Those of us involved in the virtual worlds industry, and particularly those who must write about it, have a consistent problem: how to find out how popular a given virtual world is. There are a few option. Some virtual worlds publish user numbers (Linden Lab, for example, is very open about Second Life's user numbers). However, these numbers may often be out of date, they may not be directly comparable (for example, definitions of 'active user' could vary) and at any rate by no means all companies publish them.
In the world of web start-ups, that isn't too much of a limitation – data taken from services such as Compete can be valuable, especially in showing general trends. However, they are not really very useful for virtual worlds in many cases. They show information such as pageviews – hardly a relevant metric even for a Flash game, since only one page could be viewed for an hour spent on the game. Add to that downloadable clients, and it is clear that better information is needed.
Some better information might be on its way now. Myrl have launched a new index of virtual world signup popularity. Myrl is a 'cross-platform entertainment platform', which seeks to act as a hub for users of multiple virtual worlds (see coverage here). Myrl is able to collect data on the relative popularity of virtual worlds by monitoring when users sign up to a virtual world through Myrl. This is a diagram of some early data (source K Zero):
The statistics certainly aren't perfect. Most signups to virtual worlds don't happen through Myrl, and it fails to give any account of subsequent account activity. Nevertheless, one of the key rules of gathering statistics on internet services from third parties is to use as many sources as possible, and to look for trends rather than particular numbers. There is every hope that from that perspective, the index will prove very useful.
0 comments