Week 4 - Post One

For this weeks post, I will primarily be using screenshots from my web browser, in accordance with the questions for this week. How do virtual goods get bought and sold in SL? and What types of virtual goods are on sale and how does the economy of virtual goods sales work in relationship to the broader online economy?  The first question will be the subject of this post.

As discussed with my posts from last week, goods are bought and sold through the Second Life Marketplace, located at https://marketplace.secondlife.com/, and its homepage is shown above.  The other possible way to buy items is via the in game interface, as seen below.

As you can see in the above image, I have the "Mutt Crossing" sign selected, and in the upper left corner of the screen, it shows who I will be paying, what object I am trying to purchase, and the cost of the object. Using the in-game purchasing requires Linden Dollars allocated to the Second Life account, if none are available, it will attempt to allow you to purchase them for United States Dollars.  Fortunately, the area which I am exploring is rife with free objects, although most of them are more suited for female players and avatars.

User creativity and creations are more than welcome, and form the vast majority of the items available.  Users add these items to the marketplace and are capable of making real world money through their transactions.  I will post more about this on Sunday.  See you then!

-DM