New Land Changes in SL: Town Hall

What's the point of having a town hall when LL has already decided to raise the price of islands and to stop auctioning land directly to consumers? There isn't really anything to discuss, the changes have already been decided upon by LL.

thats a good question Pituca. Hank its not a town hall discussing our feelings about the idea, its just a chance to ask questions about how the new system exactly works. It would have been nice to have been involved in the over all dessision, however we dont really have a say saddly. I wonder how much land they will be pushing. over flow can drasticlly affect prices and the market. If they start selling larger chunks, that along with the private sims, will cause a domino effect spiraling the land market into another depression if "they" arent careful.

I can kind of understand why they are doing it this way. The big guys were getting it all anyway, so why not let them have it and then parcel it up,which is what was happening.

I was confused by the whole region wording, does she mean whole sim or quarter sim? She wrote 16 acres, but acres is a measurement of feet not square meters.

Acres are a measurement of area. They can be converted to either square feet or square meters. 16 acres equates to a little less than 65,000 square meters or roughly 700,000 square feet. In this case, I believe the 16 acre figure is cited for convenience.

(This moment of pedantry brought to you by the letter P and the number 2.)

Previously, land that was reclaimed by Govenor Linden would eventuall go up for auction. This would happen, for instance, when a parcel's owner left the game or tiered down and didn't have enough tier to cover the land. Since auctions are now for whole regions only, how will those small parcels be dealt with?

That's what I thought. I guess the sites I was going to used feet for some reason. I suppose if she had just said a whole sim, it would have been clearer.

I'm guessing that will be auctioned as was, and that this new system only applies to new sim release.

hmm I am not sure what you are saying. That has always been the case. I am guessing that land reverted to LL will be the only land auctioned as is, ie not a whole sim. *shrug* can only speculate.

No I can't see that happening, it would revert back to LL. I can't see any changes other than the size of parcel auctioned upon release.

Pituca, I think Hiro is saying that the only change is that LL will no longer subdivide new sims, but will auction them off as a single parcel. I guess in that case reverted land would still be auctioned off as it is currently. Makes sense to me.

Salute!

Now, Anshe really IS the land linden! Few if ANY other people can buy entire sim increments as they're released.

LL just gave Anshe the game. Cool. How long till SL is rebranded as Anshechung.com's Dreamland?

Looks like LL burned through their 8mil of VC, too...

OOOooooo sarcasm! I spotted it right away!

Robin's letter says that the purpose of the town hall is for Uncle Phil to answer questions about the changes. He isn't going to be there to see if its OK with us.

I think its big of Phil to step up to the microphone and face the questions. There is a sector of the population (i.e., the whiners) who think land should be practically free, stipends should be higher, all events should be subsidized, land should be sold in small parcels, groups shouldn't get a 10% bonus, $9.95-one-time accounts should be the top tier, land barons should be outlawed, yada yada yada. I don't think THOSE people will like the effects of the change.

It makes sense to me to cut the growth rate of their land management costs and to raise private island price to rebalance things a bit.

Buster

If only there was sarcasm in that post.

If ordinary players are no longer able to compete for land, why do we still have auctions at all? Just deliver the sims on demand like the islands. Even the playing field. Let groups buy sims cooperatively and let the wholesalers take the risk of crashing the market. It's only a game for a few people at this point anyway.

I don't know what to think about this one. Initial impression is that this screws the little guy in order to make life easier for the Lindens. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to hear why this would be beneficial to most users.

this development sure is rattling the proverbial cages, buti can't really take sides yet either.

i agree it looks dismal and that LL is basically saying, "here Baron's.. make MORE money.. oh and the others, don't worry.. they don't pay enough to matter anyway".. but onthe other hand, it coud be LL is saying, "geez, it's just too overwhelming to deal with all this land anymore.. we sure could free up a lot of resources if we just let the residents take care of it. we can make a nice chunk of change and the land market should smooth out."

not sure where they're trying to go with this move, but i'll wait to pass judgement until after the dust settles and i see how it works in practice. if it completely tanks, i wouldn't be surprised if LL responded by reverting back to what we have now.. or evolving a new model.

they may spring these bad tasting surprises on us from time to time, but they do listen to us and we know Philip cares.. it's his baby.

although, i think starting the parcels at $1k and raising private sim costs is completely insane. not sure about other options, but still.. this game is quickly getting to be a different creature, monetarily speaking, than it began as. this world is about creativity and freedom, not about making a quick buck.

too much concentration on profit will kill this world.. and i'm not ready to die.

Damage control?

I hope a "land reselling" policy will arise out of this that will curb exploitation.

JSecure has already suggested this. And yeah, it will be absolutely vital if they go ahead with this ridiculous plan.