I have been to art exhibitions and party´s for some time now. One of the things I do is to read peoples profiles and I have noticed that almost everybody logged in are three years old or more.
No more newbies. So I expect the flow of new inhabitants in Second life have stopped. Today Second life is a mature product and the people in world are those who have found the extra life awarding in some way. When all you meet are avatars that are several years old maybe its time for Linden lab to concentrate there efforts on the inhabitants that really stay year after year and not just trying to get new people to join Second life. It´s obvious to me that virtual worlds is not for everyone and that very few people enjoy them. But I have also found a upside for virtual world.
I am a crazy online player and I try out all new online games. And the one I play the most is of course World of warcraft. So why are Wow and EVE online so successful and the others have to go free to play in a year or so? Both in Wow and Eve you can do other things than follow the story line. You can go fishing or exploring or just talk to friends. The others are just games. You might as well take away the online and just play them as single player.
Social is the buzz word. And Second life is more social than all of the others together. Maybe there is only a market for a million people or so world wide and maybe it´s time for Linden lab to really take care of the players and not focus on getting newbies.