This is a screenshot of the USD translation of monthly property rental to Linden Dollars from the SL website.
A screenshot of different avitars located on the SL website.
My new hair!
This is me after I put on my skin...Cross explained next time we meet I will get a 'shape' which will make me look more 'real'
Cross and I after my final outfit change (he told me he didn't like this hair with my makeup)
For this weeks' assignment Kevin and I choose to focus on Second Life commerce and usage of the 'almighty' Linden Dollar. We hoped to further explore how money was spent inside this secondary reality because we feel it to be a vital part of SL culture. We began our investigation with a list of questions:
How is money transfered?
Who spends money?
What do users purchase?
How much to do they purchase?
How does one make money?
How much do things cost?
In order to gain an insiders perspective on the answers to these questions we choose to use a a few different methods:
Behavioral Mapping- to follow or 'shadow' a frequent Second Life-er in their space, making and/or spending money and ask them questions about why and how they do it.
The Empathetic Approach- to actually purchase and attempt to make Linden Dollars and then spend them accordingly.
Real Life Interview- Find someone through Craigslist in the NYC area who is an avid SL-er and is willing to talk with us. (I have yet to get a response!!!)
(after compiling the data from each of these methods we hope to draw conclusions and make a RL AND SL Character Profile of the average SL'er and draw out a conceptual map of their real and virtual lives.)
After finalizing the method of achieving our research I then got 'in-world' and got to work. I met up with a friend I made my first time on SL named CrossRotunno a RL 39 year old married cell phone store manager who says he likes helping 'newbies' (in SL he looks more like a tattooed body building 20 year old) .
He explained that he spends most of his money on body modifications- ie.clothes, skin, hair, shoes (the more "real" something looks the more it costs- this is also true with homes, homes close to the "ocean" cost more because they are more "scenic"). He then added that a large portion also goes to tipping virtual strippers. The most he has ever spent at one time is about $100 USD which translates into $25,000 Lindens. (1 Linden Dollar = .31 cents USD)
Cross said the most common way to make Linden dollars is to do something called "camping" in which you essentially put your avitar on pause and sit or dance at a certain location- whoever owns the location pays you a small amount of Lindens for each hour you do this. He said its not good money which is why stripping is so popular- not only do you make a "camping" rate at the club but you also get tips. He says you can get other jobs in SL but they are all basically glorified "camping".
Cross then sent me a teleport invite to a shopping mall and became instantly my virtual 'sugar daddy' by giving me about $750 Linden dollars (the equivalent of about $3 USD) to spend on whatever I wished.
He first told me I needed some skin- which would give me the appearance of nipples when I was naked as well as makeup and more a more tan look. He showed me where I could purchase this and explained that some skins ran much higher than $500 Lindens (the more realistic the more pricey) but this would do. I bought "TAN SKIN WITH SEXY MAKEUP".
Then I purchased hair- short and blonde and long and brown (equaling out to $50 Linden)
Cross then gave me a little more money explaining that I couldn't wear my 'newbie' clothes anymore- he picked out a sexy little lilac number for me. I looked good if I do say so myself.
As simple as it sounds actually buying and wearing the clothes was quiet complicated in terms of the user-experiance. Things were "packed" and "rez-ed" and I had to somehow undo that to become dressed- luckily I had my new-found sugar daddy to help me.
With the help of Cross I was able to use both the empathetic and behavioral mapping approach- I followed him as he did his shopping and also purchased some things getting in that experience. (without having to pay any real money I might add!)
4 comments:
quite an experience. it's interesting--what you describe only involves yourself and cross. are there salespeople in stores? is there an actual transaction of money?
There aren't any sales people and it is actually quite confusing, there is literally shopping everywhere and it is all in the form of billboard- like advertisements. (one might say "10 Hairstyles- 50 Linden!") You right click on these ads and that is how you go about buying and subsiquently wearing the clothes, hair, skin, etc. Before you actually purchase something a small box pops up in the right hand of your screen and informs you of your purchase, you must then hit 'buy' the item then appears in your avatars inventory of items.
Although there are no actual sales people, when you do arrive in a certain location you get bombarded with SL popups alerting you to different sales and 'free' stuff. I guess this is where 'camping' comes into play, although no one is a sales person, simply 'camping' at a certain store or location can bring in more traffic (because when searching for places to go, the most trafficed places come up first in the results list.)
How do you know where to go, is it like a city? So do a lot of people strip for money? As in are the things that are "looked down upon" (for lack of a better phrase) in real life, not really matter in second life? I guess I'm wondering about the rules of morality...can people rob you?
Great job Jill. You snagged a real hottie. All of this sounds really interesting (also what Kevin wrote about), and its so funny that people virtual-strip to make the best money. Have you seen this in action? Can people interact with the stripping avatar while they're 'camped'? And are there other tip-paying 'camping' jobs - like bartending?
Also your line about 'free stuff' is really intriguing...I wonder if there is a way to get by as a Freegan in SL, if people do it (it might be counterintuitive to why you use SL at all for fun), or how you'd be viewed by others. It sounds like there's a definite hierarchy where 'newbies' are at the bottom of the ladder.
Post a Comment