Creative Ways to Make Money: Second Life

Making money online is getting easier and easier, as entrepreneurs find interesting ways to generate income. Many people believe that the only way to make money on the Internet is to have your own business or website, but there are countless other ways to do so. In fact, it is as simple as playing a game.

Second Life, an online social networking game developed by Linden Research, Inc. (also known as Linden Lab), allows players (called "Residents") to interact with each other via 3D avatars. A key feature of the game is that Residents can make and trade virtual items, which includes clothes, furniture, and even real estate. The currency used is called "Linden Dollars", and the beautiful part is they can be exchanged for real money!

Although the majority of Residents play Second Life just for fun, many have also signed up solely for business purposes. Several Residents spend their time creating and selling virtual items. The most profitable industry is by far the game's real estate market. Certain players have made tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and renting property.

There are two types of land; Mainland and Private Estates. Mainland real estate is owned by Linden Lab, and to essentially rent land a Resident must pay a fee. The Resident then has the right to use the land within specified rules, as well as resell it. The price of land ranges from $5 into the hundreds; currently, $295 buys approximately 65,000 square meters of land. In addition to resale, Residents can also use personal land to permanently store products they made or bought.

The most efficient way to make money, however, is through Private Estates. With this type of land, Residents actually own the land they purchase (instead of Linden Lab actually owning the land, as with Mainland). This gives them more freedom and control over the land.

As stated, one way to make money off the land is to resell it. With Private Estates, one can actually divide the land into parcels, and sell or rent those individual parcels. This technique allows Resident land-owners to make more than if they sold land in bulk. To further increase the value of land, owners can develop it, by doing things such as adding buildings or landscaping.

So how do you, the average person, make money from Second Life? Just sign up (it's free), take a look around, and find out if selling products or real estate is right for you.