"...top [SL] resident will make $US 160,000 in 2005." -- Friendster SL Group

I just noticed that there is a group on Friendster called Second Life that appears to have been started by Reuben Linden this month. Here's the blurb he included to describe the group:

"Second Life is a 3-D Virtual World built entirely by its residents. Over 40,000 people from around the world are building this massive online world, doing everything that's possible in Real Life. . . . and many things that aren't. There's a very active economy in Second Life and the money that people make in the "game" can be converted into real money; in fact, the top resident will make $US 160,000 in 2005. Second Life is a great place to hang out with friends -- it's the only place you could have a college reunion (or Friendster reunion) at the drop of a hat. It costs $9.95, that's a ONE TIME FEE and it's good for life. Let's build a group here and hang out in Second Life."

160k doing what?

Land Baron
Cyber Sex
Selling Branded Merchandise
Animations taken from the web

Or is it something completly original and creative?

One could easily say they are making X amount of dollars, now what is their overhead?

Just wondering because by and large I don't see anyone making scads of money in SL.

Cat

$160,000 US? Bullshit!!

roflmao Merwan! Ok so I was thinking it but I am so glad YOU said it

Well... ansheland has around 50 sims - $50,000
A year of tier - 12*200*50 = $170,000
The costs alone are staggering... plus i think she has about 30 sims on the main grid.

if you own you own 50+ sims, your monthly payment to LL is over 10k US a month. your in game equity is over 50k USD. what would make it worth your time to take a risk like this?

but we all know she also invested 50k us to begin with

STOP THE PRESS!

actually anshe has a very clever model for expanding ansheland without any capital risk. she charges 4 L$/ m2 square for the land sale (technically not the same kind of sale as LL, more like a community entrance fee) which covers in entirey the outlay for the island sim. 65k m2 * 4 L$/m2 / 250 L$/USD = 1040 USD.

what anshe is doing is tier leveraging, and it provides her with a good income for all the work she puts into creating communities and maintaining zoning.

smart a$$

I'd assume its not Anshe, her profit margin is razor thin, as any of the baron crew will tell ya. Right J-Wu? Schwan?

If anyone is going to be making that kind of cash, its got to be one of the top-end designers. They don't have much in the way of overhead. I think US$160,000 has got to be an exageration though.

Regards,

-Flip

if you manage an island rental service that charges the same fees as LL
if your average tenant owns a 8k m2 or 4k m2 plot
if you own 40 island sims
if your capital investment is immediately recouped

8k m2
8 tenants/sim @ 40 USD/tenant = 320 USD/sim monthly revenue
320 USD/sim revenue - 195 USD/sim tier cost = 125 USD/sim monthly income
125 USD/sim * 40 sims = 5000 USD monthly income

4k m2
16 tenants/sim @ 25 USD/tenant = 400 USD/sim monthly revenue
400 USD/sim revenue - 195 USD/sim tier cost = 205 USD/sim monthly income
205 USD/sim * 40 sims = 8080 USD monthly income

i have no idea what anshe's mean or median tenants' tier is so i couldn't say for sure.

now if eggy is correct and anshe owns 20-30 sims of trading land on the grid, or mall land that makes a similar return, and she is making the minimum 20% return on equity per month for her hard work, that's about another 4-6k USD per month. this is entirely reasonable as anshe holds a near monopoly on the liquidation market since she's the only land trader who has taken the time to make the appropriate website form for the service(note to self: remind shaun for umpteenth time to add this service to cyberland).

note that for anshe this is a full time job with substantial risk. personally, i think the service she does and the hard work she puts in completely warrant the income she makes if the game economy can sustain it

Hmm

500L an outfit = $2 US

160,000 / 2 = 80,000 outfits.

40,000 active residents = 2 outfits per.

I'd say it's entirely possible that a clothing designer is bringing in that sort of bread.

But until a disinterested 3rd party auditing firm confirms such a statement - IMO, it remains nothing more than marketing bullshit and plays to GREED!!

average active residents (alt accounts) per player: 3.1416

How about Kermitt (Quirk)? Tringo is still selling to new people...

$$$ sigh?

Until Alan Greenspan comes down, personally audits every transaction ....

oh, be quiet Merwan! How hard is it to figure "Well, this person said they earned $80,000 for the first half of the year, so they'll likely make 160k by the end." ?

I think your cynicism is misplaced.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Pi!

"Restate my assumptions"

I've made more than the GDP of Japan already, and that's before all the 3Q05 numbers are in!

Bite me Hiro!!

I personally can totally believe this to be true. Granted this particular statement could have been a figure pulled out of the air just for the article, but I still believe it is possible for a small segment of our Residents.

They could make that amount of money, but if their expenses are $160,000, they won't be seeing any profit.

I have a bridge for sale in the New York City area; I bought it with some money that I got from a government budget error in Nigeria. Contact me via IM for details.

Sorry but there are NOT 40K active residents.

There are about 8K (maybe) and 10K at even philips wildest dreams. The rest are alts, dead and/or barely used accounts.

I suppose if everyone ran around and bought the same outfit for all they alts it might could work. But if you believe there are 40K ACTIVE members, please see the post above about the bridge.

kthxgbye