I want to know - do Second Life Designers make real money?
Posted by myg
Do people who make clothes, skin, animations, poses and shapes and other gadgets actually make real money doing these things?
I get, and believe, that for huge corporations, there are questions about how much money there is to be made or what the payoff is for investing thousands of dollars into Second Life. But fuck those people for now.
What about the rest of us?
Can we supplement our incomes by making stuff in Second Life? I was trying to look all over the web for anecdotes on this in an attempt to pique the curiosity of a close RL designer friend of mine. And I know it’s true for some big designers, but *how* true is it? How much do these people make? What are the pros and cons of doing it?
If you know where I can dig up answers, please leave a comment!
gratis,
Myg
http://www.benchmark.com/news/sv/2006/09_22_2006.php
This article mentions what some designers are making…hope this help
I used to hear that if you were related to anything Second Life, you would make money but the market has unfortunately been saturated now.
Yeah Sable, that’s a pretty interesting article–as of last August (a year ago) the top 20 clothing designers average $7,000 US each for that month. I wonder what the effect has been on the market of the huge influx of new people. Has there been a corresponding increase in designers? Have the asset difficulties and generally bugginess of the platform made things worse? (Not that you can test for that effect, unless you can say one period of time is clearly better than another.) It would be interesting to see month-by-month economic stats so you could see how different sectors of the virtual economy are performing. My guess is it’s way better to build and design objects than it is to invest in the virtual markets (see Wrath Paine’s blog for a good rundown on the recent troubles) or to invest in land (the ending of gambling and the new continent is really shaking up land prices).
@Sable thanks for the link! I am wondering too if there’s anything more recent written about this topic.
@Tom I know there was a lot of hype which I think was unjustified in the first place but I don’t know that it’s saturated in terms of design, retail, that sort of thing.
Well, indeed a very interesting question. And I guess the answers will vary extremely. Why do I think so? Let me tell you my very own expiriences:
I met a lot of designers until now and quite a few land sellers as well. It was obvious that designing content is the best possebility to make money fast in SL, while selling land is something which pays out in 1 or 2 years after buying the SIM.
Interestingly the sentence I always heared when I asked about income and how the business is runnin was: “I just do this for fun and I am happy if I have enough earnings to pay my rent” So I would say that 99% of all SL designers don’t make a lot of money.. (And same for me - hey you already heared of the Wheel of Fortune? No? Search in world or in SLX - Vanny needs some Lindens.. *kidding) Err where was I?
Ah yes… But there are exeptions. The Tatoo Shop I am modeling for is making about 10k a day. And I also know a girl which make RL contracts to RL firms to bring them into SL. She also lives from that.
To get back to Mygs main question: Yes I think we can supplement our incomes in SL if the following conditions are met:
1. Be ready to invest a HUGE amount of time in your SL business. You want to live from it? Then be sure you need the same time as you do for your RL work
2. Have a fucking good idea what to offer and be dam good at it.
3. Invest in marketing. Don’t care to invest about 10k into the blue sky just for adverts, shops, RL sites.
If all those 3 conditions are ok for you, I am pretty sure you will be able to quit your RL job someday..
Just my thoughts..
I once asked Meta Linden this at her office hours and she said she knew of 100s of people how make a living in SL.
People making BSDM gear and Vampire teeth come to mind.
Myg asks: “Can we supplement our incomes by making stuff in Second Life?”
Yep. Think about each time you hear someone comes out with yet another hair style, how many residents flock to add it their collection. All those transactions add up quickly.
If your product is unique or really well done, then yes, I’d say you can make money creating stuff in SL. I have a friend who made a million Linden dollars in SL last year - that’s an average of $300 USD a month - and at $3,500+ USD for the year, yeah, I’d say that’s an income supplement by any definition. Of course, it’s true that she does not make enough to quit her day job and live off the SL income, and that she now spends her every free moment in SL taking care of that business, but still…
I’d encourage your friend to give it a try - sounds like from what I’ve read in the past, RL designers definitely have an advantage when it comes to designing clothing for SL and could end up being quite successful with not a lot of effort.
i also think its possible to make a some money of sl, i sold my first item yesterday its not much but you have to consider i dont go marketting it and its not the best stuff in sl.
i think that vanny has it right. to make money to actually live off it. it will take lots of hard work and time. she’ll have to make her name first. i dont think you can make lots of money at first.
something i have to wonder is it a good idea. with all the issues second lif has. is it a safe idea to want to invest so much time and money into such a project. it could be a good half time job yes but i wouldnt count on it to be my main source of income
@all of ya: these are excellent points! Do me a favor and let me know if you read any articles or talk to any other designers about the topic.
This would by no means be a full-time gig, it’s just that my pal (a guy) is an amazing graphic artist and would have a lot of fun doing it. We’ve been trying to get him into SL forever but he’s kinda shy…this week I was showing him clothing templates, etc and he got excited about trying to make some stuff. I was just trying to do some research on how much he might possibly be able to make off if it. Of course it’d take marketing, etc, but you know I’s just askin’
It takes LOTS and LOTS of time, especially if you aren’t coming into it with a computer backgroud in anthing, not even PaintShop, it takes quite a bit of time. Then to esablish a name. And also to have high enough sales to make up for the times that your sales slump due to silly SL problems….. I love working here, and I make more than my tier (for now.. but I really need more land).. but I don’t make enough to throw a pary about… YET
keep it up Hope and you will!