cool! does it cost real money to do stuff like that in second life?
hinking about joining

I think so.

Yea. You have to set up a paypal. Or some sort of $ card.

You can put real money into it if you want, but you don't have to. I spend RL money for a premium account which lets me have my own property, but beyond that, all of the rest of my funds come from in the game itself from contest and making/selling things such as my avitar mods. My mate however is unable to do that, so he just lives with me, also making his money from in game contests.