“Second Life” is for retired Japanese
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Sadville, as The Register is wont to call it, will be released on a mostly unsuspecting Japanese audience this summer. Although some Japanese companies have already set up virtual shop in the Second Life metaverse, with the new headquarters for mixi (the giant Japanese Social Networking Service) even featuring on prime-time news, until now only an English-langauge client has been available for Japanese users. In antcipation of the imminent client release, japan.internet.com reported on the start of a new series of surveys by goo Research on this very topic, Second Life.
Demographics
Between the 28th and 30th of May 2007 goo Research interviewed 1,102 members of its internet monitor group. 53.0% of the sample was male, 17.0% in their teens, 20.9% in their twenties, 18.0% in their thirties, 16.8% in their forties, and 27.3% aged fifty or older.
I won’t be found in Second Life, as my rather ancient PC does not have the required horsepower, and I have enough going on in my First Life to not require an escape to a Second.
New visitors might also be interested in a survey on virtual world English lessons and an awareness study on Second Life.
It also seems that Sony plan to release their own similar world, called “Home”, and TransCosmos and other companies are planning one called “meet-me”.
Research results
Q1: What first comes to mind when you hear “Second Life”? (Sample size=1,102)
Life after retirement 76.5% An online community 21.5% Doesn’t mean anything 2.0% Note that Second Life is rendered in Japanese as セカンドライフ, a transliteration into the katakana syllabary of the English name. Most Japanese would be familiar with the individual English words in isolation, I would think.
Q2: Do you know about “Second Life”, the 3D online community? (Sample size=1,102)
Know a lot about the details and features (to SQ) 2.6% Know a little about the details and features (to SQ) 18.7% Heard about it in the press, but don’t know the details or features (to SQ) 26.1% Don’t know about it 52.5% Note that in a previous survey in February of 2007 80.3% had not heard of Second Life, so in only four months the word has spread rather far around Japan.
Q2SQ: Have you participated in “Second Life”? (Sample size=523)
Currently participating 1.7% Used to participate, but not now 2.5% Accessed the official site, but not participated 17.4% Not used it at all 78.4%
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