The Alphaville Herald

Picking the Picks People Pick: Does Dwell’s End Mean A New Face For Popular Places?

by Alphaville Herald on 18/04/06 at 5:45 pm

by Prokofy Neva

The impending end of dwell by June 13 has left the SL business and entertainment community wondering how the virtual world’s most popular destinations will fare. Though traffic payments were often gamed, they had become a reliable source of income for many virtual proprietors. Will there be a way to draw attention to a plot of land in a world where having virtual asses in camping chairs is no longer enough?

To find out, I asked Philip Linden to query Linden Lab’s database for the truly popular places. The results were most intriguing.

The current dwell system has been broken for some time. Avatars must remain on parcels for more than five minutes and not dilute their dwell to give the best yield. Each night, the Lindens issue dwell payments to individuals and groups, using an arcane formula tied to log-ins, cash supply, and visits.

To flush more cash out of the Linden godheads, club operators and other business owners in SL have supplied contest prizes and random money-generators, and have harnessed AFK avatars to camp-chairs and dance-pads. Paying for dwell points boosts their establishments higher on the “Popular Places” list. While they can no longer get US dollars for the dwell from the now-terminated Developer’s Incentive program, and soon will lose even Linden-dollar dwell, payments according to LL’s announcement, many will still farm for dwell in order to draw more clicks and eyeballs. With the end of telehubs and their surrounding malls, clubs and other popular venues have become the main areas in SL for commerce and meeting other people — or so it would seem.

But what if there were a way to get around this deeply broken system, in which whoever already has the most traffic on the user interface’s top 20 will necessarily get even more hits just for being listed?

To find out whether there might be a better gauge of authentic popularity and individual value, I asked Philip Linden if he could priovide statistics on all the picks that people pick for their profile, as an aggregate, to see which picks are picked the most. People use their user-profile picks for all kinds of things, from pictures of their home, their girlfriend, or their RL cat to what they see as SL’s hottest nightclubs, most beautiful scenes, or most helpful educational projects. It’s what they really pick — themselves, democratically, voluntarily, without being paid to do so, or being guided by a pre-fabricated popularity list. It’s the closest SL comes to a Web 2.0 app like Digg.com, but for now it’ll have to do.

In response to my query, Philip calculated the top 100 places according to the number of times they have been listed by people on their profile picks page. Here, for the first time, the unadulterated Top 20:

TOP 20 PICKS IN PEOPLE’S PROFILE PICKS
1. “THE WALL” in TRANSYLVANIA
2. IceDragon`s Playpen Island
3. FurNation Worlds Prime!
4. Bad Girls – Dance & Fetish Club
5. Ahern Welcome Area
6. Sandbox Island
7. The Forest
8. Furest
9. The Lost Gardens of Apollo
10. Amsterdam
11. Luskwood
12. The Shelter
13. SOUTH I
14. The Edge
15. LESTATS DARK EROTICA
16. The Barbie Club
17. Mahalai Asylum: Succubus Club
18. Port Cos
19. DREAMERS ADULT FANTASY CLUB
20. NOMINE by Munchflower Zaius

For comparison, examine this snapshot of SL taken last week, consisting of the current top 20 most popular places on the UI, followed by the top 20 in paid classifieds:

MOST POPULAR PLACES (by traffic)

1. IceDragon‚s Playpen Island
2. FREE MONEY $L$ Virtual Games Inc
3. Bad Girls — Dance & Fetish Club
4. Quki Casino — Enyo $$ $50 pay
5. FREE MONEY!! Virtual Games Inc.
6. Heaven Above the Clouds
7. XL Casino 20/10
8. Image Reflections
9. The Edge
10. =Club H20=
11. Club Extreme And Casino
12. The Barbie Club
13. Mahalai Asylum: Succubus Club
14. $60/hr & $4/10 @ Odds&Ends
15. SLP Casino ˆSammamish
16. BRATT‚Z MALL
17. RICX’S FINE JEWELERY
18. SOUTH I
19. Port Cos
20. HAIR FAIR 2006 April 14-20

TOP 20 CLASSIFIEDS (by money spent on ad)

1. Lightsabers & Sports Cars
2. X2: Exotica clothing
3. Designer digs & Tapioca Tastes
4. Tropics Casino & Resort
5. Natural Skin
6. Deimos Boardwalk has moved!
7. DE designs Men‚s and Ladies Clothes
8. Home Depoz East
9. TART Clothing
10. Canimal
11. KC—Slave girl Kayras
12. Mr. P‚s
13. Lukas Designs
14. Jolie Femee
15. Wisteria Garden & Gift
16. 5ifth Order Animation Array
17. Ravenglass Rentals Office
18. Langdon Realty Office
19. Agriopis Mall ˆ Rentals
20. Agriopis Mall ˆ Mind Body and Soul

Other statistics that Philip provided from the wealth of raw data available on the avatars who bother to MAKE picks include the fact that there are 1,727 different places picked by at least 10 user accounts, and a total of 109,000 picks made by 30,818 different user accounts.

Thus, some intriguing speculation: the 30,818 separate user accounts may represent a figure closer to the number of active users, as opposed to “members” who have merely logged in once, never to return. Bothering to put a pick on your profile means you are more than just a casual drop-in. If nothing else, the 30,000 represent the interested core of longer log-ins and paying customers to whom content-providers need to market.

More intriguingly, the enormous number of total picks– 109,000 over at least 1,727 different places — suggests a huge variety and diversity of content in the world that simply isn’t getting reported by the tools of the user interface. This in turn suggests a need for not only an improved search engine in the long term, but perhaps also that the top 20 list generated by traffic be broadened either to 100 places or possibly even 1000.

And perhaps the Lindens might even be persuaded to regularly provide these alternative “picks of the picks” figures — although it won’t be too long before those are gamed too, as avatars are paid outright by businesses to become walking billboards via their profile picks.

Still, for a moment, before dwell is removed, but just as development incentive ends, we can glimpse the mystery of our world — a place where people value furries above dance clubs, or the Shelter above sex escorts, and where everyone got Lost in the Gardens of Apollo.

Below is the complete top 100 list, arranged by total number of people picking each site. The blank spots represent missing data of some sort (Philip wasn’t sure) and may indicate places that moved OR islands that closed or some other non-land-related item. Enjoy:

TOP 100 PICKS IN PEOPLE’S PROFILE PICKS

> | 989 | “THE WALL” in TRANSYLVANIA
|
> | 613 | IceDragon`s Playpen Island
|
> | 518 | FurNation Worlds Prime!
|
> | 517 | Bad Girls – Dance & Fetish Club Home of Sexy Talk Radio
|
> | 509 | Ahern Welcome Area
|
> | 441 | Sandbox Island – Wiped @ 3 AM&PM SLT, no shooting or selling
|
> | 433 | The Forest
|
> | 422 | > Lost Furest <
|
> | 417 | The Lost Gardens of Apollo
|
> | 383 | Amsterdam
|
> | 381 | Luskwood
|
> | 360 | the Shelter
|
> | 354 | SOUTH I/dvds/ movies/Dance pads 4L/10mins ,Mens Clothing,
|
> | 337 | The Edge: The Only way You Can’t Win Is If You Dont Show Up!
|
> | 332 | LESTATS DARK EROTICA Club & Mini Mall yardsale now on
|
> | 320 | The Barbie Club – Hosting The Most Gorgeous Dancers & Escorts
|
> | 315 | Mahalai Asylum: Succubus Club / Dancing
|
> | 313 | Port Cos
|
> | 293 | DREAMERS ADULT FANTASY CLUB – Where All Your Dreams Come True!
|
> | 290 | NOMINE by Munchflower Zaius
|
> | 277 | ::: BareRose ::: HQ
|
> | 270 | FULLY TERRAFORMABLE MATURE – FIC SIM !!! – ANSHECHUNG.COM
|
> | 266 | TeaZers Island:: “You just never know what will happen!”
|
> | 261 | Mature Sandbox wiped 5am Random Cleanings No Shooting-Griefing
|
> | 255 | -=Club H2O=- 4L/10min Camping – Pizzeria
|
> | 255 | Midnight City
|
> | 245 | Ivory Tower Library of Primitives
|
> | 242 | Le Cadre-FREE MONEY-Senusal Designs-Asri Falcone Originals
|
> | 241 | Nyte’N'Day & Elika Tiramisu Designs
|
> | 240 | Dark Life
|
> | 235 | Taco
|
> | 230 | Enchanted Weald
|
> | 224 | DFO Shopping,DragonFly Designs, VENDOR SPOTS AVAIL!
|
> | 223 |
|
> | 220 | ^. .^ Club Rainbow Tiger
|
> | 215 | Yadni s Junkyard – Newbie Paradise – SINCE APRIL 6th 2004
|
> | 211 | Hawaii, Big Island – Free Rent Huts – Money Trees, Best Beachs
|
> | 201 | Village of Kassau – Home to Van Dungeon Devices
|
> | 196 | XL Casino 20/10 120/hr+ 8-15 Line SLots Bonus& PROG BlackJack
|
> | 195 | Luna-Sea – Discover Romance
|
> | 195 | Welcome Area
|
> | 194 | Goguen Sandbox – Wiped @ 3 AM&PM SLT, no shooting or selling
|
> | 194 | House of Blade Mall & Crying Rose Studio Design & Tripple
“P” |
> | 188 | Dwellget
|
> | 185 | * Mischief, Tickled Pink, Rising Phoenix & 7 Deadly Sins *
|
> | 185 | Image Reflections -DESIGNS BY SOME OF SL’S HOTTEST DESIGNERS!
|
> | 182 | BB’s Honey Lounge Kohana – Exotic Dance Club!
|
> | 182 | Central Park, Dreamland – ANSHECHUNG.COM
|
> | 182 | Los Altos Hot Gear & 2Stylez 1 Stop Thug Shop
|
> | 179 | the Elbow Room
|
> | 172 | Abbotts Aerodrome – Est. February 2004
|
> | 171 | Celestial Studios ~ Canimal’s ~ Oxygen Designs
|
> | 168 | City of Lydius
|
> | 168 | Nevermore : Midnight in a Perfect World
|
> | 167 | Gangsters
|
> | 160 | Pixeldolls
|
> | 158 | MastraVille-Where The Fun Times Roll into The Drive-In
|
> | 157 | The Sex Club
|
> | 157 | Devils Moon / Abranimations
|
> | 155 | Welcome Area
|
> | 153 | Heaven Above the Clouds
|
> | 153 | Glorious Ar
|
> | 152 | Vampire Empire
|
> | 151 | Moonshine Casino / FREE MONEY / BLACKJACK / SLOTS
|
> | 150 | Laura
|
> | 147 | Mystical Sanctuary- Come share some magic with someone special
|
> | 147 | Crimson Falls Asylum & Village
|
> | 146 | Kaelter Prime
|
> | 144 | Linden Weapons TESTING Sandbox NO combat
|
> | 143 | House of Neruda-Gorean Slave House
|
> | 142 | Neo-Realms Fishing Camp – Alston
|
> | 139 | Milano Famiglia Territory
|
> | 139 | VooDoo Lounge
|
> | 138 | Torvaldsland
|
> | 137 | Team Gecko: Belle Belle Furniture, L&F, Gecko, Mina’s Tattoos..
|
> | 137 | SILVER MOTORSPORTS COMPLEX
|
> | 134 | Southern Woods of Port Cos
|
> | 133 | Nage’s Private BDSM Club
|
> | 132 | Nexus Prime – Cyberpunk City of the Future
|
> | 130 | LostDog Designs
|
> | 128 | Dragon Moon, Where the Dragons Fly
|
> | 126 | Blue Stone Fine Jewelry / Movie Theatre
|
> | 124 | The plains of Jeebi’ess, A gor sim, FORCED COLORING’S ALLOWED
|
> | 121 | Mega-Mall Cascade – VACANCY
|
> | 120 |
|
> | 119 | * Salsas y Boleros * The Lost Gardens of Apollo
|
> | 117 | ElvenGlen Market
|
> | 115 | SL Botanical Gardens
|
> | 115 | Pollyesther’s
|
> | 113 | FurNation SkyMall and Gallery
|
> | 112 | RELIC – Furniture, building kits, prefab homes, plants, bdsm
|
> | 111 | 13,424SQM FOR SALE-27K (NEGOTIABLE) YES IM ACTUALLY SELLING
|
> | 111 | City of Treve
|
> | 111 | Turia
|
> | 110 |
|
> | 110 | The Pot Healer Adventure – Numbakulla Island Project
|
> | 109 | Serenite ~Gardens, Mysteries & Romance abound~
|
> | 108 | The Garden
|
> | 107 | Studio Lis
|
> | 106 | {-Club Elite-}
|