Noob's POV

I just started playing a few days ago, with the intention of updating my basic account to a premium one, in order to purchase land, have a home and start my little business. I was also going to have a friend join me, and buy land together to build something together. Seeing the state of things, I'm not so sure about that anymore.

I know noobs can by "First Land" or something similar, and I went to check the places. Most of the time I landed on someone's porch, or nearby. Once an owner of one of the houses nearby even teleported on me. Well, I figured "First land" isn't for me, and started checking Land sales. To my horror, I found the 512 m2 piece of land cost 4 k minimum, and even those were squeezed btw. other houses, malls etc.

How on earth is a noob going to afford buying land and a house when they first come here, without any means of getting money, besides the allowance from Linden. I tried free slots, which don't give terribly much, money chairs were a bore, and I sure as heck don't want to take part in a competition for a dancer with the least clothes on, and unfortunately am not able to design pretty clothes yet to start business (taking a class later on).

Are people speculating with land, hoarding money they get from it and not using them in-game, in order to exchange them to USD to benefit their RL finances? Isn't this supposed to be a game to relax from RL worries and to have fun in? IMHO, it's not the 50 L basic account holders get that makes the situation as it is. That basic money was what enabled me to start off buying essential stuff from vendors (female vanity) etc... See: noobs do circulate the money they get... unless they have to hoard it to save for basic needs, such as own land. Having incentives, such as the money, might help basic account holders see more of what this game has to offer and decide to pay for the premium account. It's not like the game has missions you can run to get money from...or does it?

I don't know if this ranting has a point, but just thought I'd offer a noob's POV on things, and hoping to remind ppl that this is just a game to have fun in and let others enjoy it as well. Game not meant for personal gain IRL.
Mia

Don't buy land, rent. No upfront cost, and if you change your mind, there is no land investment to recoup. Have a look in the Classifieds forum here, there's a rental section, or in the in-world classifieds. I've seen a lot of reasonably priced, nice-looking rentals around.

If you're buying land, you're insane to not get first land and resell it for profit.

Renting (instead of buying) is a valid choice too.; have a look into it.

Thank you for the advice!!! Being a noob, I didn't know you could do that! I even toyed with the idea of putting in a front payment and then gradually paying for the rest (finding a person willing to do a deal like that..lol), but that is a wonderful idea!!! And I can build on rental land also? Thanks a lot I will check it out as soon as I get back in game.
Mia

I don't understand your problem. First land is designed to be first land for newbies. That is why it's called first land.

You choose not to take advantage of it, and then complain it's impossible for you to get land. I don't understand.

I say just upgrade to Premium. Why?

Premium accounts receive a L$250 payment upon signing up, and a further L$1000 payment after the 7 day trial and the account becomes chargeable. A weekly payment of L$500 is also given.

So after just one month, your L$250 starter money has become L$3000 - then by buying a 'first land' plot and selling it for the market value of around 4k you could have L$6500, which is worth $22 on Lindex for a simple L$10 investment!

Isn't that wonderful? It's also contributing to the running costs of SL, which are considerable - and that is a satisfying feeling that you are not only helping yourself continue to play but subsidising all the other basic accounts who will hopefully upgrade to Premium as well.

Lewis

Because a typical First Land sim will be a patchwork quilt of non-matching builds, with no roads or anything breaking it up. It's not hard to see why that could be unattractive to a new player.

Go premium, buy the first land, and rent in Ravenglass Rentals (Sim location: Alice) 2048 m2, for 400L a week. full prim. If you and your friend both go in, thats only 200 for each of you, and in addition to the startup, you get 500L a week.

No, it's not wonderful. Don't be fooled by the giveaways. SL land is overpriced and just not worth it. Prim counts are atrocious. Prim limits are stupid. LL needs to let people learn about lag on their own when they're 20,000-prim object (yes, ALL linked) with 10 scripts in EACH prim running in a timer event every .1 seconds grinds the server to a halt. LL just doesn't want to deal with supporting idiots but too freakin' bad, LL. You're killing it for people who KNOW what they're doing by limiting us and charging us out our asses for something that is worth 1/10th the price at most. Active Worlds land (worlds) is (are) FAR more cost-effective. I won't be buying land until SL prices are at or better than AW's.

If you really want to make money, buy a lot of land, then rent it out to unsuspecting newbies at a rental which per week, is more than the land is worth per month. It seems to be a common way anyhow, don't know how successful it is.

Land price just follow the L$/US$ value.

Don't think about it if you don't have a full region tier.
And with *only* one region, the profit is extremly poor.
And the return on investment is, at least, 1 year.

Hi Mia,

Welcome to SL!

<IMO>
Buy a plot of first land (at L$1/meter) and sell it (average of about L$3-4/meter), like Lewis said. That will give you more L$ to use to rent a better plot.

You could also buy L$ on the LindeX trading system... two ways to get there... in-world, click the little blue L$ symbol in the upper righthand corner of the SL window, up by your total balance. This will launch your web browser and take you there. You can also get to the LindeX from the forums by clicking the Community' link at the top of this page, and then click the Buy L$ link in the collum on the left. That will take you to THIS PAGE.

Some people don't like to spend RL $ for L$ and I guess I can understand, but its the fast way to lots of L$ to spend. Personally, I end up buying most of my L$ from LindeX... but then, I like to live way beyond my means in SL.

As far as what to do about land after you have some L$ to toss into it, personally I would suggest you find someone good to rent from (I rented land from Schwanson Schlagel for 8 months and he was an excellent landlord). Read the forums and talk to people in world to find out and understand the reputations of the various land renters.

Currently, IMO, buying land is a bad idea because you'll pay L$7/meter or more and then when you decide to move, you'll have to sell it for L$3/meter to get rid of it in a timely fashion. It made me so very sad to spend over USD$300 for one of my plots, only to resell for less than half when the neighborhood got too filled up with laggy stripmalls.

</IMO>

-Ghoti

Mia, it is not a game it is a platform. See all the Linden website info

We all do this concept to death with various debate on threads but SL has an economy which can give you a return in real life.

Of course you are free not to participate, but unlike say WoW etc there is no underlying theme in SL.

Finally use your credit card to buy some Linden Dollars, even if it is just for fun you also pay for entertainment in real life so whats different here?

I'm referring to "tier". $10US/month for a piddly 512m2 and 117 prims is ridiculous.

I guess its an 'economic model' that they set ... however, it is perhaps worth thinking that if the limits were raised and tier prices reduced, how many people would upgrade to Premium or buy more land and do more in-world?

Surely 10,000 Premium accounts paying half the price is as good as 5,000 Premium accounts paying the current prices?

Basic accounts contribute nothing and cost money, whereas Premium accounts do pay towards the costs. I know if land were cheaper I'd buy more, so perhaps the key is to get more people to sign up rather than staying Basic. It would provide a much better in world experience as there would be more to do with more people responsible for their own land, and attract more basics to sign up?

Lewis

Eep: It's not $10 for 512, it's about $3 for 512, since you get about $7 worth of Linden Dollars as well.

To the original poster: There's still a couple of open plots in Noonkkot along the uphill side (or were yesterday), where there's several groups working together to try and improve the feel of the place and keep it from becoming a ghetto.

Thanks a lot everyone. You have all given me a lot to think about. I do understand that renting is eventually more expensive than buying (same as in RL), but it seems the only way to go atm.

I was complaining about the state of the First Land, because I'm not comfortable in living on someone's front porch, neither do I want to live close to a loud and busy mall, or a strip joint. Some of the lands were also on a mountain slope... Well, I don't know if you can flatten them yourself and live in a cave or something.. And...even most of the sold land is in a similar state. I guess as a noob, I should settle with the measily crumbs being thrown my way.

I will go for the premium account, once I get some things straight, and hopefully, in some way, contribute to the economy of in-platform, was it? I guess I should've read the description more carefully...I was just so eager to dive in. I still do, however, think about this as a game, and don't like the idea of paying USDs to advance in a "game", but that's just me. I've never done that in previous games I've played either. I'm sorry if that messes up the economy

Mia

Actually, way back in the mists of time, I knew a girl called Tr1n1ty (yes, with the 1s) who lived in a cave on a mountain in the corner of Mocha and Olive. Oddly, I've not seen her in years. But anyway, the answer was... yes, sometimes you can do that. I used to live in a stone circle.

Bah. I wish MORE land was mountainous! Flat green sims are boring.

To answer the question, yes, if you own an area of land (First Land included) you can flatten it.

It's similar to starting out on your own irl. Consider the size of the first apartment, maybe even shared with friends, or the starter home. Are you the type to venture out, proud that however humble your start is, at least you have begun your own independant journey? Some are dismayed that they cannot immediately afford the lifestyle they have been accustomed to (one which it took their parents years to achieve and provide them with) and stay dependant, whining about life's inequities.

You can play and be entertained in SL, escape from your rl if that is your need for no cost at all. Who has charged you to hang out with them and be friends? The overwhelming amount of land is open and available to roam on and explore. There are tons of places to hang out at, with dj's as well as live musicians streaming in a variety of music. There are sandboxes for you to create in and free classes and tutorials to help you develop your skills.


Why do you assume that most monies earned are going for people's rl expenses rather than towards payment of their game expenses? That is, the things you claim to need money for. Some do make a profit, but it's not the normal situation for most players, most people earn enough to pay for or to offset their game expenses.

Even if so, why do you feel comfortable telling people who work hard enough to make a profit that their time should be spent otherwise and in accordance to your expectations?

If there is one thing I have learned from my time in SL it's this: if you really need money to do what you want in SL, then just either a) grit your teeth and buy it for US$, b) start doing something that's a part of what you want, and see if - incidentally - it sells, or c) start making social connections regarding what you want and see if you can find a sponsor (surprisingly likely).

Doing stuff you're not keen on to earn L$, in anticipation of later being able to do stuff you did want, tends to only lead to disappointment. I know, I've been there.

Mia--

Read my column in the current Metaverse Messenger. It's like it was written for you.

Wow! So much hostility!

I was going to say that LL seems to agree with the land price (not tier but purchase) price was too high, considering how many mostly empty new sims are still out there. Land is 'worth' what people are willing to pay for it, at least it's not scarce enough to drive the purchase price higher at the moment.

But your objection to the tier fee amounts makes sense I guess. But... this isn't AW, it's SL. I prefer being here and that preference has a higher cost.

I don't like prim limits either, but unless I own the entire sim I'm glad they're there. (Who was it... Siggy? that said: If you want to preserve the view, you have to OWN the view? Same goes for processing power.)

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Anyway, Mia- Don't be discouraged. The more land you own the better the rate becomes.
512sqm at us$5 a month is 102sqm per us$1.
65536sqm at us$195 a month is 336sqm per us$1.

(Which is obviously why a lot of people rent from big land holders.)

When I first bought land the the plans weren't really clear about premium vs. premium plus tier. The 512sqm @ us$5 'tier' I mention here is in addition to the normal premium stipden+512sqm @ us$10(ish) a month. (so $10 for premium plus $5 for tier gets you stipend plus 1024sqm)

Another thing you can try is fly around looking for empty but owned parcels (you can turn on property lines to better see where parcels are, with: ctrl-alt-shift-P If you see a parcel that's empty in an area you like, you could try IM'ing the owner and making an offer.

Welcome!

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Jopsy