Is there money to be made here?

Hello everyone,

Im a professional web developer and graphic designer, been doing it for the last 6 years. And i was just wondering if there was any L$ to be made using these skills?

the sort of things i do are:

websites - design, coding (high end sites usualy)

Corporate Identity
Posters
Corporate Documents
Magazine covers

etc

Any advise would be appriciated

Tom

With a CV like that you're prolly wasting your time and talents in SL. However, do spend a bit of time in-world exploring around.

Hi Tomp, as a creative person with a graphic design background Second Life should make you feel right at home. There could be good work out there for you. I see lots of ads in the classifieds for help with building and maintaining web sites. That work, however is mostly separate from SL. The best type of work within SL is with large scale corporate projects and a team, or in establishing a brand name and selling virtual goods within SL. But, in order to get this type of work, or establish a successful brand name, you will need to pick up new skill sets specific to Second Life (building, scripting, texturing) and "wow" people with those skills.



Waste!? I have a CV like that and a nice day job too. Quite a few SL residents probably do. Should we all leave?

I do it during the day anyway ....and i enjoy it enuff to do it in my free time if i can make money from it here....

The idea of a brand name is good could even use my old companies corporate identity from before we rebranded. But i dont want to put loads of real cash into this...so was going to see if it was possible to make cash from it as a means to an end if you see what i mean

That is an oxymoron btw.

I agree in most cases.

Sounds like a good start. Have a look around SL and see what is popular. Next step is deciding what you want to create and sell.

why do i hate these OP that just come in for the money.

Why don't you get the f*** out? we have enough leeches poisoning the community

Wow. Just...wow.

What? So you'd rather have him camp? The OP didn't say he's looking to get uber-rich with rl$ -- wants to earn some Linden (presumably to shop and support other content developers.) Sheesh.

To Tomp -- you can certainly use your skills to set up shop! The basic and most natural for you might be to set up a little inworld graphic design/photo studio. Lots of people want and need help with signage, HUDs, logos, wedding and party invitations, that sort of thing. Growing concerns do start to set up out of world websites and don't necessarily have the experience or knowhow to do it. And, your skills with graphics software such as photoshop are a natural for you to start learning to make clothing.

Keep exploring, have fun, and you'll find your niche in SL! Welcome!

That's a bit mean, it's not like he's just saying "how i mine for fish".

I was going to say that offering a professional and SL-aware web design service could be useful. So many people want to have some sort of web presence, but would be much more likely to hire somebody within SL to help, someone who knows a bit about the world, taking screenshots, the sort of things buyers are interested in, that sort of thing.

With that in mind I would begin by familiarising yourself with the screenshot tool, video recording, the existing SL-related e-commerce sites, and the SL blog universe. That would give you an idea of what works and what could be improved.

Other than that the main relevant skill would be photoshopping, which can be used to make textures, but you really need to know what sort of textures people might want, and it's not a very profitable field unless you're prepared to do an awful lot of it. Take a look at the existing texture shops for an idea. Or you could do contract texture work for select clients; like any freelancer you'll need to build up a reputation to get jobs that way, networking, samples, you know.

hrm sorry, bad day, bad mood and a post that was making me believe ... well forget about it

Ha! I just knew you was going to kick ass when I saw your name in the 'Last Post' column of this thread. Your post was so typical of our kyrah. So don't you be giving me all this bad day crap!

Somebody needs a big hug!

heh satisfied?

Hey! You was just being you. It's always good to have somebody around who is willing to point out the negative side of things. I appreciate you!

* Hugs you *

Mostly it depends on what you're aiming for. If you just want to be self-sufficient you'll most likely succeed if you're willing to work for a fraction of what you're charging RL clients for the same work, but if you're looking at SL as a new venue to expand into, you'll probably end up dissapointed.

With the new web profile tab, you might be able to tap into that, but I honestly don't think more than a fraction is willing to pay what you think your time is worth given your experience.

it depends on what you mean by "make money"

if you want to make about... oh let's say.. $20 USD a month (about L$ 6000).. yeah that's possible with a relatively minimal amount of effort. (about 2 hours a day, 4 days a week I'd say). But that's not going to be play time.... that'll be time spent carefully crafting goods, polishing scripts, photoshopping textures, what-have-you. Then you have to factor in the costs involved.. renting a shop space, paying for advertising, and that doesn't even account for the time spent selling your wares, doing tech support, etc.

Now.. if you get lucky, and run into the right people.. and get involved in some really lucky deals.. it's possible to skirt issues of land purchase/rental.. it's even possible to avoid parts of the time spent selling. BUt the more money you try to make, the more time you're going to spend working.

It's been mentioned before that I pull about $180 USD out of this game a month. Of course you have to factor in one very important thing. I'm not employed on the outside. I spend 16 hours a day, actively working, using SL as a tool. I don't get hardly any "play" time. I haven't seen my significant others in what seems like months. I haven't had SL Sex in like.. 2 months. I haven't roleplayed a scene, I haven't "played" in a very long time.

If we compared this to a 40 hour a week job, I'm making less than $1.25 an hour. If we used my actual hours... I'm making less than 38 cents per hour.

You want my advice? if you're a successful graphic designer and web designer.. (successful meaning paying your bills.. can afford luxuries like telephone, petrol, and McDonalds and occassional splurges like a new HD when yours dies... ) You're wasting your time trying to "make money" here. There are a few big names making most of the money... everyone else is just scrounging. My advice is to take $20 a month and buy lindens with it. play the game. Make some fun things for yourself and your friends.. occassionally set up a vendor for them. But don't let "making money" become your focus here..

because, while it's possible.. it really kills the fun.

I realize that many of you have been enticed to SL by creative and exciting news articles, telling you that it's an untapped goldmine here. You've been lied to.

Tomp, everyone here is going to tell you a different story. The bottom line is you decide what you want. You can make it a time to relax and play, a hobby, a part time business or a full time business. It all depends upon what kind of effort you want to put into it, and what you think it's worth. It's no different from the principles you are already familiar with.

Kyrah Abattoir - i sincerely hope that there isn't many people around in this game like you, thats no way to welcome new players....if you don't like what someone is saying, don't post its as simple as that, your wasting your own time, and making other people feel unwelcome for doing nothing wrong.

Now thats out the way,

I think alot of people have missed the point of my post, its nothing to do with Real life money, i enjoy going having not alot to having alot within online games (hence i said i didn't want to just pump real money into the game), and thats what im looking to do here, im not planning on taking any money back out of the game at all.

I want to make money to be successful within the second life world, so i can buy land, build interesting things on it and have some fun, as i love my job....and i love design, i just wanted to see what options were available to get going in this game with the skills i have. I enjoy business, and thats what i want to do in second life.

Thanks for everyone who has posted, I think im going to look at setting up a small in game design firm, if anyones interested in getting involved then let me know ....heres a few examples of my work

http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs5/300W/i/2004/270/2/c/Imaedia_Corporate_Identity_by_zekie.jpg
www.facevault.com - ongoing person project
http://www.evolutionofficial.com/ - client work

Tomp, while I can understand Kyrah's meaning (not necessarily the tone), you have to understand where some of us are coming from.

There are literally hundreds of posts asking how people can turn a quick buck, never clarifying it's to enhance SL or to turn a profit and run away rich.

Some people are just sick of others thinking SL is a platform to take advantage of others and run laughing to the bank and that's it's easy a pie.

People are posting "How can I make tons of money fast?" everyday. Sometimes even accompanied with a large sob story. (ETA) And your titling of your post certainly points to the same, even if you didn't mean it the way it's read.

So while I don't condone the way Kyrah said it, I can certainly understand the frustration behind it.

But whatever reason people are here for, if you dont like there reasons dont assosiate with them......frustrating or not, welcome people here for what they want to do. As ive made clear, im not in any way wanting to take any money out of the game, i have no need to, but i receive an aggresive message like that, its unacceptable....especially when i very clearly state in my post, is there any $L to be made, nothing about real money, if hed taken the time to read the post, im sure even someone who is as small minded enuff to make posts like that on the internet as him would be able to figure that out.

Don't mistake "What Linden Labs wants to do" with "what Second Life Players want to do" (for that matter, don't confuse "forum consensus" for "SL Member consensus".. Kyrah was in a bad mood, in a bad day.. she's said that. But the opinions behind her outburst are widely shared. There are many, many, many people in SL who would like to see new registrations STOPPED... with unverified, and even basic membership eliminated.

"new people" are a constant issue in SL (least on the forums).. likened in many ways to "Illegal Immigrants". you can apply almost every single argument that has been made against "brown people" in the US.. and re-title it "Unverifieds" or "Free account holders"... and the same exclusionary rhetoric boils up.. especially here in the forums.

They're taking dollars out of the economy that could be used for "PAYING MEMBERS"... they use up precious sim resources.. the add demand to tech support, litter, they're lazy, shiftless, and probably greifers.

There is a great deal of resentment, particularly from long-time players... towards this "new breed" of SL player, the prospector. new, greedy people who come to SL with the idea that they can make "Money" here. People who may have come here for the role playing, or the chance to have a "live" furry.. or the chance to build cool things in a social environment.. none of them expecting a dime. The founding population of SL was here for sex, bdsm, furries, gor.. standard themes in MMORPG's.. These people didn't come here (primarily) to make money. Their game has become polluted with constant shops and malls and casinos. Land has become very expensive, and all the incentives to build "interesting" builds have been removed.. Many people spend hundreds of real world dollars every month on this game. Instead of renting movies or going out to dinner.. they use SL.. it's obvious why these people might be angry at the greedy sods who come into SL with the intent of making money, viewing it as a "business platform"

Unfortunately, the international press is treating SL like the new stock exchange.. so when people hear about Second Life.. they think "financial". (heck, one of my builds was recently mentioned in an article in the London Financial Times... not "PC Gamer" or "Motorsports".) So now people come to my build looking for "a job"... and I have no way to explain to people that..

We're not open
We have 3 people on staff (and can't adequately use all three)
We're not actually making any money
and even if we did... we don't NEED anyone sitting here all the time.

People in the forums have gotten to the point where they (we) occasionally snap off a quick reply.. particularly when the thread looks like it's geared towards one of several hot-button issues (money, child avatars, content theft, selling freebies, camping chairs, unverified accounts, greifing, etc). As much as you want to point the finger at Kyrah for her outburst.. and she has made a fair attempt at an apology.. your thread title has to bear some of the culpability.

As to money.. you've had some good suggestions here.. I suggest you make use of them.

I am so glad the Flash websites fad is over. That is precisely what happens when your web design team consists solely of graphic designers.</vague tangent>

Winter has summed it up even better.

And frankly, when you state is there any L to be made, you DIDN'T say NOT to cash out and usually those coming in to ask about making L ARE looking to cash out.

If I'm frustrated by certain people, I'm not going to welcome them. I'm frustrated that I'm a paying member, with only 5k inventory items and yet I get the same treatment as an unverified, non paying, non contributing av with 50k items. Some yahoo could create toss away accounts, create 70,000 boxes and his inventory loading gets the same priority as mine. I should welcome that?

I took the time to read your post. Word for word. It looks like the tons of other ones out there where people want a get rich quick scheme. In fact, you DID mention you wanted some cash without having to put in cash...


So don't preach to me if you think you don't come off sounding like another one of those posts, with statements like that.