OpenSim User Growth Slows as Cold Weather Sets In – Hypergrid Business

The weather here in the US, where I call home, has started to chill—well, some days at least. It’s been quite erratic lately. With other unpredictable happenings around the country, I’ve found myself drawn to virtual worlds, seeking refuge from the real one. That’s probably why both registered users and land area have increased on public OpenSim grids.

What’s puzzling, though, is that the number of active users dropped—by more than 2,700.

Let’s unpack that. Last month, Moonrose had over 900 active users but seems to be running into website issues and didn’t report any stats this month. Vida Dupla, which had 375 active users previously, didn’t share any figures either. And the Great Canadian Grid, with over 600 actives, has now shuttered its doors.

Several other grids are also seeing a significant decline in active users. OSgrid reported a loss of more than 800 actives, Craft World fell by over 200, and five more grids each lost over 100 active users.

So, this isn’t just about a grid closing and reporting hiccups.

Could it be that folks opted for Halloween festivities over virtual ones? Or perhaps they simply embraced the colder weather with a fondness for outdoor strolls and autumn leaves?

Not quite! As reader Paul Clevett from Wolf Territories mentioned, OSgrid is down for maintenance. And he was right—there’s an official announcement on it. Thanks for the note, Paul!

It turns out that OSgrid has been offline since November 7, due to storage limits being reached. “OSgrid has accumulated 17 years worth of data, which amounts to several hundred million assets,” the announcement read. It gets trickier since both asset data and a redundant copy are saved larger than their actual size, taking up even more space.

To tackle this, the storage system has to undergo reconfiguration, requiring millions of assets to be moved and space consumption issues resolved. Such heavy lifting while keeping the grid online would mean a miserable experience for users, so, maintenance mode it is!

There’s no definite timeline on how long the fix will take, but they assure us that no assets should be lost in the process.

Now, for the numbers: I’m tracking a whopping 2,677 public grids this time, with 295 active in the current month and 232 that reported their statistics. Think we missed your grid? Shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’ll make sure it gets added for added visibility.

For this month, OSgrid remains the largest grid by land area featuring 32,867 standard regional equivalents, even after losing over 2,000 regions. Meanwhile, Wolf Territories Grid tops the chart for activity, logging 7,379 unique user visits over the past month.

As for DreamGrid, it’s excluded from most of our stats since it’s a more private variant of OpenSim, even though it’s essentially a free, open-source platform where anyone can build and connect virtual worlds with ease. Those with a penchant for tech can host their OpenSim worlds on private servers using DreamGrid, OpenSim’s official installer, or any other variant, while hosting fees start below $5 per region.

If you’re on the lookout for hosting, you can see a list of providers here. To get started, download the Firestorm viewer and check out where to source content for your OpenSim world or region.

We’ve just launched the Hypergrid Business newsletter, arriving every 15th of the month—right after the stats report—to keep you updated with all things OpenSim. Don’t miss out; subscribe now!

### Top 25 Grids by Active Users

To thrive as a social grid, especially a closed one, having more users is key. It’s the go-to for merchants aiming to sell and event organizers seeking max engagement. Here’s the top 25 for the month:

1. Wolf Territories Grid: 7,379 active users
2. OSgrid: 4,046 active users
3. GBG World: 2,498 active users
… and so forth down the list.

### Online Marketplaces for OpenSim Content

Kitely Market now boasts 20,973 product listings and 41,105 variations, with a decent chunk—35,866—being exportable. Kitely has fulfilled orders on 632 OpenSim grids so far.

Almost all Kitely Market’s growth is pinned on exportable content, which has been steadily rising. The non-exportable content remains steady as you can see in the chart.

Kitely Market holds the largest assortment of legal content for OpenSim, accessible to both hypergrid-enabled and closed grids. Here’s a handy guide to set up Kitely Market on closed grids.

Also, Kitely’s introduced support for PBR materials and bigger textures.

### New Grids

This month, NakedWorldz was added to my database. Spot any public grids we’re missing? Let me know via email.

### Suspended Grids

We lost connection with nine grids this month: Angel Grid, Ares World, Binders World, Cajun Grid, DreamNation, Ghost Area, Homeland, KubwasWelt, and Nosso Lar. If they stay offline, they’ll be marked as closed.

If a grid has shifted its login URI or website, drop me a line, and I’ll update our records.

### Top 40 Grids by Land Area

Region counts are based on standard region equivalents wherever viable, and active user counts include hypergrid visitors. School, company, or personal grids might not list their numbers. Here’s the top 11 for brevity:

1. OSgrid: 32,867 regions
2. Wolf Territories Grid: 29,987 regions
3. Kitely: 18,126 regions
… the list continues.

Discover more active grids and their hypergrid addresses here, a fantastic tool if you’re crafting a hyperport. Link up with our historical stats for a deep dive back to 2009.

Know of any open grids not on my radar? Reach out to [email protected].

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Keep an eye out for my updates; after all, Hypergrid Business is here to keep you informed about the vibrant and ever-evolving OpenSim landscape. For more insights, check out my books on Amazon, follow me on social media, or swing by my YouTube channel. Have a question? Email me anytime!