What have I been doing for fun in Second Life? Plantpets! Yes, that’s right. I’ve become a “breeder” of virtual blossoms, a thoroughly addicting pastime created by scripter and content creator Bruce Liebknecht.
“PlantPets started in 2007 as a project for creating growing flowers and plants in Second Life which interact with their owner like virtual pets,” said Liebknecht. “Now we offer close to 600 different plantpets including roses, orchids, hibisci, and many others.”
I’ve always liked the idea of breedables in Second Life, but never got into them because most strike me as complicated and expensive. To be honest, though, I could deal with the cost if it was something l liked, but apart from Plantpets I never found anything to go wild for, and I loathe hovertext, something a lot of breedables have above them.
Plantpets aren’t like that. There’s no ongoing cost. You don’t have to buy food, medicine, or anything silly. You just click to water them, and there’s no hovertext. Yay! After 52 days your plantpet gives a transferable seed that you can grow, sell, or give to a friend. Naturally, some seeds are worth more than others, and the market for selling is competitive.
Me? I do it just because it’s fun. I don’t expect to make lindens, I just love plants, and I like having a flower shop at Lunar Heights. Mostly, I look forward to getting a seed, since what kind can be a surprise. It will usually be from the same species of plant, but whether it’s common or rare will vary.
Bruce is a brilliant creator and has improved the plantpets over the years. He has a good business model too, coming out with new things fairly often to keep people interested, and he prices the plants in his main shop higher to encourage shoppers to buy seeds from breeders instead. He’s also friendly and helpful every time I interact with him.
If you’re interested, check out my new shop Lunar Gardens. I’m still putting it together, but I already have a variety of plantpets from common to rare. I even have Cannabis, but shhh!
