Easy Lindens: Getting A Second Life Job Using Work Experience

As you probably already know, there are various ways of making free and easy lindens in Second Life. Some who are skilled at scripting or using Photoshop will go onto selling there own products/creations, but for the majority of residents in Second Life that is not a option as they don't possess the skills. That's why most average residents will seek a job or some kind of employment.

This post was originally going to be about finding a job in Second Life, but as I sat thinking I remembered how much like real life Second Life is and how most things that apply in the real world should still apply online. I then remembered back to when I first started, and remembered my friend going into a club and asking for 1 days experience as a dancer and if they could train her. They were more than happy to help her out and took her under their wing. After 3 days she was still there with them learning the ropes, doing 2hrs a night for free. She was enjoying herself so it was easy for her to hang out and learn for free. The next evening she logged on and instantly received an IM, it was from the club owner. One of his usual dancers couldn't make it to work that evening so he asked her if she could stand in for them. Of course she said yes, and happily went to work as a dancer at the club. She continued to dance at the club and was receiving regular pay. After a while they promoted her to hostess.

This is an example of how you could gain a regular Second Life job and a decent Linden income through work experience.

Have a go, see if this can work for you. What have you got to lose?Here are some of the most common jobs available on Second Life

Clubs/Events:
Dancer
Host/Hostess
Manager
DJ

Stores:
Assistant
Model
Manager

Adult:
Esscort/Cyber Hoe
Stripper
Sex Chat/Cam (I dont advise this, unless you already do that kind of stuff and your age verified)

Wages vary from job to job, place to place and a lot of jobs are commission based. Wages are paid out as percentages of Linden takings eg. a dancer could expect to work on commission and be paid 70-90% of Tips taken. A DJ could earn 100% tips or easily up to 1000 Lindens per event (if your good), events usually last around 2hrs.

Here's a tip: If you want to be successful in the entertainment scene you need to network and build up a good contact list. Even start your own personal group. The more people you can get to your events, the more Linden Dollars you will make ; )

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Second Life, Get Rich Quick Or Disconnect Trying?

Second Life is perhaps the most controversial MMO I think I've ever come across. It's hardly even a game, as there is even less plot in Second Life than that which exists in most online games of the genre. However, Second Life's popularity approaches the absurd, and there is a very good reason: Second Life pays players real cash to exist in the game world.

Okay, so it's not THAT simple, but Second Life is perhaps the only legitimate MMO in which players can profit from playing, without breaking the EULA Terms of Service. Being an avid gamer and a veteran of several MMORPGs myself, this concept of making the game (which is invariably a tremendous time dump) worth my while intrigues me. We all want money to some extent, and the gamers who spend lots of time in virtual worlds are drawn to Second Life's promise of wealth - and the hype can be pretty intense. This article, though dated, is the pinnacle of money frenzy - people have really succeeded in real life by playing a game! How do they do it? Can you do it? Maybe, Maybe not.

Second life's methods of earning are split into three major disciplines. The first, and the easiest and lowest-paid, is that of the part time job. You guessed it - there are wage jobs in Second Life just as there are in the real world, and companies will pay players to act as hosts and hostesses in their virtual environments. Players who get hired will end up entertaining visitors to a company's virtual space, and perhaps doing some human advertising on the part of the employer. The Second Life conversion rate is about 240 Linden Dollars for $1, meaning at the rate of one or two L$ a minute, you'll be getting paid a small amount just to chat. No-one's getting rich this way, but for the social butterflies of the Internet, the appeal is easy to see.

The second, more profitable (and much more difficult method) to earn money in Second Life is by offering goods and services to avatars by means of shops. If you can code a hat, or a chic pair of shoes, then you may just a livelihood in the virtual world. On the surface, this method is very appealing to the skilled computer artists and coders, as they can leverage their unique skills to generate income (by selling bits of cosmetic computer code no less). However, anyone who's ever made a model in Maya or Mudbox will be quick to tell you the process is involved, and any computer programmer that you meet will tell you the job is difficult and filled with pitfalls. Second Life has tools that help facilitate the process of creation, but be prepared to spend long hours creating something that people will wish to spend their hard earned Linden Dollars on.

The third, final, and vastly profitable method of reaping wealth in Second Life is, surprisingly, the real estate business. Buy your own piece of virtual earth, whether it be an island, a block on a street, or some other geographical nugget, and you might just sell it for thousands of real dollars! That is the crux of our Second Life millionaire's business plan: real estate in a virtual world. The practice is far older than online gaming, of course, and there's a science and discipline to it that most gamers don't possess from day one, but with some starting capital (perhaps earned from easier jobs within Second Life) and an eye for future demand, and this is where prospective earners will make their bacon.

I've been tempted to pursue the last method more than once, but a lack of funds to invest has so far prevented me. If any of you aspiring moguls find wealth in Second Life, be sure to tell your success stories here!

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