A THIRD continent?

I apologize if this has been posted already, I scanned the recent thread titles and didn't see anything related.

It seems the little mystery island to the far south isn't going to remain an island, it is now the northern part of a third complete continent. Why? The two continents we have already have a huge percentage of land that remains unsold. Is it just for the sake of first land? What's wrong with all those parcels that are abandoned and being auctioned off being turned into first land instead? It'd make first land more diverse and appealing than having it all in an ugly cramped grid. I guess LL doesn't care as long as some land baron buys up all the new sims and carries the tier for them.

The new continent is absolutely appalling. Except for the quarter of Malra, the first first-land sim released down there, there's no protected land anywhere to be seen. (And even Malra apparently had a really cool Linden-Built airport down there which mysteriously vanished, probably because it was for the quietly scuttled Korean sub-grid.)

LL wants to get out of the content creation business entirely, it's obvious. They don't even want to terraform and build anymore. I know designers are an expensive commodity in SF, but as the bulk auction sims are showing right now Anshe Chung (TM Graef IT-Consulting) can't even be bothered to set a texture that's not grass below water level! Go diving in 'Scenic Hills' for an example of that compelling landscaping job.

I completely agree with you. If I was a new player, I certainly would not be tempted to buy a premium membership so that I can have virtaul land in a place that looks like that. It has to look good to me in order for me to want to pay for it, I wonder if that has entered LL's mind?