alive, by the only company that actually runs a real one.
SHAME ON YOU LINDEN LAB !
Shame on you for losing vision and not believing in your own technology enough to make it affordable and accessible to all.
To Linden Lab :
As an estate owner, I would rather earn less money now and more money later, from my land holdings and see land ownership and the SL economy powered up by a reduction in tier rather than this slow, sad pathetic decline of an awesome technology destroyed by the wrong, pricing model.
LINDEN LAB ARE EATING THE MARSHMALLOW
An evolved business plan for Linden Lab would be to react to the current situation, drop set up fees, reduce tier for ALL and DELAY GRATIFICATION. It's an adult practise. Grow up Linden Lab. Take less now so you can earn more later, rather than acting like a spoilt toddler - ' I want it now, gimme now !!' What kind of business plan is that ???
Let's all stop pretending that everything's ok with Secondlife because it's not.
Linden Lab - Delay gratification - STOP eating the marshmallow now, you will make far more money later.
Disclaimer
Due to it's content, this blog should not be read by anyone, now or ever. It is for entertainment purposes only and you use any information at your own risk
Reality check - The Secondlife grid is slowing dying, having it's life force drained by land barons and excessively high tier costs.
Secondlife estates at their best provide community, support, themed environments and good real estate development. But unfortunately some of the biggest estates are nothing more than middlemen, land flippers, parasites sucking the system dry and being rewarded for destroying an emerging and important human technology aided by Linden Lab's antiquated, frigid, pricing model.
DOES THE ATLAS PROGRAM HELP SUPPORT THE WORLD ? NO
Atlas, the Greek Titan was supposed to hold the Heavens up to stop the sky from falling. But it's not the sky that's falling in Secondlife, it's the land that's disappearing. As the grid shrinks, the virtual economy shrinks, concurrency slips, user hours contracts, less to do, less to see, less people to meet, LESS, LESS, LESS. This LESSENING is the death spiral of any social network.
DOES THE ATLAS PROGRAM HELP GROW THE SECONDLIFE GRID ? NO
The virtual world Secondlife is in a downward spiral because Linden Lab are giving the wrong people large discounts on land.
Linden Lab gives discounts to the few (Atlas program members) at the expense of the MANY - their real customers. The REAL customers who actually pay the tier costs. Land Barons are not LL's customers, they are resellers, middlemen, it's the residents that pay the high monthly tier.
Gather too much tier now and you will not be able to gather appropriate tier later, it's like over-fishing the sea.
It's time to drop the set up fees, reduce tier and let anyone buy a Homestead, Be Radical, Be Bold
Secondlife has never recovered from the October 2008 price rise and Linden Lab's current relationship with large estate owners is dysfunctional and bad for Linden Lab's bottom line and the survival and success of Secondlife.
As we can clearly see from the decay in the graph below, the Atlas program and current pricing model do nothing to support the world or encourage growth
Consider the above the 'Confessions of a Vampire' as I make good money from estate rentals. But I am also a content creator, so I see the world through two sets of eyes.
What other estate owner would say lower tier ? Most estate owners 'Want It Now'.
But it's not working, it's a failing business model. I can't grow my estate with these current tier costs. Nobody can. I'm not just interested in making it work today, holding on in a declining market. What of tomorrow ?
You can hold a few more renters, get a minecraft server - which takes people away from the SL product btw, you can chop up your sims in to even smaller plots - go 'Slum Lord'. Get the money now while you can. But come on, this is not the dream of virtual worlds. Tiny plots, expensive land, broken dreams, no wonder it's failing. We really are near tipping point. 10% of the grid lost this year, will it be 20% /30% next year ?
New World Notes Post - SL Forecast to Lose 10% of World's Private Sims This Year
It's a great and terrible shame that an important human technology like shared multi-user spaces, Virtual Worlds, is being cannibalised, eaten alive, by the only company that actually runs a real one.
SHAME ON YOU LINDEN LAB !
Shame on you for losing vision and not believing in your own technology enough to make it affordable and accessible to all.
To Linden Lab :
As an estate owner, I would rather earn less money now and more money later, from my land holdings and see land ownership and the SL economy powered up by a reduction in tier rather than this slow, sad pathetic decline of an awesome technology destroyed by the wrong, pricing model.
LINDEN LAB ARE EATING THE MARSHMALLOW
An evolved business plan for Linden Lab would be to react to the current situation, drop set up fees, reduce tier for ALL and DELAY GRATIFICATION. It's an adult practise. Grow up Linden Lab. Take less now so you can earn more later, rather than acting like a spoilt toddler - ' I want it now, gimme now !!' What kind of business plan is that ???
Let's all stop pretending that everything's ok with Secondlife because it's not.
Linden Lab - Delay gratification - STOP eating the marshmallow now, you will make far more money later.
TED Lecture about marshmallows and the benefits of delayed gratification for future success
Disclaimer
Due to it's content, this blog should not be read by anyone, now or ever. It is for entertainment purposes only and you use any information at your own risk
Thursday, 3 May 2012
GRIDOLOGY
Gridology - The study and observation of virtual worlds
Opening Statement :
Virtual worlds can and will change the human condition. In less than 25 years, one half of all human interaction will be virtual.
William Thomas Finley
Opening Statement :
Virtual worlds can and will change the human condition. In less than 25 years, one half of all human interaction will be virtual.
William Thomas Finley
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