Starting a Second Life business

What makes money
The number of opportunities available is really only limited by your imagination. Real estate is a big moneymaker, as evidenced by Chung's success. Even Lokke has a side business as a landowner, subletting property on the 10 islands he owns. There are also numerous opportunities for coders who want to build more complex creations using Second Life's unique scripting language.

Even a business-to-business community has sprung up. When Dibbel decided to promote Play Money in Second Life, the infrastructure already existed. He found a bookmaker to create a virtual version of his book, and a pre-existing vending machine to sell it in.

"There's already a community of solo entrepreneurs there to fill the gap on a B2B level," says Dibbel. "If you have an idea you think would be a good thing to have programmed up, you don't necessarily have to do the programming at this point."

In December, Linden Labs reported there were more than 2.3 million Second Life "residents" (avatars that people have created), and that number seems likely to continue to rise. Some have criticized this population figure as not being representative of the true user base because it includes people who visited Second Life only once and never returned, as well as users who have more than one avatar. Regardless, there's no doubting that Second Life's popularity is growing and the media circus surrounding the virtual lifestyle has exploded.

But the bottom line for entrepreneurs is, will Second Life really pan out? Or is it just hype, since the majority of people have never ventured virtually or even heard of it?

Possibly both. After all, there are a lot of people who could care less about blogging, but it's now a well-established publishing and marketing tool that's here to stay. The audience for blogs may not be universal, but it's big enough that some writers — like Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com or the four bloggers behind Boing-Boing.com — are bringing in a nice, full-time chunk of change for crafting their thoughts for the world.

Second Life may prove to be a similar venture. Your mom may never understand exactly what a 3D world is, or the point of an avatar. But enough other people do that a whole new class of entrepreneurs has been born to serve their needs. Just ask Peter Lokke.

Getting started in Second Life
First and foremost, you've got to start visiting this virtual world. It's free to start an account, but tiered pricing levels will allow you more access to the world in the form of a Linden dollar allowance and the ability to own property. And you can't jump into a Second Life business — you've got to get to know the world and decide if it's the type of place you want to really build another life in.

From there, your personal interests will guide you to potential business ideas. (Check the list below for some ideas from Linden Labs.) You'll also want to start developing your own community of contacts. Much of the work in a virtual world business — like a real-world business--comes from networking and building a list of contacts and friends.

Finally, be prepared to spend a heck of a lot of time on Second Life. Just because it feels like a game doesn't mean your work will always be fun. Like any hobby-turned-business, the "business" parts can suck much of the fun out of what was once your passion. Be prepared to spend 40 or 50 hours, as Lokke does, on top of your normal, full-time job before you can break free and take it full time.

On the Second Life Web site, the company lists the following businesses as some real examples of in-world enterprises run by residents:

• Party and wedding planner
• Pet manufacturer
• Tattooist
• Automotive manufacturer
• Fashion designer
• Custom avatar designer
• Jewelry maker
• Architect
• XML coder
• Freelance scripter
• Game developer
• Tour guide
• Real estate speculator
• Publicist

For the complete list, click here.

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