HQ Fashion - Second Life Women's Fine Clothing: 2008

A Second Life Amateur
Becoming a Professional

by Heather Quonset

If you haven't seen what Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) is and what you can do in Second Life then you are truly missing out. Second Life does have limitations; however, 'life', or 'real life' (RL) as second lifers call it, has its own set of limitations. Second Life goers have discovered that real life (abbreviated RL) freedoms can be extended in Second Life (abbreviated SL) and to say that you can do amazing things is an understatement. Secone Life is a world of inspiration.

People who enjoy other people's creations in RL tend to enjoy other people's creations in SL. People who create in RL tend to create in SL, and enjoy doing it. Second Life allows one to discover new boundaries of their limitations. In RL, a person given a set of tools can create an endless variety of creations. In SL, a person is given an extended set of tools to create with, and as one can imagine, that endless variety of creations just became an explosion of a variety of creations.

When you visit SL (http://secondlife.com/) your travels will give you a view into the previously untapped minds of creators worldwide, and hopefully you will enjoy what you see and decide to stay.

Second Life is free to join and free to do everything, except to own land, you must become a registered resident of Second Life. For nearly the first two years of my own second life, I was a free user. After you create an avatar (a digital 3D lifelike representation of yourself) and learn how to move around a bit, you can easily begin making friends and creating in-world objects and scripts. The possibilities are as limited as the creativity of your own mind (Sometimes a dangerous place for some) and maybe a little by the toolset provided by the Linden's (The team of creators of the galaxy that we call Second Life).

As a free user, I started my Second Life career working for various locations. Once I had enough money and had spent enough time creating in sandboxes (locations in SL where you can freely create), I rented a shop and began selling my creations to other Second Life residents. I became a Second Life amateur businessperson. I sold anything and everything that I created, from beach towels to tattoo's, from panties (Yes, you have to cover your privates in SL too!) to signs, from T-Shirts to complete formal wear outfits, including the shoes.

So... How did I become a professional? Perhaps it is experience. Perhaps it is dedication, or maybe not...RL does take precedence over SL (She says hoping that no one finds out that I have stayed up all night in SL to log out and take a quick shower and put in a full shift at RL work...OK... So you found out). Perhaps it was intuition? For me, the step from amateurism to professionalism in SL took some prodding. I think I was happy being myself in SL and probably would have remained an amateur. However, I met a man in SL by the name of edo Tone (Yes, edo is lowercase -- maybe because of the edo period, or because he sells tuxedo's??? Check him out at http://stylesofedo.blogspot.com/) and with his help, I now feel that I have become a Second Life "professional”. However, I will let you judge for yourself, and I hope to see you in Second Life. If you do read my Blog and you do come and meet me in Second Life, please let me know. It is nice to know sometimes that I am not just rambling to myself (or comment on my Blog, that would be fine too!).

Some of my creations... (Yes... I'm my own model. My friend Oya Bright <http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bara/184/159/22>, once was my model, but I soon discovered that I changed my advertisements too often, to not do it myself...) Photo's taken on Tyche, a SL SIM (Island) designed by Ao Kilara and edo Tone and me just a little bit, like the waterfall and the marble handrailing... (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tyche/153/127/46).