You’ll soon be able to put your metaverse avatar to work — and make actual money from it

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Nearly two decades have elapsed since Second Life—a multi-player role-playing video game that is considered the first iteration of the metaverse—was launched. The game, in which users create avatars and live out a ‘second life’ in its virtual world, had 1.1 million monthly annual users at its peak in 2007, before falling out of fashion.

Second Life’s residents operate much like humans in the real world: They can watch movies, start families, purchase property, buy and sell goods, get jobs and earn money. The game also includes a functioning economy, with its own currency that can be bought with and sold for fiat currency.

One Second Life user, Ailin Graef, operated an in-game persona known as Anshe Chung, who in the mid-2000s became a formidable virtual landlord and Second Life’s first millionaire through buying, developing, then renting or reselling virtual land. At the time, her holdings in the virtual world were equivalent to over $1 million in the real world, too.

Now, with the metaverse making a comeback, so too is the virtual economy. Companies are letting individuals create and own avatars that can apply for jobs and build careers in the metaverse—and earn real money for their owners.

A new project created by Singapore-based OWNFT World, plans to release 6,888 avatar non-fungible tokens (NFTs) built on the Ethereum blockchain later this month. Each user can pitch its avatar NFT—which will cost 0.18 ETH ($514) each—for starring in virtual fashion shows, music videos, and animated series. The project, called ‘Guardians of Fashion,’ or GOF, has teamed up with Warner Music Group alongside streaming networks and fashion brands to produce the videos and shows.

When an avatar is cast in a show or […]

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