Linden Labs the owner of Second Life has recently purchased two virtual goods trading sites. One purchase, Avatars United is an online community for Avatars. Linden Labs is expanding their ownership in the virtual realm in an effort to create additional opportunities for users to meet and mingle.
"In a blog post, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon says that many users who abandon Second Life say they leave “because they (have) a hard time finding people to hang out with” and that the company hopes Avatars United will help fix that problem." http://paidcontent.org/article/419-linden-lab-buys-avatar-social-network-avatars-united/
Second Life and virtual reality were supposed to be the next big Internet space. In 2006, Second Life attracted over 10 million users worldwide, but the numbers have been dwindling. In November 2007, usage was down 5% and I suspect, though I can't find facts, that usage numbers continue to decrease at an alarming enough rate to prompt these acquisitions. In addition to users running away, a TechCrunch article from 2007 states that the businesses that once flocked to the space are closing down their virtual shops almost as quickly if not quicker than users are putting away their membership.
It's obvious from the CEO's quote that Linden Labs is blaming the loss of users on their inability to connect with each other and create this online universe that Second Life is so known for. But, I would argue that Linden Labs is focusing on a symptom of the problem rather than the cause. There's trouble in the virtual world, users know it, businesses know it but I don't think anyone knows what to do about it.
Additional Articles Referenced:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/14/will-the-last-corporation-leaving-second-life-please-turn-off-the-light/
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/22/second_life/
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