Why Do I Blog Meme

A great challenge was started recently by Strawberry Singh to answer questions about blogging about Second Life which has started a domino effect across the SL blogosphere. This is my Blog Meme below!

1. How long have you been blogging? Since 18th December 2007
   
2. Why did you start blogging? I started my Second Life journey on the Teen Grid starting from the 31st October 2006 and back then the grid was very tiny. There was more blog coverage on the main grid of Second Life and nothing really on the Teen Grid so I decided to make a WordPress Blog about Teen Grid news, developments and events. I transferred to the main grid of Second Life when I turned 18 years old in December 2008 then continued reporting on big news and big events in Second Life which I enjoy doing.
3. How many times a week do you post an entry? Depending on the latest SL/OpenSim news its anywhere between 3-6 posts a week.
4. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis? Hundreds on Google Reader (includes SL/opensim forums and social networks on a daily basis).
5. Do you comment on other people’s blogs? Sometimes if it’s interesting and if it’s going to have a impact/change Second Life.
6. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Yes, on WordPress Stats page on a regular basis. I normally get over 8, 000 hits per month with a average of 200-500 views every day. I’ll love to have more this year and future ones.
7. Did you ever regret a post that you wrote? Nope.
8. Do you think your readers have a true sense of who you are based on your blog? Yes, I believe so.
9. Do you blog under your real name? Nope. I just use my Second Life name.
10. Are there topics that you would never blog about? Not really. I’ll blog about interesting SL happenings and I’m always open to new things to blog about.
11. What is the theme/topic of your blog? Second Life and OpenSim news.
12. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why? No. I use my blog. Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google+ and SL web profile to communicate with SL friends.
13. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? It give me confidence and something to be proud of mostly. Its a great way of informing and communicating important stuff to my SL blog readers.
14. So, why do you continue to blog? It’s good fun to write about Second Life events and news. It’s addicted and It’s going to be hard to stop any time soon. I’ll continue to blog for many years to come covering a whole range of interesting topics hopefully. My hope is that more readers will read my blog and continue to give me feedback like in previous years.

Thanks for reading my SL blog over the years and being part of my SL journey so far. Please FOLLOW MY BLOG on the right hand side and stay updated on the latest grid happenings. Thanks very much again!

More great things to come!

Latest stats for adoption of Mesh Viewers in Second Life

On 17th February 2013 a new post called Metrics for Adoption of Mesh Viewers on SLUniverse Forums asking about the most recent stats for mesh capable viewer usage. According to the responses in the forum post it seems like the mesh adoption rate seems to be >97.1% at the moment. I think by the end of 2013 mesh adoption rate should be reaching 99%/100%. Surely the 3% of SL users using non-mesh viewers will switch over at some point right during 2013 or 2014?.

A new graph shows the adoption rate of Mesh from July 2011 through to late January 2013 which is very interesting indeed. Graph created by Kadah Coba.

• 1% in July 2011
• 50% during November 2011
• 95% during October 2012
• 97.1% as of 2013-02-10.

Mesh viewers list

• SL official viewer (all V3 viewers)
• Firestorm viewer
• Cool VL
• And many more!

My SL blog most viewed posts, search terms and statistics for 2012

There are just six days away from celebrating the new year 2013 so its now time to highlight my most viewed blog posts, search terms, most clicked links and more stats during 2012. These stats are from my stats page on WordPress which is always good to look at time to time to see the trends good or bad. My SL 2012 blog stats below!

Most viewed blog posts on my blog during 2012

1. SL Android apps to try out in 2012 - 2,990 views
   
2. Glastonbury Festival 2012 in Second Life - 2,165 views
3. Viewer 1.23.5 disappeared from the Second Life wiki - 2,140 views
4. SL9B no centralised party by Linden Lab this year - 1,073 views
5. Oskar Linden leaves Linden Lab - 1,043

Top Views by Country since February 2012

1. United States – 37, 783 views
2. United Kingdom – 10, 330 views
3. Germany – 4, 557 views
4. Canada – 3, 462 views
5. France – 2, 408 views

Most searched terms on my blog during 2012

1. daniel voyager – 843 views
2. glastonbury 2012 – 430 views
3. second life iphone – 260 views
4. sl blogs - 233 views
5. inworldz - 224 views

Most clicked links on my blog during 2012

1. market.android.com - 1,509 clicks
   
2. maps.secondlife.com - 1,179 clicks
3. astraviewer.com - 917 clicks
4. danielvoyager.files.wordpress.com - 860 clicks
5. kirstensviewer.com - 776 clicks

Most commented blog posts during 2012

1. Second Life user concurrency 2012 winter update - 35 comments
   
2. New Destination Islands added to the new user experience - 35 comments
3. Viewer 1.23.5 disappeared from the Second Life wiki - 30 comments
4. SL9B no centralised party by Linden Lab this year - 28 comments
5. Oskar Linden leaves Linden Lab - 23 comments

My blog stats so far in 2012

• 152,044 total views
  
• 2,781 comments
• 891 best ever views on 6th November 2012
• 1,428 blog posts
• 86 categories

Thanks for the blog support this year during 2012. I’m excited about blogging in 2013 and to share the SL adventures with everyone.

*smiles*

My 22nd birthday today

Today marks my 22nd birthday in real life and i’m another year older. I can’t believe how time has gone really quickly during my teen-early adult life.

It’s now been four years since I officially transferred over from the teen grid (October 2006) to the main grid (December 2008) to start my adult adventures in Second Life. I won’t forget the time when I first arrived at the MG transfer station at Baffin. I met alot of good friends and went travelling across the massive grid of all things SL.

Thanks to everyone for making my SL journey exciting and special so far. It’s been amazing during the 4 years on the main grid and I hope for many more.  :)

 

5 years of blogging about SL

Today marks five years since I first started to blog about Second Life on 18th December 2007. Since then my SL blog traffic and subscribers have increased massively over the years. Thanks to everybody that has followed my SL blog, mentioned it in anyway and commented on my blog posts since December 2007. It does mean alot to me and it keeps me wanting to report on more SL happenings.

My latest blog changes

• Added a new OpenSim blog page 
• Added 10+ more links to my blogroll this week with over 40+ during 2012
• My theme is now christmas 2012
• Added a christmas day countdown clock

I’m looking forward to another year of SL blogging in 2013 and beyond that.

2011 blog stats

• 48, 154 total blog hits
• 1, 408 blog followers

2012 blog stats

• 149,727 total blog hits as of today
• 2,626 blog followers as of today
• New Record: 891 best ever views on 6th November 2012

A huge increase in 2012 which i’m very pleased about and I hope to get more hits/visitors/followers in 2013+. Thanks for the support !

Popular SL News of 2012

This year is almost up with christmas around the corner and 2013 only 3 weeks away. I’m looking forward to another year of SL blogging in 2013+. Alot has happened this year so far and who knows what will happen next year. Check out the most SL popular stories below I have written about through 2012. What popular SL stories will you remember most about 2012?

January 2012

• Amazing Mesh Deformer Alpha Release video
• Glastonbury Festival 2012 in Second Life
• Viewer 1.23.5 disappeared from the Second Life wiki
• Rodvik Humble 1st year
• Qarl’s prim alignment tool denied by Linden Lab

February 2012

• Loverush UK video filmed in Second Life 
• New Third Party Viewer policy changes
• 65% of all sessions are launched with a mesh enabled viewer

March 2012

• Rodvik Linden Last Names update disappoints SL community
• Fashion For Life 2012 opened in Second Life
• 5th annual VWBPE 2012 opened
• New Destination Islands added to the new user experience
• Free Direct Delivery Bear 2012
• Linden Lab Beta signup for future Linden Lab products

April 2012

• Main Grid regions drops below 30, 000
• SL9B no centralised party by Linden Lab this year
• LEA & 48 Hour Film Project Machinima Premiere

May 2012

• Oskar Linden talks about the recent hardware failure at Linden Lab
• Kev Sweetwater passes away in real life, much loved SL resident and good friend
• Fourth Bay City SL Anniversary!

June 2012

• SL9B community event opened officially

July 2012

• SLCC 2012 cancelled due to contract changes offered by Linden Lab
• OSGrid turned 5 years old
• SL celebrates London 2012 Olympics
• ReactionGrid closure

August 2012

• InWorldz First Relay For Life season
• ABC Island closure
• InWorldz Kick Off Event announcement
• First InWorldz fashion fair
• Firestorm Support Region opened to all Second Life users

September 2012

• Firestorm Viewer now Number 1 viewer in SL
• Metaverse Week In Review is now 5 years old
• Nonprofit Commons 5th Anniversary in Second Life

October 2012

• Patterns now on Steam and will be available in 2013 by Linden Lab
• Betterverse.org closed down
• BURN2! 2012 opens officially in Second Life
• Windows 8 compatibility with Second Life Viewer 3

November 2012

• The Man burns down at BURN2 2012
• The Temple is set on Fire at BURN2 2012
• Oskar Linden leaves Linden Lab
• InWorldz RFL first season 2012 raised 64,000$Iz
• Linden Lab changing the code for SL groups
• Hyper Mole passes away from cancer in real life

December 2012

• The Raglan Shire Winterfest 2012
• Circe Broom remembered at Sunset Jazz Club
• New Second Life community page on Google+
• Bay City Tree Lighting 2012
• Update on total net loss in private estates so far in 2012
• More posts will appear here as December 2012 continues

At the end of December 2012 I’ll be publishing my top blog posts, search terms, most clicked links and most commented posts during 2012. Stay tuned!

Early SL predictions for 2013

Check out my early list of predictions for Second Life in 2013.

• More new Linden Lab features/products of some kind. LL focus still remains with current projects too.
• More TPV adoption during 2013 and Mesh creation continues on the rise in 2013
• OpenSim will continue growing in regions, active users and sign ups etc on the most popular 40 grids
• Regions will continue to decline even further or increase up in 2013
• Linden Lab won’t be sold or acquired by another company in 2013
• Linden Lab will either lower the tier/ increase or keep it the same during 2013
• Linden Lab to release a SL app for mobile devices in 2013
• New improvements for better performance and stability in 2013

Checklist of my 2012 predictions I made last year.

• SL user concurrency to reach between 90, 000 to 100, 000 before 2013 – Failed - SL user concurrency failed to reach 75, 000 this year and remained flat during 2012
• OpenSim & InWorldz will continue to grow – Pass - OpenSim regions, active users and sign ups increased a lot this year on the top popular 40 OpenSim grids
• Windows 8 compatibility for SL before 2013 – Pass - Windows 8 works on almost all SL viewers and by the end of 2014 I think all SL viewers will be compatible with Windows 8.
• Linden Lab works on other projects outside SL – Pass –  Linden Lab worked on new products in 2012: Creatorverse, Patterns, Dio and Versu
• More big announcements – Pass - SL9B was made community supported,  SLCC 2012 was cancelled this year,  SL JIRA format changed, Linden Lab stopped publishing Second Life economy figures and Linden Lab removed Viewer 1.23.5 from SL wiki page this year
• Second Life gets rebranded and relaunched during 2012 – Failed – I don’t think this happened this year
• Second Life will see growth during 2012 – Failed - I don’t think this happened this year
• More sims/places closing out from lack of money or interest – Pass – Star Wars region, ABC Island, The Yard, ISTE Island, Cartoonimals, 1000+ avatars project locations and Pop Art Lab region
• Second Life gets bought out by another company - Failed - I don’t think this happened this year
• TPV adoption and Mesh continues on the rise – Pass – Increased a lot this year I think but I’m not sure on the percentage right now
• Linden Lab to either reduce/increase tier before 2013 – Failed – Stayed the same during 2012
• Rodvik will change his avatar appearance - Pass - I think Rodvik changed his avatar a few times in 2012

Do you have any early Second Life predictions for 2013 ? I would love to hear them in comments!

Second Life user concurrency 2012 winter update

Since my summer update on Second Life user concurrency has still remained flat during the whole of 2012 and there has been a big decline in total regions in Second Life during 2012. In my summer 2012 update I pointed out that on 19th July 2012 there were 29, 496 regions on the grid. In January 2012 the region count was 31, 078 and as of 4th of December 2012 it stands at 28, 290 regions. A slow large decline and very alarming indeed.

If rates continue then I think it will drop down to somewhere between 26, 000 to 27, 000 before 2013 year ends unless something changes soon. This is very alarming that SL regions, SL active users and SL sign ups have been lost in Second Life during 2012 more than in previous years. Seems like SL users are spending more time outside of SL and doing other things.

• What are your views on 2012 economy and SL stats this year ?
• What does LL need to do to kick-start the SL economy again ?
• If you were CEO of Linden Lab what would you do ?

I hope Rodvik and the rest of Linden Lab will do something about this SL economy decline in 2013/2014 otherwise its back to the early days of Second Life before 2020 I predict.

Current region counts!

• 28, 290 – Total Regions
• 1854.01 - Total Area (km²)
• 7, 090 – Linden Owned
• 21, 200 - Private Estates

It seems to me there has been less interest in SL for some reason with more region closures etc. The trend during 2012 I think was a big switch towards the most popular 40 OpenSim grids and there has been growth in terms of regions/users this year. OpenSim grids are much cheaper, better financially, expanding (sims/users) and there is new investment being made all the time.

SL daily concurrency levels decline further in 2012

• Since July 2012 the minimum daily concurrency seems to be balanced between 30, 000 to 35, 000 mark.
• Since July 2012 the median peak daily concurrency seems to be stable between 45, 000 to 48, 000 mark
• Since July 2012 the maximum daily concurrency seems to be remain around 60, 000 to 64, 000 peaking
• Since July 2012 the daily Second Life sign ups have dropped down to around 11, 000 – 14, 000 mark

Linden Lab does no longer release statistics for Second Life and I base my findings via the SL Grid Survey, Hypergrid Business reports and other SL metric sources.

In 2013 Linden Lab needs to seriously lower tier costs and bring more to the table so that SL users don’t go else where. If Linden Lab created a SL app for all mobile/tablet platforms that would be a great news. It’s possible and change is needed for 2013!

My next update will be in the spring > published in April 2013.  

New record reached of 891 views on my SL blog

I’m happy to announce a new views record on my SL blog yesterday peaking at 891 views. The last record of views was back on 25th August 2011 when the peak reached 778 views. Normally the daily average of views ranges between 200 to 300 views on my SL blog.

Thanks so much for following my blog and subscribing to my SL blog posts. Hopefully more new milestones will be reached soon.

My 6th rez day birthday cake from Linden Lab

I checked my emails this morning on my 6th rez day in Second Life and Linden Lab sent me a Happy Rez Day, Daniel email. Thanks so much Linden Lab for sending me my 6th rez day cake. The owl eats the yummy cake and is excited for his 7th rez day next year in SL.

Party time!

Now it says 6 years in my SL profile inworld. Wooooot!!!!!

Another big milestone reached and many more to come I hope!

Windows 8 compatibility with Second Life Viewer 3

Today I visited the Microsoft Compatibility Center to see if Second Life is compatible with Windows 8 and the good news is that it is with viewer 3. However Viewer 1 is not compatible with Windows 8 and Viewer 2 there’s no info on yet if it is or not. Windows 8 was launched on 26th October 2012 and if becomes successful that’s still to be seen. Are you using Windows 8 for Second Life ?

Windows 8 Status 

• Mainstream support: Until 9th January 2018
• Extended support: Until 10th January 2023

The list of results for Second Life on Microsoft Compatibility Center website search results.

Yay, good news if you want to try SL on Windows 8.

Vote in the Hypergrid Business Third Annual Grid Survey

Maria Korolov who is the editor and publisher of  Hypergrid Business has published the third annual grid survey this week. The survey is to find out how happy opensim users are using the popular 15 OpenSim grids. You can rate many different aspects of OpenSim grids including technology, content and support etc.

Last year there was a total of 459 responses according to Maria Korolov’s Twitter page. Hopefully many more will vote this year in this new 2012 OpenSim survey and it will help greatly with more accurate results.

VOTE NOW!

Here are the results for 2010 and 2011!

• Results 2011 - 459 responses
• Results 2010 - 194 responses

This survey is worth filling out and the deadline for all voting is 31st October 2012.

How is your experience with Opensim Grids ? Feel free to share your views in comments. Thank you!