Natalia Basiat

There was a time when SL was envisioned as the next thing, Web 2.0 if you will, where instead of browsers, people would interface with the internet through a 3D environment, transforming the internet into a VR experience, a step towards total immersiveness. In the spirit of that, the server code was put out there to allow people to utilize it, hoping that we would have a sort of true Metaverse. But then, the company changed tactics. And took the 'we're just a game' route. And now what we have is a decades old game, with other companies trying to create the VR metaverse, while SL just offers a themepark mall with boobies. I, like so many others, have been here since almost the beginning. And I was so excited by the potential of SL. We were a part of something ground breaking and world changing. It's hard not to be disappointed to see it resigned into what it is today. So now, to hear people talking about trying to take SL to a meta level space, seems ...I dunno. Frustrating.

Full disclosure: I ran an active business in SL from 2006-2009, then I gave up. I guess you could say I still run a business, but I haven't put much out in years and I don't even log in these days, though I get the bug once in a while and poke around. However, when I started out back in 2006, I only made 200-1000L (linden) a month in the beginning. But within 6 months or so, I was making about $500 (dollars) a month and paying for all my shop rentals and land teir. I had a ton of vendor shops in nearly every niche mall. It would take me 8 hours to go around, once a month, and pay all my rent. To the OP: your friend that thinks he could work 4-6 hours and make that sort of money is wrong. I worked sometimes 14 hours a day. At the peak of my income I was earning $1500-$2000 (again, dollars) a month. Then, within the space of a few months, it went from that to a few hundred, to 50 dollars, to almost nothing. I hadn't done anything differently, and the only thing I can think is that it was some combination of the economy crashing, big professional design teams moving into SL and the change of the search algorithm. And I knew a lot of other vendors at the time making more than I was. One person I know of made 'club' wear, and sexy dresses and made nearly $50k a year.

I have been an active participant in text based roleplay for 17 years. I have played nearly every part you can imagine, erotic romance, horror, fantasy, science fiction. I've played mothers, children, insane 1000 year old vampires, powermad time travelers, inhuman creatures, sociopaths. I've played heroes and villains and victims and cops. You name it. I've even ran stories/plots for other players, creating storylines and NPCs and so on. I have been in charge of multiple playgroups, with anywhere from 3 to 200 players. I have created entire games from the ground up and ran all aspects of them for years on end. I have been in SL for many years, but haven't really had a chance to get involved with many Roleplay groups. I am offering my services in any of the above; do you need someone to come in and play an NPC? I'm your girl. Pay is negotiable, and obviously the more time you need from me, the more compensation I'd like.