who's really in it just for the money?

I don't get that mindset. Because there are fantastically talented musicians in RL, does that mean that nobody else should learn to play? Same in SL. Maybe you'll never be as good a skin designer as Namssor, or as good an architect as Damanios, or make fashions like Nicky Ree, or have the business savvy of a Desmond Shang. But climbing that learning curve, seeing how high you can get, is fun in itself.

Besides, those guys aren't going to be around forever. SOMEbody's got to be ready to step in when they move on.

QFT. Couldn't have said it better myself. I live in Sl like I would live in RL if I won one of those monster lotteries. Except in SL, I'm better looking and I can fly. I looked at actually doing something to make money, but I realized that I could have more fun just being a degenerate. Once I penciled the numbers out, it didn't make sense.

to be perfectly honest when I came to SL I was more upset at how many horrible scripters are about some making money off it. oh so many had no idea what the effects of their junk code was having on people, IE thinking lag is a fact of SL and other peoples stuff.

Shhh! Lindal! Jeez, just let the assassin cat out of the bag, why doncha?

Without gaining sufficient enjoyment from the whole "SL Thing", it is very unlikely that someone will put in the hours to gain the skills to make a profit.

It is possible to make a RL income from SL, certainly - I do myself, now - but I would not have bothered if I did not enjoy what I was doing. Certainly people will pay proper money for professional scripting but really, one can earn three or four times as much for RL contract work in other areas. (This is not to imply that I am being shortchanged at all here, just that the markets are different. The amount of money that a financial company, say, has to spend on developers is enormous.)

Similarly, animators and designers and modellers who sell in-world and make profits from that could be earning far more with their skills doing such things full-time elsewhere. And they undoubtedly know this.

I did not enter the Grid with any expectation of profit, and if I had, I would have been greatly disappointed, since the number of hours I have put in has certainly not provided proportional financial reward. _Artistic_ reward and _social_ reward and so on, though, most definitely.

It seems to me that for a while SL was being heavily promoted as a place where people were making a lot of money. Newbies were always asking me how they could make money.
I'm more than breaking even now myself but it's making things that I really like.

I'm not in it for the money. I like buying stuff but I can enjoy myself without spending dime too. Whenever a new person asks me how to make money I tell them to walk around and enjoy SL first and then they will understand.

Yup. I think I joined around the last time that new residents who do not have advanced graphic arts skills, or programming skills, might have considered making money through creating. I joined for the social environment, and to watch LL as a startup from a customer viewpoint, so I didn't really care.

I looked into making money scripting, and frankly, it appeared to me not worth it to really learn the ins and outs of LSL, easy tho it is. If its money a programmer wants, s/he can just spend a little more time drumming up some RL work. Because LSL takes no LESS time than RL programming.

And building - well, once sculpties really hit it became obvious that mastery of solely inworld tools would not get you very far. This was always the case for texturing, and now making shapes requires out-of-world graphics arts tools also. Feh.

I build my little things for myself, but would never consider trying to sell them. A few people have asked me for copies, and I always give them for free, it's such a compliment!

No, it doesn't, but we both know, for example, that the number of adults who take up a musical instrument in adulthood is relatively small -- people do it, but many are just not inclined to do so, in part because of a perception of how long it would take to become proficient. It's that same mindset, and I don't always disagree with it. At the end of the day, it's a question of how you want to spend your time.

all i wanted is to make even on tier, anything more and i go shopping




untill vat... now i`m back at trying to make even (almost there again tho )

Or what resources you are willing to committ. I may mess around with the in world tools out of curiosity, but am I going to invest in buying Paintshop, or Photoshop, or in the hours to master them? Probably not. The interest isn't there.

Ordinal said it so well, I'll just echo the sentiment.

When I first found out about SL and discovered that you could not only use it as a development environment but also get credit for your work, I knew that SL was for me.

I love to design and make things and I really enjoy it when somebody else thinks what I've made is good enough to buy. It's real ego gratification for me - even though what I've earned so far won't even buy a RL lunch.

Although I've only made a handfull of things so far (it takes sooo much time for me to make things properly in SL, and I have so little extra RL time to devote to it), I've got a long list of projects that will keep me going indefinately.

I don't expect to make a "fortune" in SL, but but my long term goal, hopefully less than 10 years (my long term goals are very long), is to build up a large enough inventory and word-of-mouth awareness of my work that I can substantially add to my retirement funds to be comfortable - when that time comes.

I lost most of my inventory in Sept. I hope your storing it in a safe place.........anyways...

I like the learning, not necessarily about SL, but other stuff also. If not for SL I doubt I would of learned anything about these words.......wordpress, blogspot, open source, API, VAT, Web 2.0, sketchup, building, Simulators, HUDS, Machinima,.........goes on and on........

I am kind of amazed about how much I've learned in the past year as the result of SL, directly and indirectly

This was always a myth, I found out the hard way. As a % of the population virtually no one makes more than minimum wage. The Lindens rather cynically allowed this myth to circulate. If they'd be straight about this from the start I could have focused on its future money-making potential, or just had fun, but I kind of feel like I've been duped, which leaves a sour taste.

After 4 years, I'm still here just to be entertained. Linden dollars are still just play money to me.

Then can I play with some of yours?

Well, I am still having way too much fun goofing around... learning to build just for kicks, and the only money I made was wining a contest in a club once.

I figure that if I count the amount of money sl is saving me by keeping me in front of my computer instead of hanging out in bars - I am way ahead.

But then again, my wine and scotch consumption have gone up... maybe I'll have to add it all up.

.d

I agree with Sae that it does seem a bit "foolish" to come in looking to make money. I would never advise anyone to do so. Ever.

I say come with an open mind. Make what you enjoy making. If it takes of- run with it. But don`t be disappointed if it doesn`t; and most importantly.... don`t expect it to.

I disagree with those who say there's still no money to be made or that it's foolish. I'm just here to have fun so I'm never going to get rich but I do believe others will come along with new and/or better ideas and will be successful as a result.

Who'd have ever guessed someone in RL would get rich with the pet rock?

I think it is generally foolish, depending on what market you are attempting to enter. You're right, someone will likely come along with a new idea and fill a niche that wasn't there, or may upset the entire playing field. But most people shouldn't come into the game with that expectation.

There is still money to be made.

But coming in here EXPECTING to "get rich quick" and ditch your RL job...is foolish. IMO.

Like i said, come here with an open mind, it`s possible. But don`t expect it.

When I joined SL I didn't even know you could make money selling stuff here. And when people first told me about it I thought they were pulling my leg. After a few months the penny dropped and I could see the commerce side of things clearly.

Am I 'only in it for the money'? No, I only posted the Mothers of Invention album cover as a joke. Do I make any money in SL? Yes, enough to cover my expenses, purchases and the occasional cash-out bonus but nowhere near enough to consider making a living.

That's exactly what I meant. eh..I had thought out a really good response too, but my mind keeps losing every thought I'm having after watching Heroes tonight. Sylar's sooo back. XD

But yeah, get rich quick just starting out..unless you're extremely gifted, I think it's alot harder now than it was when I joined in Feb of 2006. Back then there was still alot of room for niches and alot of room for quality improvement. These days, the amount of different stores alone will blow you away, not to mention the quality of stuff these days. Let's not mention the INSANE amount of items total that are for sale throughout the grid...as if there was a way to even know that..lol. There is SO much in SL, I don't think I will ever ever have time to see even all the things I want to see and do in my SL "lifetime."

Since I can rarely go anywhere in SL without all my clothing and attachments getting hopelessly mangled, I mostly stay home and build. It has been very good for business. I don't expect to ever make substantial RL money at it, but I would like to cover all my land rental costs. I'm about a third of the way to that goal.