Thoughts on New Land Exploiting, Second LIfe in general. Share or add.

while SL is down, i figured i would share some thoughts and get a discussion going.

A couple days ago i bought my first land. Everything was going good till the land around me (also first land) was somehow bought right after it was offered by long time users who called themselves "residential agents". They take that 512 land, and throw really tacky signs up. It really looks horrible from my window lol. Even worse is that they are trying to sell the land for over 10k now.

Else where i see the same buildings offering signs or more advertisements taking up landspace for sale. I dont know if its just me, but it feels alienating as a player. Land thats reserved for people just starting out somehow gets exploited for profit. Areas in SL start then looking like a collage of interesting artwork and housing, and then tacky advertisements.

Theres nothing wrong with realistate buying and selling, but where is the line drawn between good practices and less honorable practices. I have heard others call them bottom feeders, i was hoping certain methods would be regulated or at least have restrictions.

For example, "new land" could not be resold/bought for more than its buying price untill 30/60 days have passed. Or not sold at all untill that time period.

So far my other experiences in SL have been amazing, i love some of the comunities and areas where you can tell people care about what they do. They have an interst in making SL look good. Others on the other hand dont and its a shame.

So these are some thoughts, feel free to comment or explain, or share some of your thoughts. No flames please, theres no point. This is all my opinion.

thanks

no

thanks for the intelligent response. Can you back up what you say "no" to and why?

I can sympathize because in my area there are a good number of For Sale signs. I picked a PG area. I can imagine how much worse it is in a Mature sim.

However the solution you proposed will not work. What will happen is that you will have maybe those 30/60 days of peace when it gets implemented, then when the lands mature everything will return to how it was with all the for sale signs and such. Things will look exactly the same as when there was no such rule.

true, i did consider that. But, the point is, it would eliminate those exploiting the price of the land. So say, that User A some how gets the land for dirt cheap, along with a ton of other land in the area, and then he resells it for 20 times its worth.

But if you give a time limit, to let the land value rise, and the new people not be exploited, those new people would understand and be able to sell their land for what its worth. So instead of the shadey User A, New First time land owner User B, could be the one selling the land for more.

I makes it so that the first time land owners can profit for what their land is worth rather than someone who isnt a newbie to exploit the first land price.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with land in SL. However, that is what you get on the mainland: A "wild west" without, or barely with, any rules to enforce beauty or a comfortable surrounding. This is how the mainland has been (and should be, imo), as there are many people who like this approach. While there are some benefits to your land holding idea, they have nothing to do with this. I don't think it would work in the field. Basically, you can draw the line between honorable and less honorable wherever you want it, it won't makea difference on the mainland.

On a side note, if you do not want the wild west style and want a quiet place to live, there are plenty of opportunities.

Why should land be sold for profit anyway? Cant people just sell it because they dont need it anymore? Sounds to me like you are bitter as you cant buy/sell land as cheap/profitable as you would like.

I kinda like the idea of First Land not being able to be resold for 30 days. Abandoned perhaps, or price locked at 512 maybe?

I think though, it'd only stop the problem for a month, at which point prices would raise a bit and it'd start over. Difference being the land will just sit empty for 30 days.

no

Not at all actually. That your assumption, and it couldnt be anymore wrong.

How i see it, and i could be wrong, but that new land is called first land for a reason. It allows new people to start off. Then they start building, but somehow someone gets 4 of those first land lots, and packs it full of banners and advertisements. They try to buy as much first land as possible and then sell it for way too much.

The first land is designed so that new people could afford and buy land, but that becomes moot when someone buys as much as they can, exploits the cheap price and other players so that they could make a profit on something that was marketed down to be affordable to poorer new players.

Why restrict first land to new people to begin with? Have you tried to buy more than one new land? you cant for a reason. Some are finding ways to get around this, and i think there should be a time limit before this could happen.

I have seen this happen right when new land is made available.. not some time after. Its not someone who doesnt need their old land anymore.



you cant back up your reason? gee your smart. Where i come from, your called a troll.

Hmm, Seven does have a point.

While the real estate trade per se will not be affected directly, new users have enough time to learn not to get exploited by real estate dealers. New landowners sell for pretty cheap IMO.

But sometimes these real estate guys can be vultures. I pegged my firstland price at L$2,000,000 (and sell option was off), and he still presented himself to me as a landbuyer. Someone tell me that they can't see that price if sell is off because otherwise that guy is nuts.

yeah, its better than being exploited immediately. It shoudl have a first land status for a certain amount of time, when the land value rises, the current owner or whoever can buy or sell it for what its really worth, meaning more than 512 and its not going to those who are exploiting the first land. It puts some regulation on it at least, which is better.

I know those who use this practice will dissagree with me, but im not too fond of them either.

Well you know there are some slimey basta.. er low lifes running around SL just like in real life. I bought my first sim hoping to make a small profit so I could do things like oh I dunno... justify my time spent here and well keep my club solvent since I can no longer get incentives to pay that monthy fee for the property. Not that I mind working for my money mind you.

But back to the subject at hand, I bought this sim priced it at a 10% profit... I don't think thats to much to ask for a $1100 sim plus $200 tier fee hmm? No didn't think so. Well so here along comes one of those slimey basta.. er low life real estate companys Onar er oops can't mention names here. Anyway they post signs along the next sim which apparently they bought advertising land for 1400 for 1024s... oh and they bought one plot in my sim an plopped one of these down...

Now mind you that's barely over 1L a sqm and I paid something like 6 for mine. This is a slime company and you know what.. they are only one of many. Look forward to more of this in the future...

Oh one more thing lol and this is funny... I put up a line of trees along my sim boundry to block the signs and those butwads had the nerve to send me an IM threatening to AR me...

That's slime....

Yeah there are some pretty shadey characters around so watch yourself out there

Edit:
Oops almost forgot to mention they were selling the land those signs were on for pretty much the same price as me...

Yep slime....

In MMORPGs for example, theres is a class of players called farmers. For the most part, they are from asian countries, but they exist else where as well. They sit around in sweat shop atmospheres earning gold in the game and obtaining any resource they can to sell it for real money. They will chase away, hassel and use any means neccessary to get what they want or to keep others away while they take everything. They are the bane of mmorpg games.

With SL, this behavior is very similar to whats mentioned with their behavior of the so called realistate groups. Not all of them are bad, but the majority....

adding to that Seven,

Some of them are little kids. For some of them it's not quite a sweat shop because it still is play to them, and they get to play for free, and they get paid for it. Or perhaps the play is the pay.

AAARRRGGGG!!!
You just had to remind me why I gave up on games like Lineage II well besides the PVP gankers... Those freakin coin/item farmers....

Your absolutly right about that.

Hi Seven,

I read your idea with interest because it reflects some basic concerns that I have been having recently. For a while, I thought like you, that a minimum-time suspension of sale of new land would be a good thing...

At the moment, however, I am facing a different problem that would only be exacerbated by newbies not being able to sell their land. I don't have any answers now, but let me explain what I mean...

Currently, I am part of a group trying to "clean up" a certain sim. We have bought fairly heavily into the region and are trying to beautify it by purchasing from those less environemtally concerned. I think we can all try and beautify SL in our own way - one piece of land at a time - and this is mine. The problem for me, however, is not the scum-feeding land vultures who erect advertising - this is a slightly older mainland sim and land prices are not particularly cheap - my problem is the ugly clutter and eyesores erected by people who, in the past, have bought their first 512 and erected their first experimental structures, and then gone on, either to do other things, or effectively quit game - leaving their unattractive mess behind. The only sign of their presence is a for sale status on their land, at a ridiculous price that shows no reflection of market prices or any concern for those who live and work in the sim. Of course, most of these people are generally uncontactable...and I suppose we shall just have to wait until their account expires and the land goes to the governor.

So.. (takes a breath)...any newbies, if they stay in SL, are pretty ready, I think, after about a fortnight or a month to either move on to greener pastures in SL, or to expand where they are. Some do stay on their original 512, but the scope for their development is limited. So an inability to sell would hamper them. And many, as I said, erect awful things (not even buildings) and then no-one ever sees them again. It makes cleaning up the sim, that much harder. Until recently, for example, there was a 512 in my sim that had on it a bright red purposeless structure that is 600metres tall! (Dont get me wrong..it's fun to be a newbie and to play with your own land...I've done it myself...it's just that newbies dont always appreciate the longer term consequences on the environment. There needs to be a mechanism by which we can clean up after them).

Anyway..I enjoyed your post..just adding a few reflections of my own..
take care,
Inada

True there is that. But, which is the lesser evil so to speak?
with 30 days, that newbie wont be so newb. He/she can learn a lot, and after thirty days they can sell that land or fix it up. But its stil their first land and not some realistate agents.

The problem is, with the realistate agent people, you would have them asking for insane prices, and most of the time they will leave that land available for over a 30 day period.

The new user wont always make eye sore scructures. 30 days should be nothing to those of us who plan on sticking around.

So it really comes down to getting rid or lowering one of the two greater evils.

Its like having the option of having your arm broken or cut off. Getting it cut off would be the woste case senario, and with a broken arm, it can heal. The broken arm being that 30 day wait period for you.

But the idea is, is that its the new land owner that owns the first land, and not someone exploiting first lands in their vast land farming.

Yet another issue involving the 6/6/6 unverified accounts... Possibly this might end first land.

I'm not against the people who made a account i have several friends who are unverified. But i am sure most of them would have paid for their account if they needed to. I am totally against the act of having unverified accounts and thought it was a bad idea from the beginning. i say lob it off right now but let the ones who already registered stay.

Sorry for asking, but what is this unverified account thing? First time i have heard of it.

Im taking a guess and correct me if im wrong, but do people create unverified accounts, get something and let the account expire and keep giving to a main character?

You're new so I'm not surprised you're unaware.

It used to be that you need to submit payment info (CC) in order to create even a free account. On 6/6/6 LL removed that restriction.

What happens is a griefer makes an account and causes trouble. If he gets banned, he just makes another account.

Since there's no payment info attached to either, LL cannot shut down the griefer.

ah ok. Couldnt they ban his IP address? or network ID associated with his computer?