I wondered if Linden Realms, the new SL game area launched by Linden Lab last week, which has been widely promoted by the company to the media, was a bid to grow SL's user base. I asked the Lindens that question, and got this reply from project lead Rhett Linden:

"Linden Realms is more about giving everyone something fun to do and the new tools we're going to release than about growing the user base. We hope that folks will have some fun playing Linden Realms – exploring the game, dodging the monsters, collecting crystals (oh, and earning some L$ while they do, by the way), and completing the quests. And I think users will have some fun thinking about the experiences they will be able to create with new tools that we'll eventually be releasing to creators."

So there you go. I still think it would be a great space in SL to drop new users into; or at the very least, drop some of them there, to see if doing so increases retention. That said, I do hope it gives SL developers ideas for their own projects; I think the auto-loading HUD is going to to be a killer addition to their tool chest. But let me put the question to developers reading this directly: Has Linden Realms inspired you to take your projects into new directions?