Zyngo Is The Devil!!

I have been playing "free play" Zyngo to try to earn some Lindens, but it is practically impossible. Is it even possible to win? I am very low on Lindens because I am only 2 days old in SL. I have bought a few Lindens so I could buy a shape, a skin and some clothes because I looked really dorky with my default avatar (Huge bald spot on my head that I couldn't cover!!). Today I upgraded to a Premium Quarterly Account and but did not receive a "bonus" or "stipend" yet. I tried taking surveys but that is way to much work plus I HATE junk mail. I don't understand "camping" or "dancing" for Lindens. I am really finding this to be way to freaking hard. I don't know what to do, where to go, how to make friends? I don't know how to "script" or "build". There seriously needs to be a "Second Life For Dummies book"

Very frustrated newbie,

MatthewThomas Skytower

There is, along with a number of others. Search Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Second-Life-Dummies-Computer-Tech/dp/0470180250/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215929073&sr=1-1

If you get the bonus, it won't be for 45 days...there seems to be some question whether upgraded (versus those who start as Premium) accounts are eligible. You will get the 300L stipend every Tuesday however.

Games of chance are not the way to earn L$...buying them is truly the easiest/fastest way. However, there are a ton of decent freebies in SL, which means you don't truly need L$.

As for friends, NCI and the Shelter are great places for New Residents, the Ivory Tower of Prims can help you figure out the fundamentals of creating in SL, and, if you'd like to meet up with some of the forumites, we have a hangout here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Allana/142/52/37

Also, try searching Events for things that interest you.

Try not to get too frustrated...SL has a huge learning curve, but it does get easier over time.

Well starting in any online game is always a challenge, SL is a very steep learning curve, if you use SEARCH > EVENTS > EDUCATION
you can find many inworld free classes in the next 2 days on how to build, script, make clothes, buy land etc, there is even a notify button that will send you a TP reminder 5 minutes brfore the class starts. Also many groups like ASL, & Rcokcliffe University announce classes as they run too. Please tip the instructors if you can afford to as they aren't paid by LL to pass the knowledge about, they do it because they enjoy doing so.

Basically if you want it all quickly then the only other thing to do is use your credit card and buy money to spend, 1 hour overtime in RL will net you more money to spend than 10 hours working in SL will make. Nearly anything a human can do in SL is being done by automation, so jobs are scarce, only thing us humans can do is be creative, and then you must be able to make something better than 60,000 other people can make, many who have been here much longer, and then sucessfully market it, which may even involve investing real cash into your venture.

If making RL money was so easy then every person who logged in next to you on noob island would be getting rich too by now. Contary to popular belief, if 1000 people take $500US out of SL every week, 100000 must be putting $5 per week into it. Even on teh internetz there no such thing as money for nothing

You haven't made enough XP to hit first level here yet so don't be too upset or concerned with getting the shiney stuff the cool players have, there's always someone cooler than them anyways, and if you get stuck, just ask someone, we were all noobs once for most it wasn't that long ago

Yes it is possible if the game is honest, but the odds are pretty long. Despite the gambling ban, Zyngo is basically a game of chance, the skill element is pretty low imo. The level the winning score is set at is the most important factor in how often you will win. Assuming the game is honest (and not all of them are in my experience), if the winning score is set at 49999 I reckon to win 20-25% of games, if the score is 59999 that drops to around 10%. The freeplay games I have seen have a winning score of 79999 or even 89999. I would reckon that I score that high in less than 1% of games.

Of course if the game is crooked, you don't have even that much chance.

The reason for the high scores is that the landowner wants you there as long as possible to generate traffic. The longer you are there, the higher the traffic score you produce, and the higher the place shows in search. In general I'd guess that freeplay zyngo machines are set to pay out about the same as camping, so if you're playing for $L50 it's likely to take you 2 or 3 hours to win on average, otherwise it would be cheaper for the landowner to just set out a camping pad.

Hi Matthew - welcome to Second Life and the forums

You don't have to make L$ to survive here - it's not like some on-line games where you have to get "food" or "energy" of some sort. It is perfectly possible to freeload your way through Second Life - it is entirely up to you how you want to go about it.

It is best to take your time and look around a lot and keep learning. If you really want L$, then I have always thought that Money Trees were the best way for new players. Search for places with "Money Tree" and teleport around - find the money tree and click on any fruit or L$ bills you see in the tree. This has the advantage of taking you round to lots of different places and so seeing more of the grid and you get practice in usng your camera and focusing and moving about - all essential Second Life skills to master.

When I get in world, I'll drop you a New Residents' Starter kit - lots of useful information - and keep asking questions here as there is always someone to help you in the forums

Seconding Deira's suggestion of money trees. New players can pick money and fruit (worth a bit more than the dollars) from them for their first 29 days inworld, if I remember correctly. One of the newbie notecards I sometimes hand out has this URL on it:

http://sl4nowt.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/newbie-guide-to-money-trees/

It's a pretty good illustrated tutorial on getting money from trees, what they look like, how to do it, etc.

Your best bet for getting money in SL, though, is always to buy it from the SL site itself. I'm afraid you'll never earn/pick/win enough money to afford to rent a home or buy nice things you see in stores (although there are more than enough good-quality freebies out there among the less-great freebies). $10 (US) will buy you quite a lot of L$, but it really depends what you want to use it for. If you'd like to rent a home, then between that and the stipend you'll get, you'll have more than enough to get by, and have a little spare for shopping trips, etc.

Try this website for lots of inworld freebies to get you going (many are quite nice) -- read back thru older posts because many of the freebies stay for a while.
http://slfreestyle.blogspot.com/

There is also a Free Style group inworld - join that and you'll get notices about freebies.

Gambling is a no-win situation. give up.

LOL, but true.

Anyway:

1) if you do not put in money, but expect money, is it really gambling or just ..... ?

2) didn't we decide at some point that doing just about anything in SL is a gamble?

the free zyngo is designed to "teach you how to play" the gambling version of zyngo. no one wins at free zyngo.

I am really confused. Granted, I know absolutely nothing about Zyngo. However, the OP said they were playing 'free zyngo' to win some Linden dollars - wouldn't that require at least a bit of winning? And there shouldn't be any 'gambling' versions around anymore.

It would require a theoretical chance to win. As a practical matter it could be almost impossible to achieve by setting the payout score so high that you have less than a fraction of a percent chance of getting that score (the score is largely influenced by random number/tile generation). It's like another poster said, the idea is to get the person to spend as much time as possible on the parcel to generate traffic numbers.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Most of the places with free zyngo machines have the scores start very low and pay out to whoever has the highest score at a set time. My free games pay out every 6 hours. There are some places that have instant win free games with scores that are considerably higher, but you should expect high scores if they are going to pay everytime the score gets beaten.

It can actually be a pretty fast way to go broke. The games are prim intensive, so they require more land than you might think. To make money you either need to adjust the settings so they are favorable to the players and get a lot of people to play against each other, or put the settings so they are unfavorable and get people to play anyway. There are a few that do it successfully, but most game places don't last very long. I run my game place because I enjoy it and I can usually win enough at other places to cover what my place loses.

I remember when i used to be able to stretch L$10 . I still can to be honest . I really watch my money . I do make alot from dancing now .

Ahhh no one wins on the free one...never played anyway. I cant figure the game out

if it is free, how are YOU making money off the players?

i do know what i am talking about. i'm talking about that little thing called experience.

and when is this six hour period ending next. i'm gonna go there and stand and get high score every 6 hours.

Welcome to Second Life Matthew!

You may be frustrated now, but don't give up! The other people here in this forum have really good advice. You mentioned a Second Life for Dummies? This forum (and the stickies at the top of the forum list) is a good place to start.

There are classes for building and help groups.
Try searching for things that interest you.

One suggestion. You mentioned that you upgraded to premium. All that's really good for is the right to own land, have access to better support tools, and get the weekly 300L stipend.

But if the point is the 300L why not instead buy Lindens with your premium account money? The $9.95 per month (I forgot how much) will get you 2557 Linden dollars!

Good luck!

I'm only a few weeks old and also tried camping, scrubbing floors etc. I wanted a decent avatar and quickly desired a place to live. I can spend 99% of my SL time bored to death along with all the other zombies and earn $0.10 USD an hour, or just pay a couple of bucks and actually enjoy the SL experience.

I've also found that it's very addicting and had to put the brakes on my pocketbook.

Just my $0.02 opinion.

Midnight, 6am, Noon, 6pm. Sand Dollars Beach Resort on the Beachcomber Isle sim, second floor of my building. Everyone's welcome.

i hate to say it.... no, i don't hate to say it. It needs to be said

stop being so cheap and go put 5 bucks on your account, you'll end up with a couple 1000 lindens.

-Crunch

Don't be frustrated, hun. I've been in-world 2 1/2 years and I am still on my freebie basic account. Actually, my original account was 6 months prior to that, but I decided to make a drastic change and start over.

When I started the new me, I spent $10 USD to buy lindens. That is the *ONLY* RL money I have put into this world. I own my own business, have my studio in-world, manage a club, and design/sell on SLExchange.com.

You *can* be a valuable asset to the SL community without investing RL money. So please don't get disheartened. Stick around and you'll soon find yourself enjoying it more and more.

Lucky Chairs are a great way to get "stuff" .... usually good stuff if you look in the right places. Don't just find a random collection of lucky chairs giving out freebie junk to get traffic. Many people who own stores will set out a lucky chair and give away a sample of their wares. They will give out GOOD stuff, because they want you to see how good their quality is so you will buy more later.