Finances and Your Second Life Look

With the influx of new people into Second Life thanks to the Down the Rabbit Hole episode of CSI NY this was a good time to be talking to Suzy Miller about moving into a virtual realm. It's not a new topic.

Of course I got to finances, as things always seem to. Truth be told not many people can afford the time to spend hours helping us create our Second Life presences for goodwill alone - so many of us do it ourselves and go through multiple incarnations before we get it even close to what we want. It's not a pretty process.

Others with more cash than time hire consultants to create a look for them. Large companies often designate someone in the workplace to help create an avatar that will represent employees in the 3-d world.

As in other things, often you get what you put into it

In this case it could be either time or money. On the other hand someone who has not experienced showing up at a SL meeting in a noobie avatar like the one above is not spending 10 hours poking around for the right look or paying mucho dollars to get help with their biz presence unless they are uber savvy

Makes basic sense that they wouldn't.

So where does that put us?

Pretty much everyone who uses Second Life to meet contacts, or to do business should put some money into going beyond the plastic looking cartoon figure SL's creators at Linden Labs gives us to start with.

Whether you do it yourself or have someone else help, my position is that putting $25 into the account of the avatar you're creating is not asking for a huge investment. You spend that much for music.

For that you can get outfitted with a natural looking skin, hair, and clothing with detail. The goal is to look more than a few days old in Second Life time - but not like a hooker. It's a Second Life issue on which credibility balances. Residents know what I mean and new participants will soon notice.

After depositing some funds in your avatar's account you'll spend it over the first couple days or weeks in small amounts, making payments through Second Life to real people who have set up Second Life businesses designing everything from eyes to handbags.

We kan haz freebeez?

Yes there are freebies. And freebies are often even available from skilled designers as samples or gifts. That said, most freebies offered to newcomers are old items pulled from shelves as designers developed better skills.

So for the most part I participate in the economy of Second Life, relying on freebies only from sources I know and trust.

I gotta tell you - I don't need to have to go through twenty free outfits in my files to find the one that doesn't show excess skin when I walk,  has problems I don't know about until they happen in public, or just looks generally funky.

Your dollars keep the economy happy

Why do I think spending money is important? Part of it is because this flow from unskilled users like us who don't know how to make our own digital skirts to those who do keeps a lively economy going and for the most part none of us are out a lot of money.

The sellers' income consists of a fraction of a dollar at a time - paid in bits called Linden Dollars (with an exchange rate of about $250 Lindens to $1US) - from many residents around the digital world.

Not that there are not upscale options available.

For the more particular there are special avatar creators and a photo-realistic image of a real-life face can be created. And I really like the swishy *moves with you* kind of realistic hair that author Marti Lawrence (that's her here) sports that does normally mean a little larger investment.

Pretty much what happens is that folks figure out Second Life provides great way to attend meetings, classes, conferences etc and that's when they begin to really appreciate the value on looking better than average. They want to appear like someone you'd like to do business with.

And some never see

There are people however who either can't or don't see the differences in an upgraded model over the basic cartoon character. I can only tell them that other people see it, and leave it at that. In other words I can what I can do to illustrate, but people will see what they are capable of seeing. If they are happy with freebies we can be happy for them and encourage them to enjoy the virtual world in the way that works best for them.

Before you feel uncomfortable asking, yes I do put together avatars for others. Normally it's for people that I know, or blog readers or as a favor for others who really are not able to do it themselves either because of time, interest (or they know I can do it quicker and they'd rather have it done for them)

I do the basic steps of creating a female avatar based on a real person for $95. It's not something I advertise but I don't mind doing it if it will encourage folks to participate.

And then there were men

For the record I have only created one male avatar as a gift for my husband who is totally in snooze mode about Second Life in general. This is only good in that I haven't had the need to go back and upgrade my guy-making skills or learn about add-on body parts.

My daughter however is looking to pick up some work while in college so I'm going to try to throw some money her way and rope her into creating a male, hoping in the future I can ask her to produce men on demand - which would be a very handy trick to be able to pull off.

Comments

[Dennis McDonald]

I had no idea! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this sort of thing was described in Snow Crash with the Barbie and Ken avatars.

I gave up on Second Life when I couldn't figure out how to develop an avatar that wasn't young and sleek looking. I had no idea it was possible to hire someone to create a character that looks my age (baby boomer)!

[Sydney Chase]

Hi I have not read your entire blog but I am very interested in reading more...A friend of mine suggested that I connect with you and I am glad she did. Thank you for creating your blog and writing about second life here...: ) Going on to read some more...Love and Light
Sydney Chase

That is indeed part of the nutshell Justin, but the part I didn't talk about is adopting an odd avatar that doesn't need standard clothing.

IBM's Epredator Potato who hulks into meetings in his exoskeleton or the Sheep's Joel Greenberg who swims in also play a part that's beyond the scope of what I can easily advise on in one article.

But I can generalize that deciding to play a perky little character with a fluffy tail or a guy in jeans and a tee shirt says something about who we are and our identity as we perceive it or want to project it.

As in all situations, knowing who the players are and what the expectations are really works to our advantage.

Just as in the physical world arriving at the car dealer in clean clothes rather than something that looks like we slept in it, helps us get the kind of service that we want out of the experience, so to does understanding perceptions in Second Life.

[Justin Kownacki]

Interesting. So, in a nutshell, Second Life is *yet another* opportunity to judge people based upon an aesthetic observation -- in this case, how much time / money they're willing to invest in outfitting their avatar.

Seems like something that should be able to move more swiftly and efficiently than real life is trying real hard to BE real life...

Meanwhile, I can't find real life jeans that fit me...