technozid

I reached legal age in Second Life. Which means that I am signed up for 30 days now – a crucial date for n00bs because after this time the money trees are not working anymore.

Money trees? For those unfamiliar with Second Life this term might sound odd. Money trees “grow” bills and fruit worth between 1 and 10 Linden Dollars (L$), the currency in Second Life. And though it is true that you can use Second Life free of charge, and though it is true that you receive a few L$ upon signup, sooner or later a user needs money. And if you are not willing to sign up for full residency (and in consequence pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee), the money trees are an easy way to getting some extra cash. For the first 30 days.

Sometimes it was hard to spot the fruit and bills hidden in the tree. But I came up with a technique to harvest the trees a bit easier. All you need to do is reduce the detail level of the trees, and familiarize yourself with the camera pan/tilt/zoom commands.

So now it seems I have three options:

1. Accepting that I am on a budget now, and refrain from buying expensive stuff inside Second Life
2. Signing up for full memberhsip
3. Getting a job inside Second Life

Since all aspects of graphics design are an important factor in my real life (or RL) job, it seems natural that I should consider this in Second Life too. But even though clothing and skins are very important in SL, I am always depressed on the multitude of empty malls with theit abundance of clothing stores. Let’s see.

Apart from an abundance of empty malls, there is also an abundance of adult entertainment and casinos – more often than not in combination – inside SL. If I pick a random spot from the map and teleport to it, chances are good I end up in a casino, an adult spot or an empty mall. Sometime its depressing.

But there is more to Second Life than that. There’s fantastic architecture, freed from the restraints of gravity or statics. Lovingly created landscapes, dream beaches, fun parks. There’s interesting people, and everybody seems to be very friendly and helpful. There’s quite a lot of good music, and those folks surely know how to throw a party. I haven’t yet had a chance to join an event – probably due to timezone issues. But so far it’s quite impressive as it is.

No worries of addiction though – First Life is still more interesting