Would you like to see or live in a planned community?

So out of curiosity, what kind of zoned sims are there already out there?

As far as I know the only zoned sims are privately owned and you pay the land fees to the owner instead of to the Lindens. There is nothing wrong with this as long as you don't mind someone else get all of your traffic.

I _think_ all zoning is a private deal.

I bought into land where I pay anshe chung the tier fee directly.

Indeed... Tree houses, stone cottages, medieval towers, roman villas, beach huts - all linked together by stone and gravel paths winding through well planted and carefully landscaped common ground.

Hardly suburbia. It also shows how blanket restrictions (no structure shall be more than 'x' metres tall) don't really work, several of the structures in Tompson/Honawan are extremely tall, but no one's outlook is adversely affected.

Admittedly the development is built to my 'plan' - though actually there wasn't a 'master plan' as such, the terraforming limits had as much to do with the eventual result as anything. The rest just reflects my personal taste. It's not 'Barbie and Ken Ville', neither is it an eye jarring mish-mash of style and colour. It's a development that includes diverse styles and construction methods, all of which compliment each other and help create a unique feel to the sim.

Interestingly the surrounding areas are now gradually beginning to take on a similar feel. Most of the unsightly and/or boring stuff has gone, some people just moved out, some I eventually bought out to remove eyesores. But as Margret has observed, the area is slowly beginning to develop into something rather nice as other landowners create builds which are more sympathetic to the local landscape.

The problem is that something like this can only be put together by an individual, or a very small group with a definite idea in mind. It's unlikely that any amount of zoning guidelines could create something like Tompson. So the only realistic way to do it is as a rental property project. Still, people seem to like it, a few are prepared to pay the cost of living in this sort of sim and in time it may even start paying it's way.
One thing's for sure, creating something like this is not a 'get rich quick project', I can't see myself ever recouping the costs, but then there's the satisfaction of having done it, and the enjoyment of constantly refining the details.

Boardman.

Brown.

Linden-owned regions, zoned.

Also... the residential area in Lusk. De Haro has a certain campfirey element to it, and Taber, while not strictly zoned, is owned by likeminded Resis who've agreed on the theme of a Tudor village.

Dances in a neo vaudville stylee!

Hehehe... I may have logged out but the work never ends! Infact, I may be sleeptyping right now.

If you would like to see what my vision of a planed loosely zoned community is (IE no big tall purple ugly monster buildings) then please take a few minutes to visit Meadowbrook. Meadowbrook is a beautifully landscaped private sim for those who want to leave behind all the hussel and bussel of the main land.

i would also like to note if you plan on renting and not owning then renting in a private island sim gives you all the same advantages of owning your own land with out having to make a huge out lay of cash to buy it. you simply pay your tier fee to the sim owner instead of the lindens. and you get to deed the land to any group of your choice and any officer of that group will then have all the land tools available to them that any land owner would have on the main land.
if you like to visit Meadowbrook you can find a TP link in my signature

Tho developer incentives go to the sim owner, the daily dwell payments for traffic go to the resident via their own group.

I was wondering if the switch to whole sim auctions had any developers pondering ways to implement their concepts on the mainland as counterparts to their islands. Are you considering developing this as a mainland sim project? If not, then why?

Technically, telehubs were supposed to focus social and commercial activities and builds in surrounding sims and leave outlying sims "zoned" for people who prefered pretty, uncluttered, suburbian type living areas.

The idea seems very sound on paper making me wonder why the experiment has failed so miserably. Because it has, effective sim zoning requires either Linden involvement or complete land ownership by an individual or small group.

But according to Robin...noting that such names bring with them an expectation on the part of users that the publisher will provide in-world government and policing, something Linden Lab has steadfastly avoided, preferring instead to allow users to police themselves through community standards." Meaning, I suppose, that LL won't be zoning any more sims the way they did Boardman because...hey...wait...steadfastly avoided policing?

Hang on, I gotta reread this.

Been in the planned communities...they're ok.

I love SL BECAUSE of the freedom in here...yes that means builds I may not like, yes that means griefers sometimes...but to control it all means sacrificing some of the freedoms I enjoy.

I am willing to tolerate the occasional "bad" to experience the greater good that is the freedom of my second life.

Let the folks have their planned communities if that is what they want, it's their choice. And let the folks who want no limitation building opportunities have that too, it's their choice.

I love that about this place!

I agree completely and have never wanted to own land anywhere but the mainland. What I'm wondering is of there is a way for like minded individuals to cluster (? not confident on the word usage here) on the mainland. Be it individuals looking to market similar items, interested in building a particular type of build, or providing entertainment. Not so much restricting but enabling people to connect and build in close proximity but retain individual ownership without having to join a group.

The OP has owned islands and done her own theme. She's looking at the mainland and asking for thoughts. Think about this as an example. Take the Chinatown sim (not talking about the performance issues now please) and instead of it being on an island, it's a mainland sim. Would its fans want to buy near it and carry on the theme? I have a skatepark which covers a good size chunk of the sim. A section of it belongs to a person who likes the place and used the remainder of his tier available to add on to it without donating or joining a group to do so. Another person whom I didn't know bought adjacent land and contacted me if I minded if he were to hook up to my boardwalk and if I could pass him the textures to provide continuity. Again, the area my other land is in required no joining of groups on my part. I'm just wondering how not to eliminate the variety and diversity of the mainland but to organize it (?) and actually foster some creativity by helping bring people together who might like to work in conjunction with others of like mind to make a stronger presentation.

I checked it out the other day, its very lovely. A bit spendy but then again you get what you pay for.

Mar

Oh very kewl! I'm loving this.

Mar

That's really nice to hear!

Tompson, and the surrounding areas, are pleasant to wander through. It's amazing what a small community can accomplish when they're willing to work together and respect each others views (line of sight). I just wish there was some way to work around a single person having to rent, sorry own, all that land.

It's been fascinating to see the Nova Albion sims settle into individual, cohesive styles even though the lots in each are owned by multiple users. I wish there were more examples of such cooperation on The Grid All Hail The Central Grid that didn't require a single land onwer or Linden oversight.