Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
recent posts
- Welcome to New World Notes’ 2006-2025 Archive!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
- Top Five Posts Including: Huge Rec Room Layoff & Meta Boots Neal Stephenson Off Facebook (Briefly)
- Four Glorious Second Life Sims to Explore — After Watching Sabina Valeska’s Machinima Tributes to Them!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
about
Category: Economics of SL
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During a recent update meeting about Project Zero, Second Life's new cloud-streaming option, Linden Lab asked community members for ideas to improve new user onboarding, which remains the virtual world's most vexing, unsolved problem. I.E., roughly 99% of new user sign-ups never, ever return. But then Charlotte Bartlett of Scarlett Creative posted this detailed onboarding…
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New for Patreon subscribers: I hesitated before using the word "shocking" in this post title, but I'm genuinely surprised that a strong majority of respondents earn $15/hour or less from their SL mesh work. Also, that the highest end was $25-49/hour, reached by 17%. In this survey, mesh riggers report making more on average, but…
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Since we were recently talking about the harsh economics of shadow meshing in the Second Life economy, here's a look at another SL market with some impressive revenue numbers: Premium mocap animations. Paragon, a Los Angeles-based mocap studio, has been creating and selling RL mocap dances in Second Life for over five years. (Marketplace page…
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Over the Summer I'll be sharing highlights of my new in-depth, voluminous (over 4000 words!) Patreon report on the state of the Second Life economy in 2025. If you find my coverage of Second Life and other virtual worlds valuable, I hope you consider subscribing so that I can, well, keep covering Second Life and…
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Top Twelve Tips Veteran SL Merchants Wish They Knew Before Creating / Selling Content in Second Life
Here's twelve highly useful tips from veteran SL creators, taken from the survey for my report on the state of the Second Life economy in 2025 (Patreon subscription required). I framed it in the form of the question, "What are some important lessons/tips you wish you'd known before starting out as an SL creator?", and…
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NOTE: Take survey using mouse/trackpad to scroll! Loading… UPDATE, 3:45pm PT: If you feel uncomfortable naming specific SL brands that pay well, feel free to describe them by content category they're most known for, i.e. furniture, clothes for men, etc. Since my post on "Shadow Meshing in SL" attracted outsized interest and controversy, I'm delving…
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There's been a really interesting reader conversation in last month's article on "shadow mesh" subcontractors in SL, including these thoughts from Dino Sophers, who explains why they themselves prefer shadow meshing — this is her subcontractor site, I believe — as opposed to running their own mesh brand, which they have also done before: I'm…
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Here's three new-ish/small-ish Second Life brands to check out over the long weekend, recommended by readers: Sanny advises checking out **..NL..**, "a shop that sells useful tools for Second Life. My recommendation is the *..NL..* Pos Adjuster HUD. It allows you to adjust the position of your avatar when taking group photos. What's more, it's…
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Originally published on my Patreon here A recent SL influencer video (watch above) provoked a mini-firestorm within the SL community, and that's no surprise, as it alleges that highly popular in-world shopping events are unfairly controlled by gatekeeping "cartels", among other hyperbolic descriptors. I've heard similar complaints for years, so it's worth airing another perspective…
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Lots of interesting comments on last week's look into Second Life's shadow mesh economy, including this one from Peter Stindberg, creator and lead scripter of popular SL-to-Discord bridges. As he explains, mesh makers and mesh riggers aren't the only ones whose skill are often subcontracted: The same goes pretty much for scripting: There is a…
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 