

Blender and Second Life

Second LifeDuring a recent return flight I came upon an article in the airline's on board magazine discussing a virtual world program on the internet called Second Life. Up until now I had never heard of it. Essentially it's a Virtual Reality World where the users can meet, build products and buildings, buy and sell property, goods and services using "Linden Dollars"

My initial reaction was that it was just another virtual simulation game of which I had no interest in it. However Last week, someone sent us a link to a tutorial on "How to Make Sculpted Prims with Blender." Prim as in primitive shapes IE: cylinder, cones, cubes etc. It's a good tutorial in using primitives to create a shaped object such as a vase. Nothing that an intermediate Blender user couldn't already do. A good tutorial for the beginner no doubt. But I kept thinking, so what's the big deal about this, why would you want to make an object for this game.

So I did some further investigation about Second Life and what I have found interesting about it is how serious this virtual world is. Along with the average person who joins, there are major corporations and various government agencies using it as well. And, as in the real world, you get the good along with the bad (Virtual crime) and this translates into Second Life as well. So be careful.

Here's the interesting part, apparently you can sell your Prim (Object) and convert the "Linden Dollars" to real currency. People are making and or losing real money in a virtual world! Buying and selling virtual real estate, islands buildings and products. Sorry but this boggles my mind. Take a bunch of bytes and pixels, create virtual products and sell them in a virtual world for real world money. Yes, you heard this correct, not one "real" hammer or nail in the place! Just a bunch of pixels. I'm reminded of what P.T. Barnum's allegedly said, "There's a sucker born every minute", yet, its here and growing.

So I'd like to get some feedback from all of you who have used this "game". Have you made any real money out of this. Is it living up to all of hype, is it fun and is it really the next big thing?


  • Trawler

    I signed up in Second Life a few months ago and wandered around a couple of times. But it was really pretty boring. I wanted to create something in SL but the 3D tools they have are terrible after using apps like Blender. I never could figure out how to make something in Blender and then import it into SL. If I could do that, then I think it would be interesting.

  • Gat

    This reminds me of Face of Mankind, that game was fun until they went commertial wiith it.

  • gaalgergely

    hi...i agree with the previous commenter...its pretty boring.
    you can not import your own models created with other have to create them inside second life....there is a lot of interesting places, every place, or area has its own owner, and they can control their areas, for example, you can not create nothing until you have became a member, or a citizen of that particular area for a small fee per month (real money), then you can get the right to create...but of course, if the owner of the land does not likes it, he, she can ask you or not to remove it...but you have also the chance to buy land there, so you can be the big boss....its basicaly modeling, scripting, loading up textures....there are some pretty nice designs, customisable avatars, but mostly "not very good in 3d user" created buildings tiled across a tousand times with fivehundred kilobyte star trek textures or gifs... its interesting, but the overall look is not sony ps3 home style, rather something from 1998. oh, and the everywhere present money or linden dollar concept bugged my open source user feelings.

  • aether

    I've only looked at SL for a few hours, but I have read several articles about it. The majority of people who play SL don't make money off it. The ones you read about who do are very much the exception. It's also not as easy to get your money out as some articles might claim. This article has a good overview of the money aspect:

    Of course, you don't have to play for the money.

  • ByronK

    It sounds like an interesting concept. I have heard about it before on a podcast I watch called IzzyVideo. Virtual money is kind of strange since money is only a symbol for value anyway. It is like virtual virtual value. Hey that would be 3V!

  • p00f


    I have been playing with second life for a while now. Great place to meet people.

    My only complaint is that they CHARGE YOU $10 lindens just to upload a texture...

    another $10 for your models, and animations. (you can build things in game for free)

    YOu can earn money in second life doing various a search for camping.
    SOme places will pay you as high as $5 per 10 minuets of camping

    As soon as I get another $10 I will upload some blender Tshirts I made...

    I will give them free to everybody :)

    We should do a fund raiser, so that Blender nation, and Blender artists have a piece of land.

    Would be neat to meet with and chat with other blender users. (and give away free blender t-shirts :) )

  • Schnappi

    the real challange about second life modelling is that everything has to be build from primitives and parameters. You can change some values that changes its behaviour (like cylinders with a hole) but you still have no traditional poly or nurb modelling with very limited uv wapping abilities so creating something in second life is very complicated and very expensive on a polygon base but its very small on the dataside so it is very different from traditional modelling tools like blender, 3dmax, maya, lightwave etc.

  • tynach

    I think the only interesting things are that you can make yourself look like a Dalek, and that it has gone Open Source.

    I'de love to look like a Dalek in real life.

    It being open source means you can probably make a python script for Blender to export to its format.

    However, my own computer doesn't have internet, so I'm not really that interested.

  • Cubedude04

    Second Life: When your real life is beyond repair.

  • paulR


    Right! Because in the world of CG, nothing is worth real money, that wasn't made using a hammer and some nails.

  • Tim Formica [Room335]


    I realize there's an entertainment value but when I read that someone has made $300,000 US in virtual real estate, where's the value?

    "The lady behind the avatar called Anshe Chung runs a thriving real estate operation selling mansions to newcomers. It's reputedly worth $300,000 and growing.",21985,21755619-664,00.html

  • Michael Lambert

    I got into SecondLife a few years ago and started creating scripted objects. I did it mostly as a hobby but I slowly took to the people and environment. I now make about $1000 a year on SecondLife (I know, not a lot but better than nothing). It's the only hobby I have right now that pays for itself.
    If you are looking for a great 3d modeling environment, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a place to socialize, create, program and maybe make some pocket change the it might be for you.

  • Howitzer

    To make money you must spend money. SL real estate is NOT cheap, and that's the best way to make cash in SL (by renting it out to suckers like you and me)

    The building tools are primative, but with some creativity, you can make anything you want.

  • mark

    I've wondered about this, one of my friends plays second life, he doesn't make alot of money, but it's enough to pay for all of the various video games he buys. $1000 is alot if you don't have a job. I actually thought of doing just this, but i never checked to see if you could upload things made in blender, but it can't be that hard of a thing to do, i don't know i know just about nothing when it comes to scripting, it could be almost impossible for all i know. But if someone did make a script to export blender objects, i would do it in an instant. That'd be kinda cool, to have a virtual blenderworld. We could become the object-creating center of the world!

  • msersen

    Interesting there is not more comments here from Second Lifers! I've been "In World" for nearly 3 years and still love it. Coming from a background of designing models in AutoCad and 3ds; I obviously thought the modeling tools sucked. That was then, now I appreciate the tools and look at them more as a road bump than a road block. Soon (with the next release I believe) SL will have "sculpties" and it's only gonna get better from there. As a matter of fact, here is new news as of today!
    Atmospheric Rendering
    In regards to "earning money" in world... I can't say it's impossible cause I've been doing it for years. Only, it certainly hasn't made me rich yet, but I'm workin on it ;-D About creating objects in Blender for Second Life, I've been waiting for the day and, my day shall come soon! I hope this thread can drum up some interest in SL, anyone can feel free to contact me in world my name (in Second Life) is Treacly Brodsky.


  • FoxTwo

    This isn't a "new" concept. Check out places like where a full MMORPG revolves around owning land and making real-world currency. Other "social games" like There ( and IMVU ( are using similar models.

  • Alan T

    I've been using Second Life for over a year now, and I have to say it grows on you.

    I make a decent profit doing digital painting portraits for users (haven't spent a dime on it yet)

  • Michael Crawford

    Making complex objects out of primitives.... DAMMIT! I should have stuck with Bryce! Seriously, as soon as I found out I couldn't import and sell meshes, I dragged SL to the bin. I can understand the concern about connection speeds, but why not implement a lod-mesh system? Models made entirely out of primitives are horribly inefficient on the local side.

  • AniCator

    About Face of Mankind:
    Man I loved the Beta! Stupid Commercial Release!!! It went commercial when I finally got the game right and when I could play it at the high video settings because I bought a new video card. Stupid publisher. Beautyful game!


  • aws357

    Wonder why we couldn't make a "second life" like using Blender GE and Blender as an internal modeler to build stuff for the virtual world.

    People would use Roosendollars to buy and sell stuffs. And convert the Roosendollars into real dollars (with a 10% cut for Blender foundation)

    If it can be done, I am sure we will hear of it someday (just keep reading BlenderNation :p)

  • MartinR

    I've tried 'Second Life", but I must say "Real Life" is a far superior game. And the graphics resolution is amazing !

  • Sonic_TH

    You seem to be out of the loop. I've heard stories about this on the news for years now. China is leading the way in virtual property laws after a case of murder over a stolen in-game item. Although this wasn't related to second life. There are sweat shops in china that pay people a dollar a day to play these types of games for 16 or more hours at a time. Simple to "farm" for game items which are then sold to players over e-bay and alike. Scary as that is, in the few hours they do get to themselves many of the "farmers" goto internet cafes nearby and keep playing the same game!

    In the USA there are people who write programs to "farm" for items as well. Game companies have gotten wise to this and send in their people to stop and question these virtual-virtual players. Some of the time the programming is so good it can fool and human into thinking its a real person. Other times the robots just say "Oh my gosh I gotta go!" and logout or stop when a game admin is playing. A novel method mentioned on the NPR piece last year was a guy who set up his robots to call his pager when they were stopped so he could take over for them until the danger had passed.

    I don't claim to understand it but there it is, one guy payed 26,000 (twenty six thousand) dollars for an virtual island. Real world companies have opened virtual stores inside second life as well.

  • Acosta Shan

    Poof wrote:

    "As soon as I get another $10 I will upload some blender Tshirts I madeâ€¦"

    Does this mean you have cracked how to upload Blender created objects to Second Life?

    If so please elaborate.

  • kxs

    Man, the end of the world is coming. I`ve heard about this whole Second Life thing some time ago, but never tried it myself. And I hope I never will. Computers already take too much of my time. And besides, it`s whole better to meet people in real than in VR. Sure, you may say that it`s something like IRC, but with graphics, but... they take your money! And make you think they don`t. You can play for free, but uploading textures costs you money. And the second thing - because of such projects/games people are getting more and more addicted to the internet and VR as such. Don`t forget there`s Real Life. This game is much more interesting and has got better textures, resolution and etc. than Second Life ;-)

  • kattkieru

    Strange that you mentioned the sculpted prims and not the original prim.blender script, which is IMO a thousand times more useful.

    I actually use SL every now and again to make money. I'm with a group of builders who do all kinds of things for more and more high-profile clients in-world. Some of the companies pay good money hourly for something that I do for fun (modeling in SL is like playing with a rubik's cube-- the limits of the prim system make it fun and challenging to model), which is cool, and you can pull out the money you make when you want.

    Paying "money" to upload makes sense. If you didn't have to do that, they'd probably have to institute a mandatory monthly fee. As is, I'm making money in-world but as I don't own land (I have a house in my pocket, as it were) I don't pay a monthly fee.

    Anyway, yes, you can make money in game. I know a few people who pay their real-life rent from in-game sales. In the end, though, your in-game experience is all about the people you meet and what you want to make of it.

  • Daz Honey

    boring? nooooooo at worst a time waster, but to anyone with a creative streak it offers possibilities the real world cannot.
    Perhaps SecondLife is more of a fit with the artistic type than the hardcore gamer but at it's lowest common denominator it is a pretty chatroom and sometimes that's enough to escape the the real world and help you relax.

  • Mike

    Actually, Second Life has been around for quite awhile and has some interesting educational aspects. It's not really a game. It's more of an open-ended collaborative space. I was at the launch of the New Media Consortitum's "university" island last year and was pretty impressed. We had a live video feed going from our conference into SL to be displayed on a screen for other NMC members who were joining us virtually with their avatars. At the same time we had the computer display piped to a projection screen so that we could see what was happening in SL.

    One interesting example of using SL for teaching purposes is an Iowa State University professor having his students in SL to document and study the economics that you were talking about. The goal of his course, I believe, is for the students to identify areas of economic development and come up with a business plan to implement it.



    'Spanish demonstrators burn down "virtual" party offices'

  • Lasphere


    Well then what about all the movies that has been made, and sold? Is that stupid, too you? after all, They "just a bunch of pixels". Dude, c'mon... that was just silly.

  • dr01d

    I have tried SecondLife on and off a few times in the past. Just recently, I decided to give it a "real" go after consistently hearing the hype of real corporations getting into SecondLife. To me, SecondLife reminds me a LOT like the internet in the early days (animated gifs, ugly designs, things dedicated to people's hobbies). A lot of wacky stuff, where anyone can put together something for the world to see. Of course, you do run across some areas where people have mastered the tools and are creating stunning visuals.

    The in-game building tools are actually pretty cool. I've been using Blender for years, consider myself a decent modeller, and yes it's frustrating I can't just design something in Blender and import it. However, I DO understand why Linden Labs doesn't allow that (for now). By forcing everyone to use the in-game tools (which are worth checking out... seriously) they LEVEL the playing field. Creating cool looking stuff in-game is a time involving process. The created objects have more VALUE if they are well done and it is going to take TIME to do it. Kinda like real life.

    The fun part of SecondLife is exploring. There is a TON of stuff to see and try out. Check out the virtual New Orleans (where I am originally from) with the hurricane katrina display, the cathedral in Jackson square, cafe du-monde, visit IBM's section and go through the circuit city where trailers play on the plasma screens. Linden Village has an interactive planetarium (amongst other things). I went skydiving at some place (forget where), and rode bumper cars in an amusement park. The guy that "owned" the park was actually making a train while I was there. I got to watch him modify the track in real-time, and even got to try it out for an initial run (probably one of the best on-line experiences I've had, since the physics and scripting for the train obviously had issues and at one point the car I was in flew up to an altitude of around 2000 feet). And in copenhagen, denmark there is a sandbox where you can build anything you want and store it to your inventory. At any time there, you can watch a number of people building virtual buildings, vehicles, clothes, etc.

    The previous poster talking about uploading blender shirts prob meant a texture that you can wear (not an actual model - I could be wrong).

    SecondLife is one of those things that you have to put in effort to see any value. It is not a game, more of a 3D Internet. If you are the type of person that checked out the internet in the beginning, saw web pages dedicated to cats or monty python and quickly logged off with the feeling of "that was a complete waste of time"... then you prob shouldn't try SecondLife. Maybe wait a few years and see if it develops into something more mature.

  • Lumiere Noir


    I've been a member of Second Life on and off for three years. I'm well known in that world because I built a self-paced tutorial on the building system called the Ivory Tower. Come by and visit, it's in the sim (region) called "Natoma". I came to Blender a long while ago too, and parlayed what I had learned in Second Life into Blender, and vice versa. Sure SL's building system is infantile compared to Blender, but to someone like me it was a revelation that got me interested in 3D modeling. I tried a lot of programs but once I got used to Blender's interface, I love it best; I'm astounded by it. I use it for a lot of things and am very happy that I'll be able to use it in a limited way in SL with sculpted prims.

    I've made very good money in SL, but mostly through commission work for companies and individuals. My personal work that I make for sale are things I'm interested in for their own selves...Flash Gordon rocketships, and the like mostly sell enough for me to pay my land fees, so I'm satisfied with that.

    I can't defend SL's building system against Blender, that would be foolish since Blender is so much more powerful and versitile. SL has a limited building system that is meant to conserve bandwidth and be accessable by the layman (like me), but in pushing against the bounds of those limitations, we have to be creative. Marcel Duchamp said, "Poor tools require better skills." We work pretty hard to make up for those with texturing and other techniques.

    I have a lot of fun in Second Life, but I mostly make things, I don't socialize so much. I'm very self-entertaining so I don't usually get bored as much as get frustrated with the frequent challenges I have with getting my scripts to work as I want them to. I hope to see you in SL sometime, Instant message me as Lumiere Noir in world.


  • Mike

    The Croquet Project ( is an interesting open source sort of alternative to Second Life. It allows you to host a virtual world on your own machine and uses a messaging system to keep copies of the world up to date on the users' computers.

    One of the interesting things about it is the names behind the project: Alan Kay, Mark McCahill, They have released an SDK, so you can (in theory) create your own worlds using Squeak. But unless you are a hardcore coder, it might be a bit ...challenging. You can, however, download the package and easily try out the sample worlds that they've provided.

    This is an attractive option for education not only because of its cost, (open source, remember) but also because it was designed from the ground up to incorporate legacy content.

    Worth a look if you're interested in this sort of thing.

  • Ray

    It seems there are exhibitions and art performances on second life, commented on this very good game artists blog:

    and another quote dug out form the site, more relevant!

  • ATK

    I heard of ppl going on Second Life as kids 'selling' themselfves to paedophiles so they can live out their sick fantasies!!!

    That's sick!!! (insert icon for vomiting!)

  • Dan




    I think you are onto something here if something like this is possible. I think this sounds like a great idea...

  • chicho

    Recently it came to me all of this Second Life revolution, so i decided to write down an article in my lonely blog, it's about some ideas and thoughts which can be used to create an Open source alternative online game engine, and of course using blender. Check it out:

  • Brian

    BTW the $10 fee to upload a texture to SL is equal to about 3 cents USD. There is an anctual virtual economy so the value fluctuates.

  • MartinR

    Hope this doesn't seem too radical, but isn't "second life" a low quality and mediocre experience. - shouldn't we be more demanding in life- just create stuff - it's just another form of corporate mental expliotation - "Second life" is another example of intelligence downsizing

  • MartinR

    Sorry guys, i don't mean to be rude or arrogant regarding "second life", but there is an insidious quality to these kind of sites where we are just being sold something. Blender sites seem to have a great positivity to them, and second life gives off a bad vibe - personal thing i suppose

  • Zxayant

    Absolutely! I fully agree with you, MartinR!

  • p00f

    The blender shirt I made is just a texture "Skin" for an existing SL t-shirt.

    I think the animations are BVH

    I have no idea how to import a mesh. but it seems possible, people are selling custom avitars , and assorted body parts all over the place.

  • Mickey Roark

    I've been a resident of Second Life since before Public Beta (Jan '03). While no system/game/platform is perfect (after all they are created and populated by people), Second Life is one that stands out in the croud. It has more that 6.6 Million 'residents'. All the content is created and owned by the residents (users), copyrights included.

    There is no 'goal' of Second Life, it is not a game. It is more of an environment, a platform, that the users create or do what they want with it. Whether it be a social, creative, inventive, commerce, artistic, or some combination of these endeavors, Second Life lets you be you, or someone else (Elvis is in the building).

    I have been a builder (mostly boats and yachts) since the beginning, and while I don't make a living wage from SL (yet), I do make a few thousand a year (more if I spend more time there). As a couple others have said, it is a hobby that can make a profit, not cost you. While the 3D tools are 'primative' by Blender standards, they are designed to work within the streaming technology that makes SL possible. The new Sculpties form of Prim, that takes its shape from a sculpt texture, will add some much needed flexibility and created a whole new paradigm shift in SL (old objects vs. new sculptie based objects).

    This gives you, the 'Blender crowd', a big leg up over us mear prim mortals of SL. Use your experience in using Blender to create 3D RGB textures that can be sold for REAL Dollars is Second LIfe (via Linden $ and their Lindex exchange system - currently 267 L$ to 1 US $). FYI, my boats and yachts sell for anywhere from $1 to $10 US Dollars each.

    If you arn't interested in getting into SL, then maybe I could talk some of you into selling me Blender 3D textures that I can re-sell in SL for sculped prims (for a tidy profit of course).


  • ysvry


    I agree make it more open sourced and connected to the normal internet through blenders internet plug. instead of linking 2d pages we then can link 3d worlds.
    this might be a good project like the orange movie thing.

  • Corvaire

    Yes, it is very addictive.. stay away. But, if you don't heed my warning.. come visit me in Solvang (Tieut SIM), where I also have a toy train to ride, Bowling alley, Welcome area, Danish stores to rent and sell your in-world sculpted prim objects at, and coming soon.. A catch the flag paintball game called K66 Arena.

    Yes, my name is Corvaire, and I am an addict ;O)-

    Just do a search under "places" for "Solvang" or under "people" for "Corvaire." If I have time, I may even show you how to build something.

  • Pavig Lok

    In answer to your question, yes you can make money in secondlife, but usually it's a very small trade. The 10L$ mentioned to upload a texture translates to less than 1c US so it's not usually an issue. Selling objects in world I make maybe a buck US every few days, which is enough to pay for my membership if I was a paying customer. I pay rent for a small shop which costs maybe 20% of my income from sales. All up from my very modest object sales I probably cover the $10US a month to be a premium member if I could be bothered to do that. People who concentrate on selling as a business can earn substantially more - basically I don't bother.

    Secondlife is not a game per se, but more a platform and community of creators. In terms of typical game technologies SL operates like the bad old days of mmorpgs, and is buggy as heck. In terms of being a system and space where one can practice real creativity, a true virtual world, it's pretty much unsurpassed. Full timers are very protective of it's space and feel that they actually belong to a real community in there. Others play games within the sl environent. Myself, i kinda live there and do business and artworks.

    Outside of the linden economy I build for a commercial company and various projects. My avatar earns more than I do in real life that way at the moment. Education has a strong interest in it, as do companies that wish to do "branding" somewhere new - everyone wants to be a "first" for their PR. SL is maturing technologically, but brings with it a strong enough community of creators that It'll probably last the storm and emerge as the forerunner in a significant new trend for 3d convergence. Many like to think it's there already - well the tools are still in beta but it's getting there.

    Feel free to visit me in world - Pavig Lok

  • Pavig Lok

    .... Oh by the way - the SL browser is currently opensource so the blender crowd could fiddle with it's internals if they wished. Server technology will opensource "real soon now".

  • eye208

    There are some common misconceptions about what Second Life is. Yes, there is an in-world currency that can be traded against US$ but you don't need any money to enter the virtual world and survive in it. You can spend money (and earn it too), but it's completely optional. Renting a patch of land in Second Life is really nothing more than the 3D equivalent of renting server space for running a website.

    The choice of parametric building blocks ("prims") over free-form meshes was made to conserve bandwidth since all the in-world content is subject to change and has to be streamed to the clients. Sculpted prims are a workaround for the limitations imposed by this approach. A sculpted prim is a building block whose shape is defined by a texture. Blender can be used to model those shapes and generate textures ready to be uploaded to SL. And Blender can also be used for offline building using the Prim.Blender extension ([url][/url]).

    Second Life is actually a lot of fun once you know how things work in-world. You can meet people from all over the world, explore a vast virtual landscape and collaborate on projects (modelling, texturing, scripting, animating). The free basic account comes with all the building tools, and there are public places where everyone can build stuff. You can earn some virtual money by selling your creations or getting hired to work on somebody else's projects. Or you can just keep all the things you build for yourself and customize your avatar to show off your skills. It's quite addictive. And there's a native client for Linux and Mac too. :)

  • Timeless Prototype

    Second Life® is the next big thing.

  • Michael Adams

    Threads like this are interesting, fun to see how people see second life. I'll make this brief as there is quite a bit of responses. I'm currently attending college about to graduate with my associates in multimedia graphic design, studying Lightwave3D next quarter,..than I graduate. I've been working full time in second life for almost 2 years. I do not work for Linden Dollars, only paypal or check by mail, as I am a freelance designer and I charge RL rates to work on Second life marketing and advertising campaigns.

    I personally know several "entertainment" companies looking into developing in second life ontop of what they normally work in.

    I left the US military and went to college all because I joined second life and realized that I should pursue a career in graphic design.

    I owe alot to Linden lab for creating Second life, what I see as the worlds most advanced marketing and social networking platform.

    My SL name is Crash Prefect if anyone is interested,...

  • JessieBeckham

    I have been a member of SL for about 8 months now. I was blown away by the entire environment and soon realized that it was not a game but was something far greater. The more time I spent in SL, the more I realized that they were onto something big. Whether you like corporate America or not, they smell blood in the water. In 1995, they smelled blood too..and because of that..we are all where we are today :)

    I am currently involved in land development and resell, new member integration, and starting a RL consulting company. Do I make real money in SL? Yes. How much? I would rather not say. But..I'll let you do the math. Create one super object, house, boat, car, airplane, talking dog, etc. and sell it for 250 Linden (roughly 1 dollar and about what a set of avitar clothes costs in SL). Now..with 6.6 million members and about 700,000 of those are active regular particpants who spend real money in world...that's 700,000 potential $1 us dollar sales. With projected growth of up to 32 million by end of '07, increase that potential sales base to 4.2 million users. I think you can do the math from that point.

    I agree with Mickey Roark, sculpties represent a new paradigm for SL, which in my opinion is the beginning of the web of the future. AS dr0ld mentioned in their post...if you were turned off by the web in 1995, don't bother with SL. If you saw opportunity and were excited by the potential...then SL is for you. And as another post stated..thanks to sculptie prims, you Blender guys have a huge advantage over us SL mortals, as they put it.

    Now...I have land and lots of it. I need talented artists, because SL is as much about art as it is business. This is 1995 all over again. Don't be left behind. When I joined in October '06, there were slightly under 1 million members. Today, they have 6.6 million and are on pace to hit 9 million by June. Some estimates put population at 30+ million by end of '07. I am willing to provide plenty of land to start a Blender user artist enclave and give you guys a place to learn SL, its tools, and how your skills can blow away what you see there when you first visit.

    So..if you aren't completely against the idea of making money with your talents contact me either through my email address or in world .. just send an im to Jessie Beckham.

    Now..I'm off to download Blender and try to catch up with you guys :)



  • Alex

    Been playing SL for a little over a month now. Building there was actually my first experience with any kind of 3D design, so the limitations didn't bother me much. If anything it quickly became a challenge to create the most realistic objects I could with my limited tools! The thing I really love about it though, is that I can be standing around a public sandbox making whatever has come to mind that day, and some stranger from around the world will stroll over and say "Hey! That's cool!" and strike up a conversation about it. To create 3D objects is one thing, but to be able to look around and see people ideas taking shape all around you is just fascinating. You can even collaborate on projects in real time!

    It is also a great introduction to 3D design... it may be limited, but it sure is easy!! After a month I now find myself looking up blender, as apparently it will help me create the new sculpted prims, and I can't wait to get started with the tutorials here.

    In addition, the ability to add scripts to your creations that make them do just about anything within the games limitations (and a few things beyond) is great! My latest toy is a scale replica of a harmonica. I added an animation so my little guy taps his foot and moves his head, and recored myself playing a short blues burst. Now I get to walk up to people and play them a tune! I can even busk, hehe :)

  • Roms Maertens

    What I feel about SL, it's not a game, it's an open world where anyone can create content, just like Internet is. When I first came to SL, I really had the feeling it was like a 3D version of Internet where you just walk (or fly) from websites to websites. This gives an incomparable experience of surfing the web. The lack I see for the moment is that you can't have HTML content in-word and this reduces communication a lot, but it sure will come one day (SL upgrades every Wednesday ...).

    Think of it a 3D Internet where you can feel yourself moving from one website to another like just crossing the street from one shop to another in real life : SL is definitely what's going to be called Web3.0 sooner or later !

    By the way, BlenderNation on SL, that could be a second media on which you could spread the same content (there's a way to link in-world content with traditional websites) with extra features like meeting you, talking with you (voice is coming soon, was expected on May 23rd, maybe next Wednesday) or seeing your blender . This is a place where you could communicate on blender and get people interested in it, that's 6 millions potential 'residents'

    Hope to see you in-world and if you're looking for some place to start with, you can come home and I'll let you use my place for free for a while :)

  • Donnae

    Hi, I am a member of another 3d world called IMVU. I think it is sooo much better than Second Life. And it is growing. And yes, you can make real money if you work hard. And with any business, advertise! Check out You will be pleasantly surprised! Donnae....look me up when you come online!

  • Indra Jun

    I reley Love to build and since i know there is a way to create forms as individual as i like i cant stop seaching for the aknowledge to do let us be creative and let us find the good toools for it

  • Heart Wishbringer

    I've been playing Second Life since November 2004, I started out just playing it as a game. Eventually I wanted to learn how to script and build. I met and have become friends with a lot of people who were like me, just curious about building, and it was never in the beginning about making money. I was only in the game a couple of months when I fell in love there, and found that the products we were able to make could be sold for profit in the game and the money could be converted to real life dollars and that income could be used for us to meet in real life. Being that we lived in two different countries and were quite poor in real life, we decided we'd design, sell and save to meet and marry in real life. It has been well over 2 1/2 yrs since I started playing, almost 3 yrs ago now, and in that time we have made tens of thousands of US dollars just playing this game for fun. As an artistic outlet it's fun, as a medium for meeting other artistic people it's just amazing. For income it's not a bad way to make a little extra cash to help when times are hard in real life. For me, it's making a dream of mine come true. I'm finally getting to meet the man I love and the whole thing is being filmed by a production company in the UK as our love story has become of interest to the media and such... so not only did SL make this possible for us, it's made it possible for a lot of unemployed people to have an income from home, and made it possible for a lot of lovers around the globe to afford to meet. I'm not the only one. SL is not a get rich place for people to come and try to make a quick buck, it's a place for artistic people to express themselves, and for game players who have wants and needs for the in-game content and do not have a problem paying real cash for the items. Lindens are purchased with real cash and can easily be converted back into real cash. You get something for your money, and in the end you are helping someone else earn a paycheck. I love Second Life.

  • Heart Wishbringer

    P.S. The reason you wont see many comments here from long time Second Life users promoting Second Life is because if people who are talented at 3D programs like Blender read about how easy it is to make money in Second Life then Second Life will be flooded with talent and the competition would increase. Right now Second Life is filled with designers who have learned how to create in game by fiddling with prims, and who may or may not have had much experience modeling. If Real Life modelers, and artists start flooding Second Life, it would put a lot of mediocre designers out of business and for a lot of people in Second Life it is actually their only form of income, and none of us want to lose business to a "real" artist.

    I for one like seeing talented people in game. With luck, Blender users will start joining and teach the rest of us how to use it, and how to create the new prims using it. There are a few Blender users in there that are long time players, and I can see them making all the money in the next few months. People like me who do not know how to use Blender will fall way behind. Hopefully some Blender users will come in and give lessons to some of us who do not understand it.

    I'm just waiting around for better tutorials for now...

  • Heart Wishbringer


    Would any Blender user want to tell me the steps to turn something made in Blender to a sculpt map?

    I've never used Blender before, my boyfriend has used Cinema 4D for many years... but he has no idea if he can create a model / shape in it and convert it to a sculpt map, he can't seem to find the words sculpt map anywhere in Cinema 4D, so he downloaded Blender, however, he's never used it before. The thing he wants to do is just create a shape and then convert that shape to a sculpt map, so that he can upload that sculpt map to Second Life and convert their sculpt shapes into the shape he made in Blender. If anyone is willing to explain this to me, or take time to tell me step by step just how do you convert a shape to a sculpt map, then I would take the time to explain to you how to go about earing a real income in Second Life.

    Thanks a lot. :)

    Heart Wisbringer of Second Life

    email: [email protected]

  • Heart Wishbringer




    Thanks a lot. :)

    Heart Wisbringer of Second Life

    email: heartshinegirl at

  • OddesE Oh

    I read in the comments that it might be a good idea for blendernation to go into Second Life. If you guys are considering that I'd like to offer you, on behalf of my group, 'Rent a Land', a nice plot of land to rent for free. Come in-world and contact me or Jeremiah Whitfield on IM. We'd love to get you guys on board! Second Life is cool, especially if you know 3D.

    OddesE Oh

  • Michael Reed (aka SL: Michael Bigwig)

    For many, SL is considered boring--but in an age of ADD and ADHD who do we blame?

    Second Life is a fantastic technology, and depending on your level of commitment, can harbor incredible gain--social gain, monetary gain, gain of a useful skill-set. The SL world is HUGE! You think games like WoW have large maps? You think Oblivion has a big world? Nothing compared to the SL grid. Now'adays, you can walk around in this MMO-VRML with 40,000 other users at one time (and this is increasing exponentially).

    Some people get their jollies by simply hanging outâ€¦chatting. Going to dances, openings of events or new clothing stores, amusement parks, live music or theatrical showsâ€”itâ€™s all there. But the real fun is when you jump in the mix yourself, and begin to create for yourself. One user mentioned above that you have to be a paying member to createâ€¦well, this is actually not true. You can go places that allow you to practice building and/or modeling (whichever you call it), and then you can package anything up you build, and store it in your inventory foreverâ€¦you can then sell these objects, outfits, prefab-houses, etc, to companies or citizens.

    I run Glowbox Designs in Second Lifeâ€¦and I am also a freelance modeler and texture artist. Currently I am working on projects fully-funded by real world Hollywood production companiesâ€¦this is where the big bucks come inâ€”â€œSim Creation.â€ One of the standard pay-rates for a builder is $6,300 Lindens an hour. Some people bitch about having to spend $10L just to upload a custom textureâ€¦well, the truth is, if you are actually skilled and freelancingâ€¦$10L doesnâ€™t even phase you. And after Iâ€™ve put in a week on a project (around 15 hours at the moment) I just made $94,500 Lindensâ€”the current average exchange rate is around 250-275 Lindens for every $1 USD. That means, I just made over $300 USDs doing something I love, and would be doing anyway. Not to mention I work with other great artists, and am surrounded by thinkers and inventors.

    Again, for some it may be boring. For others, it may be a nice relaxing way to experience a unique online community. But for the creators and the real estate mogulsâ€¦itâ€™s a heck of a lot more. Fun that is.


  • Tim

    Wow, a lot of great responses about SL. I guess it is something worth looking into if I have the time in the future.

  • Michael Reed (aka SL: Michael Bigwig)

    Hearth Wishbringer wrote:



    Second Life is already flooded with amazing talent. I guess you haven't done much Sim searching. Real world modelers and texture artists (like myself) who learned on programs like Max, Maya, Lightwave and Softimage come to Second Life and have no problem creating quality content--they've been doing it for years. Not to mention graphic designers (again like myself) who have real-world degrees, and fully implement their skills.

    Just like in real life, give someone a copy of Photoshop and Illustrator, and they think they are a graphic designer...the real designers who've been trained don't really fear these "self-proclaimed Adobe Designers." We know that with proper advertising, and obviously superior sample work...we will have plenty of work to keep us busy.

    The competition is already here. And for the love of god people, stop up-selling Blender, and down-selling the modeling in Second Life. First of all, Blender is great yes...but it's really nothing compared to Maya, Max, Softimage or stop acting snooty. Secondly, the building system in Second Life is super intuitive, real-time, and powerful enough to create anything you want. And now with the new Sculpty mapping system, most major 3D apps will incorporate this new Second Life modeling ability--which is going to change the face of Second Life.

    So to clarify Heart Wishbringer, Second Life isn't just filled with artists that have learned only in-world, as you suggest--there are already thousands of truly creative people working in Second Life. Yes, this creates competition, but it also drives up overall quality. I personally love it.

    I'm not trying to be a jackass at all...I"m just being honest. If you don't know about Second Life, and it's full potential, then you don't have the right to bash it. There's so much more than meets the eye.

  • Tim

    Interesting statistics in from this article

    "A recent survey of 9,529 Second Lifers by Seattle-based Global Market Insite, found that 45 percent give their avatars more attractive bodies, 37 percent make them younger than themselves and 23 percent give them another race."

    "Twenty-two percent of Second Lifers polled by GMI said they had more virtual-world than real-world friends, and 29 percent said their virtual lives interfered with their real lives."

  • Christopher molinaro

    hey guys you may hate SL but once you play it a lot it is addicted just look at me i am playing it as i am making this comment. Oh and i am thinking about making something on blender and importing it once i get blender figured out:/

  • vaguegirl

    i have been in SL since april 06. for those of you who either don't go in at all or don't get past the sex, casinos and bars, it is an incredible and amazing world.

    due to what i have learned in Second Life, i have taught myself how to use Blender, The Gimp, Daz3d, i understand the principles behind the RGB-XYZ transformation (for what SL calls sculpties).

    i have also learned the internal scripting language (LSL) which has led me to start exploring "Real Life" computer languages, particularly C++, because the Second Life client is now open source and i would like to understand more of it than i currently do.

    the point is that there is more to making money and all the other stuff the press (er, fear mongers) stirs up. please don't complain about all the faults of Second Life until you have experienced it fully for yourself.

    and blender ROCKS, btw, i forgot to comment on that, lol.

  • Manny Vella

    I have been a Sl member since just and have made over 100,000L which equals out to about $2,500 between what i make in blender and sell in sl and camping when i sleep :o)

  • Andrew

    SL gave me the shivers when I first heard about it on an "a current affairs" show. The fact that its never ending, every one uploads their own things and does what they want, it's like the creators of it don't own it anymore in a sense that some people might be making a similar amount of profit that the creators are.

    Although I haven't played it, or probably will never play it, I think of it as gambling.

  • zany

    Wat about the teen SL? Can you model in that one,and also,can you model in the free account?

  • Zen Zeddmore aka damian poirier

    You can model in SL with a free account. You can model on the teen grid. IDK if when a teen moves to the adult grid if their inventory comes with them.

    Blender mesh data (actually any text based data) can be easily ported into and out of SL. So to the few commenters who asked about this , yes it is possible.

    i loved the comments by Allex and vaguegirl

    lmao @ timeless prototype's spectacular understatment.( for those who don't know he's like OMG big in SL.

  • dandellion Kimban

    As a second life resident for almost a year I felt an urge to add my two cents to this....

    The first thing... second life is not a game. It is more a platform which can be used to many purposes, including but not only games. At the current state its social and communication aspects are more developed and exploited.

    I must admit I was surprised to read: "Sorry but this boggles my mind. Take a bunch of bytes and pixels, create virtual products and sell them in a virtual world for real world money." Bytes and pixels can have their value. Consider professional web-design or well made 3D models, they are just pixels too. I really cannot see why somebody who purchase "bytes and pixels" should be considered as "sucker".

    Making "real money", that is, amounts that are considerable when expressed in USD or euros, is not so common. According to Linden Lab, about 1000 residents are making more than US$1000 per month. i uess that most of them are into "real-estate" business, buying, selling and renting virtual land. Before anybody who pays for land in SL is declared a sucker.... That is "virtual" land, but processing power and server resources are very real. Just the same as this (and every other) web site.... it is pile of pixels but you pay for it. Because it is server space and bandwidth that are worth money.

    About hype.... well... most of the hype is (as with any hype) just media rummble with not much understanding. But it is nice and promising project.

  • QA

    Reading this thread has been quite interesting.

    I poked my head into SL about one year ago and stayed for less than a week. Not because it wasn't fun, but because it was overwhelming! I realized that to really establish myself in this new world I would have to take out so much time from my life in the real would be like starting life all over again! Between work, play, graphics, music, eating, and sleeping (this last one is already getting its time portion cut into heavily) I couldn't fathom how I would fit it in.

    And yet...I do read more and more about SL all the time, and now that I'm a Blenderist of about half a year, I may give SL another shot. I still don't have time to live Second Life to its fullest, but I may be able to contribute a mesh or texture here and there, and if there's profit to be made, I could justify spending more time in this new world. And may even grow accustomed to it? There's certainly plenty to explore.

    I'll never forget the time someone gave me a new body to try on and I couldn't figure out how to take it off and revert to my normal one...a very traumatic noob experience.

  • dandellion Kimban

    QA, I was recently writing a bit about problems of people who come to SL without an itention to spend too much time there. Though there is no definitive solution to the problem yet, ant though I will write more about that, you might be interested. And, for sure, I would like to know your experiences and observations.

  • Jadiana

    What people need to get their minds wrapped around is that SL is really just a 3D interface to the internet. It has all the things you can find there, and more.

    The people who are making money are those that are /creating/ things to suppose these endeavors. For instance, I'm a clothing designer with a particular penchant for historical clothing, which in turn enables many roleplaying groups to create immersive environments.

    But there educational institutions holding classes, homeland security has urban terror simulations, real products are advertised (though I think they have yet to 'get' it, and aren't utilizing SL as they should), IBM has their own simulations there, many companies use the place for a virtual conference room, etc, etc.

    And I don't believe that Sl is being used to its potential yet, either.

  • Jadiana


    The people who are making money are those that are /creating/ things to support these endeavors. For instance, I'm a clothing designer with a particular penchant for historical clothing, which in turn enables many roleplaying groups to create immersive environments.



  • Acher Back in SL

    In response to your question is "is it really the next big thing?" If your old enough; remember when you wondered if the pc was the next big thing? Was my commodore 64 going let see the entire topography of the earth. Now my front door looks like a UPS station at Christmas with all our online shopping, I do my banking, insurance etc. all online. SL is to web experiences what my old commodore was to PCs. Itâ€™s a game now (like my 64 was a toy then), but it will evolve into something bigger.
    People pay real money to buy SL goods for the same reason people buy Ipods, they just plain want them. So it seems stupid at first, why would someone buy clothing for an avatar, but anything above the basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) is consumerism and whoâ€™s to say what people should desire. Iâ€™m sure in the future my grandkids may be attending College in SL or some similar program. So here is my take on the whole thing, if you have the skills, get on board.

  • Dex

    I have been in Second Life for a couple of years and make real money selling jewelry. With the implementation of sculpty primitives imported from 3d programs I am learning how to build and texture true round brilliant cut diamond meshes and other gem shapes using Blender.

  • Thais

    The true is I start learning Blender because Second Life!

  • Otawan Fouquet

    as an avid builder within the second life venue and scripter, I can tell you that u can make money in second life and I do. We have sold enuf tip jars, furniture, gestures to turn into real money. Plus we dj over the internet there too. I am an avid user of Solidworks and have discovered Blender, which is a real boon to me. I find the building program with the second life environment to be very touchy at most. But now I am in the stages off exporting my designs from solidworks into blender. This will be a real help to me and my partner in real life and second life, because we will be able to produce sculptie scripts and create, what ever we want and quickly.

  • http://[email protected] Moggs Oceanlane

    I had a look at Second Life in 2005 but it was waaaay too laggy for me to use without major frustration so I left it be. I then had a lunch with a friend in 2007 and she was playing Second Life and was contemplating buying a virtual island for US$1024 (with monthly land fees over US$200). The islands were being sudivided and bits sold off and thus the owner receives the land fees and ... well, can possibly make a profit. I was amused and a little perplexed at why people would buy a 'pretend' island and so signed up to Second Life for the second time (as Moggs Oceanlane) and here I've stayed.

    Second Life is a blend of an online-community and a game. It does not have a win and lose point scoring system. You can work or play or do whatever you like. All residents (players) have built in tools to begin building and there are a number of free scripts, textures and sandpits available to facilitate this. As such, anyone can build and sell products without spending any real money - if they desire. For those that need a more traditional online point scoring game there are combat/weapon systems in world and quests that you can participate in, though it's only one component of the Second Life metaverse.

    Since joining, I've purchased land (and would not love an Island as there are less restrictings on what you can do if you own the whole island) - however, before even contemplating that I'd need to be earning enough Linden dollars to make it viable. I'm not, so for now, I pay real money in monthly fees.

    It's my understanding that the guy who owns Skidz Prims - and in world business has given up his 'day job' in real life to see if he can make a living out of Second Life - I'm not sure if this is still the case or how it logistically works but lots of people do it.

    I've become a little addicted and have enhanced my photoshop skills significantly, have a basic grasp of animation (though I've only dabbled with some in world tools), have begun to learn blender - a 3D modelling tool and am looking at scripting. The great thing about Second Life is that all in-world content is build and scripted by residents. If you get into the game, you will want to dabble with textures and scripts.

    Finally, as a person who is not your typical female when it comes to shopping in real life, I certainly make up for it in Second Life. Like the gadgets and junk you buy in real life that you really don't need, buying stuff in Second Life can be fun.

    If people wish to have a look at the game, I suggest they give themselves a list of things to do and make themselves login every night for a week or two - or every other night. It's not a spectators game and you have to get past the newbie hiccups.

    There are gardens, replicas of places in the real world, art exhibitions, education (real work and second life courses), people make movies using the tool, there's role playing and there's traditional combat type games for those that want to release some stress.

    I've surprised myself by staying. When I went back in, I gave myself two weeks. I spent the first few days whining about how dumb it was... then I'd learn or see something and go off on a tangent... then I decided I wanted to build and that owning some land would be useful... now... ? ... still learning (second life stuff and real life skills) and I'm still here.

  • http://[email protected] Moggs Oceanlane

    PS: In terms of web stuff, I don't generally chat to people I don't know. My facebook is real life friends and family only (not aquaintances), my chat/IM lists are real life friends and family as well. I have excellent real world friends (and various circles of friends), I enjoy my job and I leave the house and go out and socialise in real life. My real life is healthy and well... and not in need of any repair. There are areas that could be improved, but I think that goes for everyone... nothing major. I add this PS as I was under the assumption that people who played second life for an extended period must be socially inept. It's not the case. Of course, you will find these people in Second Life, but you'll find a lot of healthy people too.

  • tessy

    there is somthing wierd about this game ,,,, the logo of it by the way looks similar to the egyptian Witchcraft sign ie a hand with an eye in the middle .. only for those who can see..!

  • Smokie

    i have been playing Second life for i think 2 years now. i make about 10$ an hour playing. really its all about computer skills. any person can create a image or texture or bake a 3d texture for sculpti prims or do a bvh animation then upload it. while the toolsn sl are not that great you can create your own content and upload it. usualy just has to meet certain parameters but there are all sorts of 3rd party tools out there to help. blender is aparently one of the best free 3rd party tools cause it can do it all bvh animation, texture baking, 3d prim building ect... u just need certain pluggings to assist with the conversion over to second life uploadable

  • Joe

    Wow. You guys sure do whine a lot.

    I've been on for a month. It's a fun way to meet people and waste a little bit of time. If you think you are a great developer and think you can come in like a gangbuster and bring all your creations in to rule the world, then no, it's not for you.

    It seems to be a community where people develope friendships and such- just like chat rooms were. People used to think AOL was crazy because you shouldn't "type" to people you don't know etc. Now it's common.

    Anyway, $10 in Linden money is like less than a penny. If you have talent and want to express it, quit whining about less than one penny.

    I am not a member but I did rent an island. I can do whatever I want on it- create objects, etc. Less than $10US a month. Plus it gives me a place to go with other "people" I meet to relax or enjoy myself when the common areas get busy.

  • 300baud

    Tim, our "real" money is just make-believe too, so what the heck.

  • Nalates Urriah

    SL publishes the financials of L$ transactions. In those are the numbers for how many people took money out of the game... well at least made money in game. (BTW, the IRS watches those numbers and people have to pay tax on that income â€“ darn). On the main page is a link labeled Economic Statistics. The third item down on that page is Estimated In World Business Owners. It shows their gross income. It shows that in May 2008 about 28,000 people made US$10 or more. There were 189 that made US$5,000 or more. (Yes US dollars). Of course there were about 850,000 people that logged in that month. About 3% are making money.

    The last item before the footnotes is L$ Sources and Sinks. It shows where the big money is being spent in SL. Gosh, it is advertisingâ€¦ just like on the real life Internet.

    SL'ers are using Blender, Maya, and numerous player made programs to create SL things, clothes, jewelry, space ships, bodies (AV or avatars have bodies - I bought a very slick dragon body L$150/about US$0.60 - depending on exchange rate). Plus as on the Internet and in real life there is a huge sex industry and people making things for it.

    Toyota, IBM and some other big names are there. I think Toyota is a major flopâ€¦ but the auto industry has always been 10 years behind the curve and clueless when it comes to the Internet.

    If someone has not figured out how to use Blender, Maya or 3D Max for SL, it is not surprising. All objects in SL have been designed for optimum download and render in the viewer (SL browser). There are loads of restrains on how objects have to be created. But, even noobs are making things. Many are learning high end 3D modeling and texturing. The Internet has plenty of tutorials on how each program can be used to build SL objects. Players have built plug-inâ€™s to handle much of the technical or tedious work and translations from industry 3D â€˜sort ofâ€™ standards to SLâ€™s unique 3D. They have mapped out UV Maps for texturing clothes and objects. SLâ€™s own forums are active with question and answer sections helping noobs. So, if one has not figured out how to use Blender for SL, they probably have not yet figured out how to use Google.

  • http://none Jerome

    I logged into Second Life two years ago, very much saw the potential, but was busy with other interests and duties. Now, i have the summer off, i'm back in Second Life (SL) and really enjoying the environment.

    People may ask "how can something that is just virtual pixels be worth something?" Think about it. That currency in your wallet or the change in that drawer or bottle, what's that really worth? it's worth what the users of that currency all agree its worth. They agree that it has some value in that society and the government of that society backs it up with the strength of its reality.

    Same thing in a virtual world. 27 virtual dollars will get you something in game that is priced at 27 virtual dollars if somebody wants to spend their currency for it. Well, why in the world would someone spend currency on an item they can't bring in the real world you might ask?

    Same reason you'd buy a DVD. Same reason you would pay tmobile or your phone company for long distance service. Because its entertainment, its communication, its economic activity that hasn't been seen before. Make no difference if someone in my town comes to my store and says "hey, jerome, i'd like to pay you to go trim my hedges in the shape of a dinosaur" or if someone in SL comes contacts me and says "hey, Jerome i'd like to pay you to make me virtual hedges for my cool mansion." time being spent = money being spent. Skills applied = economic activity. Skills used and creation = productivity. Virtual or not. People are spending time and money and resources and skills all at their computers at the very same time in SL all around the world, interacting, sharing experiences, engaging in socialization, creation, entrepreneurship, etc.

    There is great value in making a better widget, or mouse trap, or SL script or SL structure. There is great value in applying your skills to a project that someone else is not skilled enough to do. There is great value in problem solving, in contributing to the social system, socioeconomic distinctions and product distinctions in second life.

    If none of this still makes sense to you, go read Neuromancer by Gibson and Snow Crash by Stephenson and then Diamond Age by Stephens. You'll see the future. Linden Labs did and its called Second Life.


  • Pinko Koenkamp

    I've always enjoyed secondlife...
    I do make money doing various things.. clothing design, avatar creation, building, ect...
    however I have a friend who makes sculpted items and he makes a few thousand a month in USD
    also a friend who sells SL weapons does as well...

    so yes, if you have a skill you can make money =P

    the only people I've known to find it really boring are the people who never learn or try to master anything in the game... or they never try to communicate properly with other people

  • Rian Zissenthal

    I'm still on the fence... From the last 3 weeks I've been playing, 2-3 hours every weekday, I haven't really figured out where I would fit in. I've been thinking about new markets to exploit, but none have come to mind yet. It's a tough marketplace as basically there are no in world laws protecting intellectual property (patents, copyrights, software licensing). Also, there are no laws protecting virtual land owners or even freelance developers from fraud or other schemes. I'm afraid I would need to see a little more effort put into protecting people in the form of upholding of contracts between sl members. It would be hard to make a case for someone violating a contract.

    Maybe things will change and I'll get into it more, but as for right now, it's just a time waister, not really in a bad way, but I wouldn't be able to list any "benefits" other that relaxation at the time being.

  • http://none Abby Lin

    I've been in SL for a while now. I make clothes on there. I certainly do not make a profit off of them in there. However i make enough "Linden" so that I do not have to upload any or my REAL money into the game. I also have some "builder" friends in the game who make "sculpted" objects. One of my friends actually makes enough L monthly off of his Sculpted Motorcycles to pay for an RL car payment. However he chooses to keep his L in game and distrbuite it to the various charities on there. Like you said.. there is a sucker born every minute, but then again.. there are a few people in there who use the game as a game, and just enjoy features such as the "virtual race community" in SL. It's more fun then you may think.. espically when you find a decent group of creative people.

  • http://none Abby Lin


    Anyone who claims they actually make thousands of dollars a month.. are probably refering to Lindens, which add up to about 5000L for every 20 bucks.. FYI. VERY FEW!! actually make any REAL money in this game, because the put it back in to the game as soon as they actually make any.. Linden Labs thought this game out very well...

  • Zigsquiddly

    On the note of SL, one problem with it is that the way they project it: all these applications like, business, or education, aren't really all that common. However, I like the freedom the game offers you. Some people who compare it to playing video game will think it is boring, but in reality it is up to you. If you make it so that it is fun for you, then it will be. Just standing around is boring.

    I think the virtual dollars are a good thing for the game. Sure, most people aren't going to make much money off of it, but it provides that creative incentive for people to want to make stuff. The idea gets people to make good content, and that makes the experience much more enjoyable. Also, to the person above my comment.....The current going rate is 273 LINDENS FOR EACH DOLLAR. Which is pretty good, seeing as you can make a buck in a single day, most items can cost 800-100Lindens.

  • Alan Cates

    There is is hard statistical data available from Linden Labs.

    One table there is labeled: Unique Users with Positive Monthly Lindenâ„¢ Dollar Flow

    These values there are measured in real life US$. In Nov 2008 there were 32,555 users that made between $1 and $10 during the month. There were 181 that made OVER US$5,000. In total there were 59,422 users that made money out of the 60,000 daily to 975,000 monthly logins. I'd guess 59,422 out of something less than 975,000 or at least 6% of the players earned money.

    It is hard to know how many people are actually active in SL. The number logged on shows whenever one enters the game. Throughout the day that varies between 40,000+ to 73,000+/- max. If one were to figure the player base changed every 6 to 8 hours during the day (time zone thing) you could assume about 170,000 to 225,000 active players per day. The 975,000 logins for the month suggests that player number is high. Since the software has some bugs people tend to crash and a goodly percentage have to relog 2 to 4 times in a session, we might reduce that to 150,000 actual players per day. If we guess that something between 150k and 975k is the number of real players that would put the number of those making money at between 6% and 40%.

    In November 417,291 players spent money in SL. This is about the best information regarding of the number of actual players in SL. Since not all players spent money, that probably sets the lower limit. Using that it would suggest the real number of those making money is around 20%.

  • Uma

    hi all. I have been into sl almost for 3 years now and still loving it so much. its not all about money. its relationship, having friends from all over the world :) and people are really nice and very helpful to each other. sl relationship doesn't just stops into pixels, they are real and very deep sometime. yes indeed. i have seen people getting married 'in world'. and here...i cant leave it anymore. am stuck and happy :)

  • Anthony

    Now I know that you all have said it doesn't make sense to spend real money on pixels and bits.... But think really hard where else is it that people spend real money on digital products and Pixels...HINT (Pixar entertainment, Square ENIX, SONY, Microsoft, Apple, and many other companies that produce digital media) though the thought seems irrational. I know that some of you have at least payed to watch a digital movie. You're just paying for a form of entertainment in SL the same way.

  • Simba

    I've been using SecondLife for exactly 3 years as of yesterday. And after reading many of the comments on here. I'd have to say, a bunch of you people are idiots.

    SecondLife is an enriched environment where users can display not only several scripting, clothing, texture, art design. But it's also used in almost billions of other ways. A person who cannot walk in real life, or talk. Can get on secondlife and spend thier entire RL online. Walking in a virtual world. Conversing with "Real" people. Sure it's not all out there. But it's better than sitting in a wheelchair watching some t.v. show.

    As for creationism. People make real money all the time. Attending class's and schools in secondlife, Or simply looking at various entertainments.

    It's also a great way to get products out there. Someone may have some really superb idea's for graphic arts, or building designs. But you may not have the resources to start a RL buisness. So they start one in Secondlife. Showing thier idea's.

    Some of my current friends in secondlife. Are making more than enough to pay for their entire collection of RL expenses. Including housing bills, and shopping in the real world. All through money made in the virtual world.

    If you don't understand the building components and tools in Secondlife.. That just shows to purpose that you didn't really spend much time looking it over. A five year old could understand the creation of varied objects and manipulation of them.

    As for sculpties. It's a simple, create a sculpty. upload bitmaps to SL. And bam you've got a sculpted object.

    Want real feedback on Secondlife. Join it and take a look around. Not just a log in, play with other newbs who are just as confused as you; then log out. More, spend some time with it. wander around. Try some keyword search's and see the possibilities with it. Talk to actual residents. Not just people who "tried" it and gave up. Sure secondlife isn't for everyone. But there's a place in secondlife for everyone.(kinda objective ~_~)

  • Layla Page

    Hi. I've been thinking about your post for a bit and realised yes of course its ludicrous to spend money in a virtual world to buy a bunch of pixels in the form of a house or chair or car or airplane or etc etc etc. but that's not entirely what you buy. I'm a builder. It would be nice to sell it and exchange for real money but that's not why i do it. I do it because its fun. Its a similar concept to Wow and many other mmorpgs in the sense that you can buy money and sell money. The reason that you play and pay money for memberships and buy money for clothes and houses and land etc. is because its FUN! It's been a on and off hobby of mine since '04 u believe). I met my real world husband from it ironically enough. He and I probably would have never met if it wasn't for second life. even though we lived 2 hours from each other. You pay money for ski's pole's gloves winter gear a lift up the mountain lodging a plane trip etc so you can go WEEEEEEEEEEE down a hill (and splat into a tree xP) where as I spend money to buy virtual pixel clothes and land etc. I know I can not hold that in my hand. I know i did not just really sit on that bench but its fun. but you can meet so many people that you normally wouldn't meet. its like the next generation chat room which was the next gen email which was the next gen phone call which was the next gen snail mail XP lol or something like that. people pay money and spend mass amounts of time to meet people play games make things its a new form of creativity too. instead of picking up a needle and thread you open gimp or photoshop. I have so much fun just opening sl and makeing the first prim of an object. Its cool to make money but i do it for the sheer thrill of looking at that finished couch (or whatever) and going wow i made that. such as looking at your knit sweater and going job well done. etc etc etc. I have a dear friend who is my longest sl friend named chris. Chris owns his own huuuuugeee store with so many things hes made himself. sl is his job he makes enough to transfer to $USD and pay rent. I know some can make their own rent and fun money off of sl. im not one of them but i havent opened a store back up yet. I feel i would probably never get that good but you never know. Anyways yes if you look at it like that its insane. But you'll never understand unless you sign up and give it a good earnest shot. dont judge the whole game on the horndogs the griefers etc. its like rl. youve got the good the bad and the ugly lol. anyways im not really even sure if i explained things remotely but thats what i have to say XP

  • Rick Henderson

    I've read through some of the very old posts but really, think about it this way. If you use Blender, or Autocad or any 3D design and modelling software as a JOB, then you are GETTING PAID to create something that doesn't exist. Why is it so hard for people to imagine that SecondLife users buy "virtual" objects?

    Also, the new versions of SecondLife to allow the importing of a "sculpty". You can take a 3D object and save it as a .jpg file (think 3d coords translated into RGB values) so you can create a relatively complex model (though there is some sort of node limit or condition) in any program and as long as you can export it as a sculpty, you can bring it into SecondLife.

    Wings3D apparently has a sculpty exporter.

  • Bab Hax

    SecondLife name is Bab Hax. can be an intresting world if you have the will of learning, of course people will try to avoid you if you have that standar SL avatar look, spend some money on a very nice shap, skin, and hair, set your new look picture in your profile, write something nice about yourself in your profile, sit back and watch how people start geting intrested in you, I was invited to so many privated house, I made so much friends in SL. Matter of fact, I married my SL sweetheart Alexandria Magic in Real Life.

    Regarding making making money in it is so easy, I first started by buying Full Permission items (Things that I can resell), I rented few stores, set low prices on them, est Voila, Money started comming in every few second, I couldn't keep track of my 20 stores payments, so I bought a small Land 1/8 of a SIM, built a huge Market, set my items and some of my own creations, then started to rent stores out to other Merchants, it was a total success.

    I never spent any of my own money in SL, I even bought two SIMS and built a huge City and called it after my SecondLife Sweetheart Alexandria islands, built a huge Martket in each SIM, and that was a tottal success as well.

    Regarding geting your money out of SL, it is so easy, sell your L$ at the SecondLife website for US$, transfer them to your PayPal account, then to your Bank account, just make sure you file it as an income on your W2 form.

    To tell you the truth, my SecondLife is my FirstLife.

    I hope this cleared the boring parts,
    Best Regards,
    Bab Hax.

  • Tomlin Rieko

    I have been a part of Second life for awhile. Its a great place to do the types of things yuou can'[t do in real life... at least and not get arrested. :)

    You can be anyone or anything you want.

    Its not all about porn. Blue Maverick Music regularly has live performers for their concerts. Yeah that is right LIVE concerts. Fresh original music that rivals professional artists. -- so don't be a poseball poser. Use your mind :)

    And a lil tech note... many laggy sims can be better experienced if you set your draw distance to under 100 m

    Now for playtime... I have spent about 70$ of my own money getting weapons, clothes, tools... for my particular type of roleplay (combat type roleplays). Alika weaponry and Harbringers have seen a lot of my hobby dollars.

  • Christopher Derrick (Dotails Allen) SL Name

    Yes I've made money through second life but even though i built a store and products the goal wasn't money it was the journey. When you join second life, it's as if you where just born into a world with out real life baggage going in. The whole world is whatever you make of it. Me, I'm known as a builder and I love it great way to make friends and keep up with lost friends but be sure you don't lust second life meaning "addiction" "loving more than God," Keep your priorities straight.

  • Christopher Derrick (Dotails Allen) SL Name

    Oh yeah about the lag I had it bad but i upgraded my computer to 3ghz and 2gb RAM and now it's as smooth as any video game. I originally thought it was inevitable due to transfer limits of the servers but its not. If you want something to work better you must intelligently invest into it.

  • Krystal

    Second life is just a playground for your 3d creations. Yes, they are valueless pixels, like every single thing ever created on blender, right? As a seamstress who's not always well off enough to buy 10 yards of cheap fabric at 6 dollars a yard for the sake of an experiment, I love it. Granted, nothing beats the real thing, it's not a horrible idea to sell my mock up designs that I would have made for myself anyway.
    As far as substantial amounts of money goes, no, probably never for me. But you just can't beat the low maitenance of logging in to your "make money while you sleep" business that isn't a scam. Unless you're selling something that goes away like real estate, one item gives your store a literally infinate stock. Sure, most things will sell for prices that won't even buy you a fast food meal, but that's probably what has kept SL vendors in business, the price of completely overhauling every single aspect of your alter ego from hair to nose shape to strut will likely end up costing you less than a movie outing. If vendors market themselves or get really lucky, you can turn yourself into a bit of an SL celebrity and those drops in the hat will really start to add up.
    Theoretically, you could make millions.
    If not, it means the worst that happens is my online nerdiness only paid for a meal or two. I'm not complaining, and it seems like the only ones here that are are those who never tried. :P

  • Serendipity

    It is not a "game". It is a true virtual world. Everything there except the basics that make it possible is created by the residents. Everything. It is a world you can make (within the limits of its fundamental structure) into anything you can imagine and interact with countless other avatars of physical people or increasingly "digital people" who are real highly developed personas in the their own right. It is wonderland for the imagination and for interacting with people all over the world within 3D environments. It would take a singular lack of imagination to miss why that is potentially much more important than a mere "game".

  • Flashing Dagger

    To be honest with you calling it a game is not really correct. However neither is a virtual world. Sorry people I reserve that for when Virtual Reality becomes a reality. Second Life is a Living sandbox. One where you can truely do what you want considering you are skilled enough to make it happen.

    If you want to drive a car you can either make the car, add the scripts, sounds, physics through the tools provided, or buy one made by someone else and give it a go. If you want to go to war with the spartans, with a little cooperative planning you can have a small version of that battle.

    The thing is Second Life's tools are very dated. Linden labs really needs a major update.

    Dont get rid of prims just make it where we have the option to build in a true 3d environment. Primcount went out with Nintendo 64. Everything is calculated in Pixels, Triangles, Verticals now days and building in prims is more of a pain than otherwise. This would make the Sandbox end up with many more high quality products. A 3d designer like myself actually had to unlearn many of the techniques I learned over the years so that I could re-teach myself how to work in a "Primative" 3d environment.

    The other main thing I would like to see them change is the way files are transfered. It takes up entirely to much bandwidth to enjoy.

    Overall Second Life is an alright place to hang out, however it truely needs to be brought into the 21st century with some small tweaks.

    As of the Blog Posters question. I have actually made a living off of second life. For about a year back in 2007 I was unemployed and had to use whatever means I could to make a living. Starting small and building a well known business is just like in the real world. It takes Time, Patience, and a product or service that people want.... That and the ability to do it better than everyone else.

  • Malek BabElOued

    My SecondLife is my FirstLife, I started few years ago, and I just can't get enough of it, You meet intresting people and with a little caution, you can meet your second half there, I have so many friends that really got married in Real Life.
    I enjoy Role Playing as a Gorean Ubar Warrior Ubar (Red Caste) is the highiest Rank after the Initiate (White Caste).
    Regarding making money in SecondLife, Yes you can, I started selling Full Perm items that I buy cheap and resell them cheaper than others, over the months resellers got used to my Malls, They know if there's a Full Perm items in SL, they will find it in my Malls and cheaper than other Malls, so I started with one small shop, and I end up having SIMS and few Malls in here and there.
    I was making like U$50 - U$80 a month, now I am making U$500 - U$700 a month, people love my creations as well.
    Blender is the future of SL, cause we are limited my Primitives, and people love Low prims stuff, especially if they are unique.
    Blender is so easy to learn, ofcourse it has an ocean of options, you don't need to learn them all, just learn the Editing part, I made my first Sculpty 10 minutes after I saw a Blender Tutorial on YouTube.
    The sky is the limit in SecondLife.

    You may Contact me inworld ( my name there is Bab Hax, to see my Creations, Teleport from my Picks in my profile.

    Be well All

  • modeller miles

    It is not a game, It such a new media thing, I think in the future It gonna be a real big thing to replace world wide web. Now I come back to second life and learning to creating model too. I'm use blender for long time and I think my skill can do some good product to sell in SL.

    watch it closely second life gonna be a big thing by power of blender user.
    If you are blender user and you also visit second life too. please contact me you can visit my blog or you can email to me. I want to make friend with blender user.... yes we're family.. ;)

  • Len W. Brown

    I'm a 37 year old guy who has had a Second Life account for several years. To this day I spend most - almost all - of my free time in Second Life. It has truly consumed me, but as far as addictions go, I much prefer this over smoking or drinking.

    I have friends who are amazed that I'm so consumed by Second Life and for a long time could not understand why. It's so simple for me. They love football, or baseball. They go to all the games they can, listen to other games on the radio or watch them on TV, participate in "fantasy football" and such, and invest a lot of time and money into their passion. Yet they in turn tell me I'm a damned fool for spending so much time in Second Life.

    Finally, one day I got fed up with it and I hooked my media center pc up to my 42" flatscreen TV and made them spend a few hours watching me in Second Life. They have never since said one word putting my passion down again.

    In those few hours I showed them some of the most beautiful landscapes, islands, and architectural wonders they'd ever seen. I showed them some of my own land and islands and they watched me start with literally nothing, then prim by prim I created a gorgeous table, a lamp, a chair, and then proceeded to create a fish pond complete with rocks, plants, sparkling waterfall and swimming fish. All this I did with hardly a thought, even down to writing the scripts for the swimming fish from scratch.

    They quickly realized that their hobbies paled in comparison. While they sat passively watching grown men tackle one another while they gorged themselves on pizza and beer I sat there creating amazing things they'd never seen before and exercised every part of my mind as I created and shaped things and relied on geometry and physics and some trigonometry thrown in and plenty of outright creativity. I proved to them within a matter of two hours that my "waste of time" exercised so many parts of my mind. And in the end the degree by which I glowed with pride and satisfaction as I listened to them oohing and awing my creativity was obvious.

    I asked them how often they actively contemplated the X, Y and Z axis of a football as it drifted through the air and how often they mentally calculated the trajectory during game play. Then I had to pause for a moment to explain to one of them what "trajectory" meant and what the hell X, Y and Z stands for.

    Second Life is no game. Second Life is a way of life. And yes, I have very healthy and satisfying relationships in real life. But I can assure you, I will never give up Second Life for anyone. I've even got to the stage now where I model my avatar in Second Life to look as much like me as possible. Though friends tell me it's actually that my real life appearance seems more and more to look like my Second Life avatar. Maybe.

    I do know this though - either you love it or you hate it.

  • Tyler

    I've been using Second Life for about a year and a half now and consider myself advanced at many areas of it, turned into a jack of all trades with the game. It is really an amazing concept and a nearly perfect learning tool.

    The game uses controls very similar to programs like Blender when building, and it has it's own scripting language (LSL) that uses variables and integers and functions similar to other programming languages.

    Yes, it's very much possible to make real life money in Second Life, especially if you are an expert 3d artist or really good at programming.

    Roughly 270 Linden Dollars = 1 US Dollar, and thousands of people are playing Second Life at any given time, many of them are trying to make real life money from the game, but most realize that you need some skills to make something valuable in game, which inspires a lot of people to learn programs like Gimp, PS, Blender, or the LSL language.

    When Second Life first began, the biggest money maker was selling virtual land. Everyone was buying it, it was cheap, some lady in Asia became a real life millionaire from it...crazy crazy stuff.

    These days, like I said, you need to be creative, but the opportunity to make thousands of dollars is still there.

    For Blender artists, one of the best money makers is to just design realistic 3d sculpts for the world and sell them in full permission packs for an affordable price on Builders within Second Life are always looking for new sculpties that they can use to texture, form, script, and animate into their own products and are willing to pay a thousand linden or more to obtain really good sculpt packs.

    So do the math, 1000 linden = around 3-4 dollars USD. Thousands of builders in SL. Make some attractive sculpts that builders can use in their products and there's pretty good potential to make thousands per year just uploading your Blender work to Second Life. :)

    Maybe not something that will buy you a house in Beverly Hills but it will help put food on the table.

  • Tom M

    Cant make real money? Are you kidding me?
    My friend on SL bought her husband an alienware computer ($3500.00) with the Linden dollars she made in SL as a voice escort in a month!
    She goes to Escort / dance clubs and meets men, they have an encounter over voice where she talks all sexy to them and the cash rolls in.. She makes $400 a week average in USD!
    Then she makes things with 3d programs and photoshop and sells them "in world" as well..

  • Scott

    Yeah SL still has an economy good enough for making some good extra RL cash BUT it's tough. You gotta really make things people can use and make them affordable.

    That, or be a hot chick who isn't afraid to get sexual with random men online.

  • ReactOSisCool

    I joined SL to get BTC. Now SL is also fun. Example I'm of Free Culture and I listen to Free Culture music. Ok...I didn't find any free culture club in SL, but the closest thing is Raven's rock club(that's the name if I remember correctly), though because SL server software isn't FLOSS, I join separate grids called 3rd Rock Grid. Am also considering joining OSGrid...SL is unrivalled though in their simulation, spending huge amounts of cpu to simulate physics, while personally I wouldn't expect that from alternatives like osgrid and 3rdrockgrid, but for me I don't care I prefer it first to be FLOSS and then everything else.

  • Live Diva

    i sing live in venues using a broadcaster and i earn a decent amount of lindens which i convert to real money ...

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