Second Life Daily Concurrency Levels – January 2021 to May 2021

2021 daily concurrency levels highlighted in blue

We are now six months into 2021 and it’s time to look back at the Second Life daily concurrency levels so far this year. As you can see in the graph above 2021 has been mostly been steady in terms of the daily active users in Second Life with no major high peaks. There have been various drops in the overall active users counts due grid issues though.

At the start of the year I did think the daily maximum count may surpass the 60, 000 mark but that has not happened yet. It got closer to the 60, 000 mark back in late March 2021 and you know there could be a good chance it may happen later this year.

2021 Highs & Lows

• Highest peak so far in 2021 > 57, 746 – 24th March 2021
• Lowest drop so far in 2021 > 19, 842 – 31st March 2021

Breakdown – As of 30th May 2021

• Maximum Daily Concurrency – 53, 000 (average peak)
• Median Daily Concurrency – 40, 000 to 42, 000 (average)
• Minimum Daily Concurrency – 30, 000 (average)

Daily Concurrency Levels During The Past 60 Days

Daily concurrency levels from April 2021 to June 2021

To keep track of the Second Life Main Grid Stats see here. There is real time data of inworld online users and the exchange rate worth checking out. The Second Life registered users data stopped working back on 21st October 2020 showing 64, 687, 961 total resident signups.

Second Life Grid Size

Since the start of 2021 Second Life has been growing steadily in terms of the size of the main grid. Private Estates has shown positive net growth this year which is good to see. Linden owned regions have been growing throughout 2021 which is due to the lab adding new Linden Homes. Yay! 🙂

Here are the latest grid region statistics as of 30th May 2021.

• Total Main Grid Regions: 26, 873
• Private Estates: 18, 252
• Linden Owned: 8, 621

Back on 11th April 2021

• Total Main Grid Regions: 26, 504
• Private Estates: 17, 864
• Linden Owned: 8, 640

Back on 27th December 2020

• Total Main Grid Regions: 25, 614
• Private Estates: 17, 084
• Linden Owned: 8, 531

Historical Stats 2013 to 2020

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Back on 20th January 2020

• Total Main Grid Regions: 24, 147
• Private Estates: 16, 036
• Linden Owned: 8, 111

On 2nd June 2019

• Total Main Grid Regions: 24, 147
• Private Estates: 16, 130
• Linden Owned: 8, 017

On 30th December 2018

• Total Main Grid Regions: 23, 811
• Private Estates: 16, 120
• Linden Owned: 7, 691

18th March 2018

• Total Main Grid Regions: 23, 298
• Private Estates: 16, 058
• Linden Owned: 7, 240

31st December 2017

• Total Main Grid regions: 23, 332
• Private Estates: 16, 106
• Linden Owned: 7, 226

3rd January 2016

• Total number of Main Grid regions: 24, 886
• Private Estates: 17, 775
• Linden Owned: 7, 111

On 4th January 2015

• Total number of Main Grid regions: 25, 611
• Private Estates: 18, 579
• Linden Owned: 7, 032 

On 5th January 2014

• Total number of Main Grid regions: 26, 227
• Private Estates: 19, 241
• Linden Owned: 6, 986

On 6th January 2013

• Total number of Main Grid regions: 28, 036
• Private Estates: 20, 921
• Linden Owned: 7, 115

Later this month the Second Life platform turns 18 years old and at the moment the metrics look good. Hopefully the metrics will show even more growth during 2021 into 2022. It’s really good seeing the Second Life grid growing and not declining like in the early 2010s.

Main Grid Regions Statistics – March 2021 Update

Here are the latest Second Life main Grid region statistics for the past week ending Sunday 28th February 2021 via the Second Life Grid Survey.

As of 28th February 2021

• Total Main Grid Regions: 25, 729
• Private Estates: 17, 302
• Linden Owned: 8, 427

Back on 27th December 2020

• Total Main Grid Regions: 25, 614
• Private Estates: 17, 084
• Linden Owned: 8, 531

In the past week there was an increase of 138 regions on the Second Life grid which is very positive news. 131 were private estates and 7 were Linden owned regions. This recent increase of regions on the grid could be to do with the reopening of the Land Store which has been open for a week. But it could be to do with lockdowns around the world where many people may have spare money saved up to purchase new land in Second Life.

The total area of ​​all regions in Second Life is now 1686.18 square kilometers. That’s still a big area to explore and here is the classification breakdown of the regions as of 28th February 2021…

• Moderate regions rose to 15,936 (+79)
• Adult regions rose to 7,172 (+71)
• General regions rose to 2,613 (+1)

Since 27th December 2020 private estates have grew by 219 regions so far. There has been a loss of 104 regions on the grid. Overall the grid has gained 115 regions this year. Hopefully the growth trends will continue throughout 2021.

New Second Life Article On Quartz On How Second Life Economy Boomed

On 25th February 2021 there was a new article about Second Life on Quartz named As Covid-19 destroyed real economies, Second Life’s economy boomed. There are many parts of the article that I think are interesting to share in terms of statistics (see below). The blog post is certainly worth reading through including resident examples on how some are living in Second Life during the past year. The blog post is split into escaping the pandemic into Second Life and going shopping on Second Life.

• “The spike in sales was part of a larger economic boom in Second Life, even as the real-world economy floundered through 2020. “We are seeing a 30-40% increase in overall in-game GDP,” said Ebbe Altberg, the CEO of Linden Labs, the company that runs Second Life. Once avatars earn Linden Dollars in the game, through the goods and services they offer, their players can cash them out into US dollars. Last year, players earned and cashed out $73 million—nearly a fifth more than the 2019 figure of $65 million.”

• “Of the 900,000-odd monthly active users in the game last year, only 14,000 or so draw any kind of income from it. The rest come for the community, or to be different versions of themselves, or to find escape. During the lockdown, Second Life saw a surge in new registrations. Something similar had happened during the 2008 recession, Altberg said: a spike in players, higher engagement, the game offering “a reprieve from social and economic stressors.” But last year, many players who hadn’t logged on in years also returned, unable to pursue their full lives offline and spending increasing amounts of time online in any case. And they happened to spend some money while they were back.”

• “Musicians set up virtual concerts, and players attended those, buying tickets or tipping the artists. One player, who runs a shop that supplies avatars with virtual pets and babies, and who asked not to be named, said that her business jumped 30%.”

• “The exchange rate of Linden Dollars to US dollars doesn’t fluctuate; it has stayed at 320 to $1 for months.“

• “Buying on Amazon is not the same as going into a shop and looking at clothing, and you could do that on Second Life,”

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Previous Economy Reports On Second Life

The last update from the lab was the 2020 year in review blog post where it reads “As the pandemic grew rapidly, so too did Second Life. At the initial onset of the lockdowns, Second Life saw about a 60% increase in new user registrations compared to the same time in the previous year and there has since been sustained growth in both concurrency and economic activity“.

Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg during March 2020 confirmed growth in new registrations and returning residents “We are seeing an increase in new registrations and returning residents during this outbreak. Please be kind and welcoming to those who may just need a friendly conversation to escape from this crazy world for a moment or more. If you have a friend or colleague who is looking for a safe place to socialize online during these tough times, we encourage you to help them discover how Second Life can enable them to feel less isolated by connecting them to your favorite communities or experiences“.

Linden Lab stopped releasing quarterly or annual Second Life economy metrics back in March 2012 and to be honest many found the reports interesting including myself. The former Linden Lab spokesperson Peter Gray said this back in early 2012 “We don’t plan to publish a Q4 2011 economic summary. We are discontinuing regular reporting of aggregate economy-level data, because landowners and merchants have told us that the information is of limited value to them. Moving forward, we will instead focus on improved reporting tools that help individuals better manage their businesses in SL.”

Hopefully during 2021 there will be a whole lot more new registrations and returning residents using Second Life. The Second Life user concurrency seems stable at the moment and hopefully the levels will rise up as the year goes on. Hopefully there will be more interest in private estates so that the overall Second Life grid economic improves.