This article is an attempt to investigate the reasons behind why IMVU attracts more new users and is able to secure partnerships with real-life brands in 2021. This article is not about bashing Second Life. But given the nature of the topic discussed, I will highlight the strengths of IMVU and the weaknesses of Second Life. I will say, I prefer the platform Second Life and will stick with it. I would love to see it growing, attracting new users and securing partnerships between real-life designers and 3D creators.
Recently,
Vogue published an article, written by Nicole Phelps, the director of Vogue Runway, discussing a runway show that took place in IMVU last week. Phelps titled this event as “The Metaverse’s First Runway Show”. Real-life designers and IMVU’s 3D creators united to build fashion collections for IMVU. Their goal was to advertise their brands to IMVU’s public. Vogue’s article claims that IMVU “now attracts 7 million active users a month, most of them female or female-identifying and aged from 18 to 24.” This makes the platform great for new real-world designers to display their creations and attract new customers. But we all agree that Second Life has better graphics, better animations and more possibilities of creating your own reality than IMVU. I decided to investigate the reasons why these brands decided to choose IMVU as their online platform instead of Second Life.
IMVU has More Active Users and They Know How to Target Them
I believe this might be the biggest reason why IMVU was able to attract real-life designers to their platform.
During 2020, many virtual world platforms had an increase in the amount of users online, including Second Life. According to a post published by
New World Notes, during the “Pandemic Boost” in 2020, Second Life’s monthly active users grew from 700,000 to 900,000.
A post published on
Tech Crunch claims that, “in 2020, IMVU saw record growth, with over 7 million monthly active users and 400,000 products created every month by IMVU users.” That is a difference of 6,100,000 million active users monthly.
IMVU really knows how to sell their product. They know very well the type of users they are targeting and how to create content that speaks to them. They also know that collaborating with celebrities and brands is an effective way to keep their platform relevant and popular. Their homepage is very effective. It displays short videos that show how the avatars look, locations in-world, the type of activities and experiences you can seek once you join IMVU.
Second Life, on the other hand, was launched on June 23, 2003, many of its current users have joined Second Life many years ago. I have tried to find information about which age group is more prevalent in Second Life, an article published at
The Globe and Mail states, “they tend to be on the older side, people in their 40s and 50s.” From my experience in-world, I would say that this is probably true. I believe a big chunk of Second Life’s revenue goes towards trying to improve the platform and please the current users rather than spending on marketing to bring up new people to the game.
In an article published about EGM, titled
“The Second Life That Wasn’t”, about the expectations around Second Life when it was first released, states “there was confusion and uncertainty over what SL could and should be used for, so an assumption grew that it could do anything.” I believe this type of reasoning is reflected in the fact that Second Life’s marketing strategy is a bit confusing. Recently, they started using an image on their main page that does not translate to any in-world gameplay.
New World Notes published a very interesting and informative article about Second Life’s new homepage that explains where that blue elf image comes from and how confusing it looks for new users. I often use the browser Opera, but when I opened Second Life's main page using Google Chrome I was able to see the video that is talked about in New World Notes' article. The video is cool, I enjoyed the fact they display many different types of avatars styles you can have in Second Life, for example, aliens and robots. But I would prefer the main image in the end to be an actual Second Life avatar rather than the real-life model.
IMVU is Easier to Navigate and Feels More "Current"
When creating your first avatar, IMVU offers a good selection of hairs that look modern and have cool colors, like pale pink and blue. They also offer more interesting options of clothes, shoes and accessories for new users. I dressed my avatar in a leather jacket, jeans, leopard print heels and a unicorn head mask. As soon as I opened the game/platform for the first time, they gave me the option of “matching” with other users, which shows me their platform and content is trying to keep up with the real-world by trying to replicate the extremely popular engineering of apps like Tinder. After trying to get matched, I pressed a button that teleported my avatar to my bedroom. A modern looking penthouse with a nice view from a city that looks like New York, they also had some furniture available for me. The main menu shows many different options, including the option of joining chat rooms that take place in a coffee shop that looks just like Starbucks.
When joining Second Life for the first time, the users have to choose between a basic or a premium account. For the purpose of writing this article, I picked up a basic account. The next step was to download the official viewer, which I did. When I first entered the Second Life world, they randomly assorted me one of their premade avatars that looked boring if compared to my new IMVU avatar. I really enjoyed, as a new user, being able to build my own avatar on IMVU. My first location in Second Life was this farm looking land that offers instructions of how to use the platform. I agree new users need instructions and tutorials, since Second Life is a bit complicated to start with. I tried to communicate with the new users standing on the first landing point and I wasn’t lucky. The only person who replied to me was an older user coming back from a break. They explained to me they forgot their old username and lost their old avatar.
IMVU has an APP where you can meet and chat with new people. I checked my app store and did not find any app’s for Second Life. I think in 2021, most business that are online based should have an app, at least to offer the option for users to check their online profiles and updates within the grid.
I would love to see Second Life updating their starter avatars. Maybe they could offer a "bento" avatar included in the premium package. I would also love to see them creating content that speaks to Pop Culture. For example, why not bring surnames that are related to celebrity culture? Even if they cannot use the exact surnames out of fear of a lawsuit from a celebrity, they could bring surnames that are parodies of the originals. Reality show stars, like the Kardashians and Real Housewives, for example, have a massive fanbase that plays Second Life and I'm sure they would be willing to pay the fees to change their surnames if those surnames spoke to what they like outside of Second Life.
Stronger Social Media Presence
I posted a stories on Instagram of me interviewing Babe, a IMVU user, I tagged IMVU's official page and within minutes
IMVU’s official account had already checked my stories. Although
Second Life’s Instagram profile has a lower number of followers (Second Life has 24.5k followers on Instagram) than IMVU’s (IMVU has 508k followers), which would make it easier for them to check the content published about SL more often, I never had SL’s official account liking or viewing any of my content.
IMVU's Instagram page posts and reposts, from their users, several stories and reels. They publish viral content that speaks to what is happening currently in the world, for example, they have a post highlighting Black-Owned Businesses within IMVU and web series called "IMVU Cobra Kai", inspired by Netflix's hit show (and one of my favorites) titled "Cobra Kai".
I believe if Second Life invested some of their marketing budget towards creating partnerships with TikTokers and Youtubers, for example, that would bring a lot of younger users to the platform. Given the technology behind Second Life, it is possible that younger users would have an easier time learning about how to use SL's interface rather than a more mature audience that might find it harder to learn how to navigate around Second Life's controls.
Lag Free
Given the fact that IMVU’s graphics are very simple, the platform is also lag free. I assume users with any type of computer and graphic cards would not struggle to join IMVU. (I must say, in my opinion, I am willing to have a platform or game that has better graphics even though it’s slower.)
Opinions
I also took the time to speak to some former IMVU users that are now Second Life residents and a IMVU user who tried Second Life but decided to stick with IMVU.
First, I spoke to
Babe,
store owner and an extremely well spoken IMVU user who gave me a little bit of insight into why she enjoys IMVU and why she did not keep using Second Life, even though she joined it in the past:
Second Life is harder to navigate. Honestly, I tried Second Life and couldn't get my head around it. The graphics may be more advanced and realistic but it's about compatibility, understanding and simplicity. [...] IMVU is more so about connection, being able to connect with people from all over the world, make outfits and share things that interest you.
I spoke to
Giovanni West, former IMVU user, that is now the CEO and Founder of Studio West. West gave me some interesting insight that I believe speak volumes about why IMVU might have attracted the real life fashion designers:
It’s for sure because of their media presence, years ago Kim Kardashian used IMVU for her “Kimoji App” (there were tons of articles on that), and also probably the fact that the majority of users are younger they get all their friends to join in. I think I even saw a Tik Tok of someone playing IMVU not to mention there is really popular videos of a creator on IMVU who recreates iconic and memorable moments from reality tv or social media on IMVU.
Kyllar, another former IMVU user, gave me insights about why she thinks IMVU attracts users and why she felt dissatisfied with the platform:
They have a mobile app. A lot of underage users are on it now, and use the app vs the client. Their user turnover rate is pretty high to go with that 7 mil monthly users. It's nothing to be online and there's only 20-30k users on at a time. They don't value their customers or creators. [...] It's easy to use. I do miss how you had pics of your inventory items. But you have to pay for access to anything considered "adult", you have to pay to submit content, then they take a nice little percentage out of your earnings. Also, as a person who enjoys photography, Second Life is worlds above IMVU. You have to do so much to edit them to make them look nice.
My conclusion is that although Second Life has a better platform and offers more options for activities and experiences inworld, their marketing strategies are confusing and their content does not speak to the real-world and current trends. IMVU has a very simple platform that does not offer great graphics, but on the other hand, they are very clear about their mission and purpose.
