Nelson Linden published the Second Life Economy in Q4 2010 metrics yesterday on the Official Second Life Blog. Here are the stats for Q4 2010 for Second Life:
Stable & Growth
- Repeat logins gained 1% this quarter. Average monthly repeat logins in 2010 rose 8% over the 2009 average.
- Money supply grew significantly in Q4 to US$28.4m worth of L$, 8% over Q3. The year end money supply in 2010 was 11.9% over 2009.
- Mirroring money supply growth, volume on the LindeX grew 8% in Q4, nearing the top end of the historical five-quarter range. Total LindeX volume in 2010 was nearly US$119m, 2.8% over 2009. This means that an additional US$4m traded hands on the LindeX in 2010
- Driven by greater merchant adoption and improved shopping features, web merchandise sales volume grew 5.8% in Q4. 2010 web sales volume was up 104% relative to 2009.
- World size remained flat in Q4; 2010 year end world size was up 5.8% relative to 2009. Today, Second Life’s virtual land mass would be roughly twice the size of Hong Kong.
Declined
- User hours were flat this quarter, appearing to stabilize after a gradual decline in the prior four quarters. Total user hours in 2010 fell 10% from 2009.
- Economic participants were flat in Q4, remaining in the historical five-quarter range. Year over year, the 2010 average of monthly economic participants was up 4% from 2009’s average.
- Increasing demand and falling supply on the LindeX caused a 3.7% appreciation in the value of the L$ in Q4.* The average L$ value in 2010 was within 1% of the average value in 2009.
When looking through the SL Blog post comments it looks like the introduction of Viewer 2 last February is to blame for the decline in user hours, economic participants and LindeX etc during 2010. Looking forward it’s going to be interesting to see what Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 economy metrics will be like during 2011. Hopefully with the new Linden Lab CEO Rodvik Linden now in charge the economy will start picking up again and show more positive growth in all areas.
Check out my SL Metrics page for previous SL economy statistics and more.
Daniel Voyager 