Second Life Hype

Since taking a little time off the fevor pitch around Second Life has really blown up.

The numbers: (Paidcontent) (CNN Money) (Clay Shirky) (Millionsofus)

• Roughly 1.5 million “unique people” have logged into Second Life at least once (differentiated from the 2.3 million “residents” claimed in the game)
• Roughly 252,000 people have logged in more than 30 days after their account creation date.
• Monthly growth in that figure appears to be greater than 20 percent.

The hype: (dana boyd) (Churbuck) (ESC Giff) (ESC Chris) (Linda Zimmer)

From the Reuters' Second Life news desk:

"AR: Do you think SL will eventually emerge from the backlash?

SP: Once you get past the backlash, things will come together. Technology problems will get resolved, expectations will become more realistic as people understand what it’s good for, and you get up to what we call the plateau of productivity, which is essentially maturity.

Another way of looking at the hype cycle is the level of risk involved in diving in. In the early days, there’s a high level of risk, because many things go into the hype cycle and never come out. They dive down into the trough and disappear — I don’t believe that’s going to happen with SL by any means."