Is Your SL Business or Pleasure?

There's no poll because a lot of people like to talk about their answers anyway.

The base question is, "In your opinion, is it worth it to turn your Second Life into your Second Job? Why or why not?"

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My answer is no, and the reason being is I already have a job, and Second Life is supposed to be my escape from anything resembling the work-based horrors of my First Life. Yet, I realized a short while ago, despite that, Second Life has been creepily and sneakily trying to turn itself into my Second Job. So, I closed one of my businesses, and cut back on the amount of building and scripting I do. My friends in SL were starting to wonder why they never saw me, and it's pretty bad when your friends in a virtual world start to think you're a recluse.
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And if Second Life is your Second Job (or even your primary source of income), what do you do to get away from it?

Pleasure. Mixed with alot of boredom. And dongs, can't forget the dongs.

Right now, pleasure. It pays for itself right now, and i am still outfitting myself and getting to know things and places.
I would like it to give out some money eventually, because a) i like the idea of a game making money and b) i am unable to work, so it's a bit of an achievement to earn something, even if it's just peanuts, or virtual peanuts

SL is a pleasure for me. I really wouldn't want SL to become a job for a couple reasons.

1. It'll become work, and through RL experience I know that making a hobby into work is just a bad idea.

2. The SL economy is like a 2-legged chair. If you put your full weight in it, it's just going to let you down because it lacks the proper support.

it's both my vacation and my job!
best job ever!

Pure pleasure

A passionate hobby, really.


Ah, and yeah, I'd probably make money if I didn't pour it back in at the same rate I make it.

I'm hoping to make this a self-sustaining habit, I mean, hobby! Yeah, hobby, that's it!

I find all of the frustration and annoyance of a job, except I can turn off the computer. Man, calling in sick to work was amusing too.

Me: Hi, I won't be able to make it in today.
Unknown and confused Linden on the other end of the line: Umm.... Are you sure you dialed the right number?


Seriously, I think it would be a really bad idea if I tried to make it a job. It's just a hobby with the chance of supporting itself.

My SL business is pleasure in a couple of ways. There is pleasure in the day to day running of things, the people, basically (though it does have its not so great moments lol), and the pleasure of making something work financially, too, almost like a game. There isn't enough money in what I do to provide a financial motivation.

Both.

I work from home, do all my work online. SL is just a part of all my online income sources. It's the most enjoyable part though. I can goof around, have fun, and make some money at the same time.

I try not to accidentally click on this thing:

It's both but always fun whether I'm just hanging out or doing actual "work". I have a responsibility to partners and backers but at the same time I never get that feeling of "going to work" or "having a job to do". I'm hanging out and having fun and building amazing relationships at the same time that I'm doing all of the other things that I'm doing in poser or paintshop or customer service. I fortunately still know when to turn off all that stuff and just focus on the fun and on the relationships.

SL is both. I script because it's fun. And I try to make some money off of it too, but fun is the main objective here. I don't own land, so it's not a need to be self sustaining.

Working in SL is my RL job, and almost 8 months after I made the plunge I'm still happy with my decision. There are a bunch of things to take into account though before someone should make the decision for themselves...

Are you ready to turn the place you WANT to log into, into the place you HAVE to log into?

Is your financial situation such that you can afford to essentially enter into business for yourself?

Can you turn your social life way down to devote the time necessary to make your endeavor a success?

A lot of people mentioned the risk in working in SL. When I made my decision to jump, I looked at the situation like "I'm probably never going to ever have another opportunity to make money doing something like this, that I honestly love to do. Even if it fails, at least I had fun doing it." If SL ceased to exist tomorrow, I could at least look back and say I was a part of something really cool, that I really enjoyed. In RL you get so few opportunities to do just that, why not take the chance when its given to you?

Awww

Right now it's pleasure, but I am trying to turn it into business.

I, too, am unable to work in RL, due to a massive injury in an industrial accident. When a friend turned me on to SL, I saw an opportunity to take the things I love doing already (gaming, 3D design and modeling, etc.), and turn them into a small, yet tangible, income. Being the kind of person I am, not being able to work in RL was really starting to bum me out quite a bit. I have an undying need to be productive and contribute to something, and SL has provided me with that opportunity. I know it might sound silly, but for those of us who are severely injured or handicapped, being able to be a positive contributing member of society, even a "virtual society", is a real boost to self esteem. I know LL has it's problems, but to provide this service for myself and others in my position is almost enough to overshadow all of that.

I don't care if I only make enough to sustain my SL habit. Being able to participate in something meaningful is already payment enough.

Veng

Ahh, well it used to be pleasure... then it turned into business....and then it went back to pleasure. But seeing how I have only logged in about 7 times in the past 7 months I guess I can't really say.

Would love to find pleasure in SL again.

Briana Dawson

I have such a terrible business sense that it just wouldn't be feasible for me to try to make SL my job, unless I could make money by working for someone else in SL who DOES have a good business sense. During my span of fixing people's computers in their residences, I ripped myself off more than I can even count--you know, doing 6 hours of work and only getting $20 for it because I wasn't a stickler enough on price, trying to be a nice guy. In SL I've already given away a bunch of custom outfits I've made because of the same thing.

So, SL is pleasure for me.

After all these years of looking forward to the arrival of the technology required to do what I am doing now, why would I want to get away from it? I know my situation probably isn't typical . . . I have wanted to do what I am doing for a living for a very long time, and I have been self-employed and doing it online for many years. It's just my lifestyle, and I don't really draw any clear line between what's work and what's play . . . it's just the stuff I do, and some of it's billable hours. The worst "work based horrors" I've faced while running my SL biz have been the process of winding down and closing the business I was running before I began work here, and falling asleep at my desk and snoring into Skype.

Second job? No...SL is my FIRST job.

I actually quit a moderately wel paying job as a modeller and texture artist for a big game company to devote more of my time to SL and my business here. My SL business is now my sole RL income. and how I support myself and two kids.

The reason I did it, and took a bit of a pay cut to do so, was because I love SL THAT much and enjoy working here far more than working chained to the restrictions of my previous RL job. I do much the same type of work here as I did there. I design stuff and paint textures. But here I design what I want to design instead of what I am told to design. Here I get to interact with my customers and talk to them and joke and laugh with them, where as before the devs were restricted in what we could even post on our own forums let alone in interacting with players of our game.

I adore SL. I adore the community and people here. I adore my job here, and the change I made to come here fulltime as my income is the best choice I made in many years. I get so much more joy out of working here than I ever did working for the big game companies I used to be a slave to. I feel a real sense of accomplishment here and I love getting to interact with my customers.

So yes...making SL my FIRST job was a wonderful thing.

Awww you're peachy

Ah um a poster before suggested dongs. I'd go for those.

To me, it is both.

I have my business here (though I'm investing the money I make back into it). But there's a lot of fun in it for me too. There are, to me, few things that are greater than seeing people enjoy your service, knowing that you are providing them with something that enhances their SL.