Whatever your choice for providing services, try to stand out by being conscientious and reliable and by listening to your customers. That's great advice in any customer service field.
7. Buy and Sell Land. Do you have a head for business? Ever own stock? You'll find that there is usually a robust market in Second Life for virtual real estate. Of course, in order to own land in the first place you must own a premium account with Linden Lab. And you have to understand how the tier structure works. The First Land program has been discontinued, but if you sign up for a premium account you can then purchase land. Watch the real estate market, be aware of policy changes and new sims opening up which can impact the market price. You don't really need any special skills to make money doing this, other than common business sense. Buy low, sell high, and factor in your tier expenses.
** The next 3 categories are our creative choices. Each will involve some degree of skill and experience with using the geometric primitive (prims) functions in SL or in manipulating Photoshop, or both. Scripting involves using the C-like programming language that defines the behavior of objects in SL. Before you try to market your creations, be sure to learn the nuances of the Second Life permissions system - copy, modify, transfer. Don't sell things with full permissions if you don't want other people giving it away or reselling it.
8. Design & Textures. If you want to make basic clothing, your first stop should be the "Design and Textures" section of the second life forums athttp://forums.secondlife.com. Grab Chip Midnight's clothing & skin templates (free download) and browse the other topics there. Feel free to post questions, there are experienced designers around who are only too happy to help. You can also Google "Second Life creating clothes" to find some helpful tutorials. You'll need a good 3D graphics package like Photoshop, Paintshop, or GIMP (which is free).
Once you've done that, go to Robin Sojourner's shop at Livingtree http://slurl.com/secondlife/Livingtree/136/122/24
Her in-world Texture Tutorial is a wonderful place to learn how to create and use textures.
Start with clothing. Look at what other designers have done and note the texture work they use. Be aware that creating skins is about the hardest design work you can undertake in SL, but also among the most lucrative.
Animations are slightly different from working with textures - you'll need Poser or Avimator, or any 3D animation program able to export .BVH files to Second Life. Good animations, however, are always a big seller in SL.
If you don't have a graphics program or a 3D animation program, you can still create avatar shapes and sell them. All you need to make a shape is the Second Life client - though a few good skins help for advertising your products. There's a great deal of competition for this, so be sure to come up with a branding idea and an approach that sets you apart a little from the crowd.
9. Building. Building can also include textures and scripting, but in this case I'm referring mainly to manipulating primitives (prims). Your best source of help for this one is the Ivory Tower of Primitives at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/28
I still go back to the Ivory Tower for refreshers after 2 years of playing with prims. With decent building skills, you can construct houses, furniture, prim hair, shoes, fountains, prim clothing, vehicles and anything else you dream up. The art of torturing prims involves patience and practice and be sure you've mastered another art, too: panning and zooming your camera.
10. Scripting. This is the "magic" of Second Life. If you have any programming experience using other languages, Linden Scripting Language (LSL) shouldn't be too difficult to understand. Again, there is a forum section at forums.secondlife.com for Scripting Tips and there is a Wiki just for the language athttp://lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage
Don't forget to bookmark "Using LSL" tutorial at http://www.kan-ed.org/second-life/using-LSL.html
Look around for free scripts you can take apart and tweak, such as these locations:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mew/123/133/751
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Leda/211/24/56
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sami/13/58/25
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isabel/50/229/82
The very best items in Second Life actually combine the last 3 categories -- textures, primitives and scripting. Whether it's an amazing new aircraft, a magic wand or just a versatile resident's tool that makes their life easier and more fun, the sky truly is the limit.
Whatever you do, no matter how much money you make (or not), remember to always have fun. If it's not fun, why bother?
7. Buy and Sell Land. Do you have a head for business? Ever own stock? You'll find that there is usually a robust market in Second Life for virtual real estate. Of course, in order to own land in the first place you must own a premium account with Linden Lab. And you have to understand how the tier structure works. The First Land program has been discontinued, but if you sign up for a premium account you can then purchase land. Watch the real estate market, be aware of policy changes and new sims opening up which can impact the market price. You don't really need any special skills to make money doing this, other than common business sense. Buy low, sell high, and factor in your tier expenses.
** The next 3 categories are our creative choices. Each will involve some degree of skill and experience with using the geometric primitive (prims) functions in SL or in manipulating Photoshop, or both. Scripting involves using the C-like programming language that defines the behavior of objects in SL. Before you try to market your creations, be sure to learn the nuances of the Second Life permissions system - copy, modify, transfer. Don't sell things with full permissions if you don't want other people giving it away or reselling it.
8. Design & Textures. If you want to make basic clothing, your first stop should be the "Design and Textures" section of the second life forums athttp://forums.secondlife.com. Grab Chip Midnight's clothing & skin templates (free download) and browse the other topics there. Feel free to post questions, there are experienced designers around who are only too happy to help. You can also Google "Second Life creating clothes" to find some helpful tutorials. You'll need a good 3D graphics package like Photoshop, Paintshop, or GIMP (which is free).
Once you've done that, go to Robin Sojourner's shop at Livingtree http://slurl.com/secondlife/Livingtree/136/122/24
Her in-world Texture Tutorial is a wonderful place to learn how to create and use textures.
Start with clothing. Look at what other designers have done and note the texture work they use. Be aware that creating skins is about the hardest design work you can undertake in SL, but also among the most lucrative.
Animations are slightly different from working with textures - you'll need Poser or Avimator, or any 3D animation program able to export .BVH files to Second Life. Good animations, however, are always a big seller in SL.
If you don't have a graphics program or a 3D animation program, you can still create avatar shapes and sell them. All you need to make a shape is the Second Life client - though a few good skins help for advertising your products. There's a great deal of competition for this, so be sure to come up with a branding idea and an approach that sets you apart a little from the crowd.
9. Building. Building can also include textures and scripting, but in this case I'm referring mainly to manipulating primitives (prims). Your best source of help for this one is the Ivory Tower of Primitives at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/28
I still go back to the Ivory Tower for refreshers after 2 years of playing with prims. With decent building skills, you can construct houses, furniture, prim hair, shoes, fountains, prim clothing, vehicles and anything else you dream up. The art of torturing prims involves patience and practice and be sure you've mastered another art, too: panning and zooming your camera.
10. Scripting. This is the "magic" of Second Life. If you have any programming experience using other languages, Linden Scripting Language (LSL) shouldn't be too difficult to understand. Again, there is a forum section at forums.secondlife.com for Scripting Tips and there is a Wiki just for the language athttp://lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage
Don't forget to bookmark "Using LSL" tutorial at http://www.kan-ed.org/second-life/using-LSL.html
Look around for free scripts you can take apart and tweak, such as these locations:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mew/123/133/751
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Leda/211/24/56
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sami/13/58/25
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isabel/50/229/82
The very best items in Second Life actually combine the last 3 categories -- textures, primitives and scripting. Whether it's an amazing new aircraft, a magic wand or just a versatile resident's tool that makes their life easier and more fun, the sky truly is the limit.
Whatever you do, no matter how much money you make (or not), remember to always have fun. If it's not fun, why bother?
