Setting Up In Second Life

I've been in SecondLife.com for 2 months now, and I'm now comfortable enough to write about it, having existed within the world for 2 months and quite a few of Linden Lab's updates. Some people call it a MMORPG, some get upset when you do. Some play it as a game, and some use it as a business. Some love to create, and some like to visit. There are so many ways one can look at SecondLife that the only way to truly explore it is to plunge in.

The Context of Nobody Fugazi

I got there through a TechSoup.org invitation from Deborah Elizabeth Finn. So I visited the TechSoup area, and quickly sensed that there was something more that I was missing. A place where I can create, where I can script, where I can do all sorts of things... it seemed a waste to simply attend meetings there. And it seemed like I was stuck on one island. That simply wouldn't do, so I moved off and followed a trail that included being down and out in Second Life, which I turned around until I was comfortable enough to buy land - a little 512 square meter plot which cost me 512 Linden dollars - roughly $1.70 US. The idea was - and is - to get my time there to pay for itself; to pay the $5/month and whatever expenses Nobody has.

Nobody's doing OK. He's breaking even. He's got Nobody's Manor (Clicking that link, if you have SecondLife, will get you where the Manor is), a few satellite stores, some original stuff he has made that he sells, and a pretty interesting social life; yesterday morning he was discussing life with a unicorn and a dwarf. A few days before, he was discussing philosophy with three prostitutes after he was at a SecondLife (SL) Ethics meeting.

Who would have thought that my alter ego would be making shirts, boxers and boots in SecondLife, or even doing custom buildings for an eccentric Italian, who 'simply liked how I did things'? Who would have known that I would enjoy 'torturing prims', twisting basic building objects into new things? And who would have thought that I would end up creating my own textures to build with - me, who cannot draw a stick figure to save his life? I wouldn't have. I could post pictures, but the fact of the matter is that you just don't get it unless you plunge in. And I did. And there seems to be no end to what one can do.

Business

Recent articles say that you can make a fortune in SecondLife - and that's true, for a minority. Anshe Chung is probably the most famous, and from what I understand she leveraged the system to her benefit - which is good business. But she's a minority, so before everyone piles in thinking that they can make hundreds of thousands of real dollars - make your expectations more realistic. A good thing to do would be... start with a free account and wander around, and see what is possible. Spend some time in the areas that Linden Labs created to allow your 'transition'; don't just race in expecting to make your first million on day two. Give it at least a few weeks, at best a month - find out what you are good at in Second Life. Seriously. And even then, don't go rushing into things. SL business is not too different from RL business - and it can be even more cutthroat.

Pleasure

Oh, there's plenty to do. Most others in SecondLife seem to basically appreciate looking good, owning things, and perhaps have more mature interests (read into it as deeply as you wish). Nobody Fugazi enjoys making things and scripting things. He's actually turning down work these days (no, I will not make your textures for you) and focusing on the stuff that is fun for him to do. Maybe he could do better at business if he made what the masses wanted, but then it seems that the masses tend to want what they can have in 'RL' or 'FL' (Real Life or First Life, respectively).

Why on earth are there kitchens in Second Life? Bathrooms? Because people want them. Why? Who knows. I don't. And neither does Nobody Fugazi.

A lot of the pleasure of Second Life is in meeting 'like minds'. Even my strange mind has found great people around SecondLife from around the world - friends in Germany, Portugal, Brazil... I've practiced my Spanish in Second Life, learned some Portugese, and have even been called foul names in what I believe was Turkish. It's a very rich world as people bring what they wish with them from the real world, and even bring things that they do not intend to into SL. And if there is something I take pleasure in within Second Life aside from creating - it has to be finding these rare gems. Some are polished, some are unpolished, but all of them bring something that is easily recognizable to those who have it.

The Realities

Linden Labs is often demonized in world and on forums for some of the recent updates which have made some things different - bugs/features, etc - and the truth is that everyone in Second Life is dependent on Linden Labs - and that the good stuff is soon forgotten, and the painful parts are griped about. You never hear a person with a bad tooth complaining to the dentist that none of the other teeth hurt - and with Second Life, there are plenty of good teeth around the bad ones. It's not perfect. Neither is real life. Get used to it.

I'll be in Second Life more and more - and I'll be linking my RL (me) and SL (Nobody Fugazi) directly in profile because we're connected. Though I really do admire that Nobody can create things from nothing but imagination and knowledge. In the real world, I wish I could. Maybe that's why I like Second Life. :-)