According to a United Nations report (opens in new tab), Earth today broke the record for the most concurrent users at its peak of 8 billion (via NPR (opens in new tab)). This number blows away the 7 billion concurrent user milestone last recorded by Earth in October 2011, and is double the amount recorded in 1974.

That's right, despite the planet's last few unpopular patches (COVID, global warming, killer wasps) and persistent "Mixed" review scores, Earth continues to grow in popularity among humans born there and existing there more than any other celestial body in the known universe It continues to grow in popularity among the humans who were born there and reside there. For now, Earth's servers endure the strain, but there seem to be a few obvious recent glitches, such as the increase in UFO sightings and the inexplicable popularity of Pete Davidson.

Not everyone is excited about this milestone: some argue that Earth has an unfair monopoly on human life, especially when compared to other planets in the solar system. Mars, for example, has been repeatedly postponed until colonization is estimated to be in 2033, and so far has failed to attract even a single user. The moon, on the other hand, also attracted only a dozen or so users in the 60s and early 70s, but due to declining interest and extreme hardware costs, no one has used it since.

Currently, there are also 10 people living in space (open in new tab), but most do not try it because of the seasonal pass (no seasons) and lack of key features (air, water, things to stand on).

Acceptance of the earth as a client for humanity has been slow for some time; although it was formed 4.5 billion years ago, the first human user logged in only 2 million years ago. The population did not reach 4 million until 10,000 B.C. On average, most users logged out after about 30 years. There were some major setbacks along the way, such as the Black Plague renewal in the 1300s, but other features, such as the New World expansion in the 16th century, kept the overall user base of the planet rising.

The number of users on the planet surpassed the one billion mark in 1804, and since then the planet's CCUs have grown exponentially, with users staying logged in for an average of 73 years. A common complaint is the long-running money glitch where a small percentage of users become rich even though they have contributed nothing to the earth, and the level of simulation is impressive, but we are still waiting for an HD remake.

The UN estimates that the growth of Earth users will slow considerably in the coming decades: the number of Earth users will not reach 9 billion for another 15 years, and the CCU peak of 10.4 billion is expected in the 2080s.

We asked Gaia, our planet's primordial god, to comment on this milestone.