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the virtual world landscape has changed drastically since 2006
if you had nice clothing, hair, shoes, furniture, or buildings back in 2006, then you stood a good chance to make some money in Second Life. the online headlines heralded Second Life as the next dot-com boom and it sure seemed like anything was possible in Second Life. it was the perfect mix of technology, people, and Philip’s energy - but now, five years later, Philip is completely absent, many great people are gone, the technology has not improved as much as expected, and Linden Lab is fully corporate and no longer “Your World. Your imagination.”
you can still make money in Second Life and great products will always be worth paying for
and for those that are entrepreneurial the options have expanded beyond Second Life and are becoming well established. this last year has seen OpenSim options become more deeply rooted, more trusted, and more populous. there are a number of private commercial grids who are “serious” players plus independent grids, like our Enclave Harbour, and the ever growing collection of individual regions that make up the OSGrid
this last year has also seen many improvements in OpenSim code regarding permissions and creator name persistence. while the code continues to improve, the protection for content creators and merchants is not as strong as what you find in private commercial grids
personally, i don’t think we will ever see one unified virtual world currency for a number of reasons. one is that a universal online currency like bitcoin has issues of its own, another is international law, and most private grids will want to “own” their own currency for security, reduction of fraud, and to get a piece of the conversion pie (nothing wrong with that because it does take effort and regulation adherence to maintain a currency). my top reason for thinking there won’t be one virtual world currency is that one already exists and it’s called real money. nothing stops anyone from accepting credit cards or PayPal
this ever changing, and still maturing, virtual world landscape creates an opportunity for confident merchants to expand their storefronts
is there risk? yes there is but that risk also translates to new opportunities and success
the “new” face of the virtual world merchant entrepreneur is often the savvy Second Life merchant who has been around the virtual block
my dear, and longest running, virtual world friend has always been keenly passionate about the virtual world and about making her mark in it by creating wonderful clothing and being an entrepreneur. she holds festivals, has fireworks, and is always willing to talk anytime with others (both customers and non-customers)
to me Sunny embodies the content creator and merchant of the future by being in many virtual worlds now. having store fronts in many places is analogous to having stores in many countries
Sunny’s Total Avatar Shop can be found in the following worlds:
- Kitely
- InWorldz
- Avination
- Second Life
- osHaven
- OSGrid
- New World Grid
- My Open Grid
- Tertiary Grid
- Virtual Worlds Grid
- Virtyou
- Hypergrid Mall
great job Sunny! =)
you have embraced what virtual worlds are today and what they will become tomorrow. virtual worlds are changing, growing, maturing, and evolving and one constant that will be ever present are those individuals, like Sunny, who see the possibilities =)
my Sunny, she lives up to her name, especially in my heart =)
