You Do Need Land To Enjoy SL

Eructation? Oh yeah that was the word of the day for July 22, 2004. Matthew Modine did an excellent job as "Birdy", no?

"You have to play the way I say or you're not doing it right."

'Nuff said.

I stand by it--The over-earnest propaganda post that started this thread has me convinced that SL's Great Agitator is someone's idea of a practical joke.

This may be one of the most insightful points ever posted to SL's forum. I agree 100%.

I do. The reason I closed all my other accouts and stayed here was because I could own land and build my own little world using my own shapes & textures and placing objects wherever I pleased rather than on predefined hooks. Land ownership facilitates those things for me unlike any other gaming environment.

So I think this was the best part of the post as well, someone else quoted it.

Several of my best friends are on basic accounts and seem to really enjoy their time here and are "productive members" of SL society.

But personally, I would not be happy without land. At all. I like the idea of contributing to grid, putting my mark on it, being part of "a greater building block of civilization". A plot of land is like a blank canvas, and that's exciting for me. I usually try to work with the surroundings to make something that looks cohesive and thats challenging because the grid is so crazy. But it's part of the fun.

My land also serves as a mini sandbox for myself and others to tinker on. Quiet sandboxes aren't always easy to find.

So, short answer, you can have lots of fun without land, but I wouldn't be caught dead without a bunch of it.

With such a huge amount of land constantly for sale and the quoted Linden numbers of only 15% of users owing land, I'd say the remaining 85% have voted with their feet to say they do NOT need land to enjoy SL...

.. what they need is other people's land, prefferably with enjoyable content and/or events.

"You need land to enjoy SL" makes as much sense as, "You need a web-site to enjoy the internet." Yes, land-owning does increase your level of involvement in the grid, but the majority of users will always meet their needs without it.

TYVM, Ingrid. The entirety of your post pretty much sums up my sentiments.

I also want to re-highlight that being a premium account holder makes one's SL more entertaining, if only for the additional stipend.

Is land necessary for having fun? For me, yes, for you...maybe so maybe no. I personally think you haven't fully experienced SL until you do.

Anshe, this isn't any of my business but I've always been curious... do you make what would be the equivalent of a salary someone could live on? I was under the impression that it was very hard to do.

Excellent post. Land ownership in SL does not appeal to everyone, nor is it part of everyone's fun. I know it scares Prokofy to think that someone would dare to not want land, but the reality is that some people don't for a variety of reasons. There is no conspiracy to keep them down - if people want land, they are going to buy it. The fact that we paid $25/m and higher for land just to own it is testament to that. However, there are far more people who don't want or can't afford land for whatever reason. Their reasons for not wanting it are just as valid as the reasons to want it, and saying that you do not need land to enjoy SL is not a misstatement or a conspiracy - like this thread, it is an opinion.

As others before me so eloquently stated, land ownership changes you in the same ways that home ownership changes you in RL.

I kinda think that land ownership doesn't work for our more social residents because they want to hang with others. Unless you have a club or other establishment that brings people to your land, those more social people find that they build a house and then spend no time in it because there's nobody there but them.

When did the Lindens quote these figures? In 2003?

I don't buy these figures *at all*. I think it's a load of crap. It cannot be true. You have merely to look at the map and the green dots and fly around and see the land-owning green dots.

I see some of the non-owning people now voting with their feet and renting LOL. On my properties. And others, like Ansheland. That way, they get access to land without having the upfront purchase cost and the tier repeating each month inflexibly. So those who are renting are still needing land to have fun LOL.

There are others who are flying around waiting for this game to settle, to deal effectively with griefers, to create more tolerance for mass entertainment and mass culture, to stop it from being hobbled by the select technological elite. When there's a space for them, they'll occupy it.

Anshe,

You misunderstood part of my post. You are not competing for scraps - you own the buffet. You have been successful in the land business on a level that no one else has come anywhere close to achieving - exponentially more successful. To deny that you are now the Walmart of the land business is silly. Your sheer volume speaks to that, and the flippant remark you made about people doing business with you one way or another is true.

Yes, you certainly could fall off your perch by being lazy or unfocused - that can happen to anyone. However, with your current level of commitment to SL, it is very difficult for anyone to compete on the level you do - you are committed on a completely different level than anyone else in the land business. Is this your fault or something bad you are doing? Nope, it is the reality. To deny that is fruitless, it is blatantly obvious.

The land market is ANSHECHUNG.COM and a few niche sellers, then a tier below that with your casual land traders who sell a plot here and there. You have a major effect on the market, and your presence in it is a barrier to entry. This happens when someone reaches a certain stature in business. Walmart is a major, almost unbeatable threat to many businesses - especially smaller ones that can't scale. Again, reality of business - Walmart knows this, and so do you - you are gleeful at times in your success, and no one can blame you. Don't try to downplay it though, it doesn't suit you.

Granted, even Walmart is not invincible:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2005-05-12-walmart_x.htm

However, Walmart is still Walmart, and you are the business known as ANSHECHUNG.COM. The land market is your playground until you slip up or get bored and move on. It is what it is, as I said, you have won that market. A long time ago I said to you that this was not Shadowbane, that we were not out to be conquered - but you proved that wrong. You have levelled up brilliantly, and whatever I have thought of some of your business tactics and actions, you have been very successful.

Wonder how it feels to be a practical joke!

Talk about just desserts. HA!

There ARE practical jokes lurking around here. But nobody works THAT hard at it. Think about it.

Note to any new readers who make it this far without throwing up their hands -- Miss Prokovy Neva rents land and housing and would very much like to convince you that you MUST MUST MUST have one or both or your Second Life experience will be irrevocably ruined.

Now, for reality, I can share with you that I've been a resident of Second Life for about two months, bought my 'first land' and sold it at a handsome profit to someone who was neither Anshe Chung nor anyone else listed as a 'Land Baron'. I turned that money around and bought a bigger plot (1536 - PG) and eventually sold it for a small profit and that was enough to permit me to upload textures for the clothing I've been making.

I now rent from one of the best landlords in the game -- house and 400 prims for $400 a week in a private sim with NO LAG whatsoever. Second Life's been very very good to me.

So don't believe the ramblings of the local nutcase/paranoid attention whore. You certainly do NOT have to own land here to succeed. At least not for long.

Well It hink it depends on whay you want to do. I come to SL to build things, Even crazy things, as anyone who has seen my lan in nuttal knows. Thus for me, the entire point of SL is to own land and build on it. But that is my game. Other people have thier own. I have freinds who are successful in business, and others who run clubs. I would say that owning land is not essential to having fun is SL, but for me, at least, without land sl would not be all that different than a chat room.

Prokofy Neva is "he".

Of course I rent land and housing. Everybody pretty much knows that. And that's why I'm taking up this issue publicly to say you DO need land to enjoy the game, to promote my aspect of it -- just as the older FIC types promote their content-creation and goof-up aspects by telling everyone arrogantly in their cards "you don't need land to have fun in this game." They're entitled to their prudish asceticism about land; I'm entitled to my robust and hearty enjoyment of land. That's all it is, various propagandas competing : )



Sounds like you're joining me in my camp called "You do need land to enjoy this game!"



Well, I wonder how long they'll be able to keep that up, but more power to them! If your point is, now you don't have land, well, that's silly! You DO have land. Land that you pay RENT on. So yeah, thanks for firmly remaining in the camp of "YOU DO NEED LAND TO ENJOY THIS GAME".

Geez, Cienna, we do have to work *so hard* to keep at bay all those spinsterish prudes who want to take away our fun and enjoyment and convince us we don't need land to be on! I'm *so glad* you see it my way!


Well, good thing your landlord thinks differently...and actually, you do, too, because you're helping your landlord pay his tier ROFL.

thanks for your support, Cienna!



Um, since you are behind my every post by about 2 minutes, who is the attention whore?

You have no ideas of your own to put up and get attention with, you have to ride on my coat-tails?



Geez, that's fake. I don't need any "help," although I'm grateful for every vote for the camp of "you do need land to enjoy this game" I can get -- and *so glad* your "yes" vote is logged in, Cienna! buh-bye hon.

The time that I owned no land in SL and just hung out with Owen Khan while he built his little empire was probably my happiest time in SL. I own 11K m2 in Derwent this is basically useless now, because the sim has almost 800 scripts on it and I can't even make a prim on that sim without it turning buggy. Yay! Owning land is so fun! Not! You will find some nice land, build your pixelated dream house and some dominatrix moves in with her 200 scrtiped dildos and ruins your 2nd life.


I guess is you are a contemptuous asshole and everyone hates you, maybe land is the only thing that can make SL fun for you. Thank God I have friends.

Prokovy Neva, the avatar in SL is a 'he'. Prokovy Neva, the person playing the avatar has told me very pointedly that she is a she. Since this was uttered in public, in local chat/say, it is public information and is being treated as such. Stating that her avatar is a 'he' does not change reality or make my use of the correct pronoun to refer to her 'wrong'.

If you did not want me to refer to you as female, why did you go out of your way to tell me you are female? There is only one reason I can think of, and it demonstrates well enough how you enjoy 'gaming the forums'.... you told me because you knew I would eventually mention it, and you're hoping to have me banned.

Gee, you assume moderators are dumb, don't you?

All of this is, of course, irrelevent to the reality that, despite her claims to the contrary, you do not need to own land in Second Life to enjoy the place.

You dont need to own land to enjoy SL.
You dont need to build to enjoy SL.
You dont need to be able to script to enjoy SL.
You dont need to buy fancy skins to enjoy SL.
You dont need to have a business to enjoy SL.
You dont need to know how to use photoshop to enjoy SL.
You dont need to explore to enjoy SL.
You dont need to play Tringo to enjoy SL.
You dont need to have friends to enjoy SL.

But, some of or all of the above will enhance your experience.
SL is unique in that we have no company produced mandates in how we spend our time. We can do as much or as little as we like. It takes some self motivation and creativity to enjoy SL, not someone else telling you what to do or how to do it.

Nevermind.

Woohoo! A slice of pie for j00!

Pecan, apple, cherry, or some other flavor?

I've mentioned before but for those just tuning in... I have never owned land in Second Life and I doubt I ever well. There is too much stuff to see to get tied down to a plot.

But it's all a matter of preference. Your fun may vary.

I agree. I have a 4096m^2 land allocation that I haven't used in almost 2 years now. I quite enjoy SL without owning any land.