Is Second Life Experiencing an "Oldbie" Resurgence?

On the Second Life section of Reddit, a "Neuromancer72" posted on Wednesday September 20 that after dropping out from the Grid around 2010, he had returned last year, and come across "many people" who had done the same. Which left him wondering, how many residents who had dropped out were coming back?

Mine is a familiar story - very active in SL from 2006 to maybe 2009-10, then dropped off for years only to return in the last year or so. I've met many people since my return who followed a similar route - left years ago and have now come back. Posts to this sub show others doing the same. I can't help but wonder if this is really a widespread thing, or if I've just been more aware of it because of similarities to my own history. If it is a thing, any ideas what might be driving people to give SL another go?

There were several responses, including one by "Jadziyah":

I think a majority of residents take long 'breaks' at one point. Why we all come back is harder to nail down. Linden Labs has actually had several positive changes lately such as land prim increases and the addition of bento bones, so those generated a lot of excitement. And there will always be the social aspect.

Hamlet Au thought that this very well could be the case, suggesting "if a few thousand oldbies are jumping onto the grid more regularly, it might not show up in the data, but still be significant." He felt there were two reasons for such a probable resurgence, One was social media, as many Second Life residents use Facebook and former residents would continue to keep their former virtual neighbors and friends on their friend list and continue to communicate with them, and hear about new content and goings on. He also felt the talk about Sansar would get former residents wondering "Whatever happened with Second Life" and come back to see what's been going on here.

So what do you the readers think? Have you seen numbers of former residents returning? Or perhaps you are someone who left and returned? What's getting people to come back?

Bixyl Shuftan