How to earn real money in second life. Ways to earn money in SL. Ten Cubed and Machinima Movies: 3D Art
There are people who consider business gambling. However, today there are more and more of those who are just considering the toy world as an opportunity to earn their first million. Paradox? No more than our whole life, according to entrepreneurs from virtual reality. Moreover, becoming successful in an artificially created world is sometimes much more difficult than in the real one. Let's check?
It is unlikely that the head of Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, imagined that the multiplayer game Second Life, created by him in 2002, would quickly outgrow the boundaries of the genre, turning into a “second life” for millions of investors who would not only spend, but also earn real money in a fictional virtual space. . Then, at the very beginning, Philip Rosedale clearly could not claim the title of demiurge of a parallel reality, the "population" of which a year after the start was a little more than one and a half thousand people. Apparently, this is precisely why the first version of Second Life was then called much more modestly than today - Linden World.
Now, just five years later, Second Life (SL) has over seven million registered users. In this world, its own currency is in circulation, and the world's largest corporations, one after another, open their representative offices.
The list of the most profitable sectors of the virtual economy, which experts estimate at $500 million, seems to be taken from real life. In Second Life, they sell land and real estate, open chain hypermarkets, and develop the gambling business without restrictions, and the avatars (i.e., game incarnations of users) of the most successful businessmen flaunt not just anywhere, but on the covers of leading business publications.
Please do not confuse!
What motivates those who spend time and money to develop a fake, artificially created habitat? Perhaps profit. The hype around SL's first millionaire, Anshe Chung, a German teacher of Chinese descent who goes by the real-life name of Eileen Gref, caused a massive influx of newcomers into the game. Beginners attracted by the opportunity to earn "easy money".
Personally, I fell for the bait after reading an article about a Chinese woman who earned a million in SL, - Anton Shepetko, a representative of the administration of the Russian Empire island, admits. After three months spent in a parallel world, he, however, somewhat lost his fighting enthusiasm and was forced to admit that it was not so easy to make money in this game: “Today, as a person with some experience, I can say that I personally don’t know anyone who would make big money in Second Life.
But what about the publicized millionaires? Anton Shepetko believes that this, apparently, is just a competent PR for Linden Lab, which is interested in the influx of new players. Perhaps it is. However, the old-timer of the game, Anatoly Levenchuk, president of TechInvestLab, is sure that the commercial success stories of individual players are not fiction at all: “They are as real as the stories about the “simple guys” Gates or Abramovich.” Indeed, most of us have never seen either Gates or Abramovich live (TV and magazines do not count). However, this circumstance does not at all prevent us from discussing their capital, as well as gossip about the personal life and quirks of billionaires. Anatoly Levenchuk says: you can make money in SL. But first it is very important to understand that Second Life is not a game at all, but a medium for communication. Or, according to Aleksey Nikitenko, editor-in-chief of the secondrussia.com portal, the virtual space. A space in which people become gods, capable of creating not only objects, but entire phenomena.
At the same time, most neophytes still consider Second Life as just another multiplayer game. And, not finding what they were looking for, they leave. “They are waiting for missions, tasks, goals and opponents - as in a regular game,” Musashi Tanabe does not see anything surprising in this, who refused to reveal his real name to Business Magazine, but prefers to wear the loud title of “master of virtual Moscow” in the game. - There is nothing like that here. You yourself are the blacksmith of your own happiness and you can do whatever you want in this world.
Yes, there is no second or third life, Stanislav Borisov, CEO of Happy Web Makers, laughs. - In the same way, the inhabitants of SL are not "avatars" at all. These are not strange and wonderful characters, but ourselves, in the refraction of the rules of this space.
Okay, but if in reality one is used to living in such a way as to earn more and more money, and the other values above all the ease of being and the absence of rigid attachments, what will SL become for them?
How than? A thresher of money for the first and an intriguing adventure for the second, - Stanislav Borisov is sure.
Virtual building
SL: first steps
In order to become a full citizen of Second Life, it is not at all necessary to stand in long lines at the consulate or go through the tedious procedure of obtaining citizenship. You just need to register on the game's website secondlife.com and receive a confirmation link to create a user account. Everything, you can fly! Why "fly"? Within the game space, you can move in more familiar ways - on foot or in vehicles. But over long distances, players prefer to move through the air or teleport to the right place.
When you get into SL for the first time, don't be scared. Most of the avatars here have a completely anthropomorphic appearance, but some prefer a more extravagant, and not only human.
Everything you see in the game is created by the hands and computers of users, using common 3D graphics packages or using the built-in features of the game client software available today for Windows, MacOS and Linux users.
Registration is free, so anyone can roam the virtual spaces to their heart's content. But in order to start a business and qualify to buy your own land, you will have to pay $9.95 for a Premium account. In general, something similar to the registration of individual entrepreneurs and legal entities.
Second Life is not just a game. This is a virtual world that game form allows you to implement serious tasks, - says Anton Shepetko. - In addition, the goal of immediate enrichment is not yet in front of the team of the Russian Empire island. Now for all of us it is an opportunity to implement ideas that are difficult to implement in real life. And it is quite possible that in the near future we will have an interesting commercial project.
Among the inhabitants of virtual reality there are already those who live off the income from the business opened in Second Life. And yet there are no miracles. Even in SL, you don't often see lucky people who come without a single linden in their pocket and become millionaires overnight. After all, even Anshe Chung, the owner of Anshe Chung Studios, the most successful entrepreneur in SL, according to the official story, spent $9.95 to buy her first land, which was then resold for a profit.
For Jess Saiman and her sister Vega Pilipenko (again, the girls do not give their real names; it is only known that they are Russian, but live abroad), a successful career in SL also began with investments, albeit insignificant ones. “Our investment amounted to 72 dollars for the purchase of a premium account, which makes it possible to buy land. Well, another $ 20 for the very first things, - Jess recalls. - And my sister and I immediately agreed not to invest real money in the business. After all, we spend in SL. So, let the income also flow from here.”
Today, Jess and Vega's business is based on two pillars - a network of jewelry stores and construction well-known in Second Life. “Jewellery is more of a hobby. But the construction brings good money,” admits Jess. Virtual development is indeed one of the most profitable types of business in SL. Refusing to advertise her earnings, Jess nevertheless told the Business Journal that the construction of one island now costs about ten thousand dollars, and she and her sister can complete this work in a month.
Do not think that construction is the only business in Second Life that allows you to live comfortably in real life. “There are five people in our circle whose earnings exceed $15,000 a month. And not all of them are related to building. Someone owns a big store, and one of our friends has an entertainment center where he throws corporate parties and charges $10,000 for it,” Sayman says.
At the junction of two worlds
At first glance, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the entrepreneurial spirit of successful businessmen in SL found its expression precisely in virtual world. After all, it seems like a real paradise for doing business. “In the real world, there are enough restrictions to start your own business: taxes, unequal market opportunities, age, gender, sparsely populated territory. In the virtual world, there are no such restrictions,” says Alexey Nikitenko. I agree with this assessment and Musashi Tanabe, who calls not to forget about the extremely low "entrance threshold". But Tanabe makes a reservation: for many, business in Second Life is still the implementation of skills acquired in everyday life: "Designers draw clothes and skins, architects build buildings, programmers write scripts."
Stanislav Borisov believes that all attempts to distinguish between “here” and “there” are meaningless: “People open in SL not a virtual, but the most real business. Just to someone World Second Life is better known than, say, the design of internal combustion engines or blast furnaces. This is what people are doing. Given that an increasingly significant part of the economy produces not a real, but an information product, there will be more and more businessmen in SL.
Oleg Pokrovsky, Business Development Director at Center for Internet Payments, expects that the growth in the number of players will lead to an increase in business activity exclusively within the game. But while the main money is spinning at the junction of two worlds. Thus, the Roboxchange service, owned by the "Internet Payments Center", exchanges electronic money for the internal currency of Second Life - linden dollars. “This service has been operating for a little over a month and has now reached the level of about 100 user transactions per day, which significantly exceeds our initial forecasts,” comments Oleg Pokrovsky. So far, most of the money has been exchanged for Linden dollars, but even this one-way exchange earns the company about four thousand real dollars a month thanks to a five percent commission.
By the way, the "exchange office" is not the only business of Oleg Pokrovsky in SL. He invested in the SecondRussia.com project, which should become the main entry point to Second Life for Russian-speaking users. It is expected that later this platform will become attractive for a variety of SL-businesses, whose owners will surely want to loudly declare themselves to the entire Russian-speaking audience of Second Life. “For us, as contractors of this project, it is very important to develop a new market as quickly as possible,” says Viktor Zakharchenko, head of the content direction of the E-generator portal and the secondrussia.com project. We are already considering applications from several domestic companies by bringing them into the space of Second Life. Yes, this is not the level of Intel yet. But the trouble is the beginning!
Sharks of non-virtual business
Even in Second Life, ambitious newcomers are unlikely to compete with the giants of global business. IBM alone plans to invest at least $10 million into the game by the end of 2007. Already today, four thousand employees of the Blue Giant “work” in SL, and the corporation itself owns dozens of islands in the game.
What makes completely real companies invest in the virtual world? “It’s just that they expect no less from SL real money, - Stanislav Borisov (Happy Web Makers) is sure. - Look at the hype raised by the media around this phenomenon! A fair amount of this informational noise is nothing more than PR paid for by big business, with the goal of “telling” the consumer what to do in order to be modern and effective.”
Alexey Nikitenko agrees that large corporations are already trying with might and main to use Second Life in their own interests: “It is clear that they are not interested in selling virtual goods as a goal. For them, it is mainly an advertising market with a huge audience that they can use to promote their services and products in real life.” That's why Toyota is giving away virtual copies of its cars for free - in the hope that in real life users will buy cars of this particular brand. And along the way, the company - at minimal cost - gets the opportunity to conduct marketing research. In the meantime, other corporations are opening physical stores in SL, consulting customers and arranging teleconferences, saving on transportation costs. And allowing the inhabitants of the game to earn along the way. How?
There is a company whose employees are scattered across different cities and countries. And there is a person who can connect them all in SL. The company rents an island from this person, he builds it up, and the company's employees, despite the fact that they can be separated by thousands of "real" kilometers, come to the "virtual office" as if to work, - Jess Sayman gives an example. In her opinion, many companies will follow a similar strategy in the near future: “It is better to rent an island in SL than pay big money for several offices in the real world.”
Analysts at Gartner are confident that this will be the case, predicting that by 2011 the majority of Fortune 500 companies will open their representative offices in SL.
Disenfranchised like us
The presence in the game of "business sharks" from real life, among other things, instills in the players some confidence that the "wonderful new world"will not fall apart before our eyes and will not cease to exist at the behest of the almighty Lindens (all Linden Lab employees, including Rosedale himself, bear this particular surname in the game).
According to the user agreement, which enters into each new player with Linden Lab, everything created and earned does not belong to the player at all, but to the company, which reserves the right to take any action, up to the removal of the player from SL without explanation. “Many businessmen are still afraid to invest serious money in SL,” admits Anton Shepetko (Russian Empire). “So for now, there aren’t many people who will agree to “pump” more than $100,000 into SL.”
Indeed, the hard-earned Linden dollars can disappear overnight if Linden Lab wants to. But, according to Jess Cyman, everything is not so scary. And it’s not at all necessary to “store” money in the game itself: “Suppose an order for 25 thousand dollars has arrived. Does it make sense to change dollars to lindens, and then back? After all, the transfer of payments can be arranged without Linden Lab - via PayPal or Western Union! It's both easier and safer."
As for the "general lack of rights", Saiman believes that the risks in the game are no higher than in reality. “Of course there is a problem. But even in life we are not always insured. Remember at least the devaluation of the ruble and "Black Tuesday" - reminds Jess. - In addition, today Second Life is not only Linden Lab, but primarily IBM, Dell, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and other corporations doing business in SL. And already plus to them - Linden Lab. Companies that have invested serious money in the game will not let anyone just disappear and disappear.
Director of Linden Lab Philip Rosedale is sure that in ten years almost the entire population will live a “second life” the globe, and Gartner calculated that the general “exodus into the Matrix” will happen even earlier. By 2011, 80% of Internet users will live in one of the virtual worlds. True, it is far from a fact that it is in Second Life. Maybe it will be another project.
Wait and see. But at least Jess Saiman and Vega Pilipenko link their future with SL. “So far we have not reached a level where we can say with full confidence that this is our work. But we are striving for this and we will achieve our goal, ”Jess Saiman assured Business Magazine.
But Stanislav Borisov, who spent more than one year in all kinds of game worlds in his youth, is not going to start a “second life” and believes that analysts predicting an imminent and massive exodus to parallel worlds are wrong:
I personally don't play any MMO games right now. I'm much more interested in reality. The way life changes according to the will of people is the real miracle, the most magical and fascinating fairy tale. I'm not going to scare or dissuade anyone. Play for health. In the end, everyone is responsible for himself. In addition, subject to a certain balance, any game becomes an exciting and rewarding pastime.
Russians are coming!
Russia is not yet represented in Second Life on such a large scale as the United States or Germany (citizens of these countries are most of all in SL). However, the number of the "Russian diaspora" is growing, and today there are already seven public Russian islands in the game: TechInvestLab, Russian Worldware, Russia, VisBoo, Moscow Island, Russian Empire, Fynist.
As in real life, serious competition begins between the owners of the islands, among which there are both legal entities and individuals. The more popular the island, the higher its attractiveness for business owners who decide to open their shops, casinos or entertainment centers on its territory. This means higher rental rates.
Everything here is like in real life, and each island has its own hobby. For example, on the territory of the Russian Empire island, free training is provided for beginners. The idea is good. Indeed, according to Anton Shepetko, a representative of the administration of the island of Russian Empire, the main reason for the outflow of people from the game is the lack of basic information about Second Life. “That's why we built a virtual academy,” says Anton Shepetko. “Thus, we killed two birds with one stone: we gave people the opportunity to learn somewhere and increased the popularity of our island.”
Another Russian island, Moscow Island, earns points (more precisely, while it is being assembled, since it is only being built up) by the ambitious ideas of the creators - the charismatic Musashi Tanabe and the director of the dance label Uplifto Sergey Pimenov. Virtual Moscow will not be an exact copy of real Moscow, but it will definitely contain all its sights. St. Basil's Cathedral is already ready and Red Square is being completed, and well-known specialists in SL - sisters Vega Pilipenko and Jess Sayman - were involved as developers.
You have registered in the game and completed Help Island. Congratulations! Almost all the doors of the virtual world are open before you, but you need to start somewhere. Many start with appearance, others from creation, others from something else. This article will not consider ways to get some things for free, we will focus only on earning virtual currency. In any case, you will need some initial amount of Linden Dollars (L$) virtual money. Of course, the easiest way to replenish a virtual account is by depositing money from your credit card or using special services, such as ROBOX. But we are not looking for easy ways and decided to earn some money directly in the game. What can we provide as workers who have not yet acquired individual skills and "professions"? Only your time in the game. Many owners of lands and locations are ready to give you some money so that you stay in their possessions for a while. Why do they need it? The answer lies in the magic word - TRAFFIC. The more traffic a certain place has, the higher this place will be in the search, it will be considered more popular, other residents will come there more often. Simply put, traffic is needed to attract visitors, but not newbies like you, but potential customers for whom that place is designed. Here are the first four simplest ways to earn initial money just provide for the principle - "you are in a certain place - you are paid manyushkas."
Method number 1 Camping (camp)
The owner of the land places special Camping Systems (objects with animation) on his land. Those who want to camp must run this animation on the object and not leave it for a certain time. For example, if you see an inscription above a camping object 2L$/15 min, this means that while at this campsite you will receive 2 linden dollars every 15 minutes. Animations can be different, such as dancing, wiping floors, catching fish and just sitting on a bench. It depends on the wild imagination of the owner of the land. To start camping, right-click on this object and select (most often) Camp.
How to find campsites in the vast world of Second Life? In Search, on the Places tab, search for a word Camp, you will be given hundreds of places for possible camping, fly, choose the "highest paid", if you can call it that))). Strictly speaking, camping is the lowest paid occupation that takes up your time, but it is worth noting that it is also the most stable and one of the more or less guaranteed earnings.
Method number 2 Money trees (money tree)
The money tree is another option for land owners to attract visitors.
From time to time, lindens appear on these trees, which a beginner can take, that is, replenish his linden balance. Money from money trees can only be taken by beginners, whose "age" is not more than 30 days. Some money trees require you to enter your credit card into your account. I skipped such trees, and flew to the next ones. How to find money trees? Easier than you think. In the search (Search), in the tab Places (Places) score money tree, you will be given a list of money trees on several pages. All you have to do is fly and collect Linden Dollars (L$). In the old days of my nubism, I collected up to a hundred lindens per evening, I had a list of money trees, which I periodically flew around and harvested. I can personally give a couple of recommendations.
1. Start the flight not from the first positions given by the search, those denyushki in the first trees in the list have already been collected by other beginners.
2.Turn on the mode Ctrl+Alt+Shift+3, i.e. the mode in which trees are not shown. So you do not need to look for hanging lindens in the foliage of the tree itself, denyushki will be clearly visible.
The amount of earnings is more than on campsites, but there is a chance of finding money on these trees. One of the advantages of this initial income method is that you are practically traveling the world (rather than standing still like when camping), you can find a lot of interesting places for myself.
Method number 3 Participation in surveys, questionnaires and registrations
Actually, all the work with such polls is done on the Internet (not in the Second Life game). You also gain traffic, but not only for the owner of the land (because you are near the machine), but also for advertised and promoted sites. Accordingly, you are paid for this. They pay well enough, but not consistently and not guaranteed. One such service is the well-known Earn2Life. But this is not the only service. How to work? Find a similar machine, click on it, go to a web page, and then follow the instructions of the service directly on the Internet. To do this job, you will need two things, a good knowledge of English and an additional spam mailbox, which you will definitely start receiving with such registrations. It should be taken into account that many tasks in such services are available only to residents of certain countries, so before completing, check if you meet the conditions for completion. Earnings from 20 L$ to 400 L$ for each task from such a machine. Takes a lot of your time and payout is not guaranteed. Many registrations and profiles need to be confirmed from your email inbox, so not all payouts happen immediately, sometimes after a certain time.
Method number 4 Free games with cash prizes.
Some land owners, in order to attract additional visitors, set up various free slot machines where you can get money when you win. In fact, this is the same camping, but instead of animation, you just spend time in logic games. For example, I personally met a lot of Zyngo devices with free game, win 5 - 20 L$. The rules of the game are described at this link. These machines, like other places with earnings, can be found in the search by scoring, for example, the request free game.
With these methods, you can initially earn some Linden dollars for your first needs, but later you will definitely find more interesting and higher earnings for yourself.
Good luck!
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The virtual world of Second Life has been allowing its users to lead a full-fledged second life in an alternative space for several years, choosing the appearance, environment and occupation to taste. It would seem that pure escapism - but digital reality is not as illusory as it seems at first glance: in addition to admiring the heavenly landscapes and role playing the platform also provides an opportunity to get a very real education, participate in a scientific conference, launch your own business, launch an art project, and even visit a psychotherapist. T&P has chosen 8 promising projects for the new Matrix.
SciLands: archipelago of science
Second Life is used as a platform by many libraries, universities, government and other organizations. Some of them prefer to act alone, others gather in the agglomeration. Such a strategy helps to enrich each other in terms of ideas and attract more visitors.
In the virtual world, the island of SciLands operates today, bringing together several organizations from the field of science and technology. Initially, it was shared only by NASA and the International Space Flight Museum, but later they were joined by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Imperial College London, University of Denver, the Exploratorium Museum and other organizations.
SciLands has a 3D model of the Victoria Crater on Mars, a simulator for flying through a hurricane region, a tsunami model that allows you to study how giant waves form, a simulator for collecting data in the Earth’s atmosphere using hot air balloon, a virtual clinic, an oil spill response simulator, a training model for mapping the sea, and other interesting things. Every week, NPR's Science Friday discussions take place here, in which a variety of topics are discussed. SciLands allows Second Life users to learn within computer world and also open up many new horizons for people with disabilities who otherwise would not be able to take part in practical exercises.
British Council Islands: An Anglophile Corner
The three islands of the British Council in Second Life, which were previously only available to its students under the age of 17, since 2011 are also open to adult users from all over the world. Here you can not only learn English for free or for a modest amount, but also look at replicas of British attractions: working three-dimensional models of the London Eye, Carnaby Street and the central sports stadium, where they offer to play football virtually. Even on the islands, you can get acquainted with the life stories of famous British people and go through language quests with the search for keys and solving problems on English language. On their islands in Second Life, the British Council also hosts many events for students and teachers, but they remain closed to outside users.
Mesh Agency: business on avatars
An avatar is required to play Second Life. To truly enjoy the process, he must be handsome, combed, dressed and shod, trained in the correct gait and small movements (or, for example, dancing). All this is not given immediately, and, as a rule, in order to become handsome in virtual reality, you need to make as much effort as in real life. Avatar blanks - the so-called "mesh" - can be bought on the MarketPlace, made by yourself in the program for working with three-dimensional images, or purchased - all in one piece or separately - in special stores for quite real money. A well-designed handmade avatar can cost around 3,800 Linden dollars (240 Linden dollars is approximately equal to one US dollar), bought from designers or made to order is even more expensive. The avatar can be dressed, combed, settled and employed to your liking. To do this, in Second Life, you can buy any models of varying degrees of detail: shelves with freshly baked buns in a bakery, cups of tea in the kitchen, a stable in the yard, a bed in the bedroom, snake-like pigtails on the head, and so on.
Most profitable business in this area, the Mesh Agency, which hires 3D designers and sells the items they create: hairstyles, shoes, clothes, objects, buildings, and entire avatars, has turned out. For example, a pair of shoes here can cost from $8 to $30. The company also collaborates with sales managers who help distribute its products in Second Life and beyond. Mesh Agency employees can "work" in the company's virtual office using avatars, or stay on the sidelines creating models in the real world.
Online Therapy Institute: working with people
Online Therapy Institute within Second Life offers training for future coaches, psychotherapists, supervisors, business coaches, managers and other behavioral and mental health professionals. There are practical online relationship models that allow you to practice your professional skills, practice a foreign language in your specialty, and make observations to support theoretical work. Outside of virtual reality, the institute does not work, but at the same time, the organization issues diplomas that will be useful in the “first” life.
Accelerated Recovery: virtual psychotherapist
Patients of Accelerated Recovery Centers visit a psychotherapist in Second Life. As part of the alcohol addiction treatment program, they first undergo an intensive two- or three-week course in real centers, and after that they go home - and there all the familiar temptations await them. This is where virtual reality becomes really useful: over the next nine or twelve months, patients meet with a psychotherapist as part of Second Life.
On the "island" of the clinic, the building of the rehabilitation center is recreated in every detail, and people can come there in the form of avatars to meet with the avatar of their doctor. The appearance of the latter here almost does not differ from the real one. The conversations use audio and chat so that patients can also hear their therapist's voice.
Experts note that after such sessions, their clients not only “feel like they have been somewhere away from home”, but also “be more frank and speak more directly” due to the phenomenon of “network disinhibition”, which can also be observed in normal communication in chat programs. . According to therapists, this form of counseling helps patients develop an "observing self" that allows them to look at themselves and their actions more objectively and rationally. “Perhaps, it is communication with the help of an avatar that allows simulating the work of the observing Self,” Accelerated Recovery experts are sure.
Virtual Reality Medical Center: fight against phobias
In California, there is a network of Virtual Reality Medical Center, which specializes in the treatment of phobias. Using working 3D models of scary phenomena in Second Life, specialists help patients overcome their fear of flying, public speaking, high floors, enclosed spaces, and even spiders. Virtually Better offers similar services in Georgia.
The US military also uses virtual reality: here, in particular, there is a platform that allows you to simulate dramatic military events. Sounds and smells can be added to visual information: the stench that comes from burning rubber, or prayers in Arabic. Psychotherapists use these models so that their veteran PTSD patients can go back and process their painful memories.
MyBase: US Air Base Simulator
The US Air Force has also created several "islands" and "regions" in Second Life to train its potential and current employees. This includes MyBase, a virtual air base for recruiting, training, education and training operations. Its creators pursued not only educational, but also promotional goals, since the database is designed for outside users. “We have developed different roles so that people can appreciate our base in Second Life from all sides: what is it like to be a military or ship chaplain, a medic, a participant in a young fighter course or a pilot,” the authors of the idea say. Users who visit MyBase can also "teleport" or fly around the territory of the virtual naval base, which is located on a sea island nearby. In addition, MyBase operates OneSource - a territory for the military, their families and friends who are far from each other in the real world, but can come here and communicate with each other.
Ten Cubed and Machinima Movies: 3D Art
Within Second Life, users can also host exhibitions, make movies, do choreography, and do everything else from a list of things that in real life is called art. For example, gallerists Hayne Shaughnessy and Russ Damon hired New York-based architect Benn Dunkley to create their Ten Cubed showroom in the virtual world. At its opening, five artists who in everyday life are engaged in contemporary art presented their works. In Ten Cubed, you can view and even buy both virtual and real works. The game also operates the Crossworlds Gallery - an open space for artists in Second Life - and other exhibition halls.
For filming in the virtual world, there is a special genre - machinima. This is a short film made using 3D graphics and video game technology. In addition, there are theatrical performances in which roles are played by avatars (for the first time on a professional level, Second Life staged, of course, an excerpt from Hamlet), and theater festivals: for example, the comedy Virtually Funny Comedy Festival. As part of the game, ballet troupes work (with music and choreography created separately for each production) and live dance shows created by the La Performance team. Often, for users, participation in Second Life also becomes a platform for a literary career. Stories and novels dedicated to the experience of "virtuality" are written by many, and some authors even find colleagues in the game. For example, the novel "Second Life Love", which is currently on sale on Amazon, was written in the form of a dialogue by two users: Per Olsen and Lee Gang Keen, who have never met each other in real life.
The art of Second Life, of course, cannot yet compete with the real. And yet, in a world with a "population" of more than a million people, there are more than enough opportunities for creative expression. It is quite possible that one day an artist or director will appear in this area who will be able to create a work that is equally popular in both worlds. And the matrix, generously pollinated by ideas borrowed from reality, will return to its roots, gradually erasing the boundaries between biological reality and digital life.
In Second Life, some residents earn or try to earn by renting out plots of land to other residents. I also did similar things, especially since I have a Premium account, and therefore I can directly buy virtual earth at the Lindens.
I never had the goal of making fabulous profits, at first I did not believe in the idea of earning money on rent. Rented out small plots, with a small margin. The first thing I realized is that most potential tenants do not know what they really want and why they need it. Sometimes this can lead to losses.
For example, one guy from Georgia rented a fairly large section of the beach with direct access to the Linden Sea.
We agreed on technical details, on payment, and parted ways. A couple of weeks later a letter - I do not have enough land, I need more. No problem! I agree, I buy additional neighboring plots. I ask is enough? He answers yes. Next week I receive another letter - there is not enough land! Blah! I did ask!
It turned out that the boy decided to pick up a couple of girls, having bought all the balls with animation that were "necessary" for this very thing, and a chic house to boot. Questions, what are primas, etc. he didn't flinch.
But the process did not go, and he decided to buy a bigger house - there is nothing with the girls. Then he decides to buy a house even more. Poor guy, but it's not for me to explain to him that it's not about the size. :))
As a result, I bought a bunch of expensive low-liquid land on the beach, the guy got an empty huge house for several months to own, the furniture no longer fit. There were no more free plots nearby, I didn’t dare to buy on a new Sim.
As a result, I did not receive a profit - I went to zero, and I was glad even for that. Spoons were found, but the sediment remained. With all the following tenants, I tried to work more closely, trying to find out their real needs. If I could not satisfy them, then I told them honestly about it, thereby avoiding further losses and wasted time.
Another type of rental has also grown out of this. The client ordered not just a site, but a turnkey solution. Empirically, I came to the conclusion that it is necessary to take part of the payment in advance. Someone asked for a love nest for a month or two, someone for a villa by the sea or a shop.
It turned out to be the easiest to work with the Americans and the Germans, the most difficult with the Italians, Brazilians and Russians, for various reasons.
My last turnkey project was the office of a law firm from Israel. We agreed quickly enough, they gave me full carte blanche in the implementation. The goal was to get on the internet and create a showcase in SL.
Initially, the office occupied a little over 2 thousand square meters. m.. It did not suit me, because the payment did not cover my expenses. Therefore, armed with tempres, we managed to squeeze the office into 1,000 sq. m. m., without losing functionality.
How did the rental business end? I made some money, got good experience in building in SL, scripting, creating textures in photoshop. But all the money was spent in SL, since the amounts were small, in real life one cannot live on such money.
I don't know about others with this business. But it's still a popular business in SL even now, even though the value of virtual land has plummeted.
No one will ever say that Second Life is graphics top level or an amazingly detailed game story. There is nothing like this here, the usual game of an average level. However, its feature is the ability to earn money and not necessarily with investments. Let's analyze everything in detail and try to get rich.
Ways to earn money in the game Second Life
Immediately after registering in the game, you can earn the first money. It is desirable, of course, to make some investments in game project, but this is optional. The internal currency of the game is called the Linden dollar, the conversion rate is fuzzy, especially with the current market fluctuations. Landing pages can be easily earned, below we will tell you how.
There are many in Second Life manor estates where the owners sell different things. Owners need their stuff to be bought, and to do that, they need to overtake competitors in the general registry. To overtake, it is very important to increase the popularity of your estate, that is, to recruit as many people as possible into it. Most gaming entrepreneurs invite players to visit their properties (you will be invited) and watch some animation, for views, the owners will charge money.
This way of earning is in many ways reminiscent of reading letters on mailers, only here the viewing time is not thirty seconds, but ten to twenty minutes or even more. You can only view one animation at a time. They came, they looked, they got money - this is the algorithm of your actions.
Remember about the pitfall - you will be automatically removed from the game if you do not show within half an hour activity. So during the animated video, do not sit motionless at the monitor, but look at the surrounding landscapes, change your position, and so on.
The second, no less popular way to get landings is money trees, which are called "money tree". To find them, enter the name into the search engine, it will return the areas where the trees grow in response. The task is to go around each and take money from the plants. After a few hours, you can completely repeat the bypass and collect earnings again. Please note that the animation will be available forever, and the trees - only in the first month so don't waste your time.
The third way you earn money resembles both mailers and paid surveys: they pay money for registration on third party websites and filling out questionnaires. Sites are regularly checked by administrators for viruses, so there is nothing to worry about. There are always a lot of tasks and a wide choice, but they pay a little. For tasks, you will be awarded from twenty to four hundred landing pages. Do not think that you will be paid for the work right away: first, the task creators will check the quality of the work.
Fourth method: regular games. There are slot machines on the site, there are logic toys and so on and so forth. Of course, each game is played only for money, it does not matter if you earned it in the game or entered real money. If you play slot machines, then the minimum bet is five dollars, the maximum is twenty, the winnings are appropriate.
In the first month of the game, while money trees are available, you should not invest money in the game, you will always have time to do this. If you still decide to invest, then remember that the only way capital increase - creation of own estates. Estates need to be promoted by placing animations, and this is an additional expense. Weigh all the pros and cons, then boldly proceed ... Good luck and prosperity in Second Life!
