Were you destitute as a newbie ?

I had my stipend and when I wanted more money I bought it. Also a friend laid 10K on me so that was nice. However I will say that I didn't buy much other than hair for about a month -- I made do with freebies. Buying a skin was a big deal. Nowadays though I'm a skin junkie. I think I have at least one of everyone's.

What necessities? SL is pure luxury -- the whole thing. I wasn't "lucky enough to have some cash" -- I had access to L$ because I traded USD for it. So can everyone else.

Same here. Though...I really should upgrade to premium.

Not really - with the money I got for my premium account when I started I bought a 32 x 32 plot - and saved the rest for prims (which cost 10 bucks each to rez - plus a dollar each a week tax to remain in world).

There wasn't a GOM or Lindex to buy money from - but lucky for me Devlin and others would fly past regularly to see what crazy crap I was building, and hit up my vote box.

I wasn't living high on the hog - but I stayed within my means and always managed to pay my taxes and slowly expand.

A mindset I've maintained to this day, and has served me well.

So is upgrading really worth it?

was single and alone... wadnered around under another name and learned what was what then finally leanred about first land, bought some, realzied 117 wasn't much to work with, bought about L$10k and haven't looked back since. have lost and made that 10K many time over since then.

start with nothing its a long hard road away from noobdom, start with even just a little and it makes the world of a difference.

I was actually better off as a noob, I worked my tail off for $L I hosted events, made tons of crappy t shirts, and generally did any job that would make me $L that wasn't escorting. I've gotten lazy in my old age, and buy about $20 of Lindens a month.

Absolutely. Having the stipend coming in makes a world of difference, even though they've cut the amount some, and you get the right to own land, which is a very nice thing indeed.

Having land means that you have a place of your own to go to where you can change clothes, build uninterupted, and have friends over with some control over who else wanders by, etc. It's a very nice thing to have.

(Personally though, I would pay the extra $8 a month to get the right to own a full 1024m of land. 512m is just too cramped to be really comfortable IMO.)

In addition, you'll know you're actually be doing something to support SL, to help keep it running, which is also a nice feeling.

Maybe its time to re-instate this old tradition

I made a bunch of alts and listed myself as the referral source so I got $3000L for each of the alts I made, which back then was about 7. And I spent every last penny on clothes from Frankie Beach, Mistress Midnight, Torrid Midnight and Sassy Apple!

Briana Dawson

I horded my little stipend for the week or two before I went premium.

Then I horded that. The choice between another upload or saving for more land drove me nuts.

I didn't buy L$ until nearly a year later.

Absolutely. I spent my first 2 months in SL wearing freebies. I finally upgraded to premium at 3 months and have, to this day, only bought Lindens for large land purchases. You can live in SL on no money, but it's hell of a lot more fun with money. I use my stipend now for "fun" money and tuck all my business profits away to purchase a sim.

How unfortunate that it only applies to public land I can think of a few I'd delete for free!

I was fortunate enough to be given 700L by a complete stranger on my first day so that funded lots of cheapies.

After a few days I was addicted, became premium and now I fund my spending habits via lindex and the stipend.



I've never understood that attitude, I play SL for fun not for extra work and anything I build I give to friends for free and I certainly don't charge for my time in doing stuff like attachment edits for friends.

Working in SL would be pretty pointless for me anyway, I can earn lindens via my RL job at many many times the rate of an SL job and I enough have real time work to do to make me completely uninterested in extra SL work! Also it gives me pleasure to buy nice things and support in a small way talented people who make them.

Money wasn't much of an issue when I started I really didn't notice the need for about 2 weeks when I got a job. Until then I just wandered around exploring places with the skin shape and clothes I got from a helpful welcome area regular.

Of course now im hated by all the land scammers but... WHO CARES!

When I started they gave you L$3k a week and then took it all away in taxes ;0

My start in SL was a pleasant one. When I first stepped in-world, I met a 2-day-old avi, who took me to lots of places, showed me around, and as I wondered in the world for a while, I was introduced to the forums...where I posed a question...and got many replies...

One of them lead to my first job, which I'm still so very grateful for, and the people who took me, a noob in, I still think about with the warmest feelings. *huggs* Pretty soon I updated my account to premium and it's been good since. (Well, being a noob and wondering into a Gor shopping area with bare arms, being followed by harrassing IMs from a slave master, I panickly thought about quitting SL - aside).

I've met so many wonderful and kind people on my way, and those people made the start of my SL a very good one. I just wish that the newbs today could have the same kind of warm welcome, but with the traffic and problems we have, I fear those days are long gone. I was one of the lucky ones!

Thank you SL. *goes behind the corner and wipes away few tears*

I'm still pretty new... about 7 days old. I had $0 within an hour and couldn't find my way back the newbie areas. And I was completely destitute for about 5 days, resorting to camping... which seems to be the main newbie occupation (I didn't really know any better).

I think you'll see more poor noobs, because there are no weekly stipend for basics (I can understand way). There is no way for noobs to automatically get a little cash other than camping. Espeically if they don't know anyone.

I'm starting to pull out that slump now. I had a friend in RL hop on the other day and give me some extra money so I wasn't quite in a crunch, and I could have some fun customizing. Now when I get the time I can look into more interative employment or building.