Originally published on my Patreon here
There’s a controversial social media post that’s currently going viral within the Second Life creator community, written by a professional mesh modeler who works in SL. By the author’s request, I won’t share their name or link to their post here, but clearly, their assertions about the Second Life mesh economy are shocking to many.
Roughly summarized, they charge:
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Many top Second Life brands outsource much or all of their mesh work to “shadow mesher” subcontractors without fairly compensating them.
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If shadow meshers do outsourcing work for a brand, but are unable to access the brand owner’s sales/vendor data, aren’t recognized publicly, aren’t given legally binding revenue shares, or retain rights to reuse/resell their work, they are being unfairly treated.
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Many shadow meshers could make much more revenue if they just sold their original content directly, instead of outsourcing. (And then would still own the rights to their content to resell/reuse on other platforms.)
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In the real world (i.e. the game industry), professional mesh modelers are paid anywhere from $100 per item to $5000 or more for a detailed avatar/character model, with a profit share on top — and SL assignments will often require much more work, due to dealing with Second Life’s aging platform quirks.
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The larger Second Life brands can often make over USD $5,000 per release — and a shadow mesher’s compensation should be a decent cut of that revenue.
Or to put it more bluntly: Shadow mesh artists of Second Life, know what you’re worth, and demand better pay/treatment.
How large is the shadow mesh subcontracting economy? In my 2024 report on the SL economy, my survey of merchants suggested that only 7% had large teams of contractors. Then again, when you consider that around 1600 Second Life merchants gross $10,000 or more a year from their SL content, that could mean an estimated 100+ SL brands outsource mesh work.
“It’s very prevalent, especially on the bigger brands. ” a top virtual world/metaverse developer confirmed to me, when I showed them the post. “A lot use Upwork to hire artists. Also keep in mind exchange rates and cost of living. A full-time artist in China, Vietnam or India can cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000/mo. So it’s affordable to hire artists that way.”
My source also confirmed that yes, professional game industry mesh creators do get paid $5000 or more, for detailed avatar/character models: “A full AAA character, from concept to rigged output, would probably cost $30,000 for a triple A game, maybe more.”
I also showed the post to several professional mesh developers deeply familiar with the Second Life economy, to get their feedback. How much of a problem is this, both for the shadow meshers themselves, and the overall community they serve?
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 