The world is flat!

OK, here is the question:

Why oh why do so many people think that they need to flatten the terrain all over the grid? If they can't do it with land controls, they use poorly textured mega prims.

I rant because one of the most interesting sims in SL (old Islandia Marmela) is being screwed over in this fashion. Parcels there include ocean frontage, but also a river runs through it. You can't raise the river bed, and it is quite deep. The rest of the land is likewise limited so that realistic river banks, etc... are maintained. I recall that Anshe Chung had a hand in terraforming this back when. Land prices reflect the uniqueness of the land.

So of course some a-hole pays enormous amounts to cover it all with mega prims and make it all flat. He could have done that for $L3 per sq. m. almost anywhere these days instead of the $L16 to $L20 or so he paid for the parcels he bought up. Go figure.

Waiting for his stupid Biz in Box empire and tasteless club to fold, and the realization that he is stuck spending enormous tier each month to set in.

Probably to maximise land usage for rentals - maybe he plans to build a mall, as you say. Also some people just like flat land. Some of us grew up in flat land areas and see it as normal or even pretty.

I think some terraforming adds interest to the land but then it functions mainly as scenery. So I can see why someone who wants profit would flatten land, you can simply put more buildings on it. Mall-type buildings, at least.

I admire places that devote land just to the visual experience of SL but it does require some $ output that may not come back in.

Yes, but why buy some of the highest priced land in the grid when you can find flat land at cheap prices all over? If one is to maximize profit magins on the over used business model of Biz in Box merchandise and crappy club, lower priced land would seem essential.

Not to pick on this guy. I have seen it all over the grid. The good news is that they soon go broke. Tier is tier, no matter how much the upfront cost of land purchase might have been.

The only reason I can think of was, maybe he got a deal on it you didn't know about - or - maybe he wanted the prestige for his advertising. Such as "The grand reopening of Wondersim! You thought it was great before...come see our new megamall!"

Or maybe the traffic from it being so popular - old landmarks.

He started with 1024, and kept buying up. Some of those parcels were for sale from my group or others I know. For a fact he put down $L12,000 each for 2 - 512's a freind had listed, and $L30,000 for a 2048 of ours.

He's throwing money into 'sploders and such. The traffic is not so great, except when he is throwing $L at people. You can get all that he sells for free (of course) almost anywhere.

Of course prestige is a factor with so many old continent addresses. That's why my group buys rents, or sells them when possible.

"Your World! Make it flat!"

Does he have money to burn?

C'n I have some?

I recall when some of the newer continents opened, I was lucky enough to visit them before the auctions and enjoy riding my horsie over all those nice rolling hills. Then they got sold off and overnight because flat, terraced parcels. Really a good way to kill the individuality of an area. :-/

Mari
(Who, saying this, owns flat land parcels. But they started as such)

I've seen people put big grass-textured prims on land that already IS flat.

coco

Heh, Jannae also has some flat land. That's why it was purchased. Not against flat land (before I am beset by angry residents of Kansas), but also enjoy a bit of diversity in terrain.

One of the cool things (for me) is building on challenging sites. Our Marmela parcel is large enough that the impact of his flattening does not affect us. We have a plateau that slopes down to the river bank. Across the river the land flattens out to a nice sandy ocean beach. We have a beach house there.

Currently the plateau and river are under construction as a free place to hang out and swim in the spirit of the good ol' swimmin' hole. Our group will have it done soon. Just looking for content to add those cool finishing touches and will open it to the public with an announcement in events.

Mari makes me ponder though...There is a bar there. Would that preclude child avis from being able to access?

Just in time for summer is our motto.

LOL, that is true.

Midwesterners don't GET angry. We just invite you for some iced tea and to the porch swing to 'set a while'.

Perhaps some people prefer land to be flat: having played with terraforming my island, with the exception of a few beaches, pools and moats, I now keep it flat, as I primarily use the area for building large structures on. I admire other sims with hills and waterfalls and cliffs, but for my own purposes, flat land is more efficient. Also, a lot of the Baroque sims tend to have flat parkland, as per RL Versailles, for example. Flat land is useful for driving carriages over, too.

I like the diversity within SL, and I also rather admire East Anglia, UK, which is rather flat!

Best wishes from Ainee Kohime

No doubt flat land is preferable for many activities. I own some just for such reasons.

Some are missing the point. There is a lot of flat land availiable, or if one is to prim it flat, no shortage of inexpensive parcels. My befuddlement is over why people buy land that is premium priced because it is not flat, then do all in their power to change that.

Bad taste? Poor investment sense? Traffic/prestige from the former sim and landmark?

I sigh and say that all of the above is most likely.

I know it's all virtual, but sometimes I just lose my cool. Especially when people junk up some of my favorite spots in the "Old World."

Speaking of which I ran across this: 768 availiable on Jessie for "only" $L76,800! Own a bit of history.

I've never been able to understand it either; non-flat land is not only more interesting it's also just more.

Exactly. More surface area in the same space.

Non-flat land is a bitch to build on. Although if you own land that isn't flat, why not flatten it out, build what you're going to build, and then terraform the rest around your build?

Are there any sandbox sims, Linden or otherwise, that are craggy, mountainous or otherwise non-flat?

Yeah...i looked at it....very tacky, cr@p products mostly freebies and a very bad business plan....I'd give it 2 months max, before the lands are back on the market.
Shame, I'd love to own such land....as i'm not keen on flat land, I prefer varying contours, mountains, hills, rivers, lakes etc

i used to own 90% of maeshil. i sold all but a small parcel (for my nina shrine) to a flipper. a year later and... i cannot explain what some fuckhead has done there. he has destroyed the sim in an effort to have 'flat land'. it disgusts me.

rene i remember talking to you on maeshil one day. go look at it now!

I recently bought a great mountainside parcel on the old continent -- it seemed somehow prestigious. I use it for building, but I build 1000 meters in the sky. The rolling mountain side doesn't hinder me at all, and sometimes I rez a bench, sit and look out across the world listening to group IM chat and streaming classical music. Most of the parcels around me have been for sale.

But now I am becoming surrounded by flatlanders and even ban lines on one side. I guess I don't mind if you want to have a terrace, but why come up to the edge of my parcel and make a sudden drop off or wall? The ground texture doesn't even look right. I used to go in and smooth my parcels around the edges when this happens, but I don't think I"ll bother anymore. No one has a sense of community.

[EDIT: News flash! The parcel on one side I thought was going to be a flat terrace was only temporary. The group has now landscaped it and put very nice custom deciduous tree groves near the border. So I spoke too soon.]

Yep...just looked at it. I did Ctrl-Alt-Shift-9, so i could see the natural contours....a SIM tip borders onto a lake outlet to Yeosol sim...nice!. Yeah....looks messy, too many themes going on, too many concoctions! Did you see that poor little house on a 512 sqm surrounded by those great big towering blocks?.... Poor guy!. I think he sells Chess sets. The fact that he has ban lines there...might imply an ongoing feud with that larger landowner surrounding him.

The large landowner has mainly empty shops there...or shops rented with mediocre content ......the whole exercise is a waste of tiers if you ask me!

I'm actually looking for some roadside land on the South Continent. I got about 4k sqm of unused tiers....no luck as yet, I'm just waiting for the Adult segregation to kick in....might be luckier then.

The roadside SIM where Argent has his shop/land is quite attractive....that's the sort of thing i'm looking for. .....with decent neighbours of course!

Oh I so feel ya on this one!!!

Back when I was looking for a homestead to buy, I had an idea of what I wanted, and it wasn't flat! I wanted a rugged looking island....something with character.....

I found one really great homestead for rent and contacted the guy to ask some questions.....his rent was very fair and he had this one island left that I just loved. Well...I told him I'd be back in touch with-in the next couple days but I didn't bother committing because ...well.....I just figure what's meant to be will be.

Well...I went back THE NEXT DAY to tell him I'd take it......and it had already been rented.....and FLATTENED and the guy renting it was turning it into a mall....with this horrible layout of boxy little vender spaces...... When I saw it, it was this beautiful hilly island with an inlet that looked a lot like a beach in St. Thomas I'd been to......*sigh*
And the really sad thing was....the guy who rented it out told me this dude who grabbed it up before me....was only renting it temporarily for a project he wanted to work on. So he ruined that beautiful island, so he could have a TEMMPORARY mall!

Unbelievable.

Then, happily I found my current island which is very NOT flat. But there's a high level plateau with bluffs and it's just sooooo cool. To me, that's what makes terrain beautiful (IRL as well)....the drama of the landscape.

And I agree...it does have a lot to do with where we're raised. I'm a New England girl....I'm used to the rolling hills and changing seasons.....the high dunes on the beaches or rocky craggy shore lines. That's what I love. I live in Florida now and there is just nothing appealing about the landscape here......yeah yeah, pretty flowers and trees....all PLANTED by the people who settle here. The flat mundane land of the south is, well, mundane.

Not quite, I'm from the almost completely flat Netherlands myself, but nothing beats a nice mountain range.
Flat land is easier to work with. But many people seem to have a picture in their mind beforehand about what house or mall they want, and simply adjust the land to their requirements.

Though often, it's very simple to flatten a part of some land for a build, to blend it in after and add some natural borders. Sadly, most people are too lazy or cheap or tasteless or clueless to do even that.
And I must say, they could've looked for some scenery that already fitted their plans instead.

A mall at the spot where I once landmarked some great scenery? Generally, this involves dropping some 50 to 100 meters from the mountain top where I made the LM in the first place. I generally delete the LM and hit ctrl-H before I hit the ground when that happens.