Newser Gets 50,000 Reads Last Month

While there's no doubt the Newser is the number one newslettter in Second Life, our readership does go up and down a little. Usually, it's around 25 to 30,000 readers a month. In December 2016, we had a good month, about 45,500 reads. Last month, we finally beat our old record, with 50,224 reads for February 2018.

And it's not just English-speaking readers who view the Newser. Last month, we had over 8500 readers from France, over 6,000 from Brazil, almost 4800 from Belgium, almost 3800 from Russia, and almost 1800 from Kuwait.

The Newser hit it's one million mark in total reads in October 2016, and currently has a total of over 1,400,000.

Keep on reading, and we'll keep giving you the best news of the people, places, and events of Second Life.

Team Sunbeamers Reach 150,000 Lindens Raised, 50K From One Donor

What a difference a week makes. Several days ago, Team Sunbeamers had raised a total of about 54,000 Lindens. Not a bad total, which was greater than some noted teams such as the Giant Snail Racers and the Relay Wizards for Spunky, but for the team that takes pride in being the heir to the highly successful Passionate Redheads, and being the team of an active community with some noted members such as Lomgren Smalls and Alleara Snoodle, it seemed like the team had seen better days. This year, a number of members were suffering from illness, dealing with family tragedy, or were hit with financial troubles. As one member put it, "we don't have the deep pockets of some of the bigger teams, and lately some of those pockets have been sewn shut."

But fortunes can change, and in the past few dayss they have. On Wednesday night, the team total went up to Bronze level thanks to a donation by Becky Shamen. It was a total that would continue to rise as donations kept coming in over the weekend with our presence at the Relaystock. Then came a surprise. One individual had donated 50,000 Lindens to one of the team's kiosks. Donations would continue to come in, Rita Mariner herself chipping in 10,000, and on Sunday night, the total was 150,000, or $600 US dollars.

Last year, 100,000 was enough to get Silver rank. But this year the requirements have gone way up, the amount needed to reach that being 180 or 190,000 Lindens. But with three "Bid Me" events currently going on (more about them later), and an upcoming air show and road rally, confidence is high that silver rank will soon be reached.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan.

Team Sunbeamers hits 50,000 Lindens Raised

It's been a bumpy season for Team Sunbeamers. The successor team to the top-ranking Passionate Redheads, the team has never enjoyed the numbers of it's predecessor. And this season, a number of it's more active participants have had to deal with problems of one kind or another. Rita Mariner finally addressed this matter in an announcement in the Relay group the other night.

Hi All:  You may have wondered why the Sunbeamers have been quiet regarding the RFL this year, so far.  Well, we are a small team and three of our core members have suffered tragedy this spring.  Nydia Tungsten lost both her mother and her computer, Cynthia Farshore lost her dad and Becky Shamen lost her mother.  Along with several members being sick, it has been a rough spring for us.  but we are still here and still relaying!

Rita herself didn't mention her recent car repairs, which run into the thousands.

Despite these problems, Team Sunbeamers have made slow, steady progress, in part due to some money donated from members of other teams. Last night, the team finally hit the 50,000 Linden mark. In the past, this would have been enough to reach Silver rank. But this year, it takes 75,000 just to reach Bronze. For now, the Sunbeamers are in the newly created "Rising Star" rank, along side the noted teams "Giant Snail Races" and "Relay Wizards for Spunky."

To view the totals of all the teams: Click here.

50,000 Lindens Raised at Sunbeamer Air Show and Concert

The combined air show and live music tribute concert the Sunbeamers held on Saturday April 18 was a big success with about 50,000 Lindens raised. Half of the amount came from one generous donor. The event put the Relay team on the upper half of Silver-ranked teams, and less than 90K from Gold status.

Stay tuned for a more detailed report on the event.

Inworldz Reaches 50,000 Users, OpenSim Shrinking

According to a recent post by Daniel Voyager, the virtual world Inworldz recently hit the 50,000 mark in the number of it's registered users. Considering this is double what it was thirteen months ago, reaching 25,000 in Dec. 2010, this would suggest the future of the alternative virtual worlds is a bright one.

Hamlet Au's recent article on OpenSim, however, suggested this was not necessarily the case, at least with all of them. In June 2009, this original of the alternative virtual worlds based on Second Life's open source code had nearly over 33,000 total users, close to 10,000 whom had been active in the past month. Today, OpenSim has a greater number of regions and their total number of accounts has more than doubled. But, the number of those active within the past thirty days is just under 3,300. A shrinkage of active users by about 66%.

Exactly why this many have stopped using OpenSim one can only guess, although this place lacks an inworld currency, and therefore has a limited economic potential. It should be noted that OpenSim is just one of a number of worlds that fall into the list of "Open Simulator" based worlds, including Avination, which although is currently the second-largest of these grids is thought to have a stable, if not growing, population. And this world, like InWorldz, does have an in-game currency, as well as boasting combat systems, and has been attracting events. And there's that Avination's viewer has a Macintosh version. One needs a PC to get to OpenSim.

Hamlet Au thought OpenSim's decline was important to pay attention to. With people looking at ways to get around their high tiers, particularly during the persistant bad economic times, some have suggested OpenSim. But to paraphrase Hamlet, such a move would shrink one's potential market of users. While one can (and some are) making accounts in both Second Life and one of these other virtual worlds, not a great deal many are doing that.

Although InWorldz is still growing, its success is not being repeated in most other open virtual worlds. And even then, it's number on at any one time remains small compared to Second Life, which will continue to be dominate other Grids in users for the forseable future.

Source: Daniel Voyager's Blog, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

"Bid Nydia Human" Nets 50,000 Lindens

The "Bid Me Human" event held by the Passionate Redheads was highly successful, raising 50,000 Lindens. But it was an event filled with unexpected twists and turns, including one donor with a special request.

More on the fundraiser in People.