Rosedale: Second Life economy probably more than just sex
By Eric Reuters
SECOND LIFE, May 17 (Reuters) - Sexually explicit content and services probably don’t drive Second Life’s US$500 million virtual economy, but it’s difficult for anyone including Linden Lab to know for sure, Chief Executive Philip Rosedale said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper on Thursday.
Asked whether pornography was the largest component of Second Life’s economy, Rosedale said: “I don’t think it’s the biggest, but it’s hard to tell.”
“From what we can tell it’s clothing, jewelry and furniture that are the biggest part of SL’s economy,” Rosedale told the newspaper. But he admitted it’s not always possible for Linden Lab to known what’s being sold.
Rosedale’s statements on virtual sex take place while German police are investigating the alleged trading of child pornography within Second Life. In the wake of the investigation, Linden Lab announced it would be implementing an age verification system to certify that residents are over 18.
Separately in the interview, Rosedale acknowledged that Second Life’s steep learning curve was hindering the retention of new users.
“The big problem is that it takes a long time to figure out how to do things in SL,” he told the Guardian. Rosedale estimated if the learning process for Second Life could be reduced from four hours to forty minutes through new initiatives like outsourced orientation islands, retention would be boosted from the current rate of 10 percent to 50 percent.
