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Ways to make money in SL. First Money In Second Life Second life earning real money

For several years now, the virtual world Second Life has been allowing its users to lead a full second life in an alternative space, choosing their appearance, environment and type of activity to suit their taste. It would seem that escapism in its purest form - but digital reality is not as illusory as it seems at first glance: in addition to admiring the heavenly landscapes and role playing games the platform also provides an opportunity to get a very real education, participate in a scientific conference, start your own business, launch an art project, and even visit a psychotherapist. T&P selected 8 promising projects for the new “Matrix”.

SciLands: an 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 agglomerations. This strategy helps to enrich each other's ideas and attract more visitors.

Today, the SciLands island operates in the virtual world, bringing together several organizations from the field of science and technology. Initially, it was shared only by representatives of NASA and the International Space Flight Museum, but later they were joined by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Imperial College London, the University of Denver, the Exploratorium Museum and other organizations.

SciLands has a 3D model of Victoria Crater on Mars, a flight simulator through a hurricane, a tsunami model that allows you to study how giant waves form, a data collection simulator in the Earth's atmosphere using hot air balloon, a virtual clinic, a simulator of the oil spill response process, a training model for drawing up a sea map and other interesting things. Every week, NPR's Science Friday discussions take place here, discussing a variety of topics. SciLands allows Second Life users to learn within computer world and also open up many new horizons for people with disabilities who would otherwise not be able to take part in practical training.

British Council Islands: a corner for Anglophiles

The three British Council islands in Second Life, which were previously only available to its students under 17 years of age, have been open to adult users from all over the world since 2011. Here you can not only learn English for free or for a modest sum, but also explore replicas of British landmarks: working three-dimensional models of the London Eye, Carnaby Street and the central sports stadium, where they offer a virtual game of football. Also on the islands, you can get acquainted with the life stories of famous British people and go through language quests with searching for keys and solving problems in English. The British Council also hosts many events for students and teachers on its islands in Second Life, but these remain closed to outside users.

Mesh Agency: business on avatars

To play Second Life, you need an avatar. To truly enjoy the process, he must be good-looking, combed, dressed and shod, trained in the correct gait and small movements (or, for example, dancing). All this is not given right away, and, as a rule, in order to become handsome in virtual reality, you need to put in the same amount of effort as in real life. Blanks for avatars - the so-called "meshes" - can be bought on MarketPlace, made yourself in a program for working with 3D images, or purchased - all in one piece or separately - at special stores for quite real money. A well-designed hand-made avatar can cost about 3,800 Linden dollars (240 Linden dollars are approximately equal to one American dollar), purchased from designers or made to order - even more expensive. The avatar can be dressed, combed, housed and given a job according to your liking. To do this, in Second Life you can buy any models of varying degrees of detail: shelves with freshly baked buns for the bakery, cups of tea for the kitchen, a stable for the yard, a bed for the bedroom, snake-like braids for the head, and so on.

The most profitable business in this area is from the Mesh Agency, which hires 3D designers and sells the items they create: hairstyles, shoes, clothes, objects, buildings and entire avatars. For example, a pair of shoes here can cost from $8 to $30. The company also partners 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 real world.

Online Therapy Institute: working with people

The Online Therapy Institute in Second Life offers training for future coaches, therapists, supervisors, business trainers, managers and other behavioral and mental health professionals. There are practical online relationship models that allow you to develop your professional skills and practice foreign language specialty and conduct observations to support theoretical work. The institute does not operate outside of virtual reality, but the organization issues diplomas that will be useful in the “first” life.

Accelerated Recovery: virtual psychotherapist

Patients at Accelerated Recovery centers see a therapist in Second Life. As part of the treatment program alcohol addiction 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 comes into its own: Over the next nine or twelve months, patients meet with a therapist within Second Life.

On the clinic "island" the building of the rehabilitation center is recreated in every detail, and people can come there in the form of avatars to meet the avatar of their doctor. The appearance of the latter here is almost no different from the real one. During conversations, audio and chat are used so that patients also hear the voice of their therapist.

Experts note that after such sessions, their clients not only “feel like they were somewhere away from home,” but also “open up more and speak more directly,” thanks to the phenomenon of “network disinhibition,” which can also be observed during normal communication in chat programs . According to therapists, this form of counseling helps patients develop an “observing self,” which 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 us to simulate the work of the observing self,” experts from Accelerated Recovery believe.

Virtual Reality Medical Center: fighting phobias

The Virtual Reality Medical Center network operates in California, which specializes in the treatment of phobias. Using real 3D models of frightening phenomena in Second Life, specialists help patients overcome their fears of flying, public speaking, high floors, enclosed spaces, and even spiders. Virtually Better offers similar services in Georgia.

The American 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 the visual information: the stench that comes from burning rubber, or prayers in Arabic. Psychotherapists use such models to help their veteran patients with PTSD return to and process painful memories.

MyBase: American air base simulator

The US Air Force has also created several "islands" and "regions" in Second Life to train its potential and current personnel. This includes MyBase - a virtual airbase for recruiting, training, education and training operations. Its creators pursued not only educational, but also popularization goals, since the database is designed for outside users. “We developed different roles so that people could evaluate our base in Second Life from all sides: what it’s like to be a military or ship chaplain, a medic, a participant in a young soldier’s course or a pilot,” say the authors of the idea. Users who visit MyBase can also "teleport" or fly around the virtual Navy base, which is located on a nearby sea island. In addition, within the framework of MyBase there is OneSource - a territory for military personnel, their family members 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 films: 3D art

Within Second Life, users can also hold exhibitions, make movies, choreograph, and do all the other things that in real life are called art. For example, gallerists Hayne Shaughnessy and Rus Damon hired New York architect Benn Dunkley to create their Ten Cubed showroom in the virtual world. At its opening, five artists who are involved in contemporary art in everyday life presented their works. At Ten Cubed you can view and even buy both virtual and real works. The game also includes Crossworlds Gallery - an open space for artists in Second Life - and other exhibition halls.

There is a special genre for filming in the virtual world - machinima. This is a short film shot using 3D graphics and video game technology. In addition, there are theatrical productions in which the roles are played by avatars (for the first time on a professional level in Second Life, an excerpt from “Hamlet” was staged), and theater festivals: for example, the comedy Virtually Funny Comedy Festival. The game features ballet troupes (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. Many people write stories and novels dedicated to the experience of “virtuality,” and some authors even find colleagues in the game. For example, the novel Second Life Love, currently on sale on Amazon, was written in the form of a dialogue by two users: Per Olsen and Lee Gang Kin, who had never met each other in real life.

Second Life art, of course, cannot yet compete with the real thing. And yet, in a world with a “population” of more than a million people, there is more than enough opportunity for creative expression. It is quite possible that one day an artist or director will appear in this field 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 life “in digital.”

In Second Life, some residents make money, or try to make money, 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 land at the Lindens'.

I never had the goal of making fabulous profits; at first I didn’t believe in the idea of making money from rent. I rented out small plots with a small margin. The first thing I realized is that most potential tenants don’t know what they really want and why they need it. Sometimes this can lead to losses.

For example, one guy from Georgia rented from me a fairly large section of the beach with direct access to the Linden Sea.

We agreed on technical details, payment, and parted ways. A couple of weeks later I get a letter: I don’t have enough land, I need more. No problem! I come to an agreement and buy additional neighboring plots. I ask - is that enough? He answers yes. Next week I receive another letter - there is not enough land! Blah! I asked!

It turned out that the guy decided to pick up a couple of girls, purchasing all the animation balls “necessary” for this, and a luxurious house to boot. Questions about what prims are, etc. he didn't give a damn.

But the process didn’t work out, and he decided to buy a bigger house - nothing with the girls. Then he decides to buy an even bigger house. Poor guy, but it’s not for me to explain to him that it’s not a matter of size. :))

As a result, I bought a bunch of expensive, low-market land on the beach, the guy got possession of an empty huge house for several months, the furniture no longer fit. There were no more vacant plots nearby, so I didn’t risk repurchasing on the new Sim.

As a result, I made no profit - I went to zero, and I was glad even for that. The spoons were found, but the sediment remained. I tried to work more closely with all the following tenants, trying to find out their real needs. If I could not satisfy them, then I told them about it honestly, thereby avoiding further losses and wasted time.

Another type of rental also grew out of this. The client ordered not just a site, but a turnkey solution. Through experience, I came to the conclusion that it is necessary to take part of the payment in advance. Some asked for a love nest for a month or two, others for a villa by the sea or a shop.

It turned out to be easiest to work with Americans and Germans, more difficult with Italians, Brazilians and Russians, for various reasons.

My last turnkey project was the office of a law firm from Israel. We agreed quite quickly, and they gave me complete carte blanche to implement it. The goal was to appear on the Internet and create a showcase in SL.

Initially, the office occupied a little more than 2 thousand square meters. m.. This did not suit me because the payment did not cover my expenses. Therefore, armed with temprez, we managed to squeeze in an office onto 1 thousand square meters. m., without losing functionality.

How did the rental business end? I made some money, got good experience in construction 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 that kind of money.

I don’t know how others do with this business. But this is a popular business in SL even now, even despite the strong drop in the value of virtual land.

There are people who consider business gambling. However, today more and more people are considering the toy world as an opportunity to earn their first million. Paradox? No more than our entire life, virtual reality entrepreneurs believe. Moreover, becoming successful in an artificially created world is sometimes much more difficult than in the real one. Shall we 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 the invented virtual space . Then, at the very beginning, Philip Rosedale clearly could not claim the title of demiurge parallel reality, the “population” of which a year after the start was just over 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 are opening their representative offices one after another.

The list of the most profitable sectors of the virtual economy, the volume of 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 (that is, the game incarnations of users) of the most successful businessmen appear not just anywhere, but on the covers of leading business publications.

Please do not be confused!

What motivates those who spend time and money on developing a fake, artificially created habitat? Possibly self-interest. The hype surrounding SL's first "millionaire", Anshe Chung, a German teacher of Chinese descent who in real life goes by the name Eileen Graef, caused a massive influx of newcomers to 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,” admits Anton Shepetko, a representative of the Russian Empire island administration. After three months spent in the parallel world, he, however, somewhat lost his fighting spirit and was forced to admit that making money in this game is not so easy: “Today, as a person who has some experience, I can say that I personally don’t know anyone who would make big money in Second Life."

But what about the advertised millionaires? Anton Shepetko believes that this, apparently, is just smart PR for Linden Lab, which is interested in the influx of new players. Perhaps this is true. However, an old-timer in the game, President of TechInvestLab Anatoly Levenchuk, is sure that the stories of commercial success of individual players are not fiction at all: “They are as real as the stories about “simple guys” Gates or Abramovich.” Indeed, most of us have never seen either Gates or Abramovich live (TV and magazines don’t count). However, this circumstance does not at all prevent us from discussing their capital, as well as gossiping about the personal lives and quirks of billionaires. Anatoly Levenchuk claims: you can make money in SL. But first, it is very important to understand that Second Life is not a game at all, but an environment for communication. Or, according to the editor-in-chief of the secondrussia.com portal Alexey Nikitenko, virtual space. A space in which people become gods, capable of creating not only objects, but also entire phenomena.

However, most neophytes still view 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 normal game“, - Musashi Tanabe, who refused to reveal his real name to the Business Journal, but in the game prefers to bear the loud title of “master of virtual Moscow,” does not see anything surprising in this. - But there is nothing like that here. You are the architect of your own happiness and you can do whatever you want in this world.”

Yes, there is no second or third life,” laughs Stanislav Borisov, CEO of Happy Web Makers. - In the same way, the inhabitants of SL are not “avatars”. 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 first of all the ease of life and the absence of rigid attachments, what will SL become for them?

Like what? A money grinder for the former and an intriguing adventure for the latter, Stanislav Borisov is sure.

Virtual construction site

SL: first steps

In order to become a full-fledged citizen of Second Life, it is not at all necessary to wait in long lines at the consulate or go through a tedious procedure for obtaining citizenship. You just need to register on the game website secondlife.com and receive a confirmation link to create a user account. That's it, you can fly! Why "fly"? Within the playing space you can move in more familiar ways - on foot or by car. vehicles. But over long distances, players prefer to move through the air or teleport to the desired location.

When you first come to SL, don't be scared. Most of the avatars here have a completely anthropomorphic appearance, but some prefer a more extravagant one, and not only a human one.

Everything you see in the game was created by the hands and computers of users, using common 3D graphics packages or using the built-in capabilities of game client software available today to users of Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Registration is free, so everyone can travel through virtual spaces as much as they like. But in order to start your own business and get the right to buy your own land, you will have to pay $9.95 for a Premium user 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 team of the Russian Empire island does not yet have the goal of immediate enrichment. Now for all of us this is an opportunity to realize 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 miracles do not happen. 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, owner of Anshe Chung Studios, the most successful entrepreneur in SL, according to official legend, spent $9.95 to be able to buy her first land, which was then resold at a profit.

For Jess Saiman and her sister Vega Pilipenko (the girls again do not give their real names; we only know that they are Russian, but live abroad), a successful career in SL also began with an investment, albeit a small one. “Our investment amounted to $72 to purchase a premium account, which gives the opportunity to buy land. Well, another 20 dollars 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 flow from here.”

Today, Jess and Vega's business is based on two pillars - a network of jewelry stores known in Second Life and construction. “Jewelry making is more of a hobby. But construction brings good money,” admits Jess. Virtual development is truly 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.

Don’t think that construction is the only business in Second Life that allows you to exist comfortably in real life. “There are five people in our circle whose earnings exceed 15 thousand dollars a month. And not all of them are related to construction. 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,” says Saiman.

At the junction of two worlds

At first glance, it is not surprising that the entrepreneurial spirit of successful businessmen in SL found its expression in the virtual world. After all, it seems like a real paradise for doing business. “In the real world there are quite a lot of 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. Musashi Tanabe also agrees with this assessment, calling not to forget about the extremely low “entry 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 are opening not virtual, but very real businesses in SL. It’s just that some people are more familiar with the world of Second Life than, say, the design of internal combustion engines or blast furnaces. This is what people do. Provided 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.”

Development Director of the Internet Payment Center company Oleg Pokrovsky expects that the increase in the number of players will lead to increased business activity exclusively within the game. But for now, the main money is spinning at the junction of two worlds. Thus, the Roboxchange service, owned by the Internet Payment Center, exchanges electronic money for domestic currency Second Life - Linden Dollars. “This service has been running for just 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. Until now, most real money is exchanged for Linden dollars, but even this one-way exchange brings the company about four thousand real dollars a month thanks to a five percent commission.

By the way, the “exchange office” is not Oleg Pokrovsky’s only business in SL. He invested in the SecondRussia.com project, which should become the main entry point into Second Life for Russian-speaking users. It is expected that this platform will subsequently become attractive to a wide variety of SL businesses, the owners of which will certainly want to loudly announce 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 to bring them into the Second Life space. Yes, this is not at the Intel level yet. But trouble has begun!”

Sharks of non-virtual business

Even in Second Life, ambitious newcomers are unlikely to be able to compete with the giants of global business. IBM alone plans to invest at least $10 million in the game by the end of 2007. Already today, four thousand Blue Giant employees “work” in SL, and the corporation itself owns dozens of islands in the game.

What makes completely real companies invest money in the virtual world? “They just expect no less from SL real money, - Stanislav Borisov (Happy Web Makers) is sure. - Look at the hype created by the media around this phenomenon! A fair portion of this information noise is nothing more than PR paid for by big business, with the goal of “telling” the consumer what to do to be modern and effective.”

Alexey Nikitenko agrees that large corporations are already trying with all their might to use Second Life for their own interests: “It is clear that they are not interested in selling virtual goods as a goal. Mainly for them it is an advertising market with a huge audience that can be used to promote their services and products in real life.” That's why Toyota gives 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. Meanwhile, other corporations are opening stores in SL to sell physical goods, provide customer consultations and host teleconferences, saving on travel costs. And allowing the inhabitants of the game to earn money 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 may be separated by thousands of “real” kilometers, come to the “virtual office” as if they were going to work, Jess Sayman gives an example. In her opinion, many companies will follow a similar strategy in the near future: “It’s better to rent an island in SL than to pay a lot of money for several offices in the real world.”

Gartner analysts are confident that this will happen, predicting that by 2011, the majority of Fortune 500 companies will open their offices in SL.

Disenfranchised like us

The presence of real-life “business sharks” in the game, among other things, gives 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 Linden (all Linden Lab employees, including Rosedale himself, bear this very last name in the game).

According to the user agreement that 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 actions, including removing 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 are not many people who will agree to “pump” more than 100 thousand dollars into SL.”

Indeed, hard-earned Linden dollars can disappear overnight if Linden Lab wants it to. But according to Jess Saiman, it's not that scary. And it’s not at all necessary to “store” money in the game itself: “Suppose you received an order for 25 thousand dollars. Does it make sense to exchange dollars for Lindens, and then back? After all, the transfer of payments can be organized without going through Linden Lab - via PayPal or Western Union! It’s both simpler 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 in life we are not always insured. Just remember the devaluation of the ruble and “Black Tuesday,” reminds Jess. - Moreover, today Second Life is not only Linden Lab, but primarily IBM, Dell, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and other corporations doing their business in SL. And already a plus to them is Linden Lab. Companies that have invested serious money in the game will not let anyone just up and disappear.”

Linden Lab director Philip Rosedale is confident that in ten years almost the entire population of the globe will live a “second life,” and Gartner has calculated that the universal “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. Perhaps this will be a different project.

Wait and see. But at least Jess Saiman and Vega Pilipenko connect their future with SL. “We have not yet reached a level where we can say with complete confidence that this is our work. But we are striving for this and will achieve our goal,” Jess Saiman assured the Business Journal.

But Stanislav Borisov, who spent his youth in all sorts of game worlds for several years, is not going to start a “second life” and believes that those predicting a quick and massive exodus in Parallel Worlds analysts 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 discourage anyone. Play for your health. In the end, everyone is responsible for themselves. In addition, if a certain balance is maintained, any game becomes an exciting and useful pastime.

Russians are coming!

Russia is not yet represented in Second Life on such a large scale as the United States or Germany (the majority of citizens of these countries are in SL). However, the number of “Russian diaspora” is growing, and today there are already seven publicly accessible 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 whom 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 the higher the rental rates will be.

Everything here is like in real life, and each island has its own specialty. For example, on the territory of the Russian Empire island free training is provided for beginners. The idea is good. After all, 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 the virtual academy,” says Anton Shepetko. “In this way, we killed two birds with one stone: we gave people the opportunity to study somewhere and increased the popularity of our island.”

Another Russian island, Moscow Island, earns points (more precisely, it is still being built, since it is just being built up) with the ambitious plans of its creators - the charismatic Musashi Tanabe and the director of the Uplifto dance label, Sergei Pimenov. Virtual Moscow will not be an exact copy of real Moscow, but it will certainly contain all its attractions. St. Basil's Cathedral is already ready and Red Square is being completed, and well-known specialists in SL - sisters Vega Pilipenko and Jess Saiman - were brought in as developers.

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 the invented 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 just over 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.

Please do not be confused!

However, most neophytes still view 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 - just like in a regular game,” Musashi Tanabe, who refused to reveal his real name to the Business Journal, but in the game prefers to bear the loud title of “master of virtual Moscow,” does not see anything surprising in this. - But there is nothing like that here. You are the architect of your own happiness and you can do whatever you want in this world.”

Like what? A money grinder for the former and an intriguing adventure for the latter, Stanislav Borisov is sure.

Virtual construction site

SL: first steps

In order to become a full-fledged citizen of Second Life, it is not at all necessary to wait in long lines at the consulate or go through a tedious procedure for obtaining citizenship. You just need to register on the game website secondlife.com and receive a confirmation link to create a user account. That's it, you can fly! Why "fly"? You can move within the game space in more familiar ways - on foot or in vehicles. But over long distances, players prefer to move through the air or teleport to the desired location.

When you first come to SL, don't be scared. Most of the avatars here have a completely anthropomorphic appearance, but some prefer a more extravagant one, and not only a human one.

Second Life is not just a game. This is a virtual world that allows you to implement serious tasks in a playful way,” says Anton Shepetko. - In addition, the team of the Russian Empire island does not yet have the goal of immediate enrichment. Now for all of us this is an opportunity to realize 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.

At the junction of two worlds

Development Director of the Internet Payment Center company Oleg Pokrovsky expects that the increase in the number of players will lead to increased business activity exclusively within the game. But for now, the main money is spinning at the junction of two worlds. Thus, the Roboxchange service, owned by the Internet Payment Center, exchanges electronic money for the internal currency of Second Life - Linden dollars. “This service has been running for just 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. Until now, most real money is exchanged for Linden dollars, but even this one-way exchange brings the company about four thousand real dollars a month thanks to a five percent commission.

Sharks of non-virtual business

What makes completely real companies invest money in the virtual world? “They just expect no less real money from SL,” Stanislav Borisov (Happy Web Makers) is sure. - Look at the hype created by the media around this phenomenon! A fair portion of this information noise is nothing more than PR paid for by big business, with the goal of “telling” the consumer what to do to be modern and effective.”

Gartner analysts are confident that this will happen, predicting that by 2011, the majority of Fortune 500 companies will open their offices in SL.

Disenfranchised like us

The presence of real-life “business sharks” in the game, among other things, gives players some confidence that the “brave 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 very last name in the game).

According to the user agreement that each new player enters into 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 actions, including removing 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 are not many people who will agree to “pump” more than 100 thousand dollars into SL.”

But Stanislav Borisov, who spent many years in all kinds of game worlds in his youth, is not going to start a “second life” and believes that analysts who predict a quick and massive exodus to parallel worlds are mistaken:

Russians are coming!

You have registered in the game and completed Help Island. Congratulations! Almost all the doors of the virtual world are open to you, but you have to start somewhere. Many people start with their own appearance, others from creativity, others from something else. This article will not discuss methods free receipt some things, let’s focus only on earning virtual currency. In any case, you will need some initial amount of virtual money Linden dollars (L$). Of course, the easiest way to top up a virtual account is by entering money from your credit card or using special services, such as ROBOX. But we are not looking for easy ways and decided to earn a little money directly in the game. What can we provide as workers who have not yet received individual skills and “professions”? Only your time in the game. Many owners of lands and locations are willing to give you some money so that you can stay on their property for a while. Why do they need this? The answer lies in the magic word - TRAFFIC. The more traffic a place has, the higher this place will be in the search, it will be considered more popular, and other residents will come there more often. Simply put, traffic is needed to attract visitors, but not like you - newbies, but potential clients for whom that place is designed. Here are the first four simplest ways to earn initial money and precisely provide for the principle - “you are in a certain place - you are paid lots of money.”

Method No. 1 Camping

The owner of the land places special Camping systems (objects with animation) on his land. Anyone who wants to camp must launch this animation on the object and not leave it for a certain time. For example, if above a camping site you see the inscription 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, or just sitting on a bench. It depends on the wild imagination of the land owner. To start camping, you need to right-click on this object and select (most often) Camp.

How to find camping sites in a huge world Second Life? In Search, in the Places tab, search for the word Camp, you will be given hundreds of places for possible camping, fly, choose the “highest paying” one, if you can call it that))). Strictly speaking, camping is the lowest paid activity 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 No. 2 Money trees

The money tree is another option for land owners to attract visitors.

Lindens appear on these trees from time to time, which a beginner can take, i.e., replenish his Linden balance. Money with money trees Only beginners whose “age” is no more than 30 days can take it. Some money trees require you to include your credit card in your account. I missed such trees and flew to the next ones. How to find money trees? Easier than you think. In Search, in the Places tab, enter 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 ancient days of my noobism, I collected up to a hundred Lindens per evening, I made a list of money trees, which I periodically flew around and collected the “harvest”. I can personally give you a couple of recommendations.

1. Start the flight not from the first positions returned by the search; those money in the first trees on the list have already been collected by other beginners.

2.Turn on the mode Ctrl+Alt+Shift+3, i.e. a mode in which trees are not shown. This way you won’t need to look for hanging lindens in the foliage of the tree itself; the denyushki will be clearly visible.

The amount of earnings is higher than at camping sites, but there is a chance of finding money on these trees. One of the advantages of this method of initial earnings is that you practically travel around the world (and do not stand still as when camping), you can find a lot interesting places for myself.

Method No. 3 Participation in surveys, questionnaires and registrations

Actually, all the work for such surveys takes place on the Internet (not in the Second Life game). You also drive traffic, but not only to the owner of the land (since you are near the machine), but also to advertised and promoted sites. Accordingly, this is what you get paid for. The pay is quite good, but not stable and not guaranteed. One of these services is the well-known Earn2Life. But this is far from the only service. How to work? Find a similar machine, click on it, go to the 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 the English language and an additional spam mailbox, which you will definitely start receiving during 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 them, check whether you meet the conditions for completion. Earnings from 20 L$ to 400 L$ for each task from such a machine. It takes quite a lot of your time and payment is not guaranteed. Many registrations and questionnaires must be confirmed from your mailbox Email, so payments do not all occur immediately, sometimes after a certain time.

Method number 4 Free games with cash prizes.

To attract additional visitors, some land owners install various free slot machines, where you can get money if you win. Essentially this is the same camping, but instead of animation you just spend time in logic games. For example, I personally have come across a lot of Zyngo machines with free games, winnings from 5 to 20 L$. The rules of the game are described at this link. These machines, like other places where you can earn money, can be found in the search by entering, for example, the request Free game.

In these ways, you can initially earn a few Linden dollars for your first needs, but later you will definitely find more interesting and higher earnings.
Good luck!

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