Hypergrid Business readers were more optimistic about the fate of OpenSim this year, more satisfied with its technical progress and ecosystem, and the number of readers who planned to spend more time in OpenSim next year increased as well.
However, this year’s respondents were slightly less likely to think that VR was valuable to OpenSim’s future.
Respondents plan to increase time spent in OpenSim
Last year, when asked whether they expected to be more active in OpenSim next year, the average score was 3.3. This year, that went up to 3.8.
Optimism about OpenSim’s future
Last year, when asked how optimistic they were about OpenSim’s future, the average score was 3.3. This year, that went up to 3.5.
“We love OpenSim and thank you for the core developers, viewer developers, content developers, and your support!” wrote one survey respondent.
Satisfaction with OpenSim’s technical development
Last year, when asked how satisfied they were with OpenSim’s technical development, the average score was 2.9. This year, that went up to 3.2.
However, there were many requests for technical improvements in the list of wished-for features and in the comments.
One respondent said that they wanted to see “more efficient processing so that several mesh avatars can congregate with less lagging and fewer crashes.”
Satisfaction with OpenSim’s ecosystem
Last year, when asked how satisfied they were with OpenSim’s ecosystem of grids, communities, and content, the average score was 3.2. This year, that went up slightly to 3.3.
“OpenSim is becoming better and better,” said one respondent. “I remember back in 2008, I made avatars in the new fledgling grids like 3rd Rock and New World Grid. I desperately wanted competition for Second Life, due to their exorbitant prices. It was rough and crude. But those days are gone. We now have a legal mesh body in Ruth RC2 and 3, along with surfing, white water, rideable horses and much more. I am proud to be a member of the OpenSim metaverse and plan on years of participation!”
But a significant number of people wanted to see improvements.
“The ecosystem is increasingly becoming fragmented and due to that the hypergrid needs an upgrade to increase interoperability and reliability,” said one.
Several respondents also said they wanted to see better protection for intellectual property.
“The copybotters have won the hypergrid not because of anything they did,” said one. “They won because there was not a coherent community to recognize and oppose the active measures that they used. Because it was social, and not techy, because our community is far too back-stabby to mount an effective defense.”
“We were too busy fighting one another to close the front door,” said another, so the copybotters came in and made themselves at home.
“The issues with creators not being ripped off needs to be fixed,” agreed another respondent. “An in-world content court — with banning as a possible consequence — for folks stealing stuff is what is needed.”
How important is VR to the future of OpenSim?
Last year, when asked how important VR was to OpenSim’s future, the average score was 2.8. This year, that went down slightly to 2.6.
In addition, as is clear in the chart above, opinion is sharply divided, with 51 percent of respondents saying that VR is somewhat not important, or not important at all. Only 29 percent said that VR was important or very important.
“Please stop plugging the VR crap,” wrote one respondent. “Almost no one is interested in voice, let alone wearing ridiculous goggles. VR is dead!”
Others disagreed.
“A VR viewer is important to keep OpenSim competitive with new platforms,” said one reader.
Satisfaction with OpenSim’s VR development
Last year, when asked how optimistic they were about OpenSim’s future, the average score was 2.9. This year, that went up to 3.2.
What people do in OpenSim
With its low-cost or free land, high prim limits, free uploads, and nearly unlimited possibilities, OpenSim is a haven for creators — and this year’s survey proves it.
This year, 82 percent of respondents said that they were in OpenSim to create content, with being a social user a distant second, with 58 percent. Many of our readers are also developers, grid owners, performers, educators, or help with organizing, marketing, or in-world support.
Totals add up to more than 100 percent because most people do more than one thing.
“I have migrated from Second Life, and OpenSim lets me create things that I couldn’t in Second Life due to cost,” said one respondent.
Most wanted features
Respondents were all over the place when asked about what they wanted to see in OpenSim.
But the most requested feature was a dedicated viewer, just for OpenSim. Today, most viewers try to support both Second Life and OpenSim, and there’s been some controversy this year when the developers of the most popular viewer, Firestorm, announced a stand-alone OpenSim viewer, then changed their minds.
Features that got multiple requests include:
- Better Hypergrid Messaging
- Better Hypergridding
- Bakes on Mesh
- Better Copyright Protection
- Web-Based Viewer
- Modernized Code Base
“I’d like to see OpenSim developers stop treating the code as if it’s an experiment,” said one reader.
“We need to attract more developers, coders, etcetera,” wrote another. “I sense a lot of developers are afraid to get into projects because they feel it’ll eat all their time. But if a lot more devs each volunteered a small amount of time, the work would get done quicker.”
Readers also mentioned that they wanted to see:
Animesh • Adding Niran’s Viewer Features to OpenSim • Better Camera Tracking • Better Developers • Better Fitting Clothes • Better Graphics • Better Movement Controls • Better Varregions • Better Vehicles • C# Support • Cross-Region Vehicle Movement • DDS Textures • Dedicated Social Media Site • Default Mesh Bodies • Better Documentation • Easier Scripting •
Easy In-World Alpha Layer Creation • Facial Animations • Hide Archived Inventory Folders • Hypergrid Event Calendar • Hypergrid Search • Kinder Community • Land Texture Layers • Lightweight Viewer •  Linkset Hierarchies • Mainland Community •  Marketplace • Currency • Mobile Support • More Content • More Events • More Publicity • More Users • Parcel-level Terrain and Environment Controls • Pathfinding • PBR Materials • Better Performance • See Friends Online on Other Grids • Better Stability • Text to Speech •  User Directory •  Vehicle Sim Crossings • VR Support
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