Land Answers

I suggested to Raymond Figtree that the Second Life Wiki would be a good place to do a communal writing of updated correct and complete land information like he wants to give out in notecards, and gave him the url.

I went to that url, and actually read the red text at the top, and that red text said the page was outdated and there only for historical use, and that for up to date info, go the the support pages, the Knowledge Base, I think it was.

I was trying to wig out on doing a bunch of unpaid work on a topic I don't know anything about, that no one will really appreciate. Makes sense to me. However I got to looking at wiki farms, and I found one that has a nice WYSIWYG editor, which would be great except that if you are trying to write notecards you need only the most basic possible editor so you aren't tempted to get fancy in ways you can't reproduce in notecards.

I found one that has WYIWYG and a rather plain text editor mode both, and it has a toolbar that sits still on the screen while you scroll down the text, unlike some of the other free wiki software sites that use AJAX and have the usual kind of slow, laggy, sadsack poorman's imitation software feel to them, although the same basic system would be great if it was just written to run like a good old normal exe file does.

Before I got worn out I got this much modifying done on the now abandoned, deprecated, and publically humiliated notecard text from the wiki. I have a feeling that I'm writing stuff that's been expressed better, and more importantly, expressed already, in, say, one of those books on SL that are out now, none of which I have read.

My just discovered and fiddled with little wiki page is at http://www.littlewiki.com/wiki/Land+in+Second+Life .

Here's what I got before I quit.

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You don't need to own land to enjoy Second Life, but having land allows you to do things you can't do without it, hopefully things you enjoy.

Second Life is run by a company called Linden Research, Inc. which has a nickname of Linden Lab, or LL for short. This guide will use Linden Lab or LL. LL employees are called Lindens. All LL employees, and only LL employees, have the last name Linden in Second Life.

The virtual currency unit used in Second Life is also called a Linden, or Linden dollar. A capital L followed by a dollar sign means Lindens, or Linden dollars.: L$.

The virtual land in Second Life appears on a big rectangular grid. Each of the rectangles of virtual land is called a region, or a sim. Region and sim are synonyms; they both mean a big rectangle of land in the Second Life grid. Each sim contains 256 by 256 meters of simulated land. 256 times 256 gives 65,536 square meters of virtual land in a sim. Square meters is abbreviated in several different ways throughout Second Life writings. The shortest simplest abbreviation I've seen is sqm, no periods, no spaces.

Some of the sims in the grid have Linden Lab as the sim owner. Large clusters of sims right next to each other on the grid are called continents. Continents with Linden Lab as the sim owner are called mainland continents.

The terminology used to describe regions, sims, continents, estates, islands, and so on is not as clear and distinct and rigid as would be be best. The different categories weren't all thought out beforehand like they might have been in designing a board game. The terms have evolved like regular words in real world languages, so they can be used one way by one person and another way by another person, and it's not as simple as one usage being right and the other usage wrong. Therefore... try to make sure that you really understand what someone means when they talk about a private sim or a private island. A detailed examination of all these sorts of terms would be a good thing - but not to start out with.

Individual sims can also have a Second Life user, not Linden Lab, designated as the sim owner These individually owned sims are called privately owned sims, or private island, or private estates.

Caveat Emptor - Latin for " Let the buyer beware".

Or at least be aware. Learn what you can about buying land, why you want it, and what you can do with it - BEFORE you get it.

Owning land is useful if you want to:

* Build permanent structures, like a home or business. The more land you own, the more permanent objects you can have out.
* Have a retreat for you and your friends that's always available.
* Have more control over what can and can't be done and who can and can't be there.
* Use the land tools. (Terraforming is a blast!)

Owning land purchased directly from LL means you have to pay monthly fees in US dollars..

Up-to-date details on land-pricing can be found on the main Second Life website.

Renting

You can pay for the use of land from other players on the mainland. You can also "rent" land from other players in island sims (off the mainland) which is more like ownership; you will have access to land control features. Neither of these two options require you to have land tier, so you will not need to pay tier fees to Linden Labs. For more information about renting read this notecard: ?

Plot Size Matters

Avoid buying lots smaller than 512m2 at first.

Considering that the smallest amount of land rights you can pay for is 512m2, and with a premium account you can have up to 512m2 without paying a monthly fee, it is best to purchase a smaller-sized plot until you're comfortable with the interfaces for managing land.

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

When you finally decide to buy a new lot, go look at it. What are the neighbors like? Is it conveniently located for you? Do you like the geography? Does the sim host many events (which cause lag)? Is it close to your friends or favorite hang outs? Or what ever other considerations matter to you.

Land Auctions

You can buy land directly from Linden Labs through the land auctions. Some plots available at auction will be priced in Linden Dollars (L$), and others in US dollars. The auctions are located at: http://secondlife.com/auctions/index.php

Become familiar with Land prices (L$/sqm)

Before you buy (or sell) land you really should look at the current prices via the Land Sales tab of the Search tool. Look at what land prices for the rating and size you want are. Also, look at the auctions to see what land is going for there.

You should not have to buy at the highest land prices to get land you want, if you research land prices before hand.

Your friends can help

If you let your friends know you want to buy land, then they may help you find a good lot at a good deal. And it might be nice and close to your friends.

Negotiate

The price listed is not fixed. The land owner can set the price to whatever they want. If you ask nicely, the land owner may lower the price for you.

Things Change

Even after you buy your land, you will find that Second Life changes greatly from day to day. One day your neighbor is an empty lot, and the next it may be an ivory tower or an ugly box.

If you don't like what's there now, wait around, it might change to something new in a couple days.


If you have a problem, ask for Help

The advice in this notecard does not cover everything that can happen in a land deal. If you have a problem ask for help. Ask your friends, use the Help Request feature (found under the Help Menu), on the forums, e-mail [email]support@secondlife.com[/email] or if worst come to worst, search for someone online with the last name "Linden". They are employees of Second Life and are there to help you.