Second Life - Success Secrets

Brand New Book On Second Life Riches

Check this one out! Not only how to make money in Second Life but how to then sell your knowledge as a consultant to all those companies who want to get into and market themselves in Second Life! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE >>>>

Real Life Exploitation in Multi-User Games?

We were introduced to the idea of buying money when Nicola's kids, Nelson and Phoebe, started playing Runescape, and Steve purchased a million Runes (or whatever they are called) for $30 on eBay.

The ever entrepreneurial Phoebe soon figured out how to make millions herself by mining and weaving flax, and set about patiently doing so, in between trading items of armour at a good profit.

I never stopped to think about how that money had been acquired and fondly imagined another child, perhaps older and more clever, had figured out an entrepreneurial scheme which was keeping them in X-Box games. 

The real story is somewhat more sinister..........or is it?  Another excellent article by Wagner James Au, who is rapidly becoming my guru on Second Life and multi-user computer game mores....

Amsterdam Sells For US$50k In Second Life

Over at his "Reporting On IT" blog Michael Parekh reports.....

ON VALUING A SECOND LIFE BUSINESS

WHAT AM I BID?

As I've noted in a couple of recent posts (see here and here), Second Life, the open-ended, virtual online living service, has received much attention from the mainstream media.  With a registered user base of over 4 million, and concurrent users as high as 40,000, it's one of the largest such services to date.

One of the unique aspects of the service is that most of what exists in Second Life has been created by the users.  This includes most of the neighborhoods, activities, and businesses on the service.

So it's notable, when one of those private businesses is sold on eBay for $50,000.

The Second Life Bureau of Reuters reports on the sale of a relatively large private commercial development on the service:

"The Amsterdam sims, a popular Second Life destination with canals, houseboats, and a sexually explicit red light district, sold on eBay for US$50,000 on Monday, one of the largest sales of a Second Life business by a private developer. 

The detailed re-creation of the European city was put up for auction starting at US$20,000, but the property with acquired outright with a single bid at the higher price by eBay user nedstede2769...

Amsterdam was created by Stroker Serpentine (real life name: Kevin Alderman of Tampa, FL) from high-resolution photographs of the city. The adult content-filled area was among the most popular Second Life sites.

According to the eBay listing, rental space for merchants in Amsterdam has a wait-list several months long."

Creating, nurturing, sustaining and growing a business of any size in Second Life is a fairly challenging and daunting task.  And it's very much early days for these types of online activities.  So a transaction of this type is a milestone of sorts, a harbinger of more interesting things to come.

READ MORE BY MICHAEL PAREKH >>>>

WHAT AM I BID?

As I've noted in a couple of recent posts (see here and here), Second Life, the open-ended, virtual online living service, has received much attention from the mainstream media.  With a registered user base of over 4 million, and concurrent users as high as 40,000, it's one of the largest such services to date.

One of the unique aspects of the service is that most of what exists in Second Life has been created by the users.  This includes most of the neighborhoods, activities, and businesses on the service.

So it's notable, when one of those private businesses is sold on eBay for $50,000.

The Second Life Bureau of Reuters reports on the sale of a relatively large private commercial development on the service:

"The Amsterdam sims, a popular Second Life destination with canals, houseboats, and a sexually explicit red light district, sold on eBay for US$50,000 on Monday, one of the largest sales of a Second Life business by a private developer. 

The detailed re-creation of the European city was put up for auction starting at US$20,000, but the property with acquired outright with a single bid at the higher price by eBay user nedstede2769...

Amsterdam was created by Stroker Serpentine (real life name: Kevin Alderman of Tampa, FL) from high-resolution photographs of the city. The adult content-filled area was among the most popular Second Life sites.

According to the eBay listing, rental space for merchants in Amsterdam has a wait-list several months long."

Creating, nurturing, sustaining and growing a business of any size in Second Life is a fairly challenging and daunting task.  And it's very much early days for these types of online activities.  So a transaction of this type is a milestone of sorts, a harbinger of more interesting things to come.

READ MORE BY MICHAEL PAREKH >>>>

Making Money On the Stock Exchange

Wall Street Technology Magazines reports....

After we wrote about Saxo Bank’s opening an office in the virtual world Second Life, 24-year-old Australian entrepreneur Luke Connell contacted us to tell us about the securities exchange he opened recently in Second Life called World Stock Exchange. This simulated stock exchange opened on March 5 and trading volume has exceeded $23 million in virtual dollars (approximately $90,000 U.S. dollars). Connell, whose Second Life alter ego is called LukeConnell Vandeverre, explained how and why his investment firm, Hope Capital, and others are doing business on the computer animated Second Life site, and how people can make or lose real money by investing in a simulated stock exchange.

Perhaps sensing our hazy knowledge of exactly what Second Life is and why people use it, Connell stressed that Second Life is a game. Users of the Second Life site pay U.S. dollars to purchase fictional currency called Linden dollars that can later be traded back to U.S. dollars at an exchange rate of about 290-to-one. It’s similar to buying tokens to play video games at an arcade, except that in the giant video game that is Second Life, it’s possible to make a real profit or loss.

WS&T: I read that a woman named Anshe Chung made a million virtual dollars in Second Life. Can she now ask Linden Lab [the operator of Second Life] for a check for the U.S. dollar equivalent?

Connell: She can choose to sell the in-game currency she has. First she would have to sell all her assets within Second Life and amass a large amount of fictional currency. Then she can sell them on the Second Life Exchange or the Lindex, the Linden Lab operated exchange. When she sells those lindens, she’s selling the licenses for real U.S. dollars from another user.

WS&T: What if there isn’t a market for that many licenses?

Connell: There is, that’s the point. There’s a market because there’s demand. Right now that demand is being regulated by Linden Lab, which limits how many Linden dollars people can buy; otherwise, the value of the Linden dollars would drop down from 260-290 per U.S. dollar to 50 Linden dollars per U.S. dollar.

WS&T: If I wanted to buy 100 Linden dollars, would I make a micropayment on my credit card?

Connell: If you wanted to buy $10 U.S. dollars worth of Lindens, that would get you about 2,900 Linden dollars. You would pay using your credit card or PayPal.

WS&T: If I wanted to buy stock on the World Stock Exchange, would I need to buy the Linden dollars first?

Connell: That’s correct. Say you went to the Second Life Exchange and you bought $100 U.S. dollars worth of in-world Lindens. You’d use those Lindens to pay the World Stock Exchange avatar, which is controlled by myself and Shaun Altman [an anonymous Second Life user whose avatar is a sinister-looking rabbit or maybe cat in a black suit and gold chain], so it’s protected, it’s like a company bank account in many ways. That money is credited to ....

Read More Here >>>>>

Second Life Money & Real Life Taxes!

CNN Money reports that tax authorities are looking into actually taxing in-game economic activity.

Two things, they say, are sure in life: death and taxes. And while you cannot exactly die from playing online role-playing games, you’re most likely to be taxed when you earn from such activities. Take Second Life, for instance, with its bustling in-game economy. 

In case you haven’t noticed, Second Life is booming, and its economy has boomed too - putting the virtual reality world in the crosshairs of tax authorities, experts say.
…
Under current tax law, it’s clear that earnings in real U.S. dollars generated within virtual realities are reportable to the IRS. If a Second Life real estate mogul cashes out of her in-world property portfolio, she’s liable to pay income tax on any profit that’s been exchanged into real greenbacks - just as an eBay seller is responsible for reporting income generated from an online sale.

Read more here >>>>

Well, I'm Supposed To Be Working

Well, I've determined to live my Second Life as if it were my first, in the Real World and NOT make all the same mistakes.

In order to come up to speed quickly, my strategy is to

1.  See if I can outsource / buy in the skills I need to get up and running quickly (contacted Anshe Chung's studio)

2.  See if I can find a mentor / consultant in Second Life itself - must visit the business area

3.  Network to meet people and pick up tips - I've already joined a couple of business groups within Second Life, one just for Second Life business women.  Perhaps I'll start a group but I need somewhere to host meetings LOL

I did see a job board but I got so depressed at the very thought (how like life!) I gave up after visiting a rather dismal Job Centre kind of place, even though the lure of becoming a night club dance sounded quite fun.  You can earn passive income in Second Life just by wearing outfits for people but I can't imagine the pay is very good.

No, business, a virtual branch of the Money Gym or real estate investing is the way forward.

But first, I need to get some help!

Getting Started In Second Life

While my daughter Phoebe figures out how to get around in Second Life (flying mainly!) I'm doing some research on how to make money - Linden Dollars - in Second Life .  The RED article talked about the first LInden dollar millionaire so I go looking online for some info on how they did it (first Money Gym principle of Wealth Creation;  find someone who has done what you want to do, successfully, and model them). 

I find an article in Business 2.0 by Rob Hof........

He says "Anshe Chung, the virtual land baroness that I highlighted in my cover story earlier this year, My Virtual Life, has apparently become the first millionaire in Second Life. That's millionaire in real U.S. dollars. Her real-world persona, Ailin Graef, figures her net worth based on her substantial in-world land holdings, cash in "Linden dollars," which can be converted to real cash, as well as virtual shopping malls, store chains, and even virtual stock-market investments in Second Life businesses. As the release explains:

Second Life's First Millionaire by Rob Hof

 Anshe Chung's achievement is all the more remarkable because the fortune was developed over a period of two and a half years from an initial investment of $9.95 for a Second Life account by Anshe's creator, Ailin Graef.

Anshe/Ailin achieved her fortune by beginning with small scale purchases of virtual real estate which she then subdivided and developed with landscaping and themed architectural builds for rental and resale. Her operations have since grown to include the development and sale of properties for large scale real world corporations, and have led to a real life "spin off" corporation called Anshe Chung Studios, which develops immersive 3D environments for applications ranging from education to business conferencing and product prototyping.

I relate this all with a straight face, but I still find it rather hard to believe that someone can become a millionaire through virtual-world creations. No fun and games, indeed.