Any suggestions for a newbie and his first steps in SL?

I've been camping most of my first week here and I'm ready for a more interactive expierence so I'm thinking of upgrading to a Premium membership and buying my 1st piece of land. If any of you could do it all over again for the first time right now where would you buy property? I've looked through the 1st land listings but I don't know the difference between Philudoria, Dimidiata, or Paranthene. Is it just personal preference or is one better to buy in than another? At this point I have no idea yet what I want to do in SL. I just know that I want a more active role in everything thats going on. I'm thinking that I might as well get a nice plot of land and see if the area grows. Maybe buy a house or learn how to build something. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. It seems to me it's a win-win situation if I signup for the Premium membership and pay for it in full for a year and then buy a piece of land. If I spend $72.00US a year I get back 26,000 $L($100US or so) and my land will at least triple in value. On top of the fact I'll have fun learning new things and meeting new people. Am I missing something? It almost seems to good to be true. Any advice and or wisdom is very much appreciated! JR

Hiya JR
Welcome to SL
My advice is take your time there is always first land available, So pick a place that you really like,
My tip would be, Buy In mature coz it adds to the value of your land later on,
You are welcome to IM me in game and ask any questions you have, cant promise I know the answers to them all but I am learning more everyday
Nat

As a fellow newer player, I'd recommend wandering!

The world is pretty large and you can fly all day and see tons of things!

Make sure to stop and (literally) smell the roses


One question though: why do you think your land is going to triple in value?

First land always goes up in value, since it's only available to people buying their first plot, and is usually L$1/m^2. current average land prices are L$3.5-5/m^2 and beyond on the open market. You pay L$512 for your first plot, and could turn around and sell it for at least L$1500, more plausably, 2k.

CCC

Oh yeah I forgot that you get to buy at 1/m initially

So, the land isn't really "going up" it is just bought at a discount

tripling in value still holds true, from the perspective of the first time buyer
but yes, they are buying at a discount, kind of like rent controlled apartments.

CCC

learn how to creat folders and also visit as many freebie places as you can work on your avie as most people say they can always spot a newb dont stand around begging or looking stupid and lost while you may find some benefit in this learning to do things for yourself is very important and youll much faster lose the newb tab

First decide what you want to do with the land.

Then buy some land that will allow you to do that.

You can't put very many prims on a 512 lot, so keep that in mind. (If you want a huge place, buy your first land in as a valuable a spot as you can find (near telehub, water, grassy, relatively flat, mature) and then sell it for a fair price.) But remember that you can only buy first land once.

Whatever land you buy, if you want dwell, you have to work for it. What you do with the land is more important than its location.

Here is some different advice....


Be careful who you do business with, be careful about "buying" land that you actually don't own. It would technically be leasing/renting. Do a search in forums about land and leasing and get caught up on that. Don't resell your first land to anyone that asks and offers you under 4k. You won't be able to buy first land again. Basically just watch your back when it comes to buying land, especially from established land barons/baronesses.

I highly suggest reading A LOT of stuff in the forums about land, it's interesting and enlightening to say the least. IT could save you from making a mistake at the best.


Oh, and enjoy your land when you finally do get some.

My Advice id to buy two lots that way you can have a decent sized property, each plot is 117 prim so if you ptoperty is 50 prim or more you dont have much left for other things for a fuller explanation IM me in world

My advice to first time users: VISIT ELVENGLEN!

Seriously... I'm impressed by your insight as a new user. Most folks don't have a clue what to do when they come online. Your plan is well-thought out and logical.

To find your first land, visit the places listed (MAP/REGION/sim name/TELEPORT). Check them out first. Watch out for sims with malls, bad neighbors, and most of all, CLUBS, because they'll lag you like a fiend and the land value won't be as good in the long run. You're right; land value can raise incredibly... even more than 3x value. I've seen first land go for as high as $L12 / m.

Other suggestions:
* Make friends.
* Join 2 or 3 good groups.
* Shake the Free Money Trees.
* Visit Yadni's Junkyard and other freebie areas before you buy anything.
* Keep your inventory straight from day 1, eliminating unnecessary and duplicate items. Because once it starts getting out of hand... it stays that way.

Oh, and also seriously... if you like fantasy, get tight with Elf Clan. There are other good groups as well (Live Music Lovers, SciFi Geeks, many more newbie-oriented groups that enjoy welcoming those new to SL).

This is one of the most important things for any newbie to learn and get used to keeping up on. I let mine get out of control.. and I keep saying that I will organize it one day.. but.. no.. I never get around to it.. it is too much of a mess now.

I totally agree with keeping up with your inventory control; I spent hours and hours just playing with it, seeing how it worked, figuring what went where, making my folders something I could recognize. Now, I spend some time each week just fine tuning a bit and I don't feel so overwhelmed and confused when I'm in world.

(It looks harmless at first glance, but turns into a monster before you know it!!)

LOL. I try to keep my inventory well-organized. I can usually find what I need. But it's full of useless, never-used items and like you, I'll get to it some day. I stopped counting at 20,000 items. (gasp!)

I get to the point that I don't even accept new inventory items any more.

What does give me a chuckle is when a generous newbie gives me this kewl HOVER BOARD he just discovered. LOL.

I politely accept... quietly delete...

Step 1 - Visit YaDni's junkyard, destroy your inventory with lots of stuff to sort through

Step 2 - Ivory tower of primatives, learn how to poke prod and pervert those prims

Step 3 - find land in a quiet sim, nothing worse than trying to build with a club or two in your sim

Step 4 - get addicted to the edit window, lose hours, miss IM's, and get wrapped up in what you are doing, and enjoy it

Step 5 - get frustrated by scripting, unless you have a background in coding you will get frustrated

Step 6 - get addicted to being frustrated by scripting, once you modify / create that first script and get results you find out the addiction here has a stronger pull than the edit window.

Results above may vary

Lots of excellent advice here. Buying land is frequently the result of, or the step leading to, getting the building bug. Even if you just want to buy things and keep them someplace, knowing how to build with prims will help immensely. So to that point, get thee to the Ivory Tower of Prims as Ferran sagely advises... I gather Jamie Otis et al are still offering tutorials through The Learning Center, so check them out in Mauve or wherever they've gotten to.

The other thing is, once you've bought a plot and somebody opens a club or casino in that sim, try to take the long view. Many run a long time in one spot, but I think far more come and go in a matter of days/weeks. I've seen several periods where Mowry was lagged to the point of being useless for most of the day, but then suddenly the whatsit was gone and there's a big "Buy This Land" sign rotating in lurid neon splendor. Try to see these as opportunities to use a sandbox, or go exploring...

Oh, one more suggestion for newbies...

RUN! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN! WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A RL!

GO OPEN A BUSINESS! GET AN EDUCATION! MAKE RL FRIENDS!

THE REST OF US ARE ALREADY LOST, BUT YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!

RUUUUUUNNNNNNN!