Candy’s Adventures | First Day on the Grid | Low Budget Shopping on Second Life Marketplace
Here I am.
My name is Candy. Created by SLA Media for a specific purpose:
I will travel the grid with no money to start with. I might earn some L$ on my way by taking on a job or by other means to earn Lindens.
The only thing I am not allowed to is any kind of sex related work (Sleen is taking bets about how long I will resist the temptation).
I will write stories about me being a poor and homeless resident in Second Life, showing other poor new residents how to have fun in Second Life without spending a lot of money.
My posts aim to show you:
- How to style your Second Life avatar on a low budget.
- How to make a bit of money in Second Life (You will not get rich, sorry).
- How to get a home in Second Life on low or zero budget
In addition I will entertain you with an occasional sex adventure. This is an adult entertainment blog after all.
But remember:
I am not allowed to do sex work at all. No escorting. no whoring, no stripping and no pole dancing.
Day 1:
Landing Point Portal Park
Something was different this time.
Typically you start your Second Life with a little training course. You learn to walk, move the camera, fly, jump and all that. I went through that very quickly obviously.
After that you get teleported to what is known as “Social Island”. A place where you can socialise with other new residents, mentors and learn more about Second Life before moving on into the wild.
Not this time.
Instead I was teleported to a place called “Portal Park”. It is a Linden owned hun, from where you can access different in-world games created by Linden Lab.
I opened a thread on the Second Life forums about that and got some interesting answers. Check it out: New landing point for new residents? (Opens in new tab).
There is an advantage for you to start here:
You can make a few Linden-bucks right at the beginning.
One of the games (also referred to as experiences) is called “The Linden Realms”. It consists of a hunt for “Crystals”. You basically try to find as many as possible and redeem them for Linden-Dollars.
You will not make much though. But hey, it does make a huge difference if you start your journey with zero L$ or with 10 L$.
I started with 10 L$. Made a huge difference.
Want to know how?
I am sure you do.
Cheap Shopping on Second Life Marketplace
Go to what I call “The Amazon of Second Life”. It works almost the same as the real Amazon. Designers create a shop on the Second Life Marketplace and sell their stuff against L$. In fact, it is the most popular shopping platform for Second Life residents.
According to Linden Lab, the plattform sells virtual items worth more than 6.000.000 USD every year. The average transaction on Marketplace is around 300 l$ or about 1 USD.
So what can you do with only a few Linden?
A lot.
I will show you in a minute how. Before I do so, I need to explain to you something.
One of the most successful marketing strategies of designers and content creators In Second Life is freebies and group gifts.
The idea behind that is to get their brand name around by giving away certain items for free. With those they get you hooked on their brand at a very early stage in your Second Life.
They know, most people who start with freebies will eventually start buying stuff at a later stage. Happened to me every time I started a new account.
In order to get those free group gifts, you need to join the designers group. That means you are now on a mailing list. You will receive notecards about new releases of this designer or content creator.
Most of those group gifts and other freebies from many designers are also offered on Second Life Marketplace. Typically for 1 to 10 L$.
Here is the chance to make the most out of my 10 L$.
Step one:
Go to Second Life Marketplace and Login wit your Second Life credentials
Step two:
Choose a category. For example “Apparel”.
Step three:
Scroll down. You see on the left navigation a section “Prices”. Choose 0 L$ – 10 L$.
There you go. Thousands of very cheap or even free items. However some of them are just demos. Ignore those for now.
You also see a lot of 1 L$ “group gifts”. You even find items from very popular and well known Second Life brands such as Blueberry, Scandalize, Addam, Seniha and many others.
I limit myself to those. Otherwise my 10 L$ would not get me very far.
The first item I bought was a mesh body for 1 L$: Ruth 2.0 Bento Mesh Body.
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Sweets-Ruth-20-BoM-Bento-Mesh-Body-w-Alpha-HUD/18832067
- Now your hands and feet can look cute!
- Now you can animate your hands!
- Now you can wear cute shoes and outfits!
The Skin is a free system skin from LAQ (Known Creator of high quality skins): LAQ Camille Free Essential skin (7 skintones).
This body has also the advantage that you can wear mesh OR system cloth. Works with both. Most other free mesh bodies work only with mesh cloth.
The remaining budget I did invest in cloths.
A bikini is essential to visit Second Life beaches: Seniha Ariana Bikini for 1 L$:
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Seniha-Ariana-Bikini-v2-Fatpack/19892615
A sex and casual outfit from one of the top brands: SCANDALIZE Sheyha for 1 L$:
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/SCANDALIZE-Sheyha-FATPACK/19858567
Jeans are a must have to me: Larry Jeans Classic for 1 L$:
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/LARRY-JEANS-Dollarbie-Pack-Classic-OMEGA-Sink-Maitreya-Mesh-Project/5605223
And shoes. Of course.
You can even find complete outfits for as little as 1 L$.
Simply click through those pages. I am sure you find enough stuff to start your Second Life in style, not in a noob starter avatar.
Now I am broke again. That’s fine. There will be more opportunities to get some Linden-Dollars on my way.
It is not that difficult.
I also suggest trying to combine items from the different starter outfits. For example I started off with “Trixie” combined with the “Zoe” hair. Play around a bit and you get something more individual looking.
That was it for me to get started.
Next will be testing how others react to my new look. Am I attractive enough to get the guy’s attention? What do you think?
You will read about that in my next post.
Candy
