Auctions out of control...

At least LL must be smiling.


5312 sells for 226$USD
14K+ for 462$USD
16K+ for 635$USD
65K for 8-900$USD

and various other small plots for alot of RL$


Are you people insane!! or just have too much money on your hands..

Buying fake money with RL$.

Then again selling the land at profit L$ and then selling it for RL$ again... if that works.. then wash rinse repeat..

Guess as long as profit is involved.

Slashdot and CNN brought the land to the forefront....now everyone and their brother is into land speculation. Eventually the market will have to correct itself....kinda like hot potato except with land.

I think as has been discussed before that it's each to their own. If someone chooses to spend their hard earned on virtual land....cool. My husband works hard, earns well...and buys motorcycles. He also once bid on a high level character in UO. HIS money....his choice.
I work hard...earn.....not as well...but enough, and buy virtual land...I'm happy. Insane? All depends on where you're viewing from really...

Whatever makes you happy I guess..

I remember the grand trek into 1.2 -- if you remember I was one of the "OMG THIS IS GONNA SUCK!" people

As it turned out it was a great improvement (for me) - there are two types of people, the haves and have-nots.. I fall into the latter catagory. I can't blow a huge wad to play an online game, probably never will... but the turn of events has put me on equal footing with people who can. More so than under 1.0 - 1.1.

I think it's the same with the land issue -- if someone has the RL money to spend on it, great! more money in the Linden business coffers!

They take a huge plot and subdivide it out - even better! now someone with Lindendollars can buy it - maybe someone who didn't have the RL cash to spend.. Or couldn't afford the size parcel that was offered.

In the end though, the market will determine what it will bear.. if people don't buy land at the price offered, then the price will drop.. It's not worthwhile to hold massive amounts of land that aren't selling - eventually you have to break even.

Siggy.

I'm not worried about land barons. As long as someone holds a plot of land for a single second, they will have to pay LL their land fees at the end of the month. If a large plot of land switches ownership 10 times in the same month, forcing 10 users to tier up, LL gets 10 times the land fees for the same server space.
So, buying and selling land is putting huge amounts of cash independently of what purpose its serving. This helps LL buy more servers.

Yep just another day in paradise!

The house always wins, eh?

Is that what is going on? The plot next to my house was set at 15L$ a meter. I laughed and said no one will buy at that price. Someone bought it! And then they set it at 20L$ a meter. WTF? 40k for 2000m of land? You can get 8k for that price! I thought the poor newb got cheated. But if we are going through an inflation then I don't feel so bad for him.

First, remember that "land barons" are merely the scapegoat du jour. They're one of the more compelling scapegoats, I'll admit, but mark my words, you'll find someone doing something you hate even more soon enough.

That said, rampant land speculation can be detrimental to SL. If only a few people can afford to buy land, (or at least any more land than just 512sq.m) it reduces the number of people who can contribute to SL.

Take me, for example. Were I to join SL today, I could easily afford the sign-up fee... I might even be able to justify the monthly fee for 512m of land. I could even afford slightly more land a month than that, but to actually buy it? Not a chance. ("Shut up, Catherine, what have you ever created?" Uh, anyway...)

While land speculation is something built into the system and encouraged, it's not something the Lindens want to see end majority's ability to own land. The only problem is the Lindens' ability to keep up with the demand. They could double the size of the world tomorrow and it still wouldn't be enough.

People are getting ripped off here. L$15 or L$20 per square metre is definitely too high. I suppose location is important. Some sims are more sought-after than others. Still, I wouldn't pay that much for land in any sim.

Now, that said, I want to reiterate my point: rabid land speculation is not the problem here. The problem is that the Lindens aren't deploying new sims quickly enough. Remember those job postings? Have you seen the new Lindens in-world? The Lindens know they need to streamline sim deployment and land auctions, so they're doing that.

yeah last few days it looks like prices have been riding dramitcally with speculators buying from already over-priced speculators an turnin them round for even HIGHER

i hope the 18 sims crushes some'f them heh

Get your foodstamps kids, we're going to welfare.

that or they have no life.. or SO for that matter.

I could think of plenty of things I'd rather spend my money on..


Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale comes to mind..