Making money in Second life? Not for me.

My initial enthusiasm for making money through Second Life is starting to wane. The more research I do into making money in Second Life the more I realize that to make serious money there are a whole range of new technical and software skills that I would have to learn before I could add any real value. In turn if I don’t add any real value I can’t realistically expect to earn any serious income.

Each time I think about it I keep coming back to the comments that Second Life entrepreneur Anshe Chung made in relation to people who come to Second Life solely to make money.

“Most people who just come here (Second Life) for money fail miserably”.

This point bears repeating. I think one of the key drivers behind the success of Second Life has been the community spirit that has developed. People are there because they really want to be there. They don’t go there specifically because there is money to be made – those who do “Fail miserably”.

The question you have to ask yourself as someone who is looking to generate income online is whether or not you are prepared to get involved in the community that is Second Life? Is it for you? Can you put community first and profit second? Are you prepared to learn all the necessary technical skills required for you to add value to the Second life community? In the end it is this added value that will allow you to monetize your efforts. If you don’t add value it will be hard to make any significant income.

If I’m 100% honest I can’t see myself doing it. I think too linearly. I just don’t feel I have the creative skills or the desire to learn them that is necessary to make money on Second Life. So for me I think I’ll give trying to make money on Second Life a miss.

In the end it wasn’t a hard decision for me. The combination of the small amount of people earning over $500 per month in Second Life (see statistics here) and the fact that to even get close to that amount of income each month there is a lot of effort and start up costs involved.

That said I will let you decide for yourself. Just because I don’t think its for me doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy and succeed at it.

I was recommended to get a book called “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life: Making Money in the Metaverse” if I wanted to make a serious go at it. I recommend that you do the same if you are interested in making money in Second Life.

You can read an extract from the book here. ‘The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life’

So where does that leave us?

Related posts:

1. Making money in Second Life – some facts and figures
2. Debt help program – do it yourself and save money