Win a Space in the Second Life Holiday Marketplace!

Got any questions about the Second Life Holiday Marketplace blog post? Post 'em here!


(you can review the post about the Second Life Holiday Marketplace here:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/12/12/win-a-space-in-the-second-life-holiday-marketplace

Also, don't miss the FAQ in the Knowledge Base:
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=5723

Jeska, is there any chance of being able to get SLURLs to the parcels before Monday so we can get a good look at them before bidding opens?

Talk to the hand, 'cos the face ain't listening.

Why in the world would I invest one more Dime in real estate in SL. I mean you can only be ripped off just so many times before you learn to avoid it... First you knock the pegs out from under the land market by selling "Cheep" land.... then when everyone invests in that land you unrealistically jack up the prices after you underestimate how much you could actually milk the residences for.

I'm sure this post will get deleted... but it is not a flame or an off topic post. it basically exspresses my opinion of this land auction.

I hope those of you that do partisapate have a truly wonderful exsperiance.

I'm guessing this is going to be another Bay City, with gazillion-dollar auction prices by day two. When I saw "win" I thought "luck." Turns out it just means "cash."

It will be interesting to see what happens to the land speculators with the limited 60-day window.

I'm at a complete loss. We're to bid on land that'll revert to Linden Lab after sixty days. Whose idea was this?

LL has taken to robbing its own customers - picking our pockets clean & costing many of us thousands of dollars everytime they come out with a new idea to get us to "invest". cut your tiers and you cut their income and quit letting them pick your pockets.

Are all lots the same size? What size are they?

And in come the vets of the OS change who relive the same moment of battle over and over again and can never get over the fact that the war is over.

Shadoe, I was wondering the same thing which is why I asked for the Slurls to be posted before they go live on Monday so we can actually see them in person before they go the prim cube block.

FREE BEER!!!

They are in San Francisco after all.... FREE RICE-A-RONI

Well, if there's beer and/or Rice a Roni involved, count me in.

SO.. Basically they want you to BUY not win but BUY a piece of land with your money that they will reclaim in two months. And is it just me or does anyone else see the stupidity in offering holiday shop land only a few days before Christmas? By the time the auction ends you will only get a few days of use before Christmas is over. This would have made more sense to me if they offered it say right after Thanksgiving so that the people who "win" one, could actually get some use out of the land for it's intended purpose in the proper time span. The only part that interests me is the real life package. I am curious as to what is in that package, but not curious enough to pay much if anything at all for it. Personally I would prefer a "Sorry you lost so much money on the start up costs of open space sims" package at my doorstep because lord knows we have nothing to show for that loss.

I'm just over the whole Winter thing - IT'S NOT WINTER EVERYWHERE - so why the huge deal about it - and no recognition of the fact that some of us are in SUMMER and it's bloody hot not snowing.............

maybe they've seen how popular those pay to win popularity contests are and they need the extra bucks for the Lindens holiday bonus?

Christmas will be how many days away by the time someone "wins" one of these parcels? This isn't a competition, it's an auction. The title of the blog reads like it's a competition, however it's not. Who on earth thought of this? This is really shoddy marketing guys.

I must admit I'm befuddled by this myself, Sarah. It seems to me the auction should have been held in late-October with an opening day on, say, Black Friday. It just makes more sense to have a "holiday mall" at a time when people are out looking for stuff to decorate with--not after the fact. I'm also confused by the need to have an auction for the parcels--try doing something nice for the customer base once in a while and set up the parcels on a first-come, first-served basis with a low purchase price.

Pony up big bucks for a parcel of land (of indeterminate size at this point) so you can sell your Christmas trees in January and February and we'll send you a tote bag with a t-shirt in it. Sounds more like a fundraiser than a marketing ploy to me.

Kam

Unfortunately Kamael, I’m not at all confused at what LL is doing with this. Its mealy a thinly veiled attempt to generate more revenue. I’m normally not so cynical a person, but LL has proven time and time again that customer loyalty and satisfaction is not on its priority list. They are after all strictly into this for the money, and frankly I don’t blame them for it. Most of today’s corporations have forgotten that customer satisfaction can translate into income and repeat business. They are simply after the quick buck like most everyone else. The only way to stop it, or at least slow it down is to stop buying into it anymore. You have to hit them in the only place they can feel it, their bottom line. Why do you think they have blocked all resident communication to the general public? As people leave, more people come in. If they were fully informed as to what they were getting into, I’m sure there would be a sharp decline in paying customers.

So, I hope this works out for them, and the residences of SL have a great time at this event. I’ll be doing what I have always been doing, trying the best I can to protect my investment that I made in SL. It’s just a shame that part of that protection now has to be not being taken in by the very entity that provides us the service

Just a quick answer to a previous comment. A battle may have been lost, but the war is never over. As long as we keep letting ourselves be stepped on, they will continue to do so.

It says: Winners are allowed a rental of the parcel they win, but do not own the parcel they are given use of. Land rental is for 60 days from auction closing. After this 60 day period, all land will be returned to Linden Lab and all remaining objects will be returned to the winner. No adult content please. All builds must conform to our Terms of Service and Community Standards.

I understand that to mean:
(1) You spend your money. If you spend more than anyone else, you are a winner. You don't get the land until after you need it if you want to use it commercially.
(2) You don't own what you just bought.
(3) You only get it for 60 days. After that, you should not be surprised when you don't have it any more.
(4) After 60 days, LL gets your land. You don't. No refunds.
(5) You can't sell things like some clothing, underwear, or anything that might be deemed child-harmful. You don't need to know what these are, since LL will know it when they see it.
(6) You may want to get a rules lawyer to make sure you don't violate the ToS or Community Standards. A United States supreme court justice may also help with the child-harmful part. If you live in one those countries that shows full frontal nudity on billboards on the highway, you might also want to trim you expectation back just a little bit.
(7) No guarantees are made that LL will not reduce the number of prims on your land, as long as you have it, or charge you more than they now say they will in tier. See the (many) posting on Open Sims as to why they might not want to say anything silly like this.

Any misunderstandings are mine. I do not speak for LL, and am very thankful I do not. This is simply the way I understand this.

Please, can someone correct my errors here, since given all of that I can't for the world see why I would want to do this.

Nacre

The whole idea is stupid, badly planned and has nothing to do with land whatsoever. You just buy advertising space, that's all. At the highest price.

To really make a statement, NOBODY should bid on these parcels. But I'm afraid there will allways be people who just don't give a crap.

Does the land count towards Tier if its really a Rental ???


Just Asking

I guess others are reading something that I am not. It does not say Christmasfaire but Winterfaire. To me, winter begins on Dec 21. Yes I own stores too and make holiday decorations. And yes, I think I could use those decorations at the Winterfaire, and again YES I think that this helps promote my winter decorations. Winter does not equal Christmas! Sure, the big commercial event is Xmas, but every year there is a Winterfaire (as long as I have been here) and every year people confuse this with Christmas. Ok - understandable. But surely those that were around last year remember that there was good traffic at the winterfaire, its fun to ice-skate and enjoy the snow EVEN if its after Xmas. I am not a christian but not offended by the concept of this celebration of their faith (other faiths also celebrate the winter season, winter solstice, and the like - but whatever). Nevertheless, surely everyone knows that its only 1 day.
So ok - last year I missed out. But this year I am bidding and going to try it out. Seems the risk is small (i mean geez bidding starts at $1L) and i am not going to go bankrupt for a 60 day rental. BTW there is rarely (read NEVER) tier applied to renters.
I guess I dont see the great conspiracy that others see here. Nor do I see it as some get-rich-quick scheme on the part of Lindens. Maybe I am naive but there are many ways to generate income without obfuscating at this level. And ok, I do understand that the OpenSim people are still upset and will probably be upset for a while - but not everything is related to this controversy! Just my opinion folks.

They are auctioning 60-day rentals for a winter-themed PG-rated mall... It seems simple enough to me. As for the objection that it is not winter everywhere... even though we do have lively Australian/New Zealand and Brasilian communities on SL, about 95% or more of us live in the Northern Hemisphere and 100% of us live in places where the winter-themed Christmas & Valentine's Day celebrations take place withing 60 days of December 15th

Winter may not equal Christmas but the holiday generally does. The sims have a Christmas theme, hence the names.

The blog title reads like it's going to be a competition like the Luna lottery, the detail however reveals it's an auction. So it's an auction for sixty days of tier. Sixty days of tier and a concerted advertsing campaign will probably be cheaper than "winning" this. I think I'll pass on this one.