Chic at Ebbe's Place

While I am not spending much time in Inworldz these days, I do try and keep tabs on what is going on.

Did folks move over to IW from SL after the New World announcement?  Well some did including at least one land leasing firm (two if rumors are correct). There are now 28 more private island regions than there were a couple of days after Ebbe's announcement.

Since people are always leaving as well as coming, we can probably assume from the sketchy statistics that a couple of dozen new landholders were due to the New World and people's perception of what the SL future holds.

Concurrency is up a little -- maybe 25 more folks are in world during popular hours. Since it is August, traditionally the slowest month of the virtual world year, that is a big percentage increase. I am no longer seeing concurrency over 300 though -- even on weekends.

Many disgruntled folks made accounts in IW this last month. Lots explored, some redid their default avatar either with purchased or free upgrades. Some apparently stayed; others left.

IW has several things going for it. Land is much cheaper; this is the biggest perk that I can see. You also get three times more prims on an IW island than you do in SL. Honestly though unless you are still using prim built stick housing and the like, it would be VERY difficult to use all those prims. Uploads are free so you don't have to be quite so careful when testing and that lowers stress levels for some.

The biggest drawback is content. There are a few premium content creators in IW, most have come over from SL and ported some (that's an important concept, so remember that) of their goods over. I personally am thrilled that they have bothered.

According to one of the founders in a forum post, there ARE folks making in the thousands per month in IW. I am wondering who that might be. [Note: later info from long time residents suggest land barons.] For the most part and for now, the second grid isn't a moneymaker for most.

And that's the BIG issue and one on many minds apparently for many years. Except for spurts when The Lab does something (or is perceived as doing something) BAD and people leave in protest, IW doesn't grow. The really good content creators don't really make enough to encourage them to stay; most, I think are just waiting to see what happens. Many of course stay a few months then leave.

So if you are a builder and can make most of what you need OR have very few wants, then the low land prices can certainly tip the scale. If, however, your want your premium skin, mesh hands and feet, furniture with adjustable animations etc. -- it's tough.

For months I have heard IW mentors and others attesting to having better content creators than SL. All I can say is that they definitely don't shop the Big Grid places that I do.

Until there are enough people to justify the time and effort it takes to set up shop and port items over, the  chicken and egg syndrome based on content and need will continue.