Try Second Life (link), a game made by Linden Lab (link)!

I came across this game what seemed like ages ago, but it's only been around since mid-2003. I was searching for 'free rpg' on Google, and this popped up. Although, it's become far less of a game these days and more of a virtual marketplace!

In Second Life, you create a character, and you live in the world. What you do from there is up to you; you are not restricted or bound by any means, except financially, but this can be fixed eventually.

You live in a 100% player-created environment. Linden Lab have done all the hard work of creating the frame for you to build and develop. You can create rich three dimensional, interactive, scripted objects. You can buy them off others (as closed source packages) or you can sell your own creations. For a relatively small fee, you can contribute to the developnent of the environment by buying a small plot of land and building your own house on it -- but why stop there?

Instead of just building a house, why not build a couple of houses, and rent them out to customers who are willing to pay. Currency is measured in L$ (Linden Dollars), and these can be converted back in to USD at LindeX (link - registration required)... So imagine buying a small plot of land for 5 USD per month, and renting out 3 houses on your 512m square lot for the equivalent of 3 USD each per month - you make 4 USD! Sure, it's only a couple of quid, but imagine doing this on a much larger scale, or making higher quality buildings and renting them out for more money per month...

Why not create a shopping mall and rent out the shops? Why not become an automotive manufacturer, designer, or distributor. You could become a virtual fashion designer, create your own telephone network, or weapons, or be a locksmith, or be a tax man (I wish I could be a tax man)...

Opportunities sound almost limitless. Bear in mind that there are police on Second Life, and they will happily hand out punishments, which usually mean a suspension of your account, or a complete account cancellation! There is a Police Blotter on the official website (link)... The funniest offense I can see on there at the moment is where some guy firebombed a house and got a 14 day suspension!

Oh, you can play this game for free by the way - you only pay for owning land or creating fixed objects in the persistent world, or for an additional account. Can you possibly get better value for money?

I know I've only really bantered on about the financial side to this game, but there really is a lot more to it than that - notice that I said the whole world is completely player created, which is why it is so vast, and why it is growing so much every day. There will pretty much always be something new to look at every day, even if you go to the same places... and because Second Life is completely free - Linden Lab have a huge audience, and you have a lot of fun!

Oh, you need to be 18 to sign up, and you need a qualifying credit card, since mobile phone verification is not available in this country. As soon as I am 18 (5 days) I am applying for a Visa card so that I can sign up for this.

Simply for an interesting read - here is a couple's success story on Second Life, it has a lot of interesting facts about the game and it's 'virtual marketplace': http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70153-0.html - Incredible!

If anybody has an account for this game and has played it - let me know what you think. I'm very keen on the idea of this at the moment!

I've seen that game. Looks interesting, has a similar style to Project Entropia - another game with a real money transfer. I don't think it's easy to make money, otherwise the company would go bust, instead, they rely on many addicted people putting money in to pay the successful people.

True, it's difficult to make money, but I'm sure it's worth a shot. Just rent out extremely expensive property, and an American person will gladly pay you.

LOL, true, true.

P.S. I watched one of the vids and saw something that looked suspiciously like a low detail Stargate....

Alternate universe lol. I'd expect somebody created it in a way so that you need to pay L$ to get through it.

Or maybe it's just the map transport, allowing you quick access to all over the map?

I'm still meaning to get this but haven't been able to talk to my bank (in confidence) recently because I have been spending far too much on things for Rachel. Literally all my wages for the month goes on me and her!

O0ps!

I signed up for this quite a while ago. At first I was called Ipwn Daily. But now, I am Fanny Sideways (a much better name by my standards).

I had a blast at Second Life with Ipwn, but never got very far and didn't have enough time to play. Hopefully, with Fanny, I can spend more time getting to grips with the world and building things, and maybe even making my first GBP.

When you lot can play, I'd like to establish a development group on SL to see if we can all make some moneys.

I've heard it possible to make millions on SL. If this were the case, you could literally hire virtual members of staff in a hotel to serve virtual food to residents, and actually pay them realistic wages (like 5K GBP or something like that, just for playing a game... it wouldn't even dent you).

Woa, that sounds awesome!

It would be interesting to actually try an make some money. I'd imagine if you can get started it would become pretty easy after a while, it's just the initial idea and the funding.

Yeah, it's a game where you need to have money to make money, and you need to be serious about it. There are a lot of users with a positive L$ income below L$10, but only about 150 out of the hundreds of thousands of users with a positive L$ income over L$5000...

I think Second Life has an entirely enclosed economy, right? So every bit of money put into it is recoverable elsewhere (by someone else)? That means there are those spending money, which is where you need to get your money from...

I know there are a few people making a pretty serious profit from this game...

Yeah, there are some multi-millionaires!

Multi-millionaires with ingame money, I presume? What does that translate to out of game?

Lol oops this posted in the wrong topic and the one for this topic didn't post anywhere. :S

Well wasn't this the game recently on TV about people who lost themselves in it so much marriages broke down in exchange for their second life relationships.

Yes, I saw that program. It was disturbing to say the least, though probably just a rare case hyped by the media.

Remember Kids, GAMES ARE BAD!

Only if they destroy your relationships in the real world apparently :S, at least thats what the program suggests.

Yes, that was what the program showed, but that was because the woman playing it lacked control and such. In other words, a stupid player they used to make games look bad.

Indeed and i can't see why normal people would get hooked into that game though, it sounds good but it's like..............

My opinion is a single sim but less detailed, more crazy and unrealistic thrown into a world that is changing randomly and for no good reason but to promote you waste time away doing things you should do in real life.

I for one will be unlikely to sign up following my 18th birthday

It's addictive and it's an escape, simple as. People play it for the same reason people play other games, because they like it and it lets them escape the real world. Most of second life is about social interaction rather than doing stuff, being that it's essentially a glorified chatroom. I don't play it, it doesn't interest me as there doesn't seem to be anything to actually do in it.

Yup sound familiar to a few others.

Better version of IMVU

Less realistic version of PS3 Home?

Some people don't take hints when something doesn't work. Also i only see PS3 Home working because it'll be on of the few non-game things online for the PS3.

I haven't heard of IMVU, but Second Life is actually incredibly sucessful, which is why it's being copied. It's profitable too, because people have to put money in to get anything decent for their avatars, and it suckers people into thinking that it's worthwhile.

As for realism, I don't think that's really an issue with it, it's a virtual world, why be real?

PS3 home is an interesting thing. I think it will be like Second Life, except child friendly and with better graphics.