SUNSET BEACH -- Tom Bugaboo was looking for a professional graphic artist to create a special skin and avatar for Second Life. He didn't want to wade through random responses from classified ads, so, he listed his job on SLBounty.com, a job bidding Web site.

Second Life’s evolution from simple social networking space to a parallel 3-D Virtual World with an economy has given Second Life residents such as Leon Ash and PK Otoole the motive to create job bidding Web sites which allow users to easily find workers with specialized skills.

A keen coder, Ash started developing SLBounty in April 2006 after he read a forum thread in January 2006 suggesting the idea. Ash feels the explosive growth of Second Life during the past year has made it difficult for entrepreneurs to find designers, builders, and programmers with appropriate skills and ample time, which is why he started SLBounty.

Ash is Director of Tawny Lion Ltd., the holding company for SLBounty.com. Tawny Lion Ltd has an agreement with a silent partner to help develop SLBounty.com. Ash hopes his business will evolve to become more integrated with Second Life over time. SLBounty currently has one kiosk located in Colonia Nova but SLBounty plans to expand the number of locations in the future. Tawny Lion will have an in-game office. SLBounty collects its fees (payable by the Job Requester when it accepts a tender) at the Colonia Nova location. Only Second Life residents can register for SLBounty.

SLBounty.com's reputation system helps users find trustworthy partners, Ash says. The open-market tendering process gives both requesters and suppliers a fair deal. Recently, some users had reported slow load times on the SLbounty Web site, which Ash is working on. The site is currently down for improvements.

"The Web site is a little stagnant right now as I have to focus on some RL issues," Ash says. " I also intend launching a proper advertising campaign as soon as it's feasible."

When the Web site was working a few weeks ago, it attracted a tender from the Electric Sheep Company's SNOOPYbrown Zamboni, or Jerry Paffendorf in Real Life, for a custom avatar. However, the site was still relatively new so, few people knew the job was up for tender. Ash said that no marketing of any kind has been done, but intends on doing so in the future. Tom Bugaboo's tender for a custom skin and avatar was won by Eddy Stryker, a long time SL resident better known as one of libsecondlife.com's best reverse engineers.