How your disability pension might cover someone else’s life expenses.
If you, living in a 1st world country, knew that 1000 Lindens would feed a flesh-and-blood family in a third world country for more than a couple of days (excluding other expenses), you might not hesitate to ask someone to work for you for a dollar a day to work for you for an hour or two at their convenience. While this may not be a real job for anyone, it could certainly be a great additional source of income in many low-income countries. (Let them be a judge of it, you just put the offer out.)
According to AI, $500 to $1500 USD per month covers all living expenses for someone who can afford a laptop and internet access, but that may be a high estimate, considering I myself live in that range, in a first-world country, and have done, for years (and never felt poor-poor). Asking more specifically about a specific country, $110–$240/month would cover all living expenses from rent to food for someone who CAN afford a laptop and internet access. There are countries that have lower costs than that still.
In some countries, a person can work for a dollar a day doing hard labor, and while they may not be able to afford a laptop and internet access, it gives you an idea of how much our income expectations vary from country to country.
On Second Life, working is a part of the fun, while some make a real living on Second Life as the business owner, jobs are mostly an amusement factor in a first-world country. That said, the same job with the same salary might make an actual difference to someone. While one person might feel downright insulted, another would truly welcome the offer and opportunity. Let them be the judge of it. What you can afford to pay is one thing, what they can accept (and what other offers they get) is their business.
2000 Lindens an hour makes for a decent hourly wage somewhere.
There are a TON OF job opportunities on Second Life with regular people who can’t afford to pay another person from a 1st World country in any way that would make a difference to that person. Most Second Life residents work for fun, not for the money. Many DJ’s make 2000 Lindens (6.25 USD at the moment) an hour, some only get to keep their tips, which might be far less than that. This doesn’t buy you more than a couple of candy bars in Australia, but feeds a family for days somewhere else. (I just bought an over 10 AUD (6,50 USD) chocolate bar. It wasn’t worth it. 😀 Should have hired someone to promote my sim for that.)
7.35 USD is the minimum wage in the US. In Australia, by contrast, the minimum wage is 16.38 USD. In Finland, a cleaner will make a minimum of 13.24, while other jobs pay significantly more. Therefore, how good we feel about paying the wages we can afford to pay on Second Life depends vastly on the minimum wages in our own country. That said Second Life is a game, and what you pay is up to you. If you hire someone for “a real job,” hire them as a freelancer to avoid legal minefields.
What anyone from anywhere could potentially do for you on Second Life
Camping and entertaining visitors – driving up the perceived traffic count on a sim by simply staying on for several hours a day and replying to IM’s people send you. There’s a possibility of you to keep working at another job at the same time as keeping your eye on your IM’s.
Maybe you could even inform the visitors of what the sim is there for, and work in customer service, but that’s another payment bracket.
Camping – you’d get paid maybe 60 Lindens an hour (see the currency converter in the sidebar to see how much that would be in your local currency).
Entertaining guests – 500-800 Lindens an hour? More?
Customer service… More, but I don’t have a clue how much more.
Paid party guest
Nobody wants to stay at a party or event with nobody else there. Paid party guests should stay on the sim at the start of an event so that whoever teleports in (and potentially pays tips to the DJ, host, and the sim owner later) doesn’t feel instantly compelled to leave at the sight of “nobody’s here.”
Paid party guests could probably make 50 to 100 Lindens per party, but it may only take you 10 or 15 minutes at the start of the event. (If nobody’s coming anyway, they probably need to work on their party pitch and advertising rather than fill their sim with paid guests.)
You could potentially earn more money by keeping the local chat going, by talking to everyone there, and keeping the mood high, without letting everyone know you’re paid to do it, the same as the host is.
DJing and Hosting
Can you put up a party? One of the most popular jobs on Second Life is that of a DJ and a party host. Although these jobs are popular, there are always places looking for good, fun DJ’s and hosts to entertain their guests.
A DJ plays the music, and the host keeps talking to the guests on Local Chat to keep everyone in a happy mood and entertained.
Promotion
A Second Life business owner might be well interested in having someone promote their product or service to people you talk to on Second Life or even online. They might set up an affiliate link for you, which means every time a person who you told them about the company will pay for their products, you will get a share of that payment… Potentially for as long as the company operates.
If you own even a little bit of land and know how to get people to visit it
There are several affiliate programs on Second Life already, which means that you sell THEIR PRODUCT for them, by simply rezzing their vendors on your land and watching the Lindens pour in.
There are a few popular affiliate marketers around, but you can check them out on the Marketplace. Some of them are free – you grab their vendors and you’re set – some of them want to ensure you’re actively promoting their products and want to vet you before they hire you, but nonetheless, check out some affiliate opportunities here.
Creating Things for the Marketplace
Creating an account for Second Life is free, and using a public sandbox on Second Life is free. Selling your items on the Marketplace is free, too.
Now, this way of making money requires both talent and skill, but it is free to get started and won’t cost a ton of money to keep going and expanding, either. If a person living in a first-world country can make a living this way, then so can someone from a third-world country, if you have the talent and skills to do it.
How to give a job to someone who needs it?
Have you ever wondered why someone would bother scamming people for 100 or 250 Lindens at a time, pretending to be a newbie? This is why. So the next time someone hits you up for a few Lindens, maybe ask them if they want a regular Second Life job instead.
“That’s not accurate”
Now. This is not really about people from third-world countries, but a type of personality that will always try to shame/guilt you into paying more. They will doubt your ethics, morals, and intentions, exaggerate their hardships and costs, and pretend like what you’re offering is just not good enough for anyone.
Check your information when they prompt you to, and see if you still agree your numbers are accurate. If the money truly isn’t good enough, they’ll go somewhere else. Doesn’t hurt to offer.
Ask for a job.
Now, finally, if all of this sounds good for you, do approach any sim owner and ask for a job. If you explain what a difference a certain amount of money would make for you, the chances are that they’ll find you a job if they possibly can afford it. People with empty sims would love some promotion, even if you can do it only sporadically or an hour a day, but there’s a chance they can pay you less than what you’d wish for. That said, if you do your job well, their capacity to pay you will increase.
