OpenSim Grids See Increase in Regions and Registrations, but Decline in Active Users
The public OpenSim grids experienced a growth of nearly 2,000 regions and over 1,300 new registrations in the past month. However, the number of active users continued to decline as people spent less time indoors due to the improving weather. Despite this, the total number of active public grids reached a new record high of 421 grids.
It is worth noting that the total number of grids being tracked is 2,543, but many of them are private or personal grids not accessible to the public. Of the public grids, 283 reported statistics for the month.
The three largest grids by total land area are OSgrid, Wolf Territories Grid, and Kitely. OSgrid experienced the highest growth rate, adding 732 new regions since last month. Other grids that saw growth include Alternate Metaverse, Serenity, Wolf Territories Grid, and Discovery Grid.
It is important to mention that the statistics do not include most of the grids running on OutWorldz DreamGrid, a distribution of OpenSim used for creating virtual worlds on personal computers, private company grids, or school grids. According to Micro Technology Services CEO Fred Beckhusen, there have been a total of 10,377 DreamGrids booted so far.
The Kitely Market, which is the largest collection of legal OpenSim content, currently has 19,804 product listings with 39,001 product variations. GridPlayGrid has also recently returned online with plans to roll out more legal content.
The OpenSim developer community is currently discussing the future of OpenSim on the .Net 6 platform. The latest DreamGrid version 5.35 has been released and includes the latest OpenSimulator version 0.9.2.2.
Overall, while there has been growth in regions and registrations, the decline in active users highlights the seasonal nature of virtual worlds as people spend more time outdoors. However, the increased number of active grids demonstrates the ongoing popularity of OpenSim.