SecondLife Exodus

I invested in SecondLife, I invested a lot considering the country I live in. Here, in Romania, the medium salary is aprox. 220 euroa which is 300 USD. I saw SecondLife as an opportunity to make some money and find some friends. I succeeded in both. From now on ... i don't know.
It will be hard for us, the european citizens to compete in such a bad competition medium. 19% is a lot. But some countries have a VAT of 26% ... so it can be worse.
And, the bad thing is that the Exodus began. I don't know about the mainland I'm sure that the exodus started there too. It's so simple to observe it. You just need to read the "Land Sales and Rentals" Forum. Post with names like "Time to check out, SIM for sale" can help you to make an idea over whats is happening in this moment.
It may sound complicated, but it is real simple. Europeans are doomed.
After Linden Labs introduced VAT, some europeans will leave, some will stay. The ones leaving will sell the land they have in SecondLife, and this will make the land price drop while the maintenance fees are rising. The remaing euopeans will try to raise the prices also, in order to cover the costs and this may be their last moove because non-eu citizens will not raise the rent or tier fees.
Many will loose money. I don't know what will happen to myself, I just hope for a miracle or something :(

Thank you, LL & EU, we love VAT

I just received an email from Second Life. They are telling me I'll pay VAT according to my country's laws because I am from EU. Btw, Romania, witch is the country I live in has a VAT of 19%. So, this new law will be an earthquake in SL. Most of the business will fall for sure.

If a region is 1675 USD now, I will need 1993 USD from now on to buy one ;) Isn't it great ?
Oh, an the monthly tier, wich is 295 USD now, will be 351 USD now. Yes, that's what I wished for :|

So, this new thing will make EU citizens to have more chances to fail in their second business then the non-EU citizens. To add, even in EU, VAT varies from country to country as we can see here.

So, my guess is that the unbalanced taxes will result in unbalanced competition. Maybe LL need to offer some discount to EU users ?

Real money from a virtual world, 2 SecondLife checks

Of course, you can make money in SecondLife. Some people sell their electronic creations, having a great succes in SL and some people invest in it, like me. These are two checks from Second Life. I need to tell you tho that i invested aprox. 4000 USD first. Now I have 5 SIMs, that have a value of 8475 USD, i cashed out these two checks and also I have made some payments in SecondLife, that worthed more then 600 USD.
To put it simple, i paid 4000 USD and I made 4475+500+700+600 = 6275 USD profit ... in nearly 7 months . Not bad , huh ?

Why do you need a home in SecondLife !

Most people will not ask this question, but some do. They heard that in SecondLife you are making money, not spending it. So why should they need a home ? Well, they probably won't need one if they are asking this.
Asking this question is the same as asking "Why do I need a Myspace page ?". I mean ... how can you ask this? Of course you need a home, shame on me, i didnt had time to setup one. I'm too busy seting up little islands for others who want a home or building theur homes.
After two months in SecondLife, in february 2007 I started investing in SecondLife. I bought some SIMS, and now i have 5 of them, all tropical, all residential. My customers are quite pleased of my services. If anyone wants to meet me in SL, my name is Ciprian Newall and my office is here.
So, if you joined SL, if you already have some friends, you need a place to invite them and spend some time. That place is your home ;)

Best way to find friends in SecondLife

I saw one day ago that some people were searching google for "how to find a friend in secondlife" and they ended up in my blog. So i thought why shouldn't I give a good solution to this problem ?
I think the best way to find some friends in SecondLife and to have a healthy social life inworld is to search and join some groups.
Example, you are from ... let's say France ... you press the search buton, select the Groups tab, and search for France. This way you'll get a list of groups with people from france. They may have events and you can join them this way.
If you like electro music search for electro, join some groups and so on ...
Also, another way is to get in contact with your neighbors. Don't be shy in SecondLife, also it's not a good idea to stay everyday in their house :)
Good luck ...

P.S. If you really can't find a friend in SecondLife, I'll be your first one, search for me, Ciprian Newall and add me as a friend :)

Why people love SecondLife !

So, you joined SecondLife. You visited some places, maybe you visited a store or two ... and that's it. You may ask "What the hell I'm doing here and why other people love this world ?"
It is simple. As a newbie ... you may not really have a social life. Believe me, social life is the secret of Second Life. Is the same reason MySpace it's huge succes. It's a place to meet people and enjoy their company. Almost every avatar in Second Life is still there because he has some friends to meet in there. If you are alone you'll leave this world soon because you'll be bored.
So, join a class, go to a club, meet newbies, make friends and you will see what SecondLife is about. Maybe you'll find your second luck, maybe you'll find better friends than in the real world or a person you'll love with all your real heart.
But, don't forget, SecondLife is a virtual world and it is trying to copy more and more aspects of the real life. So, do not expect everyone to be friendly, some will love you, some will hate you !
I'm waiting for the time when SecondLife will be bigger than MySpace, it should not be so far as it seems !