Thought it was a game? Newbie needs an education!

I've heard a good deal about SL in the media and thought I'd check it out. Should've guessed that I'd need a more powerful graphic card. A better PC is on the way, but I thought I would ask some questions that may well have been asked.

My main reason is the claim of having a real job via SL? As a person with low vision, hearing impairment and slight facial paralysis, this interest me. My RL income is Social Security. Thought I could make a possible SECONDARY income.

My first question is based on my surprise. I thought this was a game? Isn't it? After you're done needling, how about educating me.

How does this idea of a job in SL work? What is realistic? I've also read stories that gives the impression of SL expanding into a larger virtual worlds. That is, I can easily see seperate worlds being connected to SL. Is this likely?

Yes, I will be exploring SL, once I get the new PC setup.

First of all, welcome

Once you could make some money in SL, but now it's pretty difficult without some serious graphics design or scripting skills. Land sales used to be the big money game...but that's no longer true.

Linden Labs has made some progress connecting to other virtual worlds but it's not widespread or available to the general public yet.

As far as it being a game? Some people think so...but you can't win or lose, so how is it a game?

When you do get inworld, feel free to send me an IM and I'll drop some men's skins and clothing on you for free

Good luck!

Hi Nick and welcome. "Game" is subjective. Think of it more as a really large neighborhood and you'll be closer. Yes it is a game in that you can go blow things up if you have a mind to- but you can also sit at home and putter in your garden, or go traveling to the corners fo the world while making friends along the way.

Can you make money? Sure- but it depends on many factors- too many to overwhelm you with at once. But I will say it takes a lot of effort to even make a little money so the folks making the big money have to be, unique, persistent, talented, hard-working and even a tad lucky though luck doesn't factor if one is not willing to break a sweat. Luck is what you run into after having worked your ass off to get there, btw

SL is many things. When your new machine arrives you will get a better idea. Meantime, sit back, get to know your fellow Residents at least this limited view of us, and welcome to your SecondLife.

Not to hijack the thread, but Amaranthim, you make some excellent points. Here's my question, and one that I have wondered about for quite some time--how much IS big money? I mean, what kind of USD are we talking about for the big guns here? What about "little" money? I'm not asking what anyone specifically is making, but I'd love to have a ballpark idea of what the more popular merchants are culling from SL.

Welcome to SL.

Yes, most newcomers do expect a 'game', which is only natural given that most media sources call SL 'the role-playing game'. I'd say this is due to laziness on the part of reporters.

If you right-click on your avatar, then choose Profile from the pie menu, you'll find a window with several tabs. One of them, "Interests", gives a clue as to what the creators of Second Life think most people enjoy doing inworld.

If one or more of those options appeal to you, put it into Search (found at the bottom of your screen) and choose Groups---this would be a way of locating people who can help you with information about making money (to the extent that's possible). Of course this Forum is also a good place to find advice and information, too.

Have fun!

not a game, definitly not a game! ( although i did win the big prize here )

If you look at the Economic Stats you can see that about 1000 residents make over $1000US profit per month. So, big money is hard to come by...

I know you asked Amaranthim, but... to me big money means you can survive off Second Life as a primary source of income for a middle class family. "Little" money is more like "yay, I can cover my tier and in-world expenses (or maybe even have a tad extra to buy some groceries), but I still need to go to my day job or they're gonna cut off my electricity."

The best money you can make here without being a script maker or clothing designer is to run estates for people too busy to do so themselves. Look around and find out what you need to know to be a Estate Manager. You can start off volunteering to run a friend's small mall or apartment building.


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Wicked, thanks for pointing me to the economic stats...I never knew that those were published figures. Scott, THAT is a dream job to me....to be able to make a decent living in SL without having to leave the house or get out of my jammies.


I soooooo wish I could script!!! Nick, if you are savvy about computer programming, you might want to get some scripting lessons under your belt. Our scripter charges a MINIMUM of $5k per hour (and he's reasonable!!!).

Pending on where the money came from, I wouldn't be opposed to $1000 USD per month.

:0 hamlet posted an entry about the irs lately making noise over 'virtual taxation', that has a few of the latest stat numbers regarding inworld incomes...

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/01/irs-report-reco.html

p.s. oh i guess someone already linked the econ stats page back up there. ;0 sorry to repeat!

I think Wicked's point was that very *few* residents make that kind of money, which in most parts of the US is maybe just barely enough to live on.

In my opinion, looking at SL at this point at a way to supplement your RL income is probably not realistic. The kind of work that is generally available to people without enormous building or scripting talent just doesn't pay enough to amount to anything in RL. People who work as club hosts or that sort of thing might get a few hundred Lindens - a dollar or two of real money - for an hour of work. Even many excellent builders of wonderful items in SL just make enough to cover their business expenses with maybe a little left over to spend on fun in SL, and that's with dedicating hours and hours each week to developing and marketing their content.

I'm not saying there are *no* markets left in which someone can make enough to supplement a RL income; only that it's very, very hard to do so, and will take a lot of luck along with a big investment of time and a modest investment of money up front to make it happen.

$5,000?? I hope that is Linden$$ and not US$.

As it is, I have been seeking to get into writing and can do some technical writing. I don't know about scripting. My programming knowledge is limited to basic COBOL and that was in '93. I'll have to wait and see what the scripting is all about. My suspicion is that it is very similar to writing macros for Word. Right?

I've only had a few jobs in RL. They were largely office based. Recently, it seems I am developing an ear for listening, giving some guidance and offering to pray. As SL is largely a social network, I suspect these may come in handy. By the way, I am not a counselor of any stripes.

Scripting is probably more like object-oriented programming than like macro-writing. Go peek in the scripting forum to see what complex scripts look like to get a sense of how they look and your own comfort level.

As to counseling: I know of one person who charges money for counseling sessions in SL. This person is not a RL counselor. To be honest, it makes me a little sick that he accepts money for counseling when he is not trained or licensed to do so in any way, and I hope his SL clients are fully informed of that fact before they interact with him. Of that, I have no idea. I am a bartender in SL, and a good listener by nature; people do come to me with their problems, and I'm happy to help if I can, but I'm not going to accept money for that or hold myself out as anything more than a friendly ear to bend. Just my own opinion, of course, as someone who considers a counselor's professional responsibility a fairly serious one.

Welcome Nick!

Echoing what others have said a bit. Yes, there are forms of employment, typically self-employment, in Second Life. It is, however, still relatively rare that anyone makes a true "living" off that employment. Nevertheless a lot of virtual dollars do change hands in here.

It is, IMO, realistic to believe that you will not likely make a fortune here, and may indeed lose money for some time before turning any sort of profit. Just like first life, you have to put in a fair amount of effort in order to get a return. The biggest moneymakers here are professional developers, real estate "barons" and some of the top product (including clothing) designers.

There is indeed some future to be had in connections to other worlds via open grid protocols.

My advice? Come on in. Buy your first Lindens. Get to see the world (and the world far from the existing orientation spaces). Follow your interests and make some new ones. Don't forget to have some fun, and follow the things that bring you enjoyment. It's a very "follow your bliss" sort of world.

It *isn't* a game, though. Not so much. It's life -- and life is what you make of it.

Mari

Ouch!! Don't worry, I've no intention of charging someone for counseling; eve if I were trained.

It is amazing what can happen when one looks around at other threads. As it is, I have some short stories that I'd like to see published. I've had serious trouble with getting them published in RL. I saw a thread by someone asking about being a writer, I am thinking of contacting the inworld publisher and seeing if they'd like my story. It is a memoir type short story.

welcome to SL Nick


The question of is SL a game or not has been bantered back and forth a lot

personally I view it as a game... I log in, I log out, it is a game

If I were to log out of RL, it would well... end... not so much in SL, so therefore it is a game

heh

but... it is also much more than a game... it is a lifestyle, it is a chat room, it is a creative platform, it is a social platform, it is an educational platform, it is many many things


sorry am rambling, only on first cup of coffee

Hi, Nick, and welcome to SL and to the forums!

Second Life is a great place to be...especially for people who, for one reason or another, have a hard time getting out of the house. And that's whether or not you manage to make a living at it.

Frankly, almost any real world job that you can do at home (your writing, for example) will pay more for your efforts than a Second Life business. There are only a very few of the millions of SL users who make money in SL, and even fewer who make a living. That 1,000 people making over $1,000 a month doesn't count their expenses...for land tier, mostly. It's been estimated that there are maybe 200 people who manage to make a full time living out of SL. Most of them are "land barons", people who own a large number of private islands and rent them out to other residents. The upfront investment and the monthly service charges are considerable...although lower than say, buying a Burger King franchise.

But don't let that stop you! It's endless fun to try to beat the odds. The important thing is to find something in SL you love, then do it. If it makes you rich, congratulations. If not...well, you've still had a lot of fun. The goal should be fun, not money. Your odds of success are actually better with this indirect approach.

Ah, okay - sorry for jumping to that conclusion. You asked how you could make money and then mentioned you were interested in offering counseling services - so I figured you were thinking of putting the two together.

Hi Nick, great to meet you and welcome to SL. I'm not EVEN addressing the 'game' question cause SL isn't a game to me at all, but can only speak for myself. Course, I"m an SL addict, so my opinion probably doesn't count.

Nick, I'm responding to you because you mentioned the fact that you are 'differently abled' in your post. As a deaf person myself, and actively involved with the deaf, hearing loss and various other disabled communities on SL, I suggest you plug in, to Virtual Ability. Search Groups for us and join us. You will then be notified of all of our events and opportunities that arise that are particularly geared towards our different abilities, inworld. Hope to see you around. IM me inworld if you like, I am there every evening. I am also the estate manager for Cape Able, the only residential sim geared towards assisting deaf and disabled inworld. Hope to meet you soon, take care.

I was mentioning things I've done in RL and seeking to see if there is any possibilities in SL. It seems writing short stories that Residents will enjoy may be the best route. I will have to wait and see how I do with building and graphic designs.

SL has a need, now, for SL-centric stories (for instance scripts for machinima that would take advantage of its strengths while not relying on things that may be easy in RL but very difficult in SL), but to write them you would need to be experienced here. So - go and explore.

I'm not a "popular merchant" and i have only been doing it for about 7 or 8 months. I make ladies clothes and it is an over-saturated market. I do not make tier, which is $40 US/month- def a little fish -but i look at it like i have been here for two years and loved it, the little i do make offsets having to put money in.

I haven't put a dime in as long as i have had the store- not making a profit but since before i was just spending, i look at it as being ahead of the game. To look at folks that make real money you have to look at the big names in what ever filed. Animations, land, design, scripting etc. Every one has heard of the big land successes and of course the Excite guy- those are big - now average joe's.. i have friends that do enough that is more than break even and actually pay their tier from it. I hope one day it will be so for me- but as long as i enjoy it. If it gets to be work hell that's what RL is for.

SL centric stories?? That would be interesting? I've no idea of what that would look like.