Earning Your First Lindens ® In Second Life ®

In the past year or so, I've noticed it becoming increasingly difficult for those new to Second Life to earn linden dollars with the basic account. While Linden Labs still provides the L$350 stipend to premium Second Life account users, I never enjoyed the fact Second Life basic users are left to fend for themselves in Second Life after completing and departing orientation and help islands. Second Life basic users are dropped into the world of Second Life without any further instruction or guidance. Although Second Life has many free items and activities, the world is so large and expansive the new Second Life user often has no idea where to look. This guide is meant to help those new to Second Life learn about the free linden making opportunities available and earn a small amount of income to help enjoy the world of Second Life. While the tips in this guide won't make you rich or famous, they will help by providing you some pocket linden in which you can use to enjoy the Second Life world.

The Money Tree
The money tree is meant for newcomers (up to 60 days old) in Second Life. Simply find one of these trees, pick the fruit growing on the tree and lindens are credited to your account. And if you're lucky enough to grab a "golden apple", you win a cumulative linden jackpot. However, as the money trees are very popular in Second Life, finding one with fruit is sometimes difficult. In addition, each money tree is configured differently by each user, meaning that some trees may produce more fruit, some less, or restrict picking fruit to those users who are younger than 60 days old. For those starting out, I recommend the money tree located at "The Shelter" at Isabel 48:228:81. Not only does the tree usually have a little money, but "The Shelter" is a great place for new users to learn more about the world of Second Life.

The L$1 Button
Probably the easiest method of earning a little linden is to find one of these L$1 buttons around the Second Life world. The way the L$1 button work in Second Life is simple. Click on the green button, follow the instructions, and L$1 will be credited to your Second Life account. This is repeatable every 24 hours, so continue to come back to Second Life earn more linden. Start your L$1 button search by teleporting to the L$1 button headquarters in Second Life located at Gateway to Heaven 174:230:25. The only drawback, the owner of the button has to replenish his or her supply and sometimes you will find buttons with L$0 remaining to give away.

Camping

I won't go into much detail here, but camping involves having your Second Life avatar sit in one place and earn lindens over time. This used to be an easy way to earn lindens but with the proliferation and popularity of Second Life basic accounts, payouts for camping have drastically decreased. For those interested, I ocassionally update a starter's guide to Second Life camping sites at http://www.squidoo.com/slcampingsites. Feel free to use the camping list located at this site to help earn a few linden in Second LIfe.

Lucky Money Chairs
Earn lindens by sitting in chairs...with a catch of course. The first letter of your name must match the letter displayed by the chair. Payouts are usually low, about L$1-3, with the occasional "jackpot" chair up to L$5. Start your Lucky Money Chair search by teleporting to the following Second Life location, RezzMe 67:138:22 where you can pick up a lucky money chair HUD and join the Lucky Money Chair group. The HUD is useful as it will constantly tell give you updates on active Lucky Money Chairs in Second Life and you can click on the link in the chat window in order to be teleported straight to the lucky money chair!

The Xploder
Another easy way to pick up linden in Second Life, the Xploder involves clicking on an icon of a pig, money bag, or related object and waiting around until the object "explodes". This then randomly distributes the amount of lindens in the "pot" to the number of participants. Depending on how the Xploder object is set, this can mean a small payout to a large number of avatars (usually L$1-5), or a large payout to a select few with others receiving L$0. The drawback, the Xploder is very well known among Second Life users and you often have to wait about 10 minutes for each Xploder session. Google "tmy entertainment xploder" and you'll find a link to the creators of the Xploder, as well as a list of active Xploder's in Second Life.

Final Notes
There you have it, some methods to put some pocket linden into your account. I'm sure there are others methods of free lindens in Second Life so if you have any recommendations, feel free to write them in the comments below.

Legal Disclaimer
Second LIfe, Linden(s), and Linden Labs are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. This article (Earning Your First Lindens ® in Second Life ®) is not affiliated with or sponsered by Linden Research.