OpenSim’s public grids hit a record high this month with its largest land area ever, the equivalent of 127,958 standard regions.
This was an increase of 2,252 regions compared to last month.
Meanwhile, the total number of registered users on public OpenSim grids increased by 7,440 and the total number of active users rose by 666.
This was despite the fact that several grids did not report their stats this month, including The University of St Andrews’ School of Computer Science, which reported over 4,000 registered users last month, and Soul Grid, which reported 1,151 actives last month. Other grids that were missing stats this month included Etheria Grid, Youth Nation, Mathesis, WaterSplash, E Grid, Champions Gate, and the Impulse Grid.
We are now tracking 2,596 OpenSim grids in total, 422 of which were active and 271 of which published their statistics. The rest do not have accessible public stats pages. If you have a new stats page, please do let us know for inclusion.
OSgrid, Wolf Territories Grid, and Kitely are still the three largest grids by land area.
OSgrid now has an equivalent of 29,281 standard-sized regions in total, followed by Wolf Territories Grid with 25,440 regions, Kitely with 18,294, ZetaWorlds with 10,132, and Alternate Metaverse with 9,369 regions. German World Grid added the most regions or 637 in the past 30 days since we reported these statistics, followed by Alternate Metaverse with 473, Groovy Verse with 387, OSgrid with 351, and Galactic Virtual — a new grid — emerged with 123 regions.
OSgrid offers unlimited free regions to all residents — as long as people run them on their home computers. They have an easy region installer here. No wonder they’re the largest grid in OpenSim.
ZetaWorlds, on the other hand, offers two-by-two regions with 75,000 prims for €18.99 (US $21) per month with other configuration options also available. Groovyverse land prices start at $25 per month for a region that can be configured to be as big as 16 by 16 standard regions. Both grids also offer free land parcels to residents.
Our stats also do not include most of the grids running on DreamGrid since these tend to be private grids.
DreamGrid has so far recorded a total of 3,435 unique DreamGrids that have launched since DreamGrid started, according to Micro Technology Services CEO Fred Beckhusen. Micro Technology Services owns both DreamGrid and OutWorldz.
The total list of grids for which OutWorldz reports stats is available here.
With the free-to-use DreamGrid software, users can easily create virtual worlds through a graphical interface and one-click install feature. They can also use it to easily and quickly manage their grids, including adding new regions, banning users, deleting regions, auto restarting, tracking usage stats, and shutting down entire grids or unoccupied regions to save computing power.
OutWorldz also offers free OARs — complete region files — which you can load to your grid easily and with little effort.
OpenSim is a free open-source, virtual world platform, that’s similar to Second Life and allows people with no technical skills to quickly and cheaply create virtual worlds and teleport to other virtual worlds. Those with technical skills can run OpenSim worlds on their own servers for free using either DreamGrid, the official OpenSim installer for those who are more technically inclined, or any other distribution, while commercial hosting starts at less than $5 a region.
A list of OpenSim hosting providers is here. Download the recommended Firestorm viewer here and find out where to get content for your OpenSim world or region here.
Hypergrid Business newsletter is now available
Every month on the 15th — right after the stats report comes out — we will be sending out a newsletter with all the OpenSim news from the previous month. You can subscribe here or fill out the form below.
Top 25 grids by active users
When it comes to general-purpose social grids, especially closed grids, the rule of thumb is the busier the better. People looking to make new friends look for grids that already have the most users. Merchants looking to sell content will go to the grids with the most potential customers. Event organizers looking for the biggest audience — you get the idea.
Top 25 most popular grids this month:
- OSgrid: 4,866 active users
- Wolf Territories Grid: 3,312 active users
- DigiWorldz: 2,062 active users
- Alternate Metaverse: 1,897 active users
- GBG World: 1,814 active users
- Darkheart’s Playground: 1,591 active users
- Neverworld: 1,552 active users
- Piggy Bank Grid World: 1,387 active users
- ZetaWorlds: 1,324 active users
- AviWorlds: 1,250 active users
- AviTron: 1,085 active users
- Moonrose: 1,066 active users
- Exo-Life: 993 active users
- Party Destination Grid: 775 active users
- Jungle Friends Grid: 661 active users
- Craft World: 629 active users
- Kitely: 626 active users
- Barefoot Dreamers: 622 active users
- The City: 571 active users
- Hartland: 571 active users
- Trianon World: 557 active users
- DreamNation: 497 active users
- ProxyNet: 491 active users
- German World Grid: 481 active users
- Gentle Fire Grid: 470 active users
The active list is based on active, unique 30-day user login numbers that grids report on their stats pages. Those grids that don’t report their numbers might be just as popular, but we wouldn’t know. The most popular grids are also not necessarily the most active.
Hartland is this month’s greatest gainer in the number of active users with 489 new active users, followed by Neverworld with 387, Darkheart’s Playground with 362, Alternate Metaverse with 274, and Wolf Territories Grid with an increase of 213 active users.
The active user stats are used to generate the popular hypergrid destinations list, which is useful if you have a hypergrid teleport and want to put up gates to the most popular grids or include the most popular grids in an in-world directory. This list is also a good place to start if you want to open up new stores, hold events, or are just looking for places to visit.
Baller Nation gained the most number of registered users during the last 30 days, followed by OSgrid with 356, AvatarLife with 126, Alternative Metaverse with 74, and Kitely with 69 users.
Here’s some information on how and why you should set up a stats page for your grid. Not all grids need a stats page — especially grids that aren’t open to the public like school grids, private company grids, small family grids, and so on. From prior surveys, this dark metaverse of OpenSim grids is significantly bigger than the one we know about, because those grids don’t need to promote themselves, and we never hear about them.
Online marketplaces for OpenSim content
There are currently 20,056 product listings in Kitely Market containing 39,784 product variations, 34,687 of which are exportable.
Kitely Market has delivered orders to 595 OpenSim grids to date. The Kitely Market is the largest collection of legal content available in OpenSim. It is accessible to both hypergrid-enabled and closed, private grids. The instructions for how to configure the Kitely Market for closed grids are here.
As seen from the above chart, nearly all the growth in Kitely Market has been in content that can be exported to other grids — that is the green area in the chart. The red area, of non-exportable content, has stayed level for the past seven years.
Offering a convenient and low-cost way for OpenSim users to buy legitimate, legal content not only offers creators sales opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise but reduces the need for pirated content, similar to the way that Netflix and other streaming services have reduced the amount of illegal video streaming.
In addition, restricting content to closed grids does little to stop piracy. Most stolen content is ripped from Second Life, the original closed grid. The only time that being on a closed grid offers additional security for content creators is when the content involves high-end scripts or proprietary animations.
Speaking of closed grids — where users are not able to teleport to other grids — the biggest such grid, Tag, also has its online marketplace. The marketplace lists 29,950 items both for sale and free.
Neverworlds’ Marketplace is another option for OpenSim grids, and does support hypergrid shoppers. The site currently a few dozen items for sale to both residents and hypergridders. It is a place for sourcing free and extremely cheap items since most are priced at under $3.
Neverworld also offers free virtual land to residents who can then set up shop and craft or bring in virtual items for sale or give away at the marketplace. The free parcels measure from 3,000 to 16,000 meters in size and can support up to 5,000 prims, grid owner Govega Sachertorte told Hypergrid Business.
OpenSim grid news
Hosting4Opensim waives all grid hosting setup and support fees
Hosting4Opensim.com has waived all grid hosting set-up fees and setup-related support fees, meaning the grid hosting company is now offering all support to customers for free. The company is also allowing customers to use personal domains on all server packages, company CEO Josh Boam told Hypergrid Business.
Complete grid setup packages with the company start at $80 per month for a private grid of up to 15 regions, and the package includes a Robust server, two free regions, and a user registration page. Commercial grid packages start at $150 per month. Region hosting packages start at $12.50 per month but one must own a grid to order region packages. The company also provides money server rentals with support for Podex and Gloebits.
AviWorlds to host 5,000th user party
AviWorlds grid will host a four-hour party at noon Pacific Time on August 27 at the AviWorlds Club to celebrate reaching the 5,000 user milestone. The party will feature live music by Rogue Galaxy.
“There will be a giveaway to people that attend and they can obtain our gift package at the club on that day,” grid CEO Josh Boam told Hypergrid Business. “We will have a box with items inside for free that normally are paid-for items on Kitely or AviWorlds.”
The hypergrid address is login.aviworlds.com:8002:AviWorlds Club.
OSFest seeks volunteers, presenters
This year’s OpenSim Fest — a two-week event that includes art exhibitions, merchant expos, music, stores, and various presentations — will run from 1 p.m. on September 15 to 6 p.m. on September 30 at the OpenSimFest Grid, which is now live with 18 regions on which different activities will take place. This year’s theme is Jazz and Blues Era, late 1860’s to early 1970’s.
The event will open with a party from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time on September 15. There will be performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and all weekends. Other key events include Exhibit Tours scheduled from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, September 18, and Monday, September 25. Store tours will take place on Wednesday, September 20, and Wednesday, September 27, at the same time. The full calendar can be accessed on this page.
The hosts invite merchants, sponsors, exhibit presenters, and entertainment artists for exhibitions, sponsorships, and presentations. Those interested in exhibiting can reserve free parcels and present all kinds of art and items of all kinds from all around OpenSim, including but not limited to the event’s theme. As of this writing, 20 out of 68 total free exhibitor parcels and 8 out of 40 total free merchant parcels are still available.
Please register here for a free ticket and then contact the festival director, exhibitor organizer, or merchant organizer through the OSFest Discord channel or via opensimfest@gmail.com to get merchant and exhibitor parcels. As usual, the event’s exhibitor and merchant parcels will be 100 percent free thanks to the event sponsors shown on this page. The event still requires more sponsors as the full sponsorship amount required is yet to be reached.
Anyone willing to participate as a volunteer greeter, leader, host, and hostess, or performer can contact the Volunteer Organizer or Performer Organizer via the same Discord page. Enquiries can also be directed to the above-mentioned email address.
ZetaWorlds launches Community Event Spaces
ZetaWorlds grid has launched five event regions known as The Vault, ZetaWorlds Stage, OpenSim Convention Center, Estate Regions Art, and Maxwell Theatre, where individuals or groups can host and attend all sorts of events virtually. Following successful testing of the Events region last month, the grid this week announced more spaces to be used for events.
The event regions have different features to support different social events. The features include seating spaces, open spaces, dance floors, art installations or booths, stages with lights and particle effects, group meeting areas, open-air spaces for installations and displays, commercial lots, and some can even support event ads.
OpenMic Arts seeks talent
OpenMic Stage is looking for performers from around the hypergrid. Chris Dayellis and Whisper Carfield host live open mic events on Alternate Metaverse on Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Singers, musicians, poets, storytellers, comedians, and freestyles are invited to participate. It is a great place to showcase a hidden talent.
To participate, visit alternatemetaverse.com:8002:Open Mic Arts.
Open Mic Arts is just one of the events featured on the art regions on the Alternate Metaverse grid. These regions also offer several facilities, including an art gallery, an arts magazine, a theatrical stage, a live performance stage, a party pavilion, and are home to the Inspiration Cafe, and the Annual Festival Of The Art.
Weekly prim-building classes start this September
Prim building classes for beginners will start on September 7 and thereafter take place every Thursday. Meanwhile, the advanced prim building course starts on September 2 and will take place every Saturday at the Koryphon Academy on the Alternate Metaverse grid. The advanced prim building classes will serve those who attended the starter classes in 2022.
The classes will be hosted by Rique Giano.
The hypergrid address is alternatemetaverse.com:8002:Koryphon Academy.
Download, 3D-print, and wear Peace for Ukraine jewelry in real life
The Monentes Jewelry store has released downloadable files of a recently-designed pendant named Peace for Ukraine on the collection’s download page on Three Hills Grid — Marianna Monente’s grid has now been renamed from Virtual-HG to Three Hills Grid to avoid name confusion with the Virtual Grid. The new art can be downloaded and then 3D printed for wearing in real life for anyone who wants to support Ukraine following the war with Russia. The jewelry was designed by the store owner Marianna Monentes.
The store is also offering, on the same page, other new pieces of jewelry for download and 3D printing. All the art works are copyrighted and can therefore not be used elsewhere for commercial purposes.
New Firestorm version out
Firestorm Viewer has a new version 6.6.14.69596 published on August 14, which fixes some issues resulting from Linden Lab’s recent decisions. The new version comes with multiple improvements, including some that will make building and scripting better.
The new version also removes the “View Profile” from the V2 context menu for the resident’s own avatar, prevents profile texts from getting truncated in some cases, fixes multiple log warnings related to profiles, and fixes the profile notes under active editing getting discarded when the profile owner enters or leaves the region at the same time.
It’s story time with StoryLink Radio live
StoryLink Radio presents two storytelling sessions this week. The first one is titled High Seas Cthulhu — Swashbacking Adventure Meets the Mythos!, and will stream live on StoryLink Radio’s YouTube channel and in-world in Creative Collaborators region in Kitely grid and Nowhere Ville region in Second Life grid at 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, August 17.
Narrated by storyteller and StoryLink Radio owner Shandon Loring, the story will take you back in time when tall ships roamed the oceans and creatures lurked in the dark depths.
The second story, titled Midnight Dreary — Cthulhu Meets Edgar Allan Poe, will stream on the above-mentioned YouTube link and regions in Kitely and Second Life grids from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, August 17.
StoryLink Radio presents literature of many genres in a themed virtual world setting but also, behind this, runs a literacy enhancement initiative, said Loring.
“We have great audiences that come to each of our performances, often dressing in theme for the story, but come-as-you-are is always welcome too,” he told Hypergrid Business.
As part of StoryLink’s Literacy Enhancement initiative for emerging readers and language learners, some story videos also feature in-video texts so listeners can read along.
The audience also can share with each other or with the host storyteller any thoughts they have about a story while it is being told live. The live chat streams alongside the story. StoryLink also archives past story episodes on its YouTube channel for on-demand listening by anyone.
More storytelling sessions are scheduled for September and October — the storytelling peak season.
OpenSim still needs more volunteer testers for the shift to .Net 6
Future releases of OpenSim are likely to support Microsoft .Net instead of the alternative called Mono, and developers and the community at large are focusing on and actively considering the shift. Although there are testers actively working on the changes and implementations, the number is likely inadequate, especially without automated testing of basic functions, Zetamex CEO Vincent Sylvester told Hypergrid Business.
Still needed are unit testers and overall testers, especially those who are familiar with nunit and xunit tests since these are the best options for OpenSim going forward, he said. Extensive testing will ensure changes are not introducing regressions.
Skimi 3D offering full year free license of new 3D game
Skimi 3D immersive gaming company has introduced a brand-new gaming section in Omnipolis grid and is offering a full year free license of Cosmic Ascension — the company’s first game in the grid.
The company is also introducing special gaming licensing packages for residents who will now get a number of game activations depending upon their Patreon membership level. Non-members can also take advantage of the offer by purchasing a license membership.
The introduction of the game and gaming region in Omnipolis marks Skimi 3D’s venture into virtual world gaming after spending years in crafting 3D assets for Second Life since 2006 and then later on moving to OpenSim.
Avitron is closing. Or not.
AviTron owner Alexander Pomposelli has a history of abruptly shutting down grids he runs, including AviWorlds when he was the owner and the short-lived Virtual Ville, without warning and causing users to lose content.
Pomposelli announced in a Facebook post that he’s since taken down that he plans to shut down AviTron at the end of August due to declining revenues. Then he said he may keep it running but would need to cut costs.
AviTron has been unstable, changing business models frequently, switching hypergrid status, and experiencing downtime. That’s very typical for Pomposelli, and, if the grid does stay up, users are warned not to invest more time or money into the grid than they can afford to lose.
For more information, check out our recent article on the topic.
New grids
The following grids were added to our database this month: Adult Life, Galactic Virtual, MetaverseGrid, Pineapple, Small Town X, Spes, Tanduria, Twiztid Timez Grid, and Virtual Islands.
If you know of any public grid that we’re missing, please email us at david@hypergridbusiness.com or maria@hypergridbusiness.com.
Closed grids
After a grid has been inactive for two months, we mark it as suspended. Then, after it’s been suspended for a couple of months, we mark it as closed.
The following 17 grids were suspended this month: Anderian Online, Calypso, Darkheart’s Realm, Elords, Etuvia, IBK Grid, Jatlan, Keraith Grid, LoboWorld, NukoGrid, Rennoc World, Society of the Sacred Grove, The Shirelands, Twisted Grid, and Virtual Melody.
Sometimes, a grid changes its loginURI or website address — if that’s the case, email us and let us know and we’ll update our database.
Top 40 grids by land area
The list below is a small subset of existing OpenSim grids. We are now tracking a total of 2,584 different publicly-accessible grids, 419 of which were active this month, and 268 of which published their statistics.
All region counts on this list are, whenever available, in terms of standard region equivalents. Active user counts include hypergrid visitors whenever possible.
Many school, company, or personal grids do not publish their numbers.
The raw data for this month’s report is here. A list of all active grids is here. And here is a list of all the hypergrid-enabled grids and their hypergrid addresses, sorted by popularity. This is very useful if you are creating a hyperport.
You can see all the historical OpenSim statistics here, including polls and surveys, dating all the way back to 2009.
- OSgrid: 29,281 regions
- Wolf Territories Grid: 25,440 regions
- Kitely: 18,294 regions
- ZetaWorlds: 10,134 regions
- Alternate Metaverse: 9,399 regions
- Discovery Grid: 5,298 regions
- Groovy Verse: 4,387 regions
- DigiWorldz: 3,582 regions
- Tag Grid: 1,480 regions
- TheKaz Grid: 1,361 regions
- German World Grid: 1,186 regions
- Shoalwater Bay: 960 regions
- GBG World: 950 regions
- Virtual Worlds Grid: 916 regions
- 3rd Rock Grid: 875 regions
- AviWorlds: 851 regions
- Kinky Haven: 637 regions
- ArtDestiny: 625 regions
- Tomi’s World: 625 regions
- Piggy Bank Grid World: 615 regions
- Littlefield: 491 regions
- Furry World: 473 regions
- GorGrid: 427 regions
- 4Creative: 413 regions
- DreamNation: 406 regions
- Craft World: 386 regions
- AvatarLife: 330 regions
- Nemesis 3D: 305 regions
- EdMondo: 294 regions
- Neverworld: 252 regions
- Soul Grid: 239 regions
- AviTron: 223 regions
- Counter Earth: 184 regions
- Adreans-World: 164 regions
- Horse Island: 162 regions
- Outworldz: 154 regions
- Japan Open Grid: 144 regions
- German World: 144 regions
- GerGrid: 140 regions
- AviVerse AlterEgo: 126 regions
Do you know of any other grids that are open to the public but that we don’t have in our database? Email me at david@hypergridbusiness.com.
