New Sim or Old? What's the Difference?

I want to purchase a whole 65,536m2 and have noticed something that I'm not sure if I understand...

If I want to buy a brand new sim it's $1,675 up front and $295 a month...

But I see a lot of entire sims for sale and in those situations the monthly tier is $195 a month...

So what's the difference? Are they identical in the sense I could load my own terrain textures and handle all the basic aspects of sim ownership or are there limitations I've not seen with pre-existing sims?

I'm confused. I want a whole sim but I also want total and full rights to do whatever I like with it.

The $195 is the tier for mainland sim. The $295 is tier for a private sim.

Hmm. There may still be some "grand-fathered" sims which are still $195 USD a month from before the price went up, however I was under the impression that when transferred they will revert to $295 USD a month.

Otherwise a $195 USD a month sim is a mainland simulator, and as a result you CANNOT change land textures etc. as you only own a whopping big parcel, not the entire simulator as such =(

George is right - mainland sims are US$195 per month, and private regions sold nowadays are US$295 per month. However, any private regions sold before mid-november last year are also US$195 per month, for now at least.

No, you can transfer a grandfathered sim, and the new owner still only pays US$195 per month.

Ah I didn't know that. However, in that case there is no guarantee that it might not jump up to $295 USD a couple of months after you get it.

To translate the previous answer go to the Land info on this website.

A quick translation is

Mainland has very few controls for you to use (can't change terrain, can't alter landscape more than 4m from its original form). Maybe those powers can be granted if you own the entire sim, but I suspect not. On the other hand if you want to sell land on Mainland has no trust issues, sell it and its the buyers to keep until they sell it. But the buyer needs a premium account to buy it. An entire mainland sim will usually cost more than an island (1675USD).

Private Sims/Islands/Regions have a lot of controls for you to use, terraforming land up to 100m for example, changing textures so that sand replaces grass at 0-15m (or whatever you choose). The downside is that because the Estate Owner may reclaim the land without even a confirmation dialogue, many residents do not trust private land. On the other hand, you do not need to have a premium account to own some land on a private region (the Estate Owner does need to be premium), and EU residents do not have VAT added.

A US$195 monthly tier means it's either a mainland sim (if it's attached to the mainland), or a "grandfathered" private island (if it's floating off the coast).

A mainland sim has a number of restrictions: you can't use any of the Estate Tools, you can't change the terrain texture, your terraforming is limited, and it may or may not have Linden-owned "protected land" areas on it (such as roads) which you can't change at all. On the other hand, some people prefer mainland sims because of their connection to the rest of the world.

A grandfathered private island is essentially an island that was purchased before the monthly tier for islands was increased to $295/month (it used to be $195). The usual limitation on these is that many of them run on older servers, although some of them (the "transition islands" that were sold in a big rush after numerous people wrote to LL complaining about having had no warning of the price increase) run on the newer hardware. Also, it is not clear that they will remain grandfathered forever; LL have stated several times that they "have no plans" to increase the fees, but they haven't stated that they never will.

Very true. LL have pledged to give some warning when they do, it remains to be seen if that will actually happen :/

I don't think they'll touch the base price but just charge for new features (voice, windlight estate controls, etc) in which case they don't have to give any warning and it's harder for people to object as well since the increase would be entirely "optional".

Thank you everyone for your helpful and thorough explanations.

I think I may then opt for a private sim. I have been spending a huge amount of time building and at present have 7 finished structures that I've Rez Faux'd ready for sale and I have about 12 other structures in various states of completion.

I own a lot of mainland and have really been giving serious consideration to just biting the bullet in January and buying a whole brand new private sim, thus my reasoning for asking about the differences.

I do like the ability to set my own terrain textures as my four preferences for terrain would be sand, a very deep green grass and dark mottled granite gray for an occasional mountain peak with pure white snow to top it off.

The reason for wanting a whole sim is that I'm focusing on small highly detailed skyboxes with ornate trim - not just plain jane boxes with windows. And I am also working on a number of quite unique shaped homes that range from futuristic to ancient Incan - think space stations to ziggurats.

Now my only remaining issue will be convincing the Lindens to allow me to have my own custom last name. I posed the issue here a while back and the answers were mainly uncertainty. However, I know people that work for Intel have the last name of Intel and one of my favorite builders - Hoffman Designs - was able to get them to let him use his last name too. I'm just not sure how one goes about doing it and if they charge.

IIRC, Custom last names cost US$1000, and must represent either an affiliation, or your real last name.

My real last name is Brown and that was a name once offered for free here but has since been retired. I'm wondering if I'd still have to pay $1000 to register a name they once offered for free anyway?

OUCH! I thought it was only 100USD.

It is only 100 for *a* custom name, 1000 is to set up a name for a range of people such as Intel. Go to Knowledge Base and search for "Last Names" and read the FAQ.

My real surname is in use too, and I know there are people with my rl name (both Steve & Stephen) out there. I wish I'd known it was available, i'd have snapped up a couple of alts, just so it would be less creepy to someday bump into them

I am pretty sure that once a name is retired, there is no way to get another account with that last name. If the name has never been used, then it is possible.