A gathering of virtual inhabitants

Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, are aiming to boost a paltry 12 percent retention rate by inviting businesses to open up private orientation islands for niche communities to combat the virtual world's steep learning curve, reports Reuters.

Behind this move is a slow but orchestrated attempt to gradually outsource the open-source virtual world's infrastructure - including its servers - to third parties.

The purpose of an orientation island is to acquaint new users with the Second Life community through a sub-set of the virtual world. One example of a privately-owned sub-set is "The L Word," named for the niche Showetime television show. At this virtual space, fans can download an SL viewer directly from Showtime's servers.

Other private entry points into Second Life are country-specific: secondlife.nl has registered 44,000 Dutch users, Australian telecom Telstra sponsored an entrance, and Second Life Brasil offers a tutorial for Portugese speakers.

“Years down the road, if Linden Lab is still the primary supplier of [Orientation Islands], we have failed,” said Product Development Director Ryan Downe of Linden Lab.