Zoning

Funny you should say this. I once posted a similar idea.

Umm... that's just because some new folks are coming along to the free accounts, finding SL just isn't their thing and leaving, but their account stays forever and contributes to the proportions. It doesn't mean people are giving up their land.

Umm...there most certainly are people fed up with what is called the purina effect and tiering down and often even out. Most don't feel compelled to come to the forum and announce it but there have been threads on the issue throughout the year I've been here, too. A whole lot that I've known ditched the mainland for private sim rentals but others were unwilling to pay some online person rather than LL. No big drama; they just shrugged and sold.

But yes, the lack of retention amongst new users is reflected as well. Hence the statement in my previous post, "Does the current view of the landscape act as a sufficient inducement to attract tier paying customers for LL?.". Thanks for adding to my point.

Still, a better measure would be the percentage of previous land owners who still own land, not the percentage of overall users who own land.



Well, I'll ask you to trust me on this one - as a recent newbie, the danger of being underneath a bunch of floating blue cubes is a lot less of a disincentive to purchase land than is the feeling that all the stuff with potential, that's doable without making SL a full-time job of drudge work, is already gone. So unless you plan to modify the view by going around tearing down existing builds to make newbies feel there's still niches open, that won't change so much

I think free is not the problem (although there are a large number of complainers that want LL to do everything for them like a property management company.) There are problems with the group tools that makes many shy from group owned land, on the other hand, it takes work to set up a community association to keep it running. The more landowners involved, the more difficult it gets to manage egos. Someone has to lead, someone has to mediate.

The more SL becomes a second job instead of a second life, the less enjoyable it becomes. It also takes time to wait and buy up surrounding land; in some cases it is impossible due to absentee landowners. We 21st century people are not good with things that require delayed gratification; we are used to everything being instantaneous. Patiently waiting it out for neighbors in your sim to sell is a long-haul proposition. It took me around 10 months to expand in Federal, buying up available parcels and trading for land next to my parcel. If not for a few absentee owners, Federal would be fully under control of around 5 people and we all work together and our builds compliment each other.

My point is that it takes far more work than most people are willing to undertake. Boardman didn't just happen overnight, people worked at it and made long term commitments. The same can be said of any of the mainland sims that "work", with complimentary builds and strong neighbor relationships. Those happend because people were willing to make a long-term investment and willing to do the work to bring their vision into vitual reality.