Second Life?

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

Hi guys, recent lurker.

I wanted to get some clarifications about something because a recent commission offer I've recieved sounded REALLY sketchy.

Anyway, on a message board, one of its members private messaged me with an offer for a commission, except he wouldn't be able to pay me via PayPal, but via Second Life.

Now, I told him I didn't play Second Life. I can't. I'm using a PC that's running Windows XP on WIndows 98 technology. I asked him if there was any other ways he could pay me (like via a friend's credit card or PayPal account) and he said no. <b>But</b> he also said that it's possible to convert second life money into real money,

Does anyone know something of this?

Thanks in advance dudes.

Comments

[fallimar.livejournal.com]

Nope.

As far as I know SL money -can- be sold for RL money, but you need not only to have an account yourself, but have to find a buyer, have to set prices... or some other kind of bollocks you just don't want to go through.

Sounds like they want something for nothing... and by nothing I mean pretend money. Avoid.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

I mean, if I actually played SL, I wouldn't mind at all. I'd probably take World of Warcraft money (when I get it again... D:) for commishes. But yeah. I'm not gonna take play monies from a game I don't play or really have an interest in.

And I'm definitely not gonna run around the internet screaming LINDENS 4 SALE

[immortalpanda.livejournal.com]

If you don't play SL and dont plan to ever start, than avoid. They pay you in REAL currency or no dice. It's asking for trouble IMHO.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I think this guy is a sham too. I gave him my MSN contact address and he really hasn't discussed it with me. Guess he's off finding other folks that'll draw for him for SL Money :/

[wolfmare.livejournal.com]

I've seen and heard of the same thing with money on Everquest. It's a rip, no matter if it goes through or not. And even if you went through with it, you don't know what the going rates are for SL money to real cash, so I'd definitely avoid it.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

Absolutely true. Though going rates are quite look-up-able =p

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

It's best to get real money, because SL money, aka Lindens, are roughly 300 Lindens to one dollar US.

Right-click on "My computer" and hit "Properties". That'll show you what OS you have. Also, if you do want to try SL, you will need a halfway decent graphics card, like a fairly recent AMD/ATI Radeon or NVidia Geforce.

[snala.livejournal.com]

Regardless, for someone who doesn't have a computer capable of running SL, nor does she currently play. So it would be a waste of time for her.

Real money is the better bet, there are WAY too many variables in trying to convert SL money to real money, especially to someone who doesn't play.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

64 MB of RAM on Windows XP

lolwut

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Forget Second Life. You need to upgrade your system to even run XP at intended speeds (aka not slow and constantly swapping)!

[badkittyamy.livejournal.com]

sl is ridiculous i can run eq2 full power, i can run freakin assasin's creed full but sl crashes EVERY time. whoever coded that mess needs to be shot

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

You can't really compare Everquest 2's graphics handling (the content is roughly static and unmoving) with Second Life's graphics handling (the content can spontaniously explode -- very dynamic). EQ2 you know what the map is and can employ the GPU's features to handle it all at once. Second Life, you're loading at worse 9 sims worth of data into the system, spanning over 256 meters of virtual landscape, and that changes every second. You can't tell the GPU that it's all static, and thus you stress the GPU.

They have cut down the amount of data used, so that what is only sent to you and shown up is what you see. Even then, it still kills GPU's.

Now, if you want a more equal comparison of how to make a graphics card explode, compare Second Life with Crysis (not the latest Crysis Warhead).

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Get real money from him or no deal. I've heard many a horror story about artists getting ripped off with SL commissions.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

No deal then :/

[kiriska.livejournal.com]

Money can buy you SL monies, but not vice versa by an official means. Avoid.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

Yeowch, no official means... totally not accepting.

[oby.livejournal.com]

Actually you can convert SL money to USD through Linden Lab (the company that makes Second Life). However, there are some rules, if your SecondLife account is connected to your paypal account, you can convert it easily, but if you need it to be paid in a check, they charge $25 USD fee and only do it if the amount converted to USD is $250 or more.

[rharwen.livejournal.com]

Red flagging in my mind and I play SL occasionally. I'd say no dice right upfront.

[casteddreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can convert SL money to real money.
My mate runs a business on SL and does this frequently...however SL usually takes out a percentage of it.

I probably wouldn't do it because of SL taking some of the money. Plus, you'd have to make sure he gives you the equal amount of SL money so it's the correct amount in real money.

[feathery.livejournal.com]

I sense a big red flag. Unless said person has a really good job in SL, the only way to get Lindens is to buy them, either with PayPal or a credit card.

Now, you don't have to run SL to trade the Lindens, you can do that right on the website. I've had a SL account for a long time (3+ years) but only in the past year and a half have I gotten a computer to run it. But, here's the thing: if you buy Lindens, you get 1000 for about 4.08USD. If you SELL them, it's about half that, little over 2 bucks for every 1000L.

Not worth the time or hassle. If he's only got digital money, and insists on using SL as income, then it's in both of your best interests for him to make a PayPal account, sell his Lindens, then pay you, if he really wants the commission.

[kcoarwhut.livejournal.com]

Dude's not willing at all to look into getting a paypal AT ALL. He's insists on paying me via SL.

And is 7000 L easy to come by? o___O

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Depending on what you do L$7000 is not an unreasonable amount to get in-game. If you have a free account and don't actually do or build anything then the only way you can get money is by begging or sitting in camp chairs (that typically pay something like L$12/hour ... bleh)

A paid account gets you L$300/week ... Sit around and not spend anything for 6 months and you got your L$7000.

If you make something like nice clothing or a nifty avatar those typically sell for L$400-L$1000 .. sell a handful of those and you got L$7000 as well.

One person I know makes these fancy limited edition giant dragon avatars that sell for L$3500 each ... 4 times a year she'll sell 210 of them. That's almost L$3 million/year on that product alone.

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

If he has all this money on SecondLife why does HE convert it to dollars and send it via paypal or something.

Yes, you can convert from SL Lindens to dollars but yeah.. if this form of payment is inconvenient and you never specified that such a payment was possible then refuse it.

I'm glad I checked through responses...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

Because that's basically the same answer I was going to offer. If he wants the picture, he can pay in Real World Money, not Lindens. If he doesn't want to go through whatever hoops need jumping through, then he really doesn't want the OP to do art for him. That's how I perceive it.

[stoneth.livejournal.com]

Get him to convert his lindens into actual currency and not force you to if you don't play SL. If you actually did play SL I would say go for it as you could easily squeeze a few K lindens out of him.

[rainbow-roo.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can get real money from SL lindens. It's not sketchy, though really odd as a form of payment unless both sides actively play SL.


My boyfriend and I run a WWII uniform shop in SL - and the proceeds (lindens) are converted into RL monies by means of either SLX(Second Life exchange) or Second Life's web page itself.

You don't need to find buyers to buy your money - but it does take quite a few lindens to equal one real dollar. I don't have a lot of experience with purchasing real dollars via lindens through SL's web page, but via SLX, you can either have the money (after conversion) deposited to a paypal account or they will send you a check, though that obviously takes longer. As far as I know you have to have an account to be able to collect lindens, thereby getting dollars. Accounts are free, though.

Anyways yes you can get real scratch from SL linden currency and no it's not really sketchy or shady or anything. It's probably just someone who for some strange reason finds that the easiest way to pay. Maybe they have a shop in SL and have lots of SL money.

What you could ask them to do is to convert their lindens to currency (ie SLX paypal deposit) and to pay you via paypal, thereby eliminating the need for you to get involved with SL.

[iguanaartgirl.livejournal.com]

If you don't have SL, than he shouldn't have even bothered offering to pay you via SL funds. He either converts it himself to real money, or he doesn't get his commission.

And honestly, I think the "I can't pay any other way" line is bull. If he has a sizable amount of cash in SL, chances are he has a paid account (need a Credit card), and either runs a business (and cashes Lindens himself) or buys lindens. He might not, but 7K isn't the easiest amount to have just fall into your lap without those things.

Either way though, if he doesn't want to pay you with the currency you feel comfortable accepting - I.E REAL dollars - you are under no obligation to go along with him. It's his loss for refusing to pay you correctly.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I personally don't take payment in any form of game money. While Linden dollars might be convertible, it's extra hassle. It would be like someone trying to buy from an american shop using Yen or something, the shop would turn them down flat, if you want to purchase something, it's your responsibility to convert the money beforehand if you don't have money in that currency.

[wolfmemnoch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the downside is you'd be pretty screwed. (Being honest here)

1) Even if you signed up now with a computer that could run it, it'd be about a month for the "limits" of the free account to reach where you could get it.

2) They require either paypal or a credit card on file/personal information on file before they send the converted amount of Linden dollars/US$.

3) You have to have at least 100$ US before you can cash it out in the form of a physical check, with a 10$ dollar fee. Or do it all via Paypal which there is no limit and 1$ fee.

I sell things in SL with a fairly popular business, so I'm pretty aware of how things are done. If this guy wants to commission he might as well cash it out himself via paypal and paypal it to you. So that whole thing about not being able to paypal is BS.

7000L is about US$24.57 at the current exchange rate on the SL site itself. That's not taking Slexchange into account.

[wolfmemnoch.livejournal.com]

Forgot to add, in order to get the limits to rise you'd have to buy some game money yourself on top of that.

There was also a widespread case of fraudulent linden dollars going around in second life. Basically if an account had received these whether or not they were aware of it, Linden Labs would take that amount x2 or 3 back from your account. If that happens, then you'd be left footing the bill if they did turn out to be fake.

[theredwolf.livejournal.com]

For the record, since I didn't see it posted anywhere -
It costs $10 to start a secondlife account (Or I was charged thus). So You'd have to let him know upfront he'd have to pay for the signup fee.

Eitherway, I'd say real money or no dice. Because the L$ market changes every day and can fluctuate rapidly to the point where you get ripped off.

Tell him to snail mail you it. *shrugs*

[the-lest.livejournal.com]

This person must have his credit card registered with Second Life. So, if he really wants a commission, he can also register it with paypal. If not, tell him no deal, thats my advice, it sounds like waaaay much more hassle than its worth.