Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
Making a Metaverse That Matters
Contact me — links below!
recent posts
- Warning: LLMs Able to De-Anonymize User Accounts on Reddit, Hacker News & Other “Pseudonymous” Platforms; Report Co-Author Expands, Advises
- Want to Go On-Together? A New Virtual World for Real Life Coworking
- All the World’s Avatars (1 Billion & Counting)
- Gamers Overwhelmingly Hate Gen AI in Games, Major Industry Report Finds — Here’s Why!
- Why Do Gamers Generally Prefer Fantasy Virtual Worlds Over Sci-Fi MMOs?
about
Category: Economics of SL
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Here's the reader response to that widely-discussed rant from an anonymous SL creator on all the challenges plaguing the Second Life economy. With 247 responses — quite a large sample, as these things go — a strong majority of 57% said they agreed with the essay, Strongly or Mostly. (Contrasted with just 16% in the…
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When I ran an anonymous survey of Second Life merchants to help prepare this Patreon report on the Second Life economy, I included an open form option that asked, "Is there anything you'd like to say that wasn't covered by this survey?" One merchant delivered in thunder and fire. Read it all below, and if…
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Cool project from Seraphim SL and proud NWN partner Bad Unicorn: A shopping HUD for in-world events and direct item purchases from many brands. Mr. Unicorn himself explains the basics in the video above, including his upcoming shopping event The Cloud, which kicks off July 23. Click to teleport to get the HUD here.
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We should explore a key finding from my recent Patreon report, that nearly half the Second Life merchants surveyed believe the virtual world economy is dominated by oligopolies (see above). A solid plurality of merchants believe some SL brands have oligopolistic power over the virtual economy, while 37% are open to that possibility. Anonymous comments by…
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Since launching on June 25, Second Life's mobile app for iOS and Android has been downloaded over 10,000 times. We know this because Google Play lists the Android version of the app as having over 5,000 downloads, and smartphone usage between iOS and Android typically skews 50/50, very roughly speaking. I'd actually estimate total downloads…
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Umi, a spectacular new Second Life sim, recently opened. To access the island, you first need to join the group called Umi and activate that as your tag. Then click here to teleport. Created by acclaimed sim designer Paradox Ivy, fellow SL creator Bars Simpson calls it "breathtaking" (and took the image above). Writing of…
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Free to members of my Patreon, I've collected quite a lot of valuable advice, experience, and insights from veteran Second Life merchants. And while you're there, please consider subscribing to help fund more articles like this on New World Notes/my Patreon, plus get a number of benefits including free copies of my books and ads…
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As promised, here's some of the top highlights to my Patreon subscriber report on the Second Life economy in its 21st year: With one hundred and eleven SL merchants responding to my survey, this overview of the Second Life economy represents a sizable slice of the most financially successful content creators in the virtual world. …
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Primfeed, a new social media service for Second Life users positioned as an alternative to Flickr after SLers on the photo sharing site experienced a wave of penalties and bannings, just launched. I just created an account here, and so far, the set-up process is pretty impressive and perfectly optimized for Second Life users in…
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Hair Fair 2024 is happening in Second Life now until June 16, with proceeds from virtual hair sales benefiting the real life non-profit Wigs for Kids. And while I've seen all kinds of hair styles from the annual fundraiser (here's what it looked like in 2012), there's a new item this year that feels like…
