Currency - The Illusion

Preamble

I was chatting with a good friend of mine online yesterday. The details of the conversations are irrelevant to this topic, except for the fact that we were talking about money, in world shopping and the value of things. (Would this be worth 1000$L to you?) That got me thinking...

Linden Labs (Second Life owner) has an in-world currency, referred to as "Linden Dollars" or "Linden Currency" or L$ for short.  There is a real life money cost to that.  At the time of this writing, you can buy 1000$L for $5.62 USD

The dilemma

I think it is fair to say that most people, in world, think in terms of L$ and not in terms of USD, CAD, Pesos or whatever your local currency is. No. In world, we tend to forget that L$ have a real life financial impact.  Sure, you go to the marketplace, you can buy an entire furnished house for 200$L.  So you get the illusion that things are cheap, and you can afford just about anything.

So when you acquire something in-world, or pay someone for a service, how much is it worth, and where do you set the limit...  You can get a DJ for a couple of hours to entertain a group  of friends, but that'll cost you more than the house we just talked about.  In you go to the more "adult" rating areas of the sim, you go to clubs (they're sometimes called a club, or a resort, and typically will have female dancers, and the visitors "tip" the dancers).  Using the last one as an example, you'll get to places where the club, or the dancers themselves, will advertise their prices: 200L$ to take the top off, 500$L to take the bottom off, 1000$L to spend 20 minutes in a private booth, for whatever purpose that may be.

Now one might think that's pretty cheap stuff... until you start thinking about what you're getting for that money.  Sure, for most of us, paying someone less than 2.50 USD for them to take their top off? That's cheap!  So what do you get? An avatar, running a "dancing" animation script, twirling on a pole, chatting you up some casual stuff, and you're throwing real money at her.  We'll call that the cost of entertainment.

There's a possibility of good money to be made there.  For the person behind that dancer's avatar, it's a couple of clicks here and there, and the avatar is on the pole... Then she just has to wait for someone to come by and hang out. Sure, not everybody will tip, but some will also tip just because, and without paying attention to the rate, because they don't care to see a naked avatar.  So there is no cost to them, only time and income.

Immersion

One thing to remember, this is meant to be an fictional world, where things are different, and for a good immersion, where you should try and feel like this is now your actual real world.  When you get there, things make a bit more sense. To some degree, you have to ignore the connection between the two worlds. (SL vs RL, topic for another day).  But don't ignore it completely, thinking it's not a big deal to throw a couple of dollars at someone here and there.  It makes them happy, and it gives the receiving end some money to spend in world. There is a whole economy system in place. 

Is L$ really required tho?

Nahhh I spent years in SL without ever pulling my wallet out of my pocket.  Depending on your play style, it does limit the experience tho. What do I mean by that? Let's start small. 

Let's say your fun thing to do in SL is shopping for clothing.   There is an enormous marketplace, with thousands of items for sale.  Yes, there are some free items, but it's like anything else, you get what you pay for. Go to the marketplace, select "Apparel" from the menu, and you'll see, there is about 3 million items there, ranging in price from free to over 5000L$.  So can you get clothing for free? Sure you can. 

Hmm ok, so you got yourself a decent looking avatar. Just like in RL, looking good matters to some, and not so much to others. But ok, you got decent looking for free, good for you. Now, you decide you want a house to live in. Is it needed? Not really no, unless you're into building stuff, in which case, unless you find an in world sandbox, you need a place to work on your stuff.  So a house.  Well, you need a piece of land to put that house on.. That is not free. It can be really cheap, I've seen 50L$  per week for a tiny plot, and some will come with a furnished house as well. Definitely cheap, but you still need some money.

Side note: a long time ago, they used to have some "money trees" where you had a random chance of getting some free L$. Not many, typically from 1 to 10, but they would add up enough to cover your rent for the week, if it is a cheap one. Now, some places have raffles, sometimes even for free. You just need to hang out and participate.

Okay, so it might still be doable without using real money. But you get the idea, you'll won't look as nice as someone who invests some money in their looks, you won't have a house, with land,  and that's totally cool. Maybe your thing is just to explore and hang out with people and chat, and all of that you can do for free.  You can also work (DJ work, dancer work, work for a landlord, etc). 

I think you get the idea. Yes, you can do it for free, but often, you'll want a little spending money here and there.

So, would it be worth 1000L$ ?

It really is a personal choice, based on personal values, and immersion style. To me, it might really be just worth a couple of hundred. For someone else, 1000L$ for that selling item would be a steal.  Just like in real life. Is this item worth $20? Depends who you're asking...  You just need to find what your goal is in SL, and what, if anything, it is worth to you.  In real life, some people spend money on gym, on movies, on dining, on sex workers, clothing, house, anything. It's no different in there, with the exception that you actually don't own any physical asset. It's all in the digital world.

Closing words

Was this good information to you? Does it bring answers? More questions? Was this reading worth your time? Do you want to donate? (no, please don't, really, not for the blog.)  What if I changed this blog so you get the first article for free, or the first 10-15 lines or text or something, and then, I tell you that just like most online newspapers today, you have to pay a subscription to read the rest of the article. Would you donate L$ for it? Some would, some wouldn't.  In a lot of cases, when it comes to spending money to someone (paying for a dancer, or an escort, or a DJ, renting or buying property, furniture, clothing) is really more a matter of encouraging the seller, rather than actually purchasing something.

Have fun out there! Stay safe, don't spend all your money in one place.