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Second Life: The Virtual Fishing Experience

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Aywren

I’ve spent plenty of time playing different Second Life games that advertise the earning of Linden dollars. Truth always is, none of these are a fast way to earn L$ as most of them are designed to be very time consuming. Still, some of these games are just more pleasant than others.

I’ve done lots of fishing for L$ in Second Life simply because I enjoy fishing in games. A little over a month ago, I discovered a fishing game that I’d not run across before. I’d seen the buoys out and about, but didn’t look into them deeper.

This game is called Virtual Fishing. From what I’ve experienced so far, this is far more the chill L$ earning fishing experience when compared to the better known fishing game – Fish Hunt.

Here’s some reasons why.

Getting started is easier with no pressure to buy into the system.

• Free rods that come with 100 pre-loaded bait.
• Cheaper bait refills at a fixed cost.
• Get rods from fishing locations by clicking the Virtual Fishing signs that land owners place.
• Free buoys for land owners to jump into the system and take part.

Sure, Fish Hunt has a free rod, but those who play the game know that free rod fishers are at a huge disadvantage. Fish Hunt focuses heavily on a leveling system – the more you fish, the higher your level, and the better fish you catch. Which means if you want to make any L$, it’s going to take a whole lot of time leveling up first – and this is where they “hook” you to purchase costly rods that increases your XP gain per cast.

When I say costly, I mean costly…

I admit that I own a deluxe rod (which was a little under L$ 3,000 when I bought it) because I quickly realized that until I leveled up, I’d hardly be breaking even with the cost of bait. Everything in Fish Hunt pushes higher multipliers and faster leveling to get to the “end game” where you make a small profit based on the time you continue to put into it. Everything I make from Fish Hunt is going into repaying the price of the rod I bought to start with.

Virtual Fishing doesn’t do this. You can just jump in right from the start and make a little L$ without the grinding-for-experience time commitment. No expensive rod purchases, no worrying about leveling.

If it gives you any idea, here’s how much I made from the bait included with the free starter rod. I only went to X2 events – events that give twice as much L$ for catches – and I’ve made 44L$ to start out for no investment on my part.

I think that if you’re in the very tippy top of the charts in the Virtual Fishing community, you get boost on how much you earn - not fully sure on this. However, for the casual person who just wants to drop into a fishing event and chill, Virtual Fishing is user friendly and lucrative to start with.

The same is true for if you want to drop a buoy on your land to invite folks to visit. While Fish Hunt has free buoys, their tax on using it is insane (something like 65% of your funds go to the owner and not to the buoy – there’s no point in that). You also can’t host any multiplier events unless you purchase the more expensive buoy.

The free buoy from Virtual Fishing has a much more moderate 20% tax – and the system has tax free weekends, so you can fill your buoy to host events all weekend with all your L$ going to the fishers. I’ve been wanting to do something with my land for a while, so I did pick up a free buoy to host a fishing spot for others to enjoy.

Game mechanics for Virtual Fishing are easier and non-competitive.

Virtual Fishing hosts everything you need within its HUD system (as shown above). So, no frustrations about having to zoom in and click on the rod item in your avatar’s hand every time you want to cast, like in Fish Hunt. Simply click on the cast button from the HUD and you’re good to go – so much easier.

Rods are customizable! You can use the HUD to change the size, change the color and to even turn it invisible if you like. Don’t like the reeling sound? Turn it off, too!

This seems like a tiny thing, but it’s a big deal after staring at the gigantic rods that you have to use for Fish Hunt.

Since everything is HUD driven, if you mess up or lose your rod or HUD, all you have to do is get another one. Much better than fretting over losing/breaking an expensive rod and having to jump through hoops with the creator to get it replaced or fixed.

Unlike Fish Hunt, there’s no competition for casting when fishing at the same spot as others. In Fish Hunt, you have to sit and listen for other people casting their lines because if you cast at the same time as someone else, you’ll get a frustrating “wriggle” – this means you “lose a turn” at the casting spot (unless you own the super expensive fishing rod which protects against this).

In Virtual Fishing, there’s no wriggles. You get 40 casts per day per spot, period. I don’t think you have to worry about jumping between spots, either, like you do in Fish Hunt (hard to explain – if you know, you know).

This makes for a much more chill community – other people aren’t a frustration because they can’t make you lose a turn.

The only thing I noticed that will be rough for non-premium players is that events often fill quickly, and you can’t get in when there’s no room in the sim for anyone else. Premium players can usually push through this limit since they have priority access to full areas.

The HUD is Everything!

Want a payout? You request it from the HUD and get it right wherever you are!

You don’t have to worry about juggling landmarks to warp to an ATM location. You don’t have to worry about wearing a group tag.

Just click the payout and wherever you are.

Not to mention, the HUD alerts you to so many things – it makes a pleasant ding when you’ve caught a fish. It provides important alerts when events start and when buoys are refilled. You can easily see what’s going on straight from the HUD (though there is a land page on the website, too). It’s very responsive and just nice overall compared to having to stay zoomed in on your avatar’s fishing rod all the time.

Overall, Virtual Fishing sessions take far less time per location than Fish Hunt, too.

This is, of course, a comparison of the two systems from someone who hasn’t massively leveled up a Fish Hunt account. So, the time put into Fish Hunt might eventually be worth it in the long run.

If you’re just looking to casually fish without feeling the need for an investment to have the competitive edge you need to actually make L$ back… Virtual Fishing is the far better choice straight out of the gates.

Note: I can say that within a month of working to level at Fish Hunt (I’m a little over 25,000 XP), I’ve not even come close to the L$ I’ve made from Virtual Fishing within the same time period.

In fact, I gave up on trying to make the cost of my Fish Hunt rod back by using Fish Hunt. I’ve gone to Virtual Fishing full time, and have finally paid it off as of last night. What took a month to make in Fish Hunt, I made in Virtual Fishing in a week and two days (I kept a spreadsheet). That’s an insane difference!

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