Separate Land for Landless from Land for Real $

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I have a small plot in what was once the far east end of Linden only 2 weeks ago which I requested because I wanted to be away from the development so I could work in peace and with plentiful sim resources. I'm there with a bunch of other newbies and we were all a great happy neighborhood until...

DUN DUN DUN!!!!

...someone purchased, with a large sum of real cash, literally 1/4 of the sim then put up an access list. So, most o f us are boxed into our Land for the Landless cubicles and now we're banned from the canal which flows into our neighborhood. Some of the people haven't logged back in since this happened and I think they're probably gone because of it. It was nice helping each other adjust to our second lives but now we have a neighborhood bully.

Occasionally this person comes around to push us around because she owns so much of the sim and apparently thinks she owns all of it. The name on my plot begs to differ. I've only been here a month as of today, but if this is what SL is going to be like every month I won't last much longer.
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My suggestion to the management, which sold the land and also runs the Land for the Landless, is to keep the 2 as separate as possible. The sense of community all of the newbies got was great. We were all poor and limited to 512 plots so it was hard to keep from walking over and meeting your neighbors. Now we have this twink* next door to ALL of us simultaneously, probably trying to drive us out on purpose so she can buy the rest of the sim. The sense of community is gone now and it makes me sad. Just to give you an idea of how good it was and bad its gotten...well people who were regular visitors to our area but don't actually have land are angry and bending the heck of the TOS...

There should be newbie sims and twink sims. Yeah I know someone has to border someone somewhere, but couldn't the border be a canal with a strip of Linden-owned land so there would always at least be a narrow passage? I don't see why not. All I know is right now my land seems less bright and happy since its impossible for me to get those red prison bars out of my face unless I only look east.

- Flyte

*Twink - EverQuest term which refers to someone who uses real dollars to purchase assets in-game in order to advance without using the system. In game environments, synonymous to cheating with dollars. I dunno what you call it in Second Life.

Thats a TOS violation, contact a linden.

I was advised to file a complaint today, so I did.

I just wanted to clarify...I don't know that "twinks" really exist in SL because its not actually a game per se but an environment that users modify for fun and profit. That's why I wasn't sure if this is how things go in SL, or if this is looked down upon. Either way I think a system should be in place to either prevent it or at least slow it down. If the newbie land areas slowly evolve into one large plot through attrition and natural land market forces then that's totally normal. You also want people to be able to acquire the land they need for their projects. But at the same time you want new people to get a footing in the world, which is why Land for the Landless was a natural development. It's a vey tricky balance. I think the canal border would help. At least the red bars might not be visible all the time that way.

- Flyte

I am also one of the unfortunate souls currently with a very nice view of a giant wall and red bars.

Now I do not want to suggest that owners don't have an absolute right to do whatever they want with land they own. It would be nice, however, if some effort went into better matching owners with new sims.

As has already been suggested, a simple start would be to keep plots of similar sizes. Even if you don't agree with your neighbor, at least you can pretty easily go around them. This is less possible when your new neighbor owns more than a fourth of the sim.

Also,the suggestion of better planning with the public ways is a good one. If the large plots were across protected land from us walls and such might be easier to ignore.

Clearly, none of this will help those of us who already are having problems with neighbors, but future sims might be better served by giving this issue some thought.

Um... okay, I'll say it... "twink" is also a term for male pornography, dealing with 18-21 year old persons... do people in Everquest ACTUALLY use that phrase casually and seriously? Dare you to look up 'twink' in google.

Daemioth, if you put just about ANYTHING in google, you WILL find "mature content".
I just found out the other day that there are vibrators out there carrying my nickname...

Yes.

Though, when I left Everquest, "Twinkie" was the more common phrase.

YES, this is something I've been thinking about for awhile, kind of an offshoot of my desire to see more "themed" sims, or maybe at least more organized sims that at least have something in common. Problem is I don't know how (if it even could be) a "common" element would be enforced.

A little nicer land division and less random shaped plots would be great too...not sure if it'd help with this problem or not. (How hard is it to get an friggin square shaped plot that isn't boxed in by skyscrapers?)

Personally I'm looking at these super-thin mile long land auctions and thinking "what the heck would fit on that?".. useless IMO... sorry for hijack.

I am a new SL business owner, starting off fairly well with the Pair-A-Dice Casino and Event Venue. I am Flyte's next door neighbor and unfortunately I am also boxed in by the access list placed on the large land owners property in our sim.

The teleporter is on the opposite side of her land, so people have to either fly well above her land, or far around it to even get to my property. I can't tell you how many times I get asked, "Why am I stuck?! How do i get over there!?"

It's just very inconsiderate to me and possibly a violation of the Community Standards for restricting free access. She also owns land ont he OTHER side of the canal that runs through our sim and because of the access list ban, larger boats cannot make it through.

Someone please help the trapped Kishijoten's!!!!

A legitimate business owner?

I'm hesitant to blame the land owners for the problem as it is their land and if you can't keep people you don't want off your land, well.. it won't be very long before you can't do anything with your land before putting it up for a vote by the neighbors.

I have also been assured that our problem is a temporary one, so I have great confidence that the Kishijoten sim will soon be consider by all an excellent sim to both live and visit. However these are still issues that should be address for the sake of peace in future sims.

The problem, as I see it, falls more heavily on the shoulders of the Lindens who took a 1/4 of the middle of a sim and divided it between around 30 512mers in the landless program and then had the rest of the sim divided up into three huge lots that boxed the small plots in on three sides. Our west side is a 18256m plot, north 16864m and east 14176m. These three plots control all of our access to protect community land so at the whim of no more than three people we could become rather trapped. Unlike many of the larger plots I have seen, none of ours have border community property.

In addition, as is normal for many new players gaining more experience in the game, there are a number of us looking to expand our land holdings. But to where? The few people willing to sell their small lots have already done so and the large lots were aquired by people who wanted really large lots and thus are understandably unwilling to start subdividing. Were we to have been bordered by smaller 1024m and 2048m I expect there would have been more of a chance to find land deals close to home. Yes, we could move to an entirely new sim, but many of us are still getting used to our new little community and to try to setup someplace new and quite distant is understandably less than appealing.

As this is already quite long, I think I shall stop now. You likely have the basic idea. Thank you for your time.

In case I was not clear enough, which I fear I was not. Watch a few episodes of The Simpsons and look around for references to the "Legitimate Business Mans 'Social' Club" and/or Fat Tony.