Debunking SL Myths

Wagner James Au recently wrote an article for GigaOM titled "Debunking 5 Business Myths about Second Life". Having seen a lot of the articles in the mainstream media that just make me cringe - or laugh - I enjoyed this article very much. He makes some good points, with humor, even if you take issue with some of his stats. The five myths he addresses are:

Myth 1: Second Life is Huge– or Second Life is Small

Myth 2: Nobody visits SL Marketing Sites

Myth 3: Real World Advertisers are Linden Lab’s Main Revenue Source

Myth 4: Corporate Sites are Helpless in the face of Protesters and Sabotage

Myth 5: It’s Mostly a Sex Haven Full of Weirdos

The part of the article that struck me the most was that if you substitute any SL/Linden references with the word "internet" this could have been a flashback to the 1980s.

Further debunking on the NWN Blog here RE-DEBUNKING SECOND LIFE MYTHS

$$Lindens$$

How is the Linden doing these days?

Reports vary. Everyone seems to have an opinion, however.

The Register out of the UK, calls reports about the booming SL economy downright "phony".

Meanwhile, the Dutch Bank ABN is setting up a branch in SL according to this Reuters report. All kinds of companies are lining up to get a piece of the pie.

Handy dandy little financial tools abound, along with various ways to purchase or sell Lindens. Rates vary as well, of course.

The Lindex today was offering a rate of 266L$ per $USD.

SLExchange was offering an exchange of $L290 per $USD.

Reuters was listing the exchange rate at $L267, which they pull from the SL site.


The Reuters site has a few handy dandy tools, including a nice currency converter. It uses Lindex numbers.

Second Life has a nice little economic graphs page, of note is the number of user hours shooting through the roof at SL.

Draw your own conclusions. However it does seem indisputable that a lot of activity, economic and otherwise, is happening in Second Life.

Go East, Young Avie

Well, now that First Land is cancelled, the Great Eastern Land Rush has begun.

Sims such as Midar Fell are in auctions for up to $USD 2801.00 and only 20 hours to go, boys and girls! Chopped up sims in 512 sq m plots are selling for around 8k L$ each on average.



I guess I just don't get land speculation.

If you spend $2800 USD on a sim that you then split into 128 parcels of 512 sq m,
which you then sell at approximately 8k L$ each,
are you not selling land that you bought at
($2800 USD/128) ~ $21 USD and change
for approximately $20 USD
(assuming a current exchange rate of $4 USD for 1000L$) ?

Seems to me this bubble is about to burst and I aim not to be holding the landbag when it does.

Irrational exuberance, indeed.

Edit: OK, I think I do have a mathematical blind spot! The volatility of the Lindex doesnt help!

Turns out you'd be selling land at @ $30 USD that you bought for @22 USD.

That does seem a bit clearer. :D Plus, it's still the lowest priced land around.