Cindy Claveau

This started as a free notecard I pass out in SL, but Cris suggested I transfer it here and convert some of the landmarks to SLURLs. Since the original note was written in 2006 and revised before casinos were outlawed, I've done a 3rd revision to reflect the current situation in SL.

Please, anyone who has anything to add or changes to suggest, speak up. I wrote this to help new residents, and anything that advances that cause is welcome. (Specifically, I'm unclear about the current state of games like Tringo and Slingo - are they considered gambling or skill?)

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN SECOND LIFE (PART I)

One of the most common questions new residents ask is "How do I make money in Second Life?" It's an important question because there is no single pre-set way to earn money and it's difficult to do many things without at least a little starter cash. Here are a few tips and ideas:

**NETWORK!
What you must do if you want to make money here is to, first, be patient. Experiment with a few of the methods that sound like fun and find what you enjoy the most. Then stick with it a while to build your network of friends as well as your expertise. You'll find that making money depends as much on your network as it does on your skills -- for customers, for opportunities and tips on getting better.

You'll also find that the more a venture pays, the more difficult it probably is. That's kind of like real life, huh?

Warning: There are some scams in Second Life designed to take advantage of new people. For example, the green dollar sign objects that promise to give you free money if you place them around the grid. These are nothing more than a pyramid scam and are against the Terms of Service. You can get into trouble using them, both with the Lindens and with property owners. Also, there are groups which claim to be for the benefit of new members but charge for entrance. The only people making money there are the group founders.

Gambling is not legal in Second Life due to U.S. Federal Law. If you are offered the chance to gamble, just say no. People can get banned very quickly for this.

I'm going to list ways to make money, in approximate order from easiest to most difficult. The rewards will (usually) scale inversely:

1. Buy Lindens from Lindex. That little blue button in the upper right with the white "L$" is for purchasing Lindens. You'll need to have payment information on file with the Lindens, of course. That interface will auto-update the US$ price for any amount you enter before you select "Buy", so play with it if you wish. There is a very small surcharge for buying $L. As of the date this is written, you can buy $1000L for $4.08 US.

2. Money Trees. If you are under 30 days old in SL, you can pick Lindens off of money trees for free. Be aware that there are some groups/individuals who have organized farming these things so it might be hard to find any that have money on them. If you can get $5 to $10L off one tree, you've done well. Click your "Find" button and in the "Places" tab enter "money tree".

A central directory to most known money trees in SL:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Garmisch/51/211/168

3. Camping. This has become popular with some new residents because it involves nothing more than parking your avatar on a dance animation or a camping chair and walking off. But the monetary return is very low – you’d probably have to camp for most of a day to earn $50L. It’s boring, tedious work and won’t expand your SL horizons. Further, there is talk about revising the way SL’s Search function works which would remove traffic as the prime indicator. The more traffic a store gets, the higher they’re listed in Search. Once the importance of traffic is reduced, look for camping to go away.

4. Games. It's possible to make money in SL by playing games. There are several popular ones like Tringo, Slingo and so forth. These usually cost nothing to enter (small donations are considered polite but not required), and if you know how to play Bingo or Tetris, you can figure them out pretty quickly. Some of the pots can get fairly large. Be sure to give part of your winnings back to the pot if you take the big jackpot - it's customary. Remember, you want to build networks too. Look under "Events" in your Find for a listing of games.

5. Contests, raffles, money balls. Most clubs run frequent contests for which they have a cash prize. The contests are for various categories like "Sexiest Avatar", "Best in black", "craziest look", etc. The best way to win one of these is to keep attending the same club long enough to make friends -- friends vote for friends. Work on getting yourself a nice skin, some prim hair, and a few different clothing outfits. They will improve your odds of winning appearance contests.

A few stores around Second Life have random money balls that give a few Lindens to shoppers - if you stick around long enough you can pick up a couple dozen $L for yourself. Also, some stores have "Lucky Chair" drawings. If your first name matches the random letter drawn, you simply sit in the chair to win the prize.

6. Services. The demand for services in SL is not that high, with a couple of exceptions. Here is where your personal network can pay off handsomely whether you want to run events, provide club security or become an escort. How successful you are depends a great deal on how many people you know. Of all the services residents can provide probably the most reliable one is running events. You'll contract with the owner of a club or venue who will pay you a set fee for each event you manage -- normally dance contests, games and so forth.

* Some stores are hiring good-looking avatars to pose in their outfits to get shopper attention (you might get free clothing this way). Search for "modelling" or shop around at the larger SL malls and look for other residents posing in stores to find your job leads.

* FlipperPA Peregrine is offering a finders' fee to anyone who brings him advertising for SLTrivia.com. You get a 15% commission on each advertiser you bring. Contact him for details.

* Cristiano Midnight offers a 25% commission rate for advertisers you can bring to SLU. Easy money

* Social Research Foundation is one of several RL organizations in Second Life who offer money for participation in research and surveys. You can either use the search tool for "surveys" or "research" to locate an opportunity, or you can teleport to: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tully%20Low/245/235/231
and avail yourself of their information, sign up, and start earning some income.

*DJ - do you have a Shoutcast server and a wide selection of music? Do you have a radio presence? Again, the secret of success is in building your network, but there are DJs who make money while they're doing what they love the most.

* Escorting: It may appear as a glamorous, sexy way to roleplay in Second Life but be aware that the market is glutted with people looking to make fast money this way. You need to be uninhibited and not easily offended because you could be asked by clients to roleplay things you don't find appealling. In most clubs, the escort has a right to refuse.

If you aren't shy and are determined and patient enough to try it, you'll need a good skin, a nice shape, hair, clothing and scripted genitals -- all of which add up to some serious $Lindens. Then you'll want to join a club or escort agency when you start because freelancing makes a tough job even tougher. The club/agency will take a percentage of your fee, usually around 10%. And in the end you're still competing against a large number of people in SL who do the same things for free. Only the very best will succeed at this one, and getting started is not free.

(cont'd)

Cindy Claveau

(Part II)


Whatever your choice for providing services, try to stand out by being conscientious and reliable and by listening to your customers. That's great advice in any customer service field.

7. Buy and Sell Land. Do you have a head for business? Ever own stock? You'll find that there is usually a robust market in Second Life for virtual real estate. Of course, in order to own land in the first place you must own a premium account with Linden Lab. And you have to understand how the tier structure works. The First Land program has been discontinued, but if you sign up for a premium account you can then purchase land. Watch the real estate market, be aware of policy changes and new sims opening up which can impact the market price. You don't really need any special skills to make money doing this, other than common business sense. Buy low, sell high, and factor in your tier expenses.

** The next 3 categories are our creative choices. Each will involve some degree of skill and experience with using the geometric primitive (prims) functions in SL or in manipulating Photoshop, or both. Scripting involves using the C-like programming language that defines the behavior of objects in SL. Before you try to market your creations, be sure to learn the nuances of the Second Life permissions system - copy, modify, transfer. Don't sell things with full permissions if you don't want other people giving it away or reselling it.

8. Design & Textures. If you want to make basic clothing, your first stop should be the "Design and Textures" section of the second life forums at http://forums.secondlife.com. Grab Chip Midnight's clothing & skin templates (free download) and browse the other topics there. Feel free to post questions, there are experienced designers around who are only too happy to help. You can also Google "Second Life creating clothes" to find some helpful tutorials. You'll need a good 3D graphics package like Photoshop, Paintshop, or GIMP (which is free).

Once you've done that, go to Robin Sojourner's shop at Livingtree http://slurl.com/secondlife/Livingtree/136/122/24

Her in-world Texture Tutorial is a wonderful place to learn how to create and use textures.

Start with clothing. Look at what other designers have done and note the texture work they use. Be aware that creating skins is about the hardest design work you can undertake in SL, but also among the most lucrative.

Animations are slightly different from working with textures - you'll need Poser or Avimator, or any 3D animation program able to export .BVH files to Second Life. Good animations, however, are always a big seller in SL.

If you don't have a graphics program or a 3D animation program, you can still create avatar shapes and sell them. All you need to make a shape is the Second Life client - though a few good skins help for advertising your products. There's a great deal of competition for this, so be sure to come up with a branding idea and an approach that sets you apart a little from the crowd.

9. Building. Building can also include textures and scripting, but in this case I'm referring mainly to manipulating primitives (prims). Your best source of help for this one is the Ivory Tower of Primitives at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/28

I still go back to the Ivory Tower for refreshers after 2 years of playing with prims. With decent building skills, you can construct houses, furniture, prim hair, shoes, fountains, prim clothing, vehicles and anything else you dream up. The art of torturing prims involves patience and practice and be sure you've mastered another art, too: panning and zooming your camera.

10. Scripting. This is the "magic" of Second Life. If you have any programming experience using other languages, Linden Scripting Language (LSL) shouldn't be too difficult to understand. Again, there is a forum section at forums.secondlife.com for Scripting Tips and there is a Wiki just for the language at http://lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage

Don't forget to bookmark "Using LSL" tutorial at http://www.kan-ed.org/second-life/using-LSL.html

Look around for free scripts you can take apart and tweak, such as these locations:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mew/123/133/751

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Leda/211/24/56

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sami/13/58/25

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isabel/50/229/82

The very best items in Second Life actually combine the last 3 categories -- textures, primitives and scripting. Whether it's an amazing new aircraft, a magic wand or just a versatile resident's tool that makes their life easier and more fun, the sky truly is the limit.

Whatever you do, no matter how much money you make (or not), remember to always have fun. If it's not fun, why bother?

Cindy Claveau
July 4, 2006.
Revised: March 8, 2007
Revised: Sept. 11, 2007

garry26

the tree directory is in this place called Bravo. Bravo is in Garmisch and is in the SLURL listed above

Some money trees are set so you cant pick from them unless you have a Credit Card on file. Others require you to have a premium account, etc. Currently I believe there's only 1 tree in world and it required a credit card. In other words: almost useless

Cindy Claveau

There's one in Garmisch too, which is my SLurl.

They haven't been worth a lot since June of 06 when we got flooded with new residents, but it was still a good idea. I'm puzzled why anyone would set their money tree to only be usable by people who can buy their own money. That's nonsensical to me. But if true, it could be their reaction to the money tree farmer groups.

Camping is still there, I know, and I checked the survey place and they still offer cash to newbies for taking their survey.

Cin

Clancy Sullivan

Excellent info, excellent post, Cindy.

Tabby Catteneo

When I was a newbie, I made the most of my money in blitz building contests and show and tell at NCI. >.>


But really, anyone with enough skill to win those contests should use the money and give themselves a leg up, and start their own business... ^^

CoyoteMomiji

Perhaps I am a bad bad person, but the majority of people who have asked me how to make money in SL usually wind up with a "well, YOU can't".

Of course, this is after they asked me for full-perm stuff so they can resell it.

Uh huh.

Envoy Costagravas

Oh, not at all. If anything, you are a good bad person. That counts for a lot.

__________________
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin

Cristiano

Taser them - works like a charm.

__________________
"At least he died doing what he loved most - blogging on the Huffington Post" - 30 Rock

* slu stuff *

Aodhan McDunnough

Well if only we had tasers in-world Cris. I will make an exception to my no-oribiting policy specially for those toiletpaper wannabes (a.k.a. asswipes) if they're ever audaciously stupid enough to do that to me.

The guy who outright asked me to give him a copy of my avatar without a proper hi-hello and friendliness round was bad enough, thank you.

ooooooooooooooooooooh ...just got a nasty idea.

Raindrop Drinkwater

Hi Msr Coyote Mojiji, I is a bizness woman. I are starting a new bizness its going to pay lots of lindens.
I cant tell u what it is as its a Sekret.

Do u want to my bizness partner? Yes? U give me ur stuff full perms and then were partners.

Sincerely,
Your future biz partner.

Tabby Catteneo

... I had an offer like that once.


I would provide the items, and she would source for new locations and the like.


... I considered it. :shame:

garry26

Bottom line: You either make something you can sell using the various programs. If you cant, you're going to have to come up with some other sly method of making L$. Often some borderline scam-type thing.

Real money is involved so no one will help. Not really help. They'd only create more competition for themselves. You are on your own. SL is cut throat (just like RL). Comments made to deny this are merely camoflauge. Its bad business to admit such things. Unless you feel you can survive anti-you sentiments Like Anshe.

Exagerated comment coming
Its dog eat dog and the only reason they dont kill everyone who takes even $0.01 out of their business, is because they'll get caught. That's why there's so many underhanded practices in business.

SL is like RL in that respect.

Eppie hock

Well, SL is like RL sometimes...escorts, scams, you name it, whats the difference... allthough.... I am sitting on a chair right now at my office, but when I get up, I don't get money after 10 minutes of sitting...have to wait till payday

__________________
http://eppie.my-secondlife.nl

xjimmie6

can i start second life all over, with a new avatar, ie, character, to take advantage of this 30-day rule about picking money off of trees ? i started this game about 6 months ago, but never really got into it. thanks.

Mordos Yering

The amount of money you typically get from trees/camping is generally negligible in the general scheme of things, but yes, you could make an "alt" to take advantage of such things.

A short word of advice: if all SL is going to be to you is a place "to maek teh phat lewt," you may find it rather disappointing, as you may not have the patience to take to learn the ins and outs of the game -- you can only expect to really get out what you put into it.

My advice is just buy what Lindens you "need" until you familiarize yourself with whatever angle you think suits you -- land baron, escort, or builder. And to be honest, you don't really "need" a lot: there's an astounding number of decent things available for free.

Oh, and avoid "Business In A Box." It's generally either crappy stuff that really wasn't worth the original makers time to bother and sell themselves, or a collection of other people's freebies. I find it's more gratifying to sell my own stuff (or done in conjunction with a good partner) than to try to achieve fame and fortune through other people's work.

__________________
"We can no longer live as rats. We know too much." -- Nicodemus
The Secret of Nimh <:3 )~~~~

Joshua Nightshade

Yeah, you can be a real shithead and take advantage of others' generosity so they eventually stop offering it for new people like you altogether.

You can do that. We can't stop you.

We won't be very nice to you though.

Ned Easterwood

Ya know - there ain't no way as an easy way to do anything. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
It takes talent and hard work.
And if I ever saw anybody with the wrong attitude about SL, it's you.

__________________
Ned

Alfie Demonia

Lol I genuinely thought that said 'wanking off'.

Hal 9000

Sex Clubs+ Camping= NEWBIE HEAVEN!

Sarah Nerd

Cindy do you have this in notecard form to hand out in world?

__________________

www.SarahNerd.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com/sarahnerd

Syntax Wilder

LMAO! Freud would have a field day here eh?

lulu_dominquez

That was a very informative post Cindy...thank you
Alfie, that's very mean of you to take advantage of people who have just started. If you're not into Second Life after six months in-world, maybe Second Life isn't the right thing for you.
If you still think it is, take some building classes or something like that. Soon you'll be able to do your own things and earn some money of it.
Good luck!

__________________
LuLu D.

Life's short, enjoy it while it lasts!

Sarah Nerd

Huh?

Cindy Claveau

Did I miss this post Sarah? Damn, I'm sorry.

I not only have the notecard but a notecard giver I made that passes it out on touch.

I would be happy to send you (or anyone) a full-perms version of both. Do as you wish - I'm sure a few things in my card need to be updated to the current grid state. For example, the survey I mentioned no longer exists that I know of.

But there's always other surveys.