Boardman was originally designated as the pre fab/easy access newbie zone where the world could seem a little less imposing. No sky scrapers, no shops, a height limit on buildings, no altering the terrain, small plots divided for sale and pre build homes available.
However, Lindens, this didn't work well. The pre-fab house fad came and went in the blink of an eye. After the new version came out and land became sparse, the small plots of 512 meters in boardman along the roadside had been purchased in mass by players and sold at severely inflated prices, thus, no newbies could ever find easy access to land. The houses are far and few between in Boardman, the rules do not apply to what it developed into, which was not a small, "Pre-Fab park" as intended.
I purchased a lot of land there and to be honest I LOVE the suburban feel. I love that what neighbors i have connot terraform the land to make it a choppy series of islands and mountains, I love the trees and sidewalks, it is a stunning, and underappreciated Sim... BUT... can you at least FLATTEN the land, on some plots i own a large hill sprouts from the center, I don't have the genius to build around them, and I shouldn't have to be. If you're going to make an area where the land cannot be edited, can you at least FLATTEN it so builds are possible?
ALSO... no shops? It looks like an upscale Rodeo Drive, a shop on the occassional street corner would be pleseant if it fit the atmosphere. Not to mention we have the huge junk yard flea market right across the street. Horrible eyesore and doesn't lend itself to the aesthetic feel of Boardman. (Isn't that what LUNA is for?)
Secondly, I can appreciate the height limit greatly (Who would want a 10 story skyscraper next to their ranch style home?) but are you awar that we can't even build a TWO story home without having to cramp ouselves in small areas which causes the camera angle to manipulate in awkward positions? The height measure is totally extremist and does not encourage residency. We don't need sprawling mansion but we certainly don't abide well with a two story shoe box.
Also, in a discussion with Colin, he said that Boardman had been made with such prerequisites as to encourage newbies to come and try their builds (We have two Sandboxes for that now don't we?) And as far as encouraging nebs to come and live there, well unless they have thousands it would have been impossible.
You intended Boardman to be one thing, but contradicted it's purpose by creating other areas for newbies (Ahern, Morris) and creating free build areas (Cardova) and thus you have rendered beautiful Boardman the little sim that couldn't.
The restriction is Boardman are, for the most part, valuable, but to say the least, excessive and alienating.
Now i'll add what I would like for Boardman to be-
- Inviting, remove the no shops clause, we have some amazing designers in SL who could make the most of the streetsides with small boutiques.
- Enabling, flatten the terrain for us so we don't have to utilize mathematics and trickery to build around non-uniform land. It's too challenging.
- Elevate the height restriction, it's paralyzing to the camera and really limits ones appreciation of interior builds on builds higher than one story.
For now Boardman is the Red Headed Stepchild of Second Life, no one understand why such extreme limitations are in place. It isolated it and discourages residency, and patronism.
Thanks for listening,
Phaylen Fairchild
