In second life people are looking for many ways to make lindens and money to help out in these dire economic times.  Some write short stories and novels to sell on SL, others may try to get a job as a DJ in one of the clubs; some even earn money as male dancers.  I have gone an alternative route; I play trivia.

Yes, I am a trivia buff.  Obviously, you won’t be able to pay off those SL bills to keep your land or convert to USD on a daily basis.  Yet in this economy every little bit helps, and since I personally have no business or land on SL, it is not likely that I’ll need to rely on tips or prims.  Instead, the things I learn in real life: history, music, food, can be applied to in second life at a constant basis.

There are many malls and bars within our virtual world offer trivia nights as a way to get people together for fun.  A wide variety of topics are brought up by the hosts ranging from World Geography to Dr. Seuss’s life.  There are about 20-25 questions given to last a hour and a half, with the person who first answers the question correctly getting a reward between 20 and 40 lindens.  Some places that host trivia, such as Double Standards in the Mayon region, will spice things up by offering 10 or so lindens for the person with the most sarcastic answer.

With so many different venues offering trivia time, it is almost guaranteed you can jump in on a round any time of the day.  Some places will have a machine that has trivia questions, but those won’t pay out.  Some places will use those, and whoever is in charge of the place will pay out to the person with the right answer.  In most cases, the hosts will have their sets of questions to ask.

How does spending lindens to run trivia help to run the malls that host it?  Well most trivia hosts will take a break midway through the event. During these times, it gives the visitors a chance to roam through the shops to buy items they want.  While it may seem that the only reason to run events like trivia is to make money, businesses use it for another purpose; avatar traffic.

Avatar traffic is just one of many things that help regions get noticed in Second Life.  It helps in place ranking, events, word of mouth, and so on.  Trivia was also a way for many regions to deal with the gambling ban.  By replacing the now illegal casinos with trivia, people would still get lindens and show up.

“The higher the traffic hits in the location, the higher up they appear in search,” said Lucinda Dollinger, who hosts trivia at Double Standards.

In most cases with the current economy, businesses aren’t making profits from the nights. One place is Club Shiraz in the Cicero Region.

“It has affected us,” said Honey Potez, who is a manager for Club Shiraz. “I still do it for fun and for the people that keep coming here.”

In reality, not much money is to be made by doing this.  Depending on how popular the place is there will be many people who you are competing against for the answer.  Also, it is common courtesy to tip the people asking the questions, because they are taking the time to offer these events to the Second Lifers.  If you rack up 80 lindens in that time, then it’s a good night.  Both Dollinger and Potez mentioned a steep decline in the amount of tips they receive in a night.  It should also be noted that some clubs take the money out of their own funds in order to allow prizes for trivia.

“It is up to the individual themselves,” says Potez when talking about tipping. “It’s about whether they had fun, whether they enjoyed the host or hostess”

In the end trivia, like everything else in Second Life, is all about fun.